School resource officers, 'zero tolerance' and the enforcement of compliance in the American education system

Schools are an important part of any community, and are increasingly considered responsible for the social education of young people as much as their academic instruction. In doing so, many schools have adopted a ‘zero tolerance’ response to student conduct that involves harsh penalties for minor infractions. At the heart of this zero tolerance approach is the use of School Resource Officers (SROs) as a means of enforcing student discipline. Involvement of these sworn police officers in the day-today behaviour management processes of a school has serious implications for students that are targeted by these measures. Students at schools with a SRO presence are five times more likely to be arrested for disorderly conduct, with over 10,000 prosecutions of young people under the so-called ‘disturbing schools’ laws every academic year. SROs and their use as a behavioural deterrent can be seen to influence a juvenile’s likelihood of recidivism and heavily impacts upon their involvement in the school-to-prison pipeline. Direct causal connections exist between the criminalisation of misbehaviour in school and adult incarceration; in this sense, the presence of SROs in American schools must be re-evaluated in order to determine whether they constitute an acceptable application of social control

The data and deviance: disintegrative shaming and exclusion in Queensland schools

It is the purpose of this study to determine the extent to which the implementation of the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) model and its focus on data-driven behaviour management has impacted on exclusion rates in Queensland public schools and, as such, the commitment of Queensland public schools to reintegration of students with behavioural issues. Using the open source data on student exclusion rates and the reasons for exclusion, it is possible to determine shifting patterns over the last 10 years. In doing so, it has been possible to identify how the approach to exclusion in Queensland public schools has changed in the period since the introduction of the OneSchool data aggregation software. An analysis of exclusion data shows that while long-term suspensions have decreased over the last 10 years, the rate of short-term suspension and exclusion has increased. There has been a particular increase in disciplinary absences related to conduct issues like refusal to participate in class, rather than more serious violations like physical violence or drug use. Using Braithwaite’s reintegrative shaming model as a framework to analyse this behavioural exclusion data indicates that an over-reliance on exclusion is steering Queensland schools away from the principles of restorative justice, and has a negative impact on student outcomes

Supervised physiotherapy for mild or moderate ankle sprain

Clinical benefit might depend on the nature, intensity, and duration of treatmen

Most ankle sprain research is either false or clinically unimportant: A 30-year audit of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background: Lateral ankle sprain is the most common musculoskeletal injury. Although clinical research in this field is growing, there is a broader concern that clinical trial outcomes are often false and fail to translate into patient benefits. Methods: We audited 30 years of experimental research related to lateral ankle sprain management (n = 74 randomized controlled trials) to determine if reports of treatment effectiveness could be validated beyond statistical certainty. Results: A total of 77% of trials reported positive treatment effects, but there was a high risk of false discovery. Most trials were unregistered and relied solely on statistical significance, or lack of statistical significance, rather than on interpreting key measures of minimum clinical importance (e.g., minimal detectable change, minimal clinically important difference). Conclusion: Future clinical trials must adopt higher standards of reporting and data interpretation. This includes consideration of the ethical responsibility to preregister their research and interpretation of clinical outcomes beyond statistical significance

Clinical effectiveness of laser acupuncture: A systematic review

AbstractThe use of laser light as an alternative to needles to stimulate acupuncture points has been promoted for almost three decades. However, there has been no systematic assessment of the evidence to support the effectiveness of this form of acupuncture to date. A systematic review was therefore undertaken of RCTs evaluating laser acupuncture as a primary intervention. Relevant studies (n = 18) were identified using computer-based literature searches and selected hand searches. Evidence was found to support the use of laser acupuncture in the treatment of myofascial pain, postoperative nausea and vomiting and for the relief of chronic tension headache. Laser acupuncture would appear to represent an effective form of acupuncture for the management of these conditions and could be considered as a viable alternative to more traditional forms of acupuncture point stimulation