Changes in Perceived Teacher Self-Efficacy and Burnout as a Result of Facilitated Discussion and Self-Reflection in an Online Course Designed to Prepare Teachers to Work with Students with Autism

A growing number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who display complex learning needs present challenges to educators who struggle to meet their educational needs. Teaching is stressful and additional instructional challenges may increase teacher vulnerability to burnout, leading to a greater likelihood of attrition. Increasing teachers\u27 knowledge of strategies specific to students with ASD within online professional development may create needed support networks increasing self-efficacy and decreasing perceived stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes special and general education teachers\u27 perceived self-efficacy and burnout as a result of facilitated discussion and self-reflection embedded in an online learning environment. This mixed-methods research design explored teachers\u27 perceptions of self-efficacy and burnout as a result of participation in online course designed to address the competencies of the California Added Autism Authorization Certificate. To address the quantitative portions of the study, the teachers\u27 perceived self-efficacy was assessed at the beginning and end of the course using the Teacher Self-Efficacy Survey, and burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educator Survey. Data from transcripts of 25 participants\u27 responses in facilitated online discussion and self-reflection assignments served as the basis to investigate qualitative results. A follow-up focus group of seven teacher volunteers provided additional support for perceived differences in self-efficacy, as well as burnout results. Study results revealed statistically significant differences in teachers\u27 perceived self-efficacy from beginning to end of a 16-week course. Differences in teachers\u27 perception of burnout where not found to be statistically significant based on analysis of results from survey data from Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educator Survey. Qualitative analysis revealed four themes from this study, preparedness, confidence to implement strategies, community of support, and stress, in addition to core ideas from the focus-group discussion. Analysis of focus-group data gave the researcher a rich understanding of how special education and general education teachers expressed perceptions of the process of online facilitated discussion and self-reflection influenced changes in self-efficacy and burnout. Study implications include the importance of professional discourse opportunities embedded in online professional development for teachers\u27 to improve implementation of evidence-based intervention practices with students with ASD and learning challenges

Dopamine D4 receptor is a regulator of morphine-induced plasticity in the rat dorsal striatum

Long-term exposition to morphine elicits structural and synaptic plasticity in reward-related regions of the brain, playing a critical role in addiction. However, morphine-induced neuroadaptations in the dorsal striatum have been poorly studied despite its key function in drug-related habit learning. Here, we show that prolonged treatment with morphine triggered the retraction of the dendritic arbor and the loss of dendritic spines in the dorsal striatal projection neurons (MSNs). In an attempt to extend previous findings, we also explored whether the dopamine D4 receptor (D4R) could modulate striatal morphine-induced plasticity. The combined treatment of morphine with the D4R agonist PD168,077 produced an expansion of the MSNs dendritic arbors and restored dendritic spine density. At the electrophysiological level, PD168,077 in combination with morphine altered the electrical properties of the MSNs and decreased their excitability. Finally, results from the sustantia nigra showed that PD168,077 counteracted morphine-induced upregulation of μ opioid receptors (MOR) in striatonigral projections and downregulation of G protein-gated inward rectifier K+ channels (GIRK1 and GIRK2) in dopaminergic cells. The present results highlight the key function of D4R modulating morphine-induced plasticity in the dorsal striatum. Thus, D4R could represent a valuable pharmacological target for the safety use of morphine in pain management.This research was funded by: Junta de Andalucía (Spain) (P09-CVI-4702 and CTS-0161 to A.R); French National Research Agency (ANR-15-CE37-0006 to J.B. and A.T.); LABEX BRAIN (ANR-10-LABX-43 to J.B. and A.T.); Basque Government (Spain) (PUE21-03 to C.M); UPV/EHU (Spain) (COLAB20/07 to C.M). The University of Málaga, University of Bordeaux and CNRS provided infrastructural support

Programme Impact Assessment in Micro?Finance: The Need for Analysis of Real Markets

summary Impact assessment in micro?finance has focused on the impact of services on users and the ability of the organisation delivering those services to sustain its operations into the future. However, a focus on building organisations capable of long?term provision assumes that they will have a positive impact on the efficiency of the financial market. This is an assumption which impact assessment should also test but which has so far been neglected. Moreover, the search for a framework within which to undertake such an assessment must incorporate the complex array of social and political, as well as economic, relationships which financial markets embody. A fourfold analytical approach is proposed which can incorporate gender relations and which focuses on state involvement, market organisation, market structure and social embeddedness

Driving Sustainable Behavior in the Mainstream Consumer: Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Minimize Household Energy Consumption

This project reviews and evaluates the effectiveness of behavioral economic interventions on household energy consumption, as utilized by non-intrusive energy monitoring services such as our client company, PlotWatt. Through our assessment of the landscape of relevant academic literature and interviews with experts within the fields of behavioral economics and environmental psychology, we identify five principles of behavioral economics that are most salient for this sector: awareness, learning, social norms, goal setting, and framing. These five principles are examined through six case studies of companies within the client’s peer group: OPOWER, Earth Aid, Microsoft Hohm, Google PowerMeter, Wattvision and GreenLite Dartmouth/TELLEMOTION. In each case study, particular attention is paid to how effectively the behavioral economic intervention is implemented and best practices are highlighted. The paper concludes with tailored recommendations for PlotWatt. Our research suggests that a few behavioral economic tweaks to the user interface and reporting systems could lead to unique, measurable and significant behavior change that not only saves money for the household but also, in some case, motivates a deeper interest in conservation and curtailment of energy consumption

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Subsector Analysis: Its Nature, Conduct and Potential Distribution to Small Enterprise Development

This paper is concerned with the conduct of meaningful policy and project relevant research on small enterprise development. It responds to a growing demand for operationally useful small enterprise research, a demand which has surged over the past ten years in the wake of increasing concern with equity issues coupled with recent evidence on small enterprise efficiency

Subsector Analysis: Its Nature, Conduct and Potential Distribution to Small Enterprise Development

This paper is concerned with the conduct of meaningful policy and project relevant research on small enterprise development. It responds to a growing demand for operationally useful small enterprise research, a demand which has surged over the past ten years in the wake of increasing concern with equity issues coupled with recent evidence on small enterprise efficiency.food security, food policy, small enterprise, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Downloads December 2008-July 2009: 18, Q18,