Communication Skills,Social Support,and Burnout among Advocates in a Domestic Violence Agency

Intimate partner violence affects millions of lives annually. Domestic violence advocates work to alleviate this problem; yet the nature of the work leaves them vulnerable to negative outcomes such as burnout. This study examined the relationships between communication anxiety, communication competence, perceived social support, and feelings of burnout among domestic violence advocates. Results from a survey of 69 individuals recruited from a US domestic violence agency show the combination of communication anxiety, communication competence, perceived emotional support, and perceived informational support accounted for approximately 13% of the variance in advocates' emotional exhaustion and 21% of the variance in advocates' experiences of reduced personal accomplishment. Responses also differ with the advocate's position in the agency. The following recommendations are offered: develop scenario-based communication skills training programs to reduce communication anxiety and increase communication competence, hold regular debriefing meetings to help advocates process their experiences and to receive peer support, and develop formalized mentoring programs that can provide social support for new workers.     

Faculty needs, doctoral preparation, and the future of teacher preparation programs in the education of deaf and hard of hearing students

The purposes of the study were to obtain and analyze data on the need for, and desired characteristics of, faculty in deaf education at American institutions of higher education (IHEs), and to assess the present and projected status of doctoral-level teacher preparation programs in deaf education at American IHEs. Program directors and coordinators provided information on current and projected faculty openings, the number of active doctoral students, faculty research interests, program strengths, and needs in the field. Results indicated a pending shortage due to faculty retirements and a paucity of doctoral-level graduates. Most faculty listed literacy and language as a primary research interest as well as a program strength. The ability to generate new knowledge through research was found to be less desirable for future faculty than teaching ability. Suggestions for improving doctoral preparation and moving the field to evidence-based practices are provided.     

Social Competence and Oral Language Development for Young Children of Latino Immigrants

Research Findings: In this study we analyze how parent and teacher ratings of young Latino children’s social competencies in rural California are associated with children’s oral language development. We find (a) that there is considerable incongruence between parent and teacher ratings of child social competence, (b) that both parent and teacher ratings account for meaningful variation in children’s oral language development, and (c) that incongruence between parent and teacher ratings is associated with oral language above and beyond the effects of parent and teacher ratings alone. Practice or Policy: Young Latino children’s social competencies contribute to their oral language development. These competencies represent an important, though to date underutilized, asset for building stronger academic/language functioning. Part of the paradoxical development of Latino children (i.e., strong social though weak academic/language competence) could be attributable to cultural differences that underlie teacher and parent perceptions of social competence. Teachers of young Latino children should (a) be aware of the cultural nature of social competence and (b) explore culturally responsive ways of interacting in classrooms to build stronger oral language functioning.     

More than a place to teach: exploring the perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of mentor teachers

The purpose of this study was to shed light on mentor teachers’ perceptions of their roles and responsibilities and to contrast their understandings with a normative view of mentoring (Goldsberry, 1998 Goldsberry, L.F. 1998. “Teacher involvement in supervision”. In Handbook of research on school supervision, Edited by: Firth, G.R. and Pajak, E.F. 428–462. New York: Macmillan.  [Google Scholar]; Hawkey, 1997 Hawkey, K. 1997. Roles, responsibilities, and relationships in mentoring: A literature review and agenda for research. Journal of Teacher Education, 48: 325–335. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We hypothesized that the mentor teachers’ perceptions would likely differ from established conceptions of this construct, a difference that has significant implications for mentor preparation and university collaboration. Participants, 264 teachers who were serving as mentors to pre‐service teachers, were asked open‐ended questions designed to allow the mentors to describe the ways in which they envisioned their role. Follow‐up telephone interviews were conducted with 34 randomly selected mentor teachers to further determine the relative value they placed on different aspects of mentoring. The results of this research confirm that mentoring is a complex construct and that the perceptions held by mentors may be influenced by the kinds and quality of mentoring experiences they have had. Implications for the appropriate selection, preparation, and support of mentor teachers are discussed.     

Peer-group mentoring as a tool for teacher development

Peer-group mentoring (PGM) is a new model designed to support the professional development of teachers in Finland. This study examines the experiences of mentees participating in PGM and potential differences in the experiences of teachers in general education and vocational education. It also addresses the mentees’ perceptions of the results of PGM with regard to the professional, personal and social dimensions of professional development. Quantitative research methods were used. An online survey was completed by 69 teachers in general education and 47 teachers in vocational education (n = 116). The results showed that the participants saw PGM as an important tool for professional development throughout the entire teaching career. In general, there were few significant differences between vocational teachers and their colleagues in general education in their perceptions of PGM. The study further suggests an alternative conceptualisation of professional development based on the following components: development of skills and knowledge, strengthening professional identity and self-confidence, and development of a work community.     

Paraprotein interference with turbidimetric gentamicin assay

Introduction

Gentamicin due to its low level of resistance and rapid bactericidal activity is commonly used to treat gram-negative bacteria. However, due to its toxic effects it needs to be monitored. To date, no interference has been reported with gentamicin assays.

Materials and methods

A patient with leg cellulitis and sepsis received a single dose of gentamicin and a sample was sent for gentamicin analysis. The sample showed high blank absorbance readings on Beckman DxC800 and DC800 analysers with various dilutions. A second sample was received and analysed on a Roche Cobas system to obtain a result. A third sample was received 107 hours later with the same results and this sample was then analysed neat and post ethanol precipitation on all the turbidimetric assays available on the DxC800 analyser.

Results

The high blank absorbance was observed upon addition of the reactive reagents due to protein precipitation. Although not obvious from the patient protein results, it was shown the presence of high IgM paraprotein, 18.9 g/L (reference range 0.4-2.3 g/L) was the cause of precipitation, giving high blank readings. Of all the other turbidimetric assays, only vancomicin and valproate showed similar high blank absorbance readings. To be able to provide more rapid results it was shown ethanol could be used as a precipitant of proteins in both calibrators and patient samples with acceptable recovery.

Conclusion

IgM paraprotein was identified as the cause of interference with the gentamicin, vancomicin and valproate assays. Protein interference in these assays can be overcome by precipitation with ethanol.Key words: turbidimetry, IgM, paraprotein, interference     

Examining teachers' beliefs about and implementation of a balanced literacy framework

While many embrace balanced literacy as a framework for quality literacy instruction, the way in which teachers operationalise the tenets of balanced literacy can vary greatly. In the present study, 581 teachers in the United States completed questionnaires concerning: (a) their beliefs about literacy skills and literacy instructional strategies that are most essential to reading success; and (b) their implementation of balanced literacy instruction in their classrooms. Results reveal that teachers varied in their implementation of reading and writing routines, with teachers reporting participating less frequently in writing activities. Teachers' implementation of balanced literacy routines varied as a function of the grade level they taught, but not additional certifications or years of experience. In addition, teachers' participation in reading and writing routines was related to their literacy beliefs, particularly their belief in the importance of code‐based literacy skills.     

Preschool Teacher Well-Being: A Review of the Literature

Much is changing in preschool education. Current reform primarily emphasizes standardized practice, academic outcomes, and accountability. Little attention has been given to how these changes are impacting the well-being of teachers. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current literature on preschool teacher well-being and identify directions for future research. Accordingly, a thorough search of the literature was conducted and 30 articles attending to issues of preschool teacher well-being were identified and analyzed. The literature was found to be deeply fragmented, rather narrow and limited. One conclusion is that more research is needed that attends more broadly to preschool teachers’ well-being, including self-efficacy, life satisfaction, financial stability, emotional and physical health, and autonomy.     

Cross-language transfer of phonological and orthographic processing skills from Spanish L1 to English L2

Previous cross-language research has focused on L1 phonological processing and its relation to L2 reading. Less extensive is the research on the effect that L1 orthographic processing skill has on L2 reading and spelling. This study was designed to investigate how reading and spelling acquisition in English (L2) is influenced by phonological and orthographic processing skills in Spanish (L1) in 89 Spanish-English bilingual children in grades 2 and 3. Comparable measures in English and Spanish tapping phonological and orthographic processing were administered to the bilingual children. We found that cross-language phonological and orthographic transfer occurs from Spanish to English. Specifically, the Spanish phoneme deletion task contributed a significant amount of unique variance to English word reading and spelling, for both real words and pseudowords. The Spanish homophone choice task predicted English reading, but not spelling. Taken together, these results suggest that there are shared phonological and orthographic processes in bilingual reading; however, orthographic patterns may be language specific, thereby not likely to transfer to spelling performance.