Time well spent: a study of well-being and children's daily activities

This is the first study in Scotland to focus on the everyday activities of children and young people who are looked after by local authorities. Its aim is to help us better understand how looked after children spend their time, what activities and interests are most important to them, and how their activities relate to their physical and emotional development and well-being. The key messages of this study are that looked after children are ordinary children with the same interests as other children. They therefore need to have the same opportunities as other children to develop and pursue those interests. The adults in their lives need to think and plan carefully, and provide additional resources where necessary, to make sure that these opportunities are available to the children

Role of home visiting in improving parenting and health in families at risk of abuse and neglect : results of a multicentre randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation

Objectives – To evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an intensive home visiting programme in improving outcomes for vulnerable families. Design – Multicentre randomised controlled trial in which eligible women were allocated to receive home visiting (n=67) or standard services (n=64). Incremental cost analysis. Setting – 40 GP practices across two counties in the UK Participants – 131 vulnerable pregnant women. Intervention: Selected health visitors were trained in the Family Partnership Model to provide a weekly home visiting service from 6-months antenatally to 12 months postnatally. Main outcome measures – mother-child interaction, maternal psychological health attitudes and behaviour, infant functioning and development, and risk of neglect or abuse. Results – At 12-months differences favouring the home visited group were observed on an independent assessment of maternal sensitivity (p<0.04) and infant cooperativeness (p<0.02). No differences were identified on any other measures. There was a non-significant increase in the likelihood of intervention group infants being the subject of child protection proceedings, or being removed from the home, and one death in the control group. The mean incremental cost per infant of the home visiting intervention was £3,246 (bootstrapped 95% confidence interval for the difference: £1,645 - £4,803). Conclusion – This intervention may have the potential to improve parenting and increase the identification of infants at risk of abuse and neglect in vulnerable families. Further investigation is needed together with long term follow up to assess possible sleeper effects

Long term cognitive outcomes of early term (37-38 weeks) and late preterm (34-36 weeks) births: a systematic review

Background: There is a paucity of evidence regarding long-term outcomes of late preterm (34-36 weeks) and early term (37-38 weeks) delivery.  The objective of this systematic review was to assess long-term cognitive outcomes of children born at these gestations. Methods: Four electronic databases (Medline, Embase, clinicaltrials.gov and PsycINFO) were searched.  Last search was 5 th August 2016.  Studies were included if they reported gestational age, IQ measure and the ages assessed.  The protocol was registered with the International prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO Record CRD42015015472).  Two independent reviewers assessed the studies.  Data were abstracted and critical appraisal performed of eligible papers. Results: Of 11,905 potential articles, seven studies reporting on 41,344 children were included.  For early term births, four studies (n = 35,711) consistently showed an increase in cognitive scores for infants born at full term (39-41 weeks) compared to those born at early term (37-38 weeks) with increases for each week of term (difference between 37 and 40 weeks of around 3 IQ points), despite differences in age of testing and method of IQ/cognitive testing.  Four studies (n = 5644) reporting childhood cognitive outcomes of late preterm births (34 - 36 weeks) also differed in study design (cohort and case control); age of testing; and method of IQ testing, and found no differences in outcomes between late preterm and term births, although risk of bias was high in included studies. Conclusion:  Children born at 39-41 weeks have higher cognitive outcome scores compared to those born at early term (37-38 weeks).  This should be considered when discussing timing of delivery.  For children born late preterm, the data is scarce and when compared to full term (37-42 weeks) did not show any difference in IQ scores

Refining and Measuring the Construct of Evaluative Thinking: An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Evaluative Thinking Inventory

Background: Evaluative thinking has emerged as a key construct in evaluation, especially for evaluation practitioners and researchers interested in evaluation capacity building (ECB). Yet, despite increasing calls for more research on evaluation and, more specifically, for more research on ECB, until recently little empirical inquiry on the dimensions of evaluative thinking has been conducted. Purpose: To address that lack, the purpose of the study presented in this paper is to refine the construct of evaluative thinking by exploring its underlying dimensions and to ascertain the internal consistency of an instrument developed to measure evaluative thinking, the Evaluative Thinking Inventory (ETI). Setting: The ETI was developed as part of an ECB initiative focused on non-formal science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) education in the United States, and was tested as part of a study focused on evaluating gifted education programs, also in the United States. Intervention: Not applicable. Research design: Survey research and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Data collection &amp; analysis: The ETI was administered to participants in a study measuring the effectiveness of a tool used to conduct internal evaluations of gifted education programs. SPSS was used to conduct an EFA on 96 completed ETIs. Cronbach’s alpha was used to estimate the internal consistency of the instrument. Findings: The analysis of the ETI revealed a two-factor model of evaluative thinking (i.e., believe in and practice evaluation and pose thoughtful questions and seek alternatives). This study also provided internal consistency evidence for the ETI showing alpha reliabilities for the two factors ranging from 0.80 to 0.82. The ETI has potentially wide applicability in research and practice in ECB and in the field of evaluation more generally. Keywords: evaluative thinking; evaluation capacity building; research on evaluation; exploratory factor analysis

Fundamentals of Chemical Calculations for Secondary Schools

Analysis of seven high school chemistry texts which represent a typical cross section provides the authority for the inclusion of the theory and problems in this report concerning chemical calculations for secondary schools. In addition to the material in these texts, certain selected college texts were used as source material. The report involves a qualitative and quantitative treatment of the four major divisions of problems in which the many types of problems discovered in the seven high school texts can be organized. These four major divisions are: (1) atomi weights, molecular weights, and chemical formulas, (2) behavior of gases, (3) chemical equations, and (4) solutions. The theory relative to each type of problem precedes the quantitative treatment. The material compiled and formulted in this report provides a source of reference of the theory and typical problems encountered in teaching a course of chemistry in the secondary schools. General high school chemistry texts differ in the treatment of theory involved in problems and the illustration of these principles through typical problems. The texts are written in the language of the student and are limited in the depth and breadth of source material essential for the understanding and thorough preparation of a teacher in presenting these principles and problems. In combining the theory, typical problems which illustrate the theory, and methods of reaching a solution, a teacher's perception will be facilitated as he visualizes the picture as a whole, instead of as parts.Natural Scienc

Exploring Educators\u27 Experiences with School Ecosystems: A Qualitative Inquiry

This exploratory inquiry offers a glimpse into educators’ perceptions that connect their professional values and goals to their lived experiences in classrooms. Through the use of an open-ended survey, participants gave positive and negative experiences and ideal scenarios. Findings suggest that visibility and validity, professional advancement, and voice and agency were key gauges of alignment or dissimilitude for participants. Implications for administrators and leadership are discussed

Exploring feeding practices and food literacy in parents with young children from disadvantaged areas

Early childhood provides an opportunity to optimize growth and development and parents play a fundamental role in forming healthy eating habits in their children. A healthy diet im-proves quality of life and wellbeing and reduces the risk of chronic disease. The aim of this research was to explore parents’ experiences of feeding 0–5-year-old children and food literacy behaviors. This qualitative study employed a general inductive inquiry approach. Participants were recruited through community-based parenting organizations in disadvantaged areas. Eight focus groups were conducted with 67 parents (92.5% female) living in socially disadvantaged areas within met-ropolitan Perth of Western Australia. Ten themes emerged from the preliminary analysis and were aligned with domains of relatedness, autonomy, and competence within the self-determination the-ory. Themes included relatedness (1) feeding is emotional, (2) variations in routine and feeding structures, (3) external influences, autonomy (4) power struggles, (5) it must be quick and easy, (6) lack of strategies for feeding autonomy, competency (7) whatever works, (8) healthy is important but for some unattainable, (9) improvements in food literacy skills, and (10) conflicting information overload. This research informed the development of a food literacy program for parents. Parents faced many challenges when trying to provide healthy food. This research has shown parents would benefit from support to achieve healthy eating practices for their families

Does fall risk education tailored by motivation increase fall risk identification and fall prevention behaviors in community-dwelling older adults when compared to fall risk education tailored by authenticity?

To determine whether multimedia fall prevention education using different instructional strategies increases older adults’ ability to identify fall risks and implement fall prevention behaviors into their daily activities