Baby Boomers in the Brave New Academic Library

Excerpt: The baby boomer generation is larger than any generation that has preceded it. Boomers are more likely to live longer and better than previous generations, and they have changed jobs more often than previous generations. They understand the necessity and have the desire to be life-long learners

Health-Related Quality of Life in Children with DuchenneMuscular Dystrophy: A Review

In pediatric chronic illness, improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has become one of the most important goals of disease management. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a debilitating, progressive and chronic neuromuscular disorder affecting boys. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of published research on HRQOL in the pediatric DMD population, describe the instruments used and summarize the study findings. The databases searched were Medline, Embase and PsycInfo. The literature search yielded 167 articles, of which 19 were included in this review. The studies were published between 2005 and 2013 across nine countries. Thirteen different generic and disease-specific measures were used, the most common being the Pediatric Quality of Life 4.0 Generic Core module. HRQOL in boys with DMD is worse than that of healthy peers and children with other chronic illnesses, especially in the physical domains. Boys who are at a more severe stage of the disease reported worse physical HRQOL but not necessarily psychosocial HRQOL than boys at a less severe stage. Traditional clinical outcome measures correlated well only with physical HRQOL. Parents\u27 proxy-reports of their sons\u27 HRQOL and the boys\u27 self-reports had poor concordance. More research is needed to assess trends in HRQOL over time and to elucidate factors that affect HRQOL

How IT Continuing Education Has Transformed Our Library

Excerpt: Having the skills and knowledge to adequately respond to technology-based information demands has never been more important. When the library at East Tennessee State University was opened in 1999, it was the first new academic building that had been constructed on the campus in a number of years

Creating a Reading Culture in an Academic Library

Aliteracy is becoming a growing concern on college campuses, including East Tennessee State University (ETSU). Several years ago, a colleague emailed the librarians at Sherrod Library an article from the online edition of the Washington Post (Weeks 2001) about a graduate student at Park University in Kansas City who was making it through school by skimming texts, drawing information and themes from dust jackets, watching television, and listening to audio books. Jeremy Spreitzer, the focus of the Washington Post story, represented the growing number of students in the United States who are aliterate. After discussing this article at our faculty meeting, we came to the conclusion that there were a number of students on our campus that fit this description, and that the library must be creative in encouraging students to cultivate a lifelong reading habit

Implementing Handheld Computers as Tools for First-Grade Writers

All humans use objects in their environment as tools for actions. Some tools are more useful than others for certain people and populations. This paper describes how different first-graders used handheld computers as tools when writing. While all 17 children in the observed classroom were competent users of their handheld computers, their use of handhelds for pre-writing differed among the students. Some students’ thinking was clearly enhanced with the use of handhelds before writing. Other students showed writing competence without referring back to their pre-writing work on the handheld. No students were unable to operate their handhelds in the pre-writing process

A critical review of theory in social work journals: A replication study

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is multifold. Key aspects discussed include exploring the extent of theory discussion and progression in social work journals for the year 2004; discussing the necessity of theory in social work research and practice; reviewing previous research literature regarding evaluation of theory discussion and progression; proposing criteria for defining theory in social work journals; and presenting findings from the current study concerning theory discussion and progression in social work journals. Results: Of the 1,168 articles reviewed from 37 journals, 71 (approximately 6%) met the criteria for theory development with empirical base. Thus, a minimal number of articles (3 out of 71 or 4.2%) evaluated, based on the criteria in the theory quality scale (Table 1), received high quality ratings. Conclusion: Based on the results yielded by the analysis, we assert that social workers need to make a conscious effort to include theory in practice decisions. Keywords: Theory, social work theory, empirical assessment of theory, social work practice, theory progression, human behavior, and the social environment (HBSE

Emotional well-being in children with epilepsy: Family factors as mediators and moderators

Objective: Our objective was to examine the relationships of factors associated with children\u27s emotional well-being 2 years after diagnosis, and to examine if these relationships are mediated or moderated by family factors. Methods: Data came from a multicenter prospective cohort study of children with newly diagnosed epilepsy from across Canada (Health-Related Quality of Life in Children with Epilepsy Study; HERQULES, n = 373). Emotional well-being was assessed using the Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire (QOLCE-55). The relationships between clinical factors, family factors, and emotional well-being were assessed using multiple regression analyses. Results: Family functioning, family stress, and repertoire of resources that the families had to adapt to stressful events were significantly associated with poor emotional well-being 2 years after diagnosis (p \u3c 0.05) in the multivariable analysis. The effect of parental depressive symptoms was partially mediated by family functioning and family stress (p \u3c 0.01 and p = 0.02, respectively). Family resources acted as a moderator in the relationship between severity of epilepsy and emotional well-being (p \u3c 0.05). Significance: Based on our findings, efforts to strengthen the family environment may warrant attention. We suggest that clinicians take a family centered care approach by including families in treatment planning. Family centered care has been shown to improve family well-being and coping and in turn may reduce the impact of clinical factors on emotional well-being to improve long-term health-related quality of life