Here's to the Appreciative Advisers

This poem was inspired by the Apple commercial, "Here's to the Crazy Ones" and pays tribute to Appreciative Advisers who are truly making a difference in the lives of their students

Discover, Dream and Design: Evaluation of the 2012 Appreciative Advising Institute

The growing number of institutions interested in adopting Appreciative Advising led to the increasing need for systematic Appreciative Advisor training and professional development beyond isolated presentations. In response to this need, the Office of Appreciative Education at the University of South Carolina has sponsored the Appreciative Advising Institute in the last two years. This article offered an overview of the Appreciative Advising Institute, and reported the impact of the institute on both institute faculty and participants. Visions of Appreciative Advising and Appreciative Education were also shared. Based on the feedback from faculty and participants, recommendations for future Appreciative Advising Institute are discussed

College Students Today…

College students today are regularly accused of being under-prepared and under-motivated, yet they are also under intense pressure to pick a major, graduate in four years, and be prepared to work in fields that do not yet exist

An Appreciative Approach to Diversity Training

One way to combat "diversity fatigue" is to take an appreciative approach to diversity training. This article highlights the six phases of Appreciative Education and how diversity trainers can use specific activities for each phase to deliver effective diversity training

Development of the Appreciative Advising Success Inventory (AASI)

This article describes the process to develop and validate the Appreciative Advising Success Inventory (AASI). The AASI instrument is designed to measure the success of college students, as measured through correlations to student psychosocial factors (PSFs), who interact with academic advisors who are trained in applying the Appreciative Advising theory-to-practice framework. PSFs are attitudes and behaviors that influence how students think about and approach their college experience. Applying psychometric theory and instrument development methods that have been applied in similar projects, the AASI instrument can be used to improve advising practice and measure the impact of Appreciative Advising. The results from this preliminary study suggest that when academic advisors use the Appreciative Advising framework effectively, it directly influences key PSFs that then influence such student success outcomes as academic confidence, academic motivation, and intent to persist

The relationship between dementia severity and rest/activity circadian rhythms

Patients with dementia have been shown to have disturbed sleep/wake rhythms. There is evidence of impairment in endogenous generation of rhythms and deficient environmental cues in this population. This study sought to examine patterns of rest/activity rhythms as they relate to dementia severity. Three days of actigraphy were collected from 150 nursing-home patients with dementia and used to compute rhythm parameters. Dementia severity was estimated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The relationship between rhythm parameters and dementia severity was examined. Rhythm parameters were not associated with dementia in the sample as a whole, but relationships emerged when the sample was divided on the basis of overall rhythm robustness (F-statistic). Within the group with less robust rhythms, those with stronger rhythms had less severe dementia. In the group with more robust rhythms, milder dementia was associated with having an earlier acrophase (timing of the peak of the rhythm) and narrower peak of the rhythm (shorter duration of peak activity). These results suggested a three-stage model of rest/activity rhythm changes in dementia in which dementia patients have a rapid decline in rhythmicity followed by a slight return to stronger rhythms. In the later stages of dementia, rhythms decline even further

Does addressing gender inequalities and empowering women and girls improve health and development programme outcomes?

This article presents evidence supporting the hypothesis that promoting gender equality and women's and girls' empowerment (GEWE) leads to better health and development outcomes. We reviewed the literature across six sectors-family planning (FP); maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH); nutrition; agriculture; water, sanitation and hygiene; and financial services for the poor-and found 76 studies from low and middle-income countries that met our inclusion criteria. Across these studies, we identified common GEWE variables that emerged repeatedly as significant predictors of sector outcomes. We grouped these variables into 10 thematic categories, which we termed 'gender-related levers'. These levers were then classified by the strength of evidence into Wedges, Foundations and Facilitators. Wedges are gender-related levers that had strong associations with improved outcomes across multiple sectors. They include: 'control over income/assets/resources', 'decision-making power' and 'education'. Elements of these levers overlap, but combined, they encapsulate agency. Increasing female agency promotes equality and broadly improves health and development for women, their families and their communities. The second classification, Foundations, displayed strong, positive associations across FP, MNCH and nutrition. Foundations have a more proximal relationship with sector outcomes and include: 'equitable interpersonal relationships', 'mobility' and 'personal safety'. Finally, the third group of levers, Facilitators, was associated with improved outcomes in two to three sectors and include: 'access to information', 'community groups', 'paid labour' and 'rights'. These levers make it easier for women and girls to achieve their goals and are more traditional elements of development programmes. Overall, gender-related levers were associated with improvements in a variety of health and development outcomes. Furthermore, these associations were cross-sectoral, suggesting that to fully realize the benefits of promoting GEWE, the development community must collaborate in co-ordinated and integrated ways across multiple sectors. More research is needed to identify the mechanisms by which gendered interventions work and under what circumstances

Engaging Families in Supporting their Students

Parents and families are a key factor in college student success. As such, it is critical that institutions develop positive relationships with the families of students, particularly during new student orientation programs. Appreciative Advising has been used as a solid model for advisors and mentors to work with students on nurturing meaningful partnerships, generating co-constructed paths to success, and providing individualized sets of tools and timelines for personal development. Appreciative Advising is an effective, proven framework for enhancing student success which can be applied to working with parents durign new student orientation. The six-phase model can be taught to parents as a way to empower them to assist their student in achieving their educational and personal goals

Adapting and Implementing Appreciative Advising Framework to Train Orientation Leaders

Expanding upon the work of Hendley (2010) who introduced the concept of adapting the six phase Appreciative Advising framework (Bloom, Hutson, & He, 2008) to orientation leader training, this article demonstrates how to construct and implement an effective training program for orientation leaders. It provides practical application of each phase of Appreciative Advising for bother orientation training facilitators and orientation leaders. In doing so, this article demonstrates how the six phases of Appreciative Advising offer a framework that incorporates and emphasizes the development of the informational, conceptual, and relational skill sets desired from orientation leaders. This development begins during training and transcends to leaders' interaction with incoming students. Appreciative approach to training has the power to positively impact the orientation leaders as well as the new students