Effect of massed and disturbed practice on reading comprehension for high and low anxious college students

Thirty-si x mal e and femal e col lege students selected from a data bank of 335 students were ested for readi ng comprehensi on. Students were of average schol asti c apti tude wi th ei ther an extreme hi gh or extreme l ow score on the TMAS. The learni ng task , whi ch served as the test for readi ng comprehensi on, was presented to each student under ei ther massed or di stri buted practi ce at a control led rate of speed. The number of correct responses to a multiple choice test served as the dependent variable. One half of the high anxiety students and one half of the low anxiety students were randomly selected for the distributed practice condition. Remaining students received massed practice. Three factors (type of practice, anxiety level, post-test and 24 hour follow-up) were analyzed by ANOVA for thirty-six students completing the study. No evidence was found to support the hypothesis: (1) that students in the distributed practice condition would perform better than students in the massed practice condition, (2) low anxiety students would perform better than the high anxiety students. The data did support the hypothesis that the retention level would not change from the post-test to the 24 hour follow­ up test

Parent-Child Relationships and Self Concept: A Comparison of Children from Divorced and Intact Families

Understanding the impact of divorce on children becomes more vital each year because of the increasing number of children who experience parental divorce. Although there is substantial literature on divorce, inconclusive findings exist because (a) not enough researchers have compared children of divorced families to children from intact families, (b) divorce is often viewed as a single event rather than a process involving many variables, and (c) few researchers have examined post-divorce relationships among family members as in important predictor of adjustment to divorce. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare children from divorced and intact families with regard to self-concept and perceptions of parent-child relationships. A unique contribution of this study was that children were asked for their perceptions rather than asking parents for children\u27s reactions to divorce. Data were collected from 45 divorced families (45 mothers and 77 children) and 44 intact families (44 mothers and 79 children) over an 18-month period. The divorced-family sample was obtained from the Knox County Chancery Court Records, and the intact-family sample was obtained by asking the divorced participants to suggest the names of people that met certain criteria. All participants were measured in their own homes. Children between the ages of 3 and 21 years completed various form of instruments measuring self-concept (Bill Index of Adjustment and Values, Self-Concepts Referents Test) and perceptions of parent-child relationships. (Bronfenbrenner Parent Behavior Questionnaire, Social Schemas). Mothers completed questionnaires measuring self-concept (Tennessee Self-Concept Scale), adjustment (Blair\u27s Divorcees Adjustment Instrument, Index of Adjustment), and family relationships (Family Relations Inventory, Family Relations Inventory for Intact Families). Separate stepwise regression analyses were used to predict children\u27s self-concept and perceptions of parent-child relationships for divorced and intact families. Evidence was obtained to support the hypothesis that social-psychological variables (e.g., mother\u27s present adjustment) and family relationship variables (e.g., quality of mother-child and father-child interaction) were predictive of the child\u27s self-concept and perceptions of parent-child relationships in both divorced and intact families. A similar pattern emerged for the two family structures in that the mother\u27s adjustment was predictive of the child\u27s self-concept and the quality of the spouse or exspouse relationship and the father-child relationship were the most important predictors for determining children\u27s perceptions of the quality and quantity of family relationships. Three multivariate analyses of covariance (with age as the covariate) were used to determine if there were any differences between children from divorced and intact families. Although one of the multivariate analyses was not significant (i.e., self-concepts), two multivariate analyses were significant, indicating that children from divorced and intact families perceived parent-child relationships differently

Nurse-Driven Spiritual Care Referrals for Poststroke Depression

Poststroke depression (PSD) is a common complication after a stroke that frequently goes undertreated, leading to poor health outcomes. These patients often face a sudden change in self-identity, finding discrepancies between their pre-/post-stroke self, which significantly correlates with depressive symptoms and spiritual distress. The aim of this quality improvement (QI) project was to create a sustainable process for improving access to spiritual care as a holistic component of PSD treatment by (1) identifying stroke patients with an elevated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) depression screening score, (2) initiating a referral to a chaplain for those with a PHQ-9 score of ≥5, and (3) evaluating staff nurse satisfaction with the protocol. This project uses a pre-/post-test quasi-experimental design. The staff nurses of a 32-bed stroke unit in an academic medical center placed spiritual care referrals for all adult patients with a stroke diagnosis and a PHQ-9 score of ≥5 during admission. Outcomes were measured using the number of completed PHQ-9 screenings, PHQ-9 scores, the number of spiritual care referrals made, and evaluation of nurse satisfaction with the referral protocol. Goals included an improvement in the PHQ-9 screening rate from 62.4% to ≥80%, a referral rate of ≥80%, and that the nurses would find the protocol easy to implement and meaningful for patients. Over the 13-week implementation period, 108 of 121 eligible patients had completed PHQ-9 screenings for a rate of 89.3%, a statistically significant improvement (p<0.0001). 87% of patients with a PHQ-9 score of ≥5 had a spiritual care referral placed. Of the 15 nurses who responded to the post-implementation survey, 100% agreed that the protocol was easy to implement and that chaplain visits were meaningful experiences for patients. This project demonstrated how an inpatient neuroscience unit could successfully implement a referral protocol for spiritual care in response to PHQ-9 screenings of adult stroke patients. Elements of success included a standardized screening and referral protocol, an electronic medical record that supported the screening tool, and the simplicity of placing referrals without a provider co-sign. In addition, nurses were supportive, and their engagement informed changes that led to recommendations for long-term sustainability.Doctor of Nursing Practic

Tribute to Myo Ji Sunim JDPS

Myo Ji Sunim JDPS died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 4, 2011. She practiced, taught and traveled tirelessly in Europe, Asia and North America. In recogni¬ tion of the many lives she touched, we present the following tributes from her students and famil

Advice about Life Plans from Mothers, Fathers, and Siblings in Always-Married and Divorced Families during Late Adolescence

The frequency of advice about life plans that older adolescents in always-married and divorced families received from mothers, fathers, and siblings was examined. Also, a pattern-analytic approach that grouped adolescents according to the amount of advice about life plans received from each parent and a sibling was employed to explore the connections between patterns of advice and adolescents' future occupational, educational, and family plans. The sample included 544 and 95 older adolescents in always-married and divorced families, respectively. Findings suggested that while adolescents relied on mothers for advice in both always-married and divorced families, adolescents in divorced families depended on fathers and siblings for advice less often than did adolescents in always-married families. Although there was some evidence of family context differences in the connections between patterns of advice and life plans, overall, adolescents in both family contexts who received more advice from a parent and, in some cases, a sibling compared to other adolescents were the most positive about their future life plans.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45291/1/10964_2004_Article_345952.pd

Soundboard Scholar no. 1: Cover

The three guitars were reproduced from La chitarra: quattro secoli di capolavori / The Guitar: Four Centuries of Masterpieces (Edizioni il Salabue, 2008), with the kind permission of Giovanni Accornero. The instruments were made (L to R) by Magno Graill (Rome, c.1620), Antonio Vinaccia (Naples, 1787), and Ignacio Fleta (Barcelona, 1961).https://digitalcommons.du.edu/sbs_gallery/1000/thumbnail.jp