Community sport programmes and social inclusion: what role for positive psychological capital?

Abstract

(Re-)Engagement with education and employment is a common objective within interventions designed to enhance social inclusion through sport participation. Consequently, the acquisition of capital to expedite the (re)engagement process has become a familiar theme. Literature has examined how various forms of capital may be accumulated through participation in sport. However, competing literature has explored how participation may enable positive psychological capital—which comprises personal qualities such as resilience, hope, optimism and self-efficacy—to be developed. This article adds to this work, by providing insights from a sports-based project which aimed to develop social inclusion among marginalized youth in three regions of the UK. Utilizing data from semi-structured interviews, we highlight how participation enabled young people to enhance the components of positive psychological capital, and offer a further theoretical vantage point from which to understand and debate the relationship between participation in sport and social inclusion.     

大学生抑郁症的成因调查及预防策略

抑郁症是严重危害人类身心健康的精神疾病,它已成为离我们越来越近的心理疾病,也正在悄悄地侵袭着高校大学生,已引起社会的广泛关注.本文从大学生抑郁自测量表(SDS)问卷调查人手,试分析导致大学生抑郁症形成的主要原因,并提出预防和干预抑郁症的对策.这对于大学生形成健康稳定的人格,培养良好的心理素质,促进校园和谐及社会稳定具有非常重要的现实意义.     

外文数据库分级定价模式研究

外文数据库的分级定价模式可分为电子＋纸本和纯电子模式,出版社主要采用订购机构FTE人数、订购机构规模、用户访问量、用户数量、订户订购的纸本内容或订购的纸本费用等作为分级定价的标准。通过对分级定价模式在实际应用中出现的问题进行分析,对分级定价模式的发展趋势作了预测。     

Read Two Impress and the Neurological Impress Method: Effects on elementary students’ reading fluency,comprehension, and attitude

This seven-week study examined the effects of the Neurological Impress Method and Read Two Impress on reading comprehension, fluency, and students’ attitude toward reading. The 57 first-, second-, and third-grade students were randomly assigned to three conditions and were pre- and posttested on eight reading measures. Several 3 × 2 factorial analyses of variance revealed significant interaction effects on retell, comprehension questions, and the multidimensional fluency scale as well as time effects on words read correctly per minute and word recognition accuracy. Moreover, a comparison of mean difference effect sizes favored the treatment groups on all reading fluency and comprehension measures. The interventions, however, had little effect on students’ attitude toward reading. Practical implications and future research directions are also discussed.     

Evaluating the outcomes of a school based Theraplay® project for looked after children

Research shows that Looked After Children (LAC) may experience emotional instability which can reduce their capacity to engage with education. This study evaluates an attachment based therapeutic Theraplay® intervention designed to bridge the gap between the emotional well-being of LAC and their engagement in education. Twenty LAC between the ages of five to 11 from nine schools participated in the project over eight months. The mixed method study used a repeated measures design. Strengths and difficulties questionnaires were used pre- and post-intervention; semi-structured interviews with teaching staff were conducted and children’s views were gathered. Quantitative results show a reduction in the children’s total strengths and difficulties stress scores post-intervention. Qualitative feedback shows noticeable changes in the children’s relationship skills, confidence and engagement with education. The complexities of supporting LAC in education and implications for educational psychology practice are explored.     

Pilot study for the fidelity,acceptability, and effectiveness of a PBIS program plus mental health supports in under‐resourced urban schools

This paper describes implementation (fidelity, perceived acceptability) and tier 1 and Tier 2 outcomes of school‐wide positive behavior interventions and supports approach including mental health supports at Tier 2 in two K‐8 urban schools. Interventions for Tier 2 consisted of three manualized group cognitive behavioral therapy (GCBT) protocols for externalizing behavior problems, depression, and anxiety. Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions were implemented with fidelity but program feasibility for Tier 2 was in question because school personnel needed a great deal of external support to implement the interventions. Tier 1 interventions were associated with a decrease in office discipline referrals. Students participating in GCBT showed a significant decrease in mental health diagnostic severity at posttreatment. A discussion of perceived and actual implementation barriers and how they were addressed is provided. Implications for practice in low‐income urban schools are discussed.     

A meta-analysis on the effectiveness of phonics instruction for teaching decoding skills to students with intellectual disability

This meta-analysis examines the effects of phonics instruction on the decoding skills of students with intellectual disability using a random-effects model. Eight single-case experimental studies and six experimental or quasi-experimental group studies met the inclusion criteria, encompassing a total of 297 participants with intellectual disability. The overall effect of phonics instruction on the decoding skills of persons with intellectual disability was large: g = 1.42 (95% CI: 0.75, 2.10). Single-case studies yielded a larger average effect size (g = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.10, 2.78) than group studies (g = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.69). Researcher-designed tests also yielded larger effect sizes than standardized tests. The type of interventionist was not a significant moderator. In the majority of the studies, phonics instruction was carried out using a systematic and direct instruction approach and a one-to-one format. Implications for practice and research are presented, and areas that require further investigation are identified.     

Solving problems through circles

Several problem-solving interventions that utilise a “circle” approach have been applied within the field of educational psychology, for example, Circle Time, Circle of Friends, Sharing Circles, Circle of Adults and Solution Circles. This research explored two interventions, Solution Circles and Circle of Adults, and used thematic analysis of questionnaire data to investigate the views of school staff that had taken part in these interventions. 62 participants were involved in a Solution Circle and 31 participants were involved in a Circle of Adults. Findings highlighted key features of these circle interventions which corresponded to those identified from relevant literature. Participants who had taken part in a Solution Circle described the applicability of solutions to other aspects of their work and a greater amount of strategies and solutions generated as a result of the group process. Participants who had been involved in a Circle of Adults session described having a greater understanding of a problem situation and empathy towards the focus pupil and the role of the educational psychologists in facilitating the process. Recommendations were made for educational psychology practice and for further research in this area.     

CS1: how will they do? How can we help? A decade of research and practice

ABSTRACT

Background and Context: Computer Science attrition rates (in the western world) are very concerning, with a large number of students failing to progress each year. It is well acknowledged that a significant factor of this attrition, is the students’ difficulty to master the introductory programming module, often referred to as CS1.

Objective: The objective of this article is to describe the evolution of a prediction model named PreSS (Predict Student Success) over a 13-year period (2005–2018).

Method: This article ties together, the PreSS prediction model; pilot studies; a longitudinal, multi-institutional re-validation and replication study; improvements to the model since its inception; and interventions to reduce attrition rates.

Findings: The outcome of this body of work is an end-to-end real-time web-based tool (PreSS#), which can predict student success early in an introductory programming module (CS1), with an accuracy of 71%. This tool is enhanced with interventions that were developed in conjunction with PreSS#, which improved student performance in CS1.

Implications: This work contributes significantly to the computer science education (CSEd) community and the ITiCSE 2015 working group’s call (in particular the second grand challenge), by re-validating and developing further the original PreSS model, 13 years after it was developed, on a modern, disparate, multi-institutional data set.     

国际儿童青少年体质与健康促进研究的现状与趋势——第63届美国运动医学会年会启示

摘要：“运动是良医”(exercise is medicine,ACSM,2010)不仅适用于成年人,在青少年成长中对其生长发育和综合体质水平具有不可替代的促进作用。本文以2016年第63届美国运动医学学会（ACSM）年会交流论文为例,从世界青少年体质研究进展视角出发,以青少年体质的国际调查、区域分布、测量和统计工具、影响因素和体质干预五个方面对当前青少年体质和健康促进的现状进行总结。研究表明,第63届ACSM年会发表的青少年体质与健康促进相关研究具有3个方面的特征,即：研究选题重视不同地区青少年群体总体趋势,兼顾弱势地区和特殊群体的现状和发展;研究方法重视体能指标、医学指标等客观指标的变化和关联,实验方法和统计方法新颖;研究结果的应用指向明显,重在解决现实问题,对宏观决策具有研究范式的参考价值。结果表明,第63届ACSM年会发表的青少年体质与健康促进相关研究具有研究选题广泛,研究方法严谨,研究结果应用性强的特征。建议我国青少年体质与健康促进的研究在宏观研究的基础上,重视落后地区和弱势群体的研究;在研究方法上重视测量指标优选、统计方法科学、指标关联的数据特征分析和社会相关指标分析;在研究应用上既为宏观决策提供科学的数据和趋势又为目标人群提供有的放矢的实践例证。