Treatment fidelity reporting in intervention outcome studies in the school psychology literature from 2009 to 2016

Both student outcomes and treatment fidelity data are necessary to draw valid conclusions about intervention effectiveness. Reviews of the intervention outcome literature in related fields, and prior reviews of the school psychology literature, suggest that many researchers failed to report treatment fidelity data. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous reviews of treatment fidelity in four school psychology journals between 2009 and 2016. Results indicate that a plurality of studies reviewed operationally defined some, but not all intervention(s). Further, the majority of studies (72.8%) include a quantitative treatment fidelity data, a 35% increase from the Sanetti, Gritter and Dobey (2011) review of these same journals. Results also indicate many studies include data on multiple dimensions of fidelity. Of the multiple dimensions, adherence is (a) the most commonly reported dimension, (b) most often reported using a single index, (c) assessed using in vivo observation, and (d) high in a majority of studies. Further, results indicate some study and design characteristics are associated with the presence of operational definitions and treatment fidelity data.     

‘What an absurdity’: Penny Chuter and the polemics of progress in British rowing during the early 1970s

ABSTRACT

‘What an absurdity’: thus railed ‘P. Barnsby, Male Coach’ in the Letters page of Rowing magazine in August 1973, on the appointment of Penny Chuter as professional rowing coach for the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA). The flurry of responses prompted by his letter suggest that his views were not aligned with the majority of the rowing community; yet women’s role and position in the sport was still highly contested. Chuter’s appointment as an ARA National Coach, an elite level role with responsibility for the national squad as well as coach education in clubs, complicated and extended this polemic. Situated at the intersection of societal fears around female athleticism, employment and leadership – and the ideological conflict within the conservative Amateur Rowing Association about professional coaches regardless of gender – it provoked the rowing community to express some of its most profound uncertainties and anxieties about gender, and about the sport itself and the manner in which it should be undertaken. This paper explores these anxieties within the social context of second wave feminism and related shifts in gender norms, and the sporting context of British amateur rowing in the late 1960s and the early 1970s.     

Here is something you can't understand: the suffocating whiteness of communication studies

ABSTRACT

The authors utilize a modernity-coloniality framework to highlight practices of whiteness and white dominance within the academy and the field of communication studies in particular. The article grounds its framework in personal experience and theories in the flesh to build comradery with feminist of color scholarly forebears and to share with those who struggle to create spaces of change within the academy today and in the future. The authors advocate for an active consciousness of “included exclusion” as the first step toward decolonization. Decolonizing discursive and embodied knowledges creates avenues for social justice and change within the academy and beyond.     

Are Consumers Put off by Retargeted Ads on Social Media? Evidence for Perceptions of Marketing Surveillance and Decreased Ad Effectiveness

ABSTRACT

Consumers have described retargeted ads as “creepy,” possibly because these ads cue consumers that marketers are collecting personal data. Participants (N = 280) were either exposed to an ad that was targeted to past online behaviors or a general product ad. Behavioral targeting had a positive direct effect on purchase intent, but it also set off a negative indirect effect. Those exposed to behavioral targeting experienced increased perceived marketing surveillance, which led to increased threat, increased psychological reactance, negative attitudes toward the ad, and negative purchase intention. The indirect cost of perceived marketing surveillance on purchase intent was 4.5 percent.     

Student outcomes of the physical education and physical literacy (PEPL) approach: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial of a multicomponent intervention to improve physical literacy in primary schools

ABSTRACT

Background: Health organisations such as the United Nations continue to place an expectation on school physical education (PE) programmes and wider school strategies to ensure students develop physical literacy and receive the well-established benefits of meeting physical activity guidelines. Barriers to meet this expectation such as lack of trained PE teachers, lack of time and greater emphasis on academic achievement are ongoing challenges to schools. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the multi-component Physical Education Physical Literacy (PEPL) intervention, designed to improve students’ fundamental movement skill, perceived physical abilities and level of physical activity.

Method: A qualified PE teacher implemented the PEPL intervention across seven schools, and another seven schools formed a control group as part of a randomised cluster-based trial. Grade 5 students (N?=?318, age 10.4 years?±?SD 0.4) completed assessments of physical activity, fundamental movement skill, attitudes towards PE, and self-perceptions of physical abilities before and after a 33-week intervention. Intervention effects were examined using general linear mixed models. Post-intervention focus groups with students were used to develop insights into experiences and outcomes.

Results: With no significant gender interactions, the PEPL approach led to enhanced object control skills (β?=?1.62; SE?=?0.61; p?=?0.008), with little evidence of any other fundamental movement skill improvements in excess of those in the control group. There was also modest evidence for an effect on accelerometer measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during school time (β?=?4.50; SE?=?2.39; p?=?0.058), but this was not accompanied by any significant intervention effect over the entire week. Questionnaires indicated students in the PEPL programme became less satisfied with their own sporting ability (β?=??0.20; SE?=?0.08; p?=?0.013) but qualitative data analyses suggested that they enjoyed the PEPL approach experience, becoming more motivated and confident in their physical abilities.

Conclusions: Evidence of enhanced object control skill, increased confidence and motivation to be physically active, and moderate evidence of more MVPA during school time, indicate that the introduction of the PEPL approach contributed to the development of student physical literacy. A decrease in perceived sporting competence warrants greater attention on student’s self-perceptions in future iterations of the intervention.

Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry identifier: ACTRN12615000066583.     

Releasing the socio-imagination: children's voices on creativity,capability and mental well-being

With increasing concerns in the UK about the positive mental well-being and flourishing of children, this research, using drama and creative writing with primary school teachers, children and a theatre company, looks at the links between creative processes and children's well-being. This pedagogy applies a capability approach and we use this lens to examine children's critical reflections on the project. Interview data highlight the link between agency, social imagination and subjective well-being. The study offers some concrete examples of the ways in which creative processes can move beyond an outcome-based understanding of the curriculum by offering a legitimate space for children to explore their values and develop competencies which are crucial for well-being in the 21st century.     

Is Procrastination Related to Low-Quality Data?

While it is easy to assume that university students who wait until the last minute to complete surveys for their class research requirements provide low-quality data, this issue has not been empirically examined. The goal of the present study was to examine the relation between student research procrastination and two important data quality issues—careless responding and measurement noninvariance. Data gathered from university students across two semesters tentatively indicated that procrastination is related to low-quality survey data. Procrastination was slightly more problematic for certain data quality issues (measurement noninvariance) than others (careless responding). These relations, however, were small and contingent on how procrastination and careless responding were measured. Accordingly, it seems more beneficial for researchers to select a sampling window that supports their research goals and statistical power requirements rather than select a sampling window that attempts to minimize careless survey responding or other measurement issues.     

Weed 'Em and Reap? Deselection of Political Science Books

Weeding academic library collections is widely acknowledged as a necessary and beneficial, but difficult, task. Little research has been done on how librarians approach weeding for a particular academic subject area and how they apply general weeding plans and criteria to a specific subject. This project examines the weeding practices of librarians with responsibility for managing book collections in political science and related disciplines through the use of a survey about their weeding experiences and perspectives. While survey respondents expressed similar motivations for weeding, the obstacles they encounter, and their approaches to developing weeding projects to those outlined in the literature, respondents were more confident about weeding and do it more frequently than one would expect from prior scholarship. Open text responses gave insight into how librarians apply broad and subjective weeding criteria, such as currency and relevance, to their politics-related collections.     

A critical examination of communication textbooks

ABSTRACT

Courses: This single-class teaching activity was designed for courses on critical communication pedagogy (CCP), gender and race, communication education, research methods, and visual communication.

Objectives: By completing this activity, students should be able to (1) describe the principles of CCP, (2) examine critically how race and gender are represented in communication textbooks, and (3) identify how textbooks reproduce and reflect dominant assumptions about the study of communication, race, and gender.