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This Element has two main purposes. Firstly, it discusses purposes, advantages, and disadvantages as well as the challenges of different formats of language assessment, concluding with a focus on educator-administered language assessment in early childhood and education programs. It addresses the selection of assessment domains, the trade-off between brevity and precision, the challenge of assessing bilinguals, and accommodating the requirements of funders (e.g., government agencies) and users (e.g., educators and schools). It draws on lessons learned from developing two instruments for a national Danish-language and preliteracy assessment program. Secondly, it introduces those two educator-administered instruments-Language Assessment 3-6 (LA 3-6) and Language Assessment 2-year-olds (LA 2)-with respect to content, norming, gender and socioeconomic influences as well as psychometric qualities. The intention is that this experience can help enable the extension of the educator-based approach to other languages and contexts, while simultaneously acknowledging that linguistic and cultural adaptations are crucial.
Adolescents spend considerable amounts of time using digital media and social media. Although risks and benefits exist, clinicians, teachers, and parents have grown concerned about problematic use, or excessive use that interferes with adolescents’ health, well-being, and development. In this chapter, we explain the difference between problematic and normative media use, and review existing prevention and treatment approaches for problematic social media use. Although we could not identify published prevention or intervention programs specific to problematic social media use, we present results from a pilot study and other digital media interventions and provide guidance on how clinicians should screen for problematic media use. As this research is still in its early stages, we conclude with directions for future research. Research needs to expand beyond simple measures of amount of social media use and recruit more diverse adolescents (including adolescents with comorbid mental health concerns).
This chapter introduces the concept of the institutionalization of knowledge broadly, and its history within South African universities when radical curriculum changes were attempted in the past. How the institutionalization of knowledge works is described in relation to the scant literature on the subject including the writings of Sarah Ahmed and Larry Cuban. And the stability of curriculum’s ideological commitments is explained in relation to two prominent examples, the English language and formal assessment, both of which remain undisturbed as objects of radical criticism in institutional life.
There is no widely-recommended standardized and valid measurement tool for evaluating the disaster preparedness of nurses. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of scales developed or adapted to evaluate the sudden-impact natural disaster preparedness of nurses.
Methods:
This study is a systematic literature review for the psychometric properties of disaster preparedness tools. Studies published from 2010 through June 2021 were identified from a systematic search of five databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and ProQuest. The Consensus-Based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) checklist was used for the systematic review and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline for reporting. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report on the Development of a Disaster Preparedness Tool Kit for Nursing and Midwifery was used to evaluate scale contents.
Results:
Six articles were identified that met the inclusion criteria. The scales generally had a multi-dimensional structure and used Likert scoring with internal consistency coefficients ranging from 0.785 to 0.97. All scales were rated sufficient in content validity, structural validity, and cross-cultural validity. One scale was rated sufficient in criterion validity while the others were rated indeterminate. One scale was rated insufficient in reliability and internal consistency while the others were rated sufficient.
Conclusion:
The findings suggest improving the psychometric properties of scales of nurses’ disaster preparedness according to COSMIN, expanding their content scope, and developing new scales. The study will provide beneficial data to users and researchers regarding the need for a comprehensive assessment tool in determining the disaster preparedness of nurses.
Behavioural activation (BA) is an efficacious treatment approach. Activity monitoring is a key component of brief BA treatments; however, no studies have examined the most efficacious format for monitoring. The present pilot study tested brief versus intensive activity monitoring approaches during a BA intervention administered in a college orientation course. Outcomes characterised (1) engagement with the treatment protocol via activity monitoring and (2) participant qualitative experiences with monitoring and the intervention as reported during focus group interviews. Four course sections were randomly assigned to receive monitoring forms that were brief (assessed activities three times daily) or intensive (assessed activities hourly). Forms were provided electronically to students via a web-based platform which tracked completion. There were no significant differences in monitoring frequency (38.0 vs. 23.0 days; p = .154) or the duration of monitoring engagement (62.0 vs. 36.0 days; p = .054) between the brief and intensive conditions. Qualitative findings suggested that participants in both conditions found utility in activity monitoring, particularly during the first month as they transitioned to college. Overall, findings indicated that participants may find utility in monitoring during the first month of a BA intervention using either brief or intensive monitoring forms.
The way people with psychosis psychologically adapt and manage the diagnosis of such a mental disorder has been considered a key factor that contributes to the emergence and aggravation of emotional problems. These beliefs about illness can be very important due to their possible association with stigma and its implications in terms of loss of roles and social status. Given the importance of these personal beliefs about the specific diagnosis of psychosis, the Personal Beliefs about Illness Questionnaire (PBIQ) and PBIQ-R have been developed.
Aims:
The present study aims to explore the psychometric characteristics of the Spanish version of the PBIQ-R in a sample of patients with a diagnosis of psychosis-related disorders.
Method:
Participants were 155 patients (54.8% male) of the Public Health Service in Andalusia (Spain). Those who consented to participate filled in the PBIQ-R, the Social Comparison Scale, and the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 to measure emotional symptoms.
Results:
All dimensions showed adequate internal consistency values: Cronbach’s alpha extends between .81 and .88; and McDonald’s omega ranges between .87 and .92. The temporal reliability for an interval of 3–4 weeks was high. The correlations between the PBIQ-R dimensions and the other variables included in the study were significant and in the expected direction. The factor analysis of the principal components of the PBIQ-R dimensions revealed a single factor in each of the dimensions that explained 64–74%.
Conclusions:
The results support the reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the PBIQ-R.
This chapter draws together many of the ideas discussed in other chapters by looking at the points to consider when doing curriculum design on the vocabulary component of a language course. It also describes important vocabulary principles by seeing how learners can be encouraged to take control of their vocabulary learning. This chapter follows a traditional model of curriculum design consisting of goals, needs analysis, environment analysis, principles of vocabulary learning, format and presentation, content and sequencing, monitoring and assessment and evaluation. It also considers how the essential vocabulary learning conditions of repetition and quality of processing can be built into a language course, and presents eight practical recommendations for improving the opportunities for repetition and quality of processing of the target vocabulary in a course. The chapter also explores how learners can be helped to become autonomous in their vocabulary learning using principles based on the parts of the curriculum design model.
Chapter Abstract: This chapter explores how to cultivate wisdom through public education. To educate for wisdom, we need to be clear about our target outcome. We suggest a wise student is one who is healthy and well-integrated physically, personally, intellectually and socially—what Rogers called “a fully functioning person.” Educational programs need specific indicators of progress, so we propose six connections to being, feeling, and thinking. These connections are established and strengthened by curricula that include: studying inspirational exemplars; teaching strategies to become like those exemplars (e.g., journaling); teaching concepts related to wisdom (e.g., critical thinking); and building real and virtual educational environments. Although the best teachers already teach for wisdom, many (perhaps most) teachers in public education do not. Making teaching for wisdom more common requires changes to current teacher education, student assessment and educational policy.
The pollutants discharged untreated into water bodies become a challenge in Ethiopia. This study aims to assess sanitation and hygiene status and the associated problems. A total of 500 households were selected using a systematic random sampling technique. Questionnaires, interviews, and site observation were employed. The absence of public and communal latrines had been seen as the constraint. The present study confirmed that waste disposal management has serious problems. In conclusion, these findings revealed that part of the households are living in communities with the town-owned poor sanitary facilities and that further studies are encouraged on waste disposal management.
Although composing has been a significant part of formal classroom music education in England for over 30 years, there still remains uncertainty about how to teach and assess composing in secondary schools. This research investigates the under-researched area of teaching and learning of composing in upper secondary schools in England whereby students (aged 14–18) may opt to study music for a national qualification. Taking a mixed methodology approach, data were collected through a survey of 182 music teachers, interviews with five prominent composer-educators, as well as research with five case study schools involving observations of teaching and interviews with teachers and students. This paper reports on three prominent beliefs about composers that seem to underpin teaching and assessment practices; firstly that composers have innate musical talents; secondly that composing is solely an individual process and finally that students must learn the ‘rules’ of composing before being creative. This article proposes that these perceptions do not reflect the diversity of composers’ creative practices and may result in reinforcing stereotypes and myths about composers that have the potential to disadvantage certain students in the examination.
Microcephaly, an anthropometric marker of reduced brain volume and predictor of developmental disability, is rare in high-income countries. Recent reports show the prevalence of microcephaly to be much higher in lower resource settings. We calculated the prevalence of microcephaly in infants and young children (n = 642; age range = 0.1–35.9 months), examined trends in occipitofrontal circumference (OFC) growth in the year after birth and evaluated the relationship between OFC and performance on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) in rural Guatemala. Multivariable regression analyses adjusted for age were performed: (1) a model comparing concurrent MSEL performance and OFC at all visits per child, (2) concurrent OFC and MSEL performance by age group, and (3) OFC at enrollment and MSEL at final visit by age group. Prevalence of microcephaly ranged from 10.1% to 25.0%. OFC z-score decreased for most infants throughout the first year after birth. A significant positive association between continuous OFC measurement and MSEL score suggested that children with smaller OFC may do worse on ND tests conducted both concurrently and ∼1 year later. Results were variable when analyzed by OFC cutoff scores and stratified by 6-month age groups. OFC should be considered for inclusion in developmental screening assessments at the individual and population level, especially when performance-based testing is not feasible.
With an increasing global ageing population, the psychiatry of old age has become increasingly important. This revised second edition remains a succinct manual on the practice of psychiatry of old age, providing an up-to-date summary of existing knowledge, best practice and future challenges for the specialty, from a global perspective. Written by four leading clinicians, teachers and researchers, the book offers a much-needed international focus and is designed for use in a wide variety of countries and settings. Chapters are presented in a clear and practical way, enhanced by current and comprehensive further reading sections as well as tables and diagrams for quick assimilation and reference. The new edition is updated to incorporate new developments in assessment, investigation, classification, treatment and care since the publication of the first edition, including the ICD-11 and DSM-5. Essential reading for practising psychiatrists and geriatricians, as well as trainees, nurses and medical students.
This chapter reviews assessment research with the goal of helping all readers understand how to design and use effective assessments. The chapter begins by introducing the purposes and contexts of educational assessment. It then presents four related frameworks to guide work on assessment: (1) assessment as a process of reasoning from evidence, (2) assessment driven by models of learning expressed as learning progressions, (3) the use of an evidence-centered design process to develop and interpret assessments, and (4) the centrality of the concept of validity in the design, use, and interpretation of any assessment. The chapter then explores the implications of these frameworks for real-world assessments and for learning sciences research. Most learning sciences research studies deeper learning that goes beyond traditional student assessment, and the field can contribute its insights to help shape the future of educational assessment.
This chapter reviews the implications of learning sciences (LS) research for schools, including assessment, curriculum, teaching practice, and systemic transformation. A central theme of this review is the role of technology in education – its history, its failings and successes, and how future technology designs can be grounded in LS. The chapter then describes some trends and opportunities in the field of LS research, including the integration of individual and sociocultural research approaches; the ways that LS research can contribute to equity and diversity in learning and in schools; and the sociology and history of LS as a discipline.
Addressing sexual health and sexual problems of patients, needs and education, and training in patient-centered, non-judgmental communication to help patients talk about intimate issues in an open way, thus providing emotional relief, feelings of acceptance and helping patients to understand the factors which contribute to problems, and the possible solutions
This chapter explores how behavioural difficulties and attendance at school can affect each other in different ways and aims to help practitioners to think more about what it is the child is communicating through their behaviour. The chapter considers behaviour in the context of normal development and defining behavioural difficulties and disorders. It moves on to consider behavioural difficulties in relation to attendance and exclusion from school. The chapter emphasises the need to avoid taking behaviours at face value and exploring the child’s individual needs, in the context in which this behaviour is arising, through thinking about adverse childhood experiences, attachment and wider influences. In thinking about the possible needs of the child through holistic assessment the chapter ends with some considerations around moving forward and what we can do to support a more positive trajectory. We hope that practitioners will see the importance of remaining open and curious about behaviour to further understand and support the children and young people they work alongside.