First-Generation College Students: Examining The Perceived Impact Of Roommate Pairings

This qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to examine the perceived impact of roommate pairings within university housing, specifically the first-generation college students’ residential experience and its influence on their first-year experience. Conducted at a faith-based, liberal arts university in the southeast, this study captured and shared the stories of its participants and their lived experiences as first-generation college students living with randomly assigned continuing-generation roommates. The research question for the study addressed what effect first-generation college students perceive being paired with continuing-generation students in university housing has on their overall first-year experience. The conceptual framework for this study was guided by Alexander Astin’s input-environment-outcome (I-E-O) model. Participants’ generational status defined the input, their residential experience and roommate pairing defined the environment, and an examination of their overall first-year experience defined the outcome. This study used a survey and follow-up semi-structured structured interviewss to capture the impact of roommate pairings as perceived by participants. The participants’ responses were organized and analyzed using the predetermined categories of academic success, social integration, retention, and student development. The primary finding of this study revealed a mixed opinion concerning the perceived impact of pairing roommates of different generational statuses during the first year of college. The results demonstrated: 1) an indirect influence of intergenerational roommate pairings on academic success, 2) a direct influence of intergenerational roommate pairings on social integration, 3) some influence of intergenerational roommate pairings on retention, and 4) inconsistencies concerning the influence of intergenerational roommate pairings on student development. These results are significant for residence life and housing professionals as they provide insight on student perceptions and inform practitioners as they aim to meet the needs retain? Provide a more developmentally appropriate housing experience? of first-generation college students. First-generation college students benefit from a roommate experience that is supportive and from a thriving connection to the university and its community. It is important for practitioners to examine the overall student experience when implementing and designing new initiatives. Recommendations for action include a review of institutional roommate pairing processes and proposed increased collaboration in educational programming

The Iowa Homemaker vol.15, no.7

Iowa State is Wearing, page 2 Dinner at Eight, page 3 Short Cuts to Clothes Care, page 4 But I got the Blanket, page 4 “Something Warm, Please!”, page 5 Does Your Hair Look Like You?, page 6 When Seniors Have Day-dreams, page 7 Food Fashions, page 8 Jobs Filled by Recent Grads, page 10 Have a New Year’s Resolution, page 11 Four Tons of Popcorn, page 12 In Rhodesia It’s Monkey-nuts, page 13 Action in the Three “R’s”, page 15 No More Noise, page 1

How well do UK assistantships equip medical students for graduate practice? Think EPAs

The goal of better medical student preparation for clinical practice drives curricular initiatives worldwide. Learning theory underpins Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) as a means of safe transition to independent practice. Regulators mandate senior assistantships to improve practice readiness. It is important to know whether meaningful EPAs occur in assistantships, and with what impact. Final year students at one UK medical school kept learning logs and audio-diaries for six one-week periods during a year-long assistantship. Further data were also obtained through interviewing participants when students and after three months as junior doctors. This was combined with data from new doctors from 17 other UK schools. Realist methods explored what worked for whom and why. 32 medical students and 70 junior doctors participated. All assistantship students reported engaging with EPAs but gaps in the types of EPAs undertaken exist, with level of entrustment and frequency of access depending on the context. Engagement is enhanced by integration into the team and shared understanding of what constitutes legitimate activities. Improving the shared understanding between student and supervisor of what constitutes important assistantship activity may result in an increase in the amount and/or quality of EPAs achieved

Comparing the Use of Visual Analogue Scales and Likert-type Scales in International Agricultural and Extension Education Surveys

Data collected using survey methodology is readily used to provide insight into improving international agricultural and extension education programs. The evolution of survey technology has allowed educators access to a growing number of audiences; however, the escalating quantity of surveys contributes to greater survey fatigue. Utilizing multiple forms of response, such as Likert-type scales and visual analog scales, may relieve some symptoms of survey fatigue. The use of visual analog scales may allow respondents the ability to respond more freely to questions where fractional differences can hold a wealth of information. This study examined the possible advantages of utilizing visual analog scales rather than Likert-type scales in surveys. A Web-based survey was conducted with respondents randomly assigned to one of two treatments: comparison constructs in traditional Likert-type scale presentation form using radio buttons or comparison constructs with a Visual Analog Scale presentation. Results indicated responses from visual analog scales were similar to those on Likert-type scale questions. No significant additional time to complete the constructs was found; however, a significantly lower non-response rate existed for one construct using the Likert-type scale (10% compared to 32%). Seventy-five percent of the respondents given visual analog scales utilized the freedom to select increments between the restricted points of radio buttons

The Iowa Homemaker vol.15, no.6

A Serve-Yourself party, page 2 Your Own Greeting Cards, by Betty Blanco, page 3 Merry Christmas to a Bookworm, page 3 Something She can Wear, by Kay Hoffman, page 4 Add To Her Dressing Table, by Dorothy Fedderson, page 5 A Tiny Manger Scene, by Gay Starrak, page 6 Package Be Gay! by Ethelavis Hendriks, page 7 Everybody Makes Candy At Christmas, by Stella Mae Brinkman, page 8 Let It be a Tea, by Ruth Cook, page 9 Let Your Christmas Tree Express Itself, by Ruth Kunerth, page 10 A Man “Hec” Student? by Irene Jacobs, page 11 Need and Idea? by Vera Joyce Horswell, page 13 Give Her Silver, page 14 Come Out-of-Doors, by Betty Taylor, page 1

Keeping up with the guidelines: design changes to the STREAM stage 2 randomised controlled non-inferiority trial for rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis

Results from the STREAM stage 1 trial showed that a 9-month regimen for patients with rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis was non-inferior to the 20-month regimen recommended by the 2011 WHO treatment guidelines. Similar levels of severe adverse events were reported on both regimens suggesting the need for further research to optimise treatment. Stage 2 of STREAM evaluates two additional short-course regimens, both of which include bedaquiline. Throughout stage 2 of STREAM, new drug choices and a rapidly changing treatment landscape have necessitated changes to the trial's design to ensure it remains ethical and relevant. This paper describes changes to the trial design to ensure that stage 2 continues to answer important questions. These changes include the early closure to recruitment of two trial arms and an adjustment to the definition of the primary endpoint. If the STREAM experimental regimens are shown to be non-inferior or superior to the stage 1 study regimen, this would represent an important contribution to evidence about potentially more tolerable and more efficacious MDR-TB regimens, and a welcome advance for patients with rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis and tuberculosis control programmes globally.Trial registration: ISRCTN ISRCTN18148631 . Registered 10 February 2016