Preparing Students for Success on Examinations: Readiness Assurance Tests in a Graduate-Level Statistics Course

Formative feedback is one way to foster students' readiness for statistics examinations. The use of Readiness Assurance Tests was examined as an educational intervention in which feedback was provided for both correct and incorrect responses in a graduate-level statistics course. Examination scores in the intervention group ( n = 56) were compared with those in a control group ( n = 42). Intervention group examination scores significantly improved from 75.92 ± 14.52 on the Readiness Assurance Test to 90.06 ± 7.06, p < .001, on the midterm, and final examination scores improved from 78.23 ± 17.29 to 85.6 ± 6.98, p = .002. Intervention group midterm scores were significantly higher than those of the control group (90.06 ± 7.06 versus 79.7 ± 11.6, p < .001); however, no differences were found between the groups on the final examination (85.35 ± 9.46 versus 85.6 ± 6.98, p = .91). Use of Readiness Assurance Tests was an effective modality to increase student self-efficacy, learning experience, and, relative to a control group, midterm examination performance in statistic

Moving Special Collections Forward in an Age of Discovery: Themes from the ARL-CNI Forum

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Digitizing the KET Archives: A Brief Case Study

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An introduction to key event mapping: A primer for nurse researchers

To fully understand the events leading to a diagnosis, retrospective recall can help nurse researchers reconstruct important health behavior-related events. However, retrospective recall can be a challenge. Key event mapping offers nurse researchers a method beyond retrospective chart review to elicit date data to explore the pre-diagnosis time frame of an illness. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the key event mapping method to nurse researchers in search of a method of eliciting date data from participants when designing research studies that include a retrospective recall component

Lung cancer stigma as a barrier to medical help-seeking behavior: Practice implications

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of perceived lung cancer stigma and timing of medical help-seeking behavior in symptomatic individuals. Data sources A convenience sample was recruited from an academic thoracic oncology clinic and community hospital-based outpatient radiation center in a large city in the southeastern United States. This descriptive, cross-sectional study used survey methodology and semi-structured interviews to examine the relationship of perceived lung cancer stigma and delayed medical help-seeking finding a statistically significant positive correlation. Additional examination revealed positive correlations between the stigma and shame, social isolation, and smoking-related stigma subscales and delay. The discrimination-related subscale was not associated with delay. In addition, smoking status was not related to perceived lung cancer stigma. Conclusions Findings support an association between lung cancer stigma and delayed medical help-seeking behavior. Therefore, lung cancer stigma is a potential barrier to timely medical help-seeking behavior in lung cancer symptoms, which can have important patient outcome implications. Implications for practice As primary care nurse practitioners, awareness that lung cancer stigma exists for patients is essential regardless of smoking status and efforts to decrease this barrier to timely healthcare are important

Investigating the Role of the T-Cell Receptor Using Targeted Capture and High-Throughput Sequencing

Maintaining a diverse immune repertoire is crucial for protection against a wide range of pathogens. Until recently, it has been difficult to quantify this diversity and define the range of a repertoire in a healthy individual. The rise of massively parallel highthroughput sequencing has enabled researchers to gather more information than ever before, but many published works concentrate on describing individual T-cell and immunoglobulin chains. This report introduces a novel method for sequencing all a, b, g and d chains of the T-cell receptor and all immunoglobulin chains simultaneously, using high-throughput sequencing and targeted capture. Data was obtained through this method using two sequencing platforms, the Illumina MiSeq and the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine, and the analysis of data focused on the T-cell receptor using diversity measures borrowed from other scientific fields. This work demonstrated the successes and limitations of the capture technique and suggests that immune repertoire sequencing could have dramatic impact on the understanding of the immune system across a range of disease states. Therefore, a preliminary investigation was carried out into the reconstitution of the immune repertoires following paediatric haematopoeitic stem cell transplants in the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia

The Value of Creating a Culture of Caring

The purpose of this project is to provide nursing leaders, who attend the American Nephrology Nurses\u27 Association Leadership Pre-Conference Workshop, the rationale, tools, and outcomes of creating a theory based culture of caring in health care organizations. Utilizing the foundations of transformational and resonant leadership styles, a theory-guided approach to the caring science based in nursing practice will be explored and relevant research reviewed to elucidate to the participants the value added benefit of exploring one\u27s own organizational culture of caring. The author\u27s exploration of her own culture of caring will be shared to demonstrate the process and outcome

Influential variables on the timing of help-seeking behavior in lung cancer patients.

Lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer worldwide primarily because it is often diagnosed at an advanced stage. One factor that can influence advanced stage lung cancer diagnosis is delayed help-seeking behavior in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer. Delayed help-seeking behavior has been investigated in acute cardiovascular events and breast cancer, but there is little evidence on specific factors that influence the timing of help-seeking behavior in lung cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, and smoking status on the timing of help-seeking behavior in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer. This study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional design with 93 participants using the Revised Healthcare System Distrust Scale, Cataldo Lung Cancer Stigma Scale, and investigator-developed Timing of Help-Seeking Behavior and Demographic Questionnaire to assess the variables of interest. Hierarchical linear regression was used to assess the ability of healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, and smoking status to predict greater time to seek help in lung cancer patients, after controlling for annual income, perceived financial status, ethnicity, and social desirability. In Step 1, ethnicity and perceived financial status explained 10% of the variance in time to seek help. After entry of healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, and smoking status at Step 2, the total variance explained by the model as a whole was 23% of the variance in the time to seek help in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer. Significant findings from this study include the effect of healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, and ethnicity on help-seeking behavior in individuals with lung cancer symptoms. The findings indicate a critical need for public health awareness that targets increasing awareness of lung cancer symptoms, decreasing lung cancer stigma and healthcare system distrust, recognizing the significant proportion of lung cancer patients whom have never smoked, and decreasing delays in help-seeking behaviors in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer

Educator Self-Care: How do we save the lifeguards?

Educator Self-Care: How do we save the lifeguards? The impact of an educator cannot be dismissed especially when we consider that they are entrusted with a very difficult responsibility of cultivating productive and knowledgeable citizens. However, what happens when educators are exposed to trauma, either directly or indirectly? With the pressures of academic and behavior achievement surmounting, what can schools do to support their teachers who are entrusted with our future leaders? Coastal Academy GNETS will present a framework that is analogous to the Drowning Chain of Survival for Lifeguards to meet this growing need. Participants will gain an awareness of the impact of trauma on educators as well as strategies for schools to implement so that we protect our most valuable resources; the teacher. In addition, we will provide examples of how Coastal Academy GNETS is meeting the needs of our educators in this area of concern which includes a look into our Healing Rooms, creating a Plan of Connection, and forming a Compassion Team

Overcoming Second-Order Barriers to Technology Integration in K–5 Schools

The use of technology engages students and increases academic achievement, as Tamin, Bernard, Brookhovski, Abrami, and Schmid (2011) found in a study summarizing 40 years of research on this topic. Educators face attitudinal, sociocultural, and pedagogical barriers to technology integration in spite of its positive impact on academic achievement. In this qualitative multicase study, three groups of educators were interviewed to determine how some teachers successfully overcame barriers to technology integration. Each case contained two or three teachers, one administrator, and one technology support person in each of three schools in a rural northeastern school district. The findings showed that a team approach among administrators, technology support personnel, and teachers resulted in the strongest technology integration. Successful strategies included providing appropriate professional development, building collegial support and sharing among teachers, training teachers to locate relevant technological resources, and establishing value and support for the use of technology for learning