The Unintentional Effects on Body Donation Programs of a Competency-Based Curriculum in Postgraduate Medical Education

As medical programs place increasing importance on competency-based training and surgical simulations for residents, anatomy laboratories, and body donation programs find themselves in a position of adapting to changing demands. To better assess the demand for “life-like” cadaveric specimens and evaluate the possible impacts that competency-based medical education could have upon the body donation program of McGill University, Canada, the authors tracked, over the course of the last 10 years, the number of soft-embalmed specimens, along with the number of teaching sessions and the residents enrolled in competency-based programs that are using cadaveric material. The results reveal that the number of soft-embalmed specimens used within residency training increased from 5 in 2009 to 35 in 2019, representing an increase from 6% of bodies to 36.5% of the total number of body donors embalmed in this institution. Correspondingly, the number of annual teaching sessions for residents increased from 19 in 2012 to 116 in 2019. These increases in teaching are correlated with increasing number of residents enrolled in competency-based programs over the last 3 years (Pearson r ranging from 0.9705 to 0.9903, and R² ranging from 0.9418 to 0.9808). Those results suggest that the new skill-centered curricula which require residents to perform specific tasks within realistic settings, exhibit a growing demand for “life-like” cadaveric specimens. Institutions’ body donation programs must, therefore, adapt to those greater need for cadaveric specimens, which presents many challenges, ranging from the logistical to the ethical.     

‘Teaching’ the path towards university: understanding student access through storied-futures and meritocratic grand narratives

The notion that the stories of our lives shape dispositions towards imagined futures is another lens through which university underrepresentation should be viewed. A storied lens attends to how futures, like university attendance, are storied during childhood to the extent that some youth imagine, and therefore plan, these futures as natural progression. Such was the case for study participants, indicating that childhood stories contain answers for mitigating social reproduction connected to parental education and cultural forces within the home. Examining social mobility through the underexplored storied-futures grand narrative presents unique solutions that lay hidden within the dominant meritocratic grand narrative.     

Discrete Choice Modeling in Education: An Innovative Method to Assess Teaching Practices

Self‐reported measures are an easy, time‐efficient, and low‐cost way to collect research data compared to other assessment methods. They are, however, characterized by several limitations regarding the quality and the clarity of the data they produce, especially when they are implemented in education. The main purpose of the current study was to use a method called discrete choice modeling (DCM) in education, in order to develop a self‐reported instrument that will reduce the bias for socially desirable responses and to assess teachers’ practices in physical activity. DCM method has the ability to overcome the respondents’ tendency to answer in a socially desirable way. A nationally representative sample of 531 Greek early educators participated in this study and were administered a self‐assessment questionnaire based on DCM. Results showed that the DCM based newly developed instrument manages to assess effectively educators’ practices and provided evidence of the applicability of the method in education. Further implications and future recommendations regarding the effective application of DCM in education are discussed.     

Parents’ son preference,childhood adverse experience and mental health in old age: Evidence from China

BackgroundSon preference is an enduring phenomenon in China and may often be related to childhood adverse experiences. According to a life-course perspective, adverse experiences during a childhood period may have a long-term effect on mental health in later age. However, little is known about this relationship between parents’ son preference, childhood adverse experiences and adulthood mental health in China.ObjectiveThe study aims to evaluate the association of parents’ son preference and individual mental health in old age in China. The mediating role of childhood adverse experiences was also estimated.Participants and settingThe China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2015 combined with CHARLS life history survey was analyzed (N = 11,666).MethodsMental health was measured by a shortened modification of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale including seven items, and higher scores indicated worse mental health status. A four-step mediating model was applied.ResultsRespondents growing in families with son preference had on average 0.75 (P < 0.001) points higher on the mental health scale than their counterparts, and the effects were consistent for both males and females. Childhood adverse experiences measured by physical maltreatment, emotional adverse experiences and witnesses of inter-parent violence mediated the relationship between parents’ son preference and individual adulthood mental health by 47.87%. For females, physical maltreatment and emotional adverse experiences explained the most parts of health effects of parents’ son preference, whereas witnesses of inter-parent violence was the most influential mediator for males.ConclusionParents’ son preference led to adverse childhood experiences, which influenced mental health in adulthood.     

A longitudinal investigation of protective factors for bereaved maltreated youth

BackgroundMaltreated youth are at an elevated risk for the development of problem behaviors. Coping with the death of a family member or close friend during adolescence, referred to as bereavement, is a stressful event that could potentiate risk linked to maltreatment. However, developmental research suggests that youth adjustment is a product of multiple risk and protective factors. Although maltreated youth who experience loss may be particularly vulnerable to behavior problems, personal and contextual factors may attenuate or exacerbate youths’ risk for internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.ObjectiveThe overarching goal of this study is to examine individual, family, and community-level protective factors for maltreated youth who experience bereavement. Specifically, we aim to examine the effect of age 12 bereavement on age 16 internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and to investigate the moderating role of multi-level protective factors at ages 14 and 16.MethodsThe study consisted of a sample of 800 youth (52.4% female, 45.1% African-American) drawn from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), collected from 1998 to 2011.ResultsMaltreated youth who experienced significant loss were at increased risk for externalizing symptoms, compared to non-bereaved maltreated youth (β = 0.085, p < .05). Individual future orientation (β = 0.103, p < .05) family future orientation (β = −0.120, p < .05), parental monitoring (β = −0.123, p< .01), and neighborhood collective efficacy (β = −0.126, p < .01) each significantly moderated the association between bereavement and externalizing symptoms.ConclusionsThese results have implications for future interventions aimed towards reducing problem behaviors in adolescents with a history of child maltreatment and who experience bereavement.     

新旧《全国普通高等学校体育课程教学指导纲要》的比较分析研究

对新旧《全国普通高等学校体育课程教学指导纲要》进行比较分析研究发现,新旧《纲要》既有相同点,又有不同点,但新《纲要》更具发展创新点。它条款增多,定位更加准确,体现了科学性;容量增大,内容更加全面,反映了系统性;文字充实,叙述更加条理化,突出了指导性。     

中、美、日体育学科硕士研究生课程设置的比较研究

用文献法、比较法调查和Internet查询等方法,对中、美、日等国体育学科硕士研究生课程设置进行比较分析,旨在为改进我国研究生课程设置提供参考。结果显示:通过对三国体育学科研究生课程从基础理论、专业、相关学科、学科前沿知识及科研能力培养等方面进行分析,美国、日本注重实践能力的培养,我国注重理论知识的培养。结论:根据我国研究生教育的实际情况,提出改进课程设置的建议。     

从基础教育与高等教育课程发展与人才递进的关系问题--略谈我国基础教育中体育与健康课程改革的程序问题

就我国基础教育课程改革体育与健康课程的构建问题,提出了基础教育课程改革与高等教育课程改革的程序问题,指出了我国高等教育课程改革的滞后现象。     

关于建国以来高校体育专业<体操>教材的研究

对建国以来 5种版本的全国高校体育专业《体操》教材进行比较 ,分析了章节内容、教材特点和结构比例 ,认为各版本教材反映了体操学科知识的系统性和我国体操理论及技术发展的时代特征 ;各版本章节内容的侧重面体现了各历史阶段高校体育专业的教改要求 ,适合体育专业的培养目标 ,教材的发展已形成”体院”和”高校”版二种体系。提出了在 2 1世纪体操教材建议中应探讨的若干问题     

对《全国普通高等学校体育课程教学指导纲要》的理性认识

《全国普通高等学校体育课程教学指导纲要》是对我国高校体育课程长期以来建设经验和教学改革成果的提炼与总结，通篇贯穿了“以人为本，健康第一”这条主线，体现了“素质教育”和“终身体育”的指导思想，注重理论与实践的结合。原则性与灵活性的统一，具有很强的针对性和指导作用．但目前人们对《纲要》仍然存在许多认识上的误区和理解上的偏差，严重阻碍《纲要》的贯彻实施，本文从课程性质、课程目标及实现目标的基本途径三个方面对强纲要》进行理性认识，以期赢得广大同仁的强烈共鸣，为《纲要》在全国普通高等学校中顺利施行打下坚实的理论基础。