RETROSPECTIVE AND CURRENT LEVELS OF SELF-EFFICACY IN JAPANESE LEARNERS

Self-efficacy is the strength of expectations individuals maintain about their ability to successfully perform a behavior. As such, researchers from many fields (e.g., educational psychology, health, medicine) have employed self-efficacy to predict and describe a wide range of human functioning. However, relatively few studies in second language (L2) reading have investigated the relationship between reading self-efficacy and proficiency, and those that have tend to suffer from design flaws and/or problems with analyses. Furthermore, no studies have explored the effects that past experiences seem to have on current levels of reading self-efficacy. In order to address this lack of empirical research, this quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate how participants’ retrospective ratings of reading self-efficacy related to current levels, and how those current levels, in turn, relate to reading proficiency. The participants, all of whom were non-English majors, consisted of 322 first- and second-year Japanese university students, ages 18 to 20. Data to examine retrospective self-efficacy was collected through the sources of reading self-efficacy questionnaire and TOEIC reading scores were utilized for the reading proficiency variable. The results suggest that the retrospective ratings of self-efficacy in junior high and high school are closely related to the participants’ current levels of reading self-efficacy. The results from an ANOVA also showed a statistically significant difference in reading performance between those with high reading selfefficacy and those with low reading self-efficacy. The results demonstrate how important past levels of self-efficacy can be on learners’ current levels of self-efficacy; therefore providing students in the EFL classroom with achievable activities and opportunities to cultivate their self-efficacy would be indicated. Further research is necessary to determine specific ways in which teachers may help foster a stronger sense of self-efficacy in EFL learners

Exploring patient and family satisfaction in pediatric neurological surgery

Introduction Patient and family satisfaction during outpatient visits is correlated with a continuance of care and likelihood to recommend the practice to others. Additionally, patient-family satisfaction can determine the success of the practice and influence medical outcomes. Utilizing a well-validated surveys instrument, patient and family satisfaction can be explored in the office setting. Methods During a consecutive 36 month period, a standardized and validated patient satisfaction survey instrument was provided to the family members of patients who presented to two pediatric neurosurgery clinics associated with Nemours Children\u27s Health System. The completed surveys were analyzed statistically to identify correlations between overall satisfaction, defined as “Likelihood to Recommend (LTR) the Practice”, and relevant practice and provider variables. Results The factors that exhibited the greatest correlation to LTR were: ‘Cheerfulness of Practice’ (r = 0.74), ‘Ability to Get Desired Appointment’ (r = 0.70), ‘Likelihood of Recommending Care Provider’ (r = 0.65), ‘Staff Worked Together’ (r = 0.65), and ‘Waiting Area Comfort and Pleasantness’ (r = 0.60). Discussion and conclusions Patient and family satisfaction surveys are useful for gaining insight into pediatric neurosurgical practices. Data from this cohort suggest that the environment in which patient care is delivered, timeliness of appointments and positive perceptions of the healthcare team correlate most strongly with overall satisfaction. © 201

Unlocking the Doors to Patient Satisfaction in Pediatric Orthopaedics

Background Many hospitals continue to struggle to improve patient satisfaction as the identification of tangible quality improvement areas remains difficult Medicare hospital payments are linked to patient satisfaction and hospitals\u27 HCAHPS scores, which has contributed to the growing influence of patient satisfaction measures Investigation into the major drivers of patient satisfaction in the pediatric clinical arena has not been thoroughly pursued To determine the main drivers of patient experience in pediatric orthopaedics, we performed an analysis of patient satisfaction surveys collected from outpatient pediatric orthopaedic practices at 5 locations in 3 states Hypothesis: the patient-physician relationship is the most important factor in patients\u27 assessment of their experiences These results may have significance in aiding pediatric orthopaedic clinics in their Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement plans of enhancing the patient experiencehttps://jdc.jefferson.edu/pedsposters/1000/thumbnail.jp

Impact of ocean warming on sustainable fisheries management informs the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries

Acknowledgements Serpetti N., Heymans J.J., and Burrows M.T. were funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under the Marine Ecosystems Research Programme (MERP) (grant No. NE/L003279/1). Baudron A. and Fernandes, P.G. were founded by Horizon 2020 European research projects MareFrame (grant No. 613571) and ClimeFish (grant No. 677039). Payne, B.L. was founded by the Natural Environment Research Council and Department for Environment under the ‘Velocity of Climate Change’ (grant No. NE/J024082/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Spitzer Search For Planetary-Mass Brown Dwarfs With Circumstellar Disks: Candidate Selection

We report on initial results from a Spitzer program to search for very low-mass brown dwarfs in Ophiuchus. This program is an extension of an earlier study by Allers et al. which had resulted in an extraordinary success rate, 18 confirmed out of 19 candidates. Their program combined near-infrared and Spitzer photom- etry to identify objects with very cool photospheres together with circumstellar disk emission to indicate youth. Our new program has obtained deep IRAC pho- tometry of a 0.5 deg2 field that was part of the original Allers et al. study. We report 18 new candidates whose luminosities extend down to 10-4 L\cdot which sug- gests masses down to ~ 2 MJ if confirmed. We describe our selection techniques, likely contamination issues, and follow-on photometry and spectroscopy that are in progress