What Should We Teach Children About Forgiveness?

The Primary and Secondary Handbooks on the National Curriculum for England state that children ‘should learn how to forgive themselves and others’. But what is involved in forgiveness? It is suggested that there is a strict view, which is shown to involve some ethically questionable attitudes, and a more relaxed view. Schools, it is suggested, need to introduce their students to an understanding of the complexities of these notions of forgiveness and other possible attitudes to wrongdoers. In the life and organisation of the school, however, it is argued that the more generous‐spirited attitude should prevail.     

Designing a search strategy to identify and retrieve articles onevidence-based health care using MEDLINE

Thepractice of evidence-based health care requires that information on methodology be identifiedfrom databases such as MEDLINE. Up until this year there have been no designated medicalsubject headings (MeSH) for evidence-based health care. ‘EVIDENCE-BASEDMEDICINE’ appears as a MeSH term from 1997. The absence of designated MeSH forthis concept prior to 1997 provides a challenge to the searcher. This paper describes the creationof a MEDLINE search strategy to retrieve articles on the methods of evidence-based health carepublished prior to the introduction of the new term, where an optimal combination of free-textand MeSH terms is required to identify relevant material. The study examines both free-text andsubject heading searching and attempts an optimal balance of sensitivity and specificity. It beginsby examining separate free-text and subject heading searches. Sensitivity of the subject headingsearch was 33% and specificity 80%, while the free-text search produced asensitivity of 50% and a specificity of 67%. The final strategy, combining bothapproaches, was more successful with sensitivity reaching between 82 and 90% andspecificity 83%. It is therefore possible to devise a search strategy to retrieve articles on themethods of evidence-based health care with relatively successful rates of sensitivity andspecificity. The limitations of MEDLINE, however, necessitate the use of additional approachesin identifying articles on the methods of evidence-based health care.     

Communicating Prevention: The Effects of the keepin' it REAL Classroom Videotapes and Televised PSAs on Middle-School Students' Substance Use

This study sought to determine if exposure to two communication-oriented activities, videotapes and public service announcements, accounts for changes in substance use among adolescents participating in the Drug Resistance Strategies Project's keepin' it REAL adolescent substance use prevention curriculum. Middle-school students (4,734, 72% Latino) responded to questionnaires related to these analyses. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model was fit separately to six substance use outcomes. The results suggested that intervention students who saw four or five videos engaged in less substance use in the past month than did students who saw fewer videos. Having seen the PSAs one or more times did not predict the reported change in substance use.     

Diversity on U.S. Public and Commercial TV in Authorial and Executive-Produced Social-Issue Documentaries

Where are diverse makers and subjects most likely to be found in U.S. TV documentary? This study compares commercial and public TV series, and also anthology formats (“authorial” series) and executive-produced formats. A content analysis for characters and makers showed that public TV authorial series are more diverse than either commercial or other public TV series. Independent documentaries have diversity value both in commercial and public TV settings.     

Cultivating communities of care: A qualitative investigation of the communication of support among incarcerated women

In 2014, a female-only detention and re-entry facility was restructured to implement new rehabilitative philosophies rooted in strategies to prepare incarcerated women for successful transition into society. A specialized housing unit called incentive-based housing (IBH) was created within this facility to promote an environment of accountability and responsibility. Here, women are expected to be proactive in seeking and achieving successes through programming, all while offering support to one another. In this study, participant observations and interviews were used to understand how 12 incarcerated women living in IBH communicate support. This qualitative study revealed three forms of support being communicated: (a) accountability, (b) validation, and (c) compassion. This study also revealed forms of communication that complicate support, including (a) drama and (b) rivalry. Communication of support is important to consider as we devise new approaches to rehabilitation within America’s criminal justice system.     

Community College Counseling: Why Are Research Outcomes So Elusive?

This article focuses on counseling research in the community college context. The article suggests the need for a robust community college knowledge base, describes some limitations of the current community college literature, and suggests a framework for more effective work in this area. The authors’ own experiences and selected examples of published studies are used as illustrations of the hurdles encountered and solutions available when examining counseling theories, practices, and outcomes in 2‐year settings.