Effects of Different Chair-Based Exercises on Salivary Biomarkers and Functional Autonomy in Institutionalized Older Women

Purpose: The aim of this study was to test the effects of chair-based exercise programs on salivary stress hormones, physical fitness, and functional autonomy of institutionalized older women. Method: In total, 47 participants (80 ± 8.04 years old) were recruited and allocated into three groups: chair-based aerobic exercises (CAE, n = 19), chair-based elastic-band strength exercises (CSE, n = 15), and a control group (CG, n = 13). A 14-week exercise intervention was done for the CAE and CSE groups, two times per week, in no consecutive days. Members of the CG did not participate in any type of exercise but kept their regular lifestyle. Fear of falling, autonomy, physical fitness, salivary cortisol, and alpha-amylase levels were assessed before and after the intervention. Results: The CAE group improved upper and lower body strength, agility–dynamic balance, and autonomy, with fear of falling decreasing significantly (p < .05, moderate effect size). Both exercise groups showed a trend toward an increase in salivary alpha-amylase levels (CAE = 43%, d = .31, and CSE = 44%, d = .41). Conclusion: Both exercise programs were able to improve functional autonomy, even in elders older than 80 years of age. It might be interesting to investigate the effectiveness of combining both aerobic and strength exercises in a unique protocol. The modulation effect of exercise in the hormonal responses needs to be further explored.     

Assessment of attention in school children: teachers' ratings related to tests of attention

The paper provides (1) a teacher-administered rating instrument for inattention without confounding the rating with hyperactivity and conduct disorder, and (2) evidence that the ratings correlate with the scores obtained from cognitive tests of attention. In Study I, the first objective was to investigate the construct validity and the inter-rater reliability of the Attention Checklist (ACL) by factor analysing the teacher ratings of 110 Grade 4 children, obtained by using the ACL. The second objective was to investigate the predictive validity of the ACL by examining the relationship between the scores obtained for the participants from teachers' ratings using the ACL and the scores obtained by participants in the lab-type attention tests. The results of factor analysis showed that a single factor labelled ‘inattention’ underlies the 12 items in the ACL. Examining the differences in performance on attention tests, the ‘low attention’ children as rated by the teachers on the ACL scored lower than the ‘high attention’ children on the objective tests of attention. These findings were replicated in Study II, which was conducted to test further the construct validity and predictive validity of the ACL. This time, only those two tests (Auditory Attention and Visual Attention) that had shown relatively poor discrimination between the high and low attention groups in Study I were, again, administered to another cohort of 97 Grade 4 children, as it was our intention to further challenge the reliability of the ACL. Overall, the results of both studies suggest that comprehensive assessment of attention skills should include both ACL and objective measures of selective attention.     

Gender structure and women’s agency: toward greater theoretical understanding of education for transformation

Under the research radar, and yet highly influential in transformation of practices concerning the social understanding and enactment of gender, are women-led non-governmental organizations (WNGOs). Their continued efforts to reconfigure gender identities and their impact on public policy formation have expanded notions of citizenship and democracy as well as moved social justice to greater levels of concreteness. This article seeks to contribute to the literature by probing the role of WNGOs as educational institutions that both create and disseminate knowledge about gender inequalities and gender justice and, in so doing, foster the formation of assertive individual and collective identities that subsequently influence the public arena through their advocacy of measures to reduce inequalities between women and men. The work by these WNGOs confirms the theoretical premise that to effect social change, new knowledge must be created by the very groups that seek to alter the disadvantageous conditions that confront them.     

Freire,literacy and emancipatory gender learning

The contributions to education of one of the great Latin American thinkers, Paulo Freire, have been enormous. His voice and wisdom have inspired educators globally. Three particular contributions – to emancipation, to literacy, and to dialogue – are explored in this article through a critical lens. From a gender perspective, Freire’s path to consciousness-raising is crucial for emancipation but so also is empowerment, a notion contributed by the women’s movement. Adult literacy, Freire’s vehicle to raise consciousness, has been challenged by a recognition of the complexity underlying its acquisition, a factor we still have to incorporate in training and teaching programmes. Dialogical approaches in adult education, essential as they are to the attainment of deeper understanding of social phenomena and the possibility of consensual social action, build on a long trajectory of efforts to use public space for collective advancement. Situating Freire against a denser historical background enables the recognition of his merits and at the same time rescues the confluence of similar perceptions as well as different ideas in the construction of our contemporary world.     

World Development Report 2019: The changing nature of work

International Review of Education -