Use of Concept Mapping Within a Functional Neuroanatomy Course to Promote Critical Thinking Skills in Occupational Therapy Students

Background: Critical thinking involves examining and reflecting on one’s own biases, assumptions, and thinking processes. Within occupational therapy (OT), critical thinking skills are foundational skills to support effective clinical reasoning and decision making; however, there is limited evidence on how these skills can be developed and applied within OT education to support positive student outcomes. Purpose: The purpose of this research project was to explore the use of explicit instruction on critical thinking paired with concept mapping as teaching methods to support entry-level OT student mastery of content knowledge related to functional neuroanatomy. This study aimed to answer the following research questions: What is the effect of concept mapping and explicit teaching of critical thinking concepts compared to a traditional classroom lecture on students’ knowledge of neurological conditions? What are the perceptions of entry-level OT students on the use of concept mapping for learning about neurological conditions? Theoretical Framework: This project was developed using the constructivism and cognitivism learning theories along with the Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning, which emphasize the importance of active, learner-centered teaching methods. Methods: This study used a quasi-experimental design with a retrospective pre-post assessment after each intervention (lecture and concept mapping). The same group of participants was used for each condition, which included a convenience sample of first-year Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) graduate students enrolled in the course Functional Neuroanatomy at a university in the midwestern United States. Additional outcome measures included a survey of student perceptions on the use of concept mapping and assessment of student concept maps using a scoring rubric. Results: Student self-assessment using a retrospective pretest-posttest indicated significant gains in knowledge following both the concept mapping activity and traditional lecture. Students reported a strong affective acceptance of concept mapping and found concept mapping easy to use. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that concept mapping is an effective instruction method for promoting mastery of content knowledge, making connections between different content areas, and visualizing the big picture. Given these findings, occupational therapy educators should consider incorporating concept mapping and critical thinking instruction into their courses and curriculum as a form of active, student-centered learning

Influences of Anthropogenic Noise on Flight Initiation Distance, Foraging Behavior, And Feeder Community Structure of Wild Birds

Throughout the world, birds represent the primary type of wildlife that people experience on a daily basis. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that alterations to the acoustic environment can negatively affect birds as well as humans in a variety of ways, and altered acoustics from noise pollution has the potential to influence human interactions with wild birds. In this thesis, I investigated how anthropogenic noise impacts daily behavior as well as community structure of wild birds. In the first component of this thesis, I assessed the distance at which a bird initiates flight or escape behavior (i.e., flight initiation distance or FID) in varying acoustic conditions. I surveyed 12 songbird species from three foraging guilds, ground foragers, canopy gleaners, and hawking flycatchers, and I predicted FIDs to decrease, remain the same, and increase with noise exposure, respectively. Contrary to expectations, the canopy gleaning and flycatching guilds exhibited mixed responses, with some species exhibiting unchanged FIDs with noise while others exhibited increased FIDs with noise. However, FIDs of all ground foraging species and one canopy gleaner decreased with noise levels. In the second component, I examined the feeding of wild birds, an increasingly popular recreational activity throughout North America that promotes increased sense of wellbeing by connecting people with wildlife and nature. I tested how experimental noise influences abundance, species richness, community structure and foraging behavior of songbirds at maintained bird feeders. By measuring activity levels of all species that utilized the feeders exposed to intervals of quiet and noisy conditions, I found noise to be a significant predictor of community turnover. Specifically, noise exposure resulted in increased feeder activity for two species, and decreased activity for one species. I also confirmed previous research conducted in the laboratory indicating white-crowned sparrows decrease their foraging rate under noise conditions, presumably as a trade off with visual vigilance. Considering the interactions of humans and wild birds, the results from my two thesis components indicate that the acoustic environment can play a role in how species of different foraging guilds respond to birdwatchers and what species visit bird feeders

A Qualitative Examination of Graduate Advising Relationships:The Advisee Perspective

Sixteen 3rd-year counseling psychology doctoral students were interviewed about their relationships with their graduate advisors. Of those students, 10 were satisfied and 6 were unsatisfied with their advising relationships. Satisfied and unsatisfied students differed on several aspects of the advising relationship, including (a) the ability to choose their advisors, (b) the frequency of meetings with their advisors, (c) the benefits and costs associated with their advising relationships, and (d) how conflict was dealt with in the advising relationship. Furthermore, all of the satisfied students reported that their advising relationships became more positive over time, whereas many of the unsatisfied students reported that their advising relationships got worse (e.g., became more distant) over time

Restorative Justice in Cases of Sexual Harm

Restorative justice for cases of sexual harm offers a trauma-informed and evidence-based approach to healing and prevention that current criminal legal options do not. The literature is clear that current sex crimes policies and practices have been ineffective at reducing rates of sexual violence. Similarly, current criminal legal practices fail to hold people accountable for the sexual harms they’ve caused and do little to support survivors who come forward. Unlike the criminal legal system, restorative justice provides survivors with a safe platform within which to talk about their experience(s) of sexual harm on their terms and voice their individual needs and desires regarding true accountability. The process offers those who have caused sexual harm to take responsibility for their actions, to engage in an educative process that helps them understand the impacts of the trauma they inflicted and engages them in taking concrete actions to remain accountable to and to make authentic, sustained amends. This Article discusses the impacts of the criminal legal system on individuals who have been sexually harmed, explains underreporting, police interactions, and case attrition. Part II frames the reasons why post-conviction sex crimes policies are ineffective at reducing rates of sexual offending or addressing the needs of individual who have experienced sexual harm. Part III explains the root causes of sexually harmful behavior. Part IV sets the stage for an introduction to restorative justice. Part V expands on the authors’ individual journeys to restorative justice as sex crimes experts and rape survivors. Part VI focuses exclusively on restorative justice as a means to address sexual harm. Lastly, Part VII concludes with the hope of a restorative future

Concept Mapping as an Instructional Method to Support Critical Thinking in Occupational Therapy Students: A Pilot Study

In occupational therapy practice, critical thinking is a foundational skill for the delivery of effective care; however, there is limited evidence on the development of critical thinking skills in occupational therapy education. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects and student perceptions of concept mapping on critical thinking skills in occupational therapy education. This study used a quasi-experimental design with a retrospective pre-post assessment after two teaching conditions: (a) traditional lecture and (b) concept mapping. The same convenience sample of students was used for each condition. Additional outcome measures included assessment of student concept maps using a scoring rubric and a survey of students’ perceptions on the use of concept mapping. Results of the retrospective pre-post assessment indicated significant gains in student knowledge (

Tattoos and antisocial personality disorder

Objective  The relationship of tattoos to the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) was explored in a forensic psychiatric inpatient hospital setting. It was hypothesized that a greater proportion of forensic inpatients that possessed tattoos had ASPD than patients who did not possess tattoos. Method  Forensic male psychiatric inpatients (N = 36) were administered a semi-structured interview to determine the presence of a tattoo. ASPD was determined by criteria on a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV ASPD checklist. Demographic and background characteristics of the patients were collected, and details about each tattoo were obtained including a calculation of the surface area of each tattoo. Results  Significantly more forensic psychiatric inpatients with tattoos had a diagnosis of ASPD compared to patients without tattoos. Patients with ASPD also had a significantly greater number of tattoos, a trend toward having a greater percentage of their total body surface area tattooed, and were more likely to have a history of substance abuse than patients without ASPD. Tattooed subjects, with or without ASPD, were significantly more likely to have histories of substance abuse, sexual abuse and suicide attempts than non-tattooed patients. Conclusions  Forensic psychiatric inpatients with tattoos should be assessed carefully for the presence of ASPD as well as for substance abuse, sexual abuse and suicide attempts, factors having potentially significant influence on the assessment and treatment of such patients. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60449/1/43_ftp.pd

Essential Features and Rational Design of CRISPR RNAs That Function With the Cas RAMP Module Complex to Cleave RNAs

Small RNAs target invaders for silencing in the CRISPR-Cas pathways that protect bacteria and archaea from viruses and plasmids. The CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) contain sequence elements acquired from invaders that guide CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins back to the complementary invading DNA or RNA. Here, we have analyzed essential features of the crRNAs associated with the Cas RAMP module (Cmr) effector complex, which cleaves targeted RNAs. We show that Cmr crRNAs contain an 8-nucleotide 5’ sequence tag (also found on crRNAs associated with other CRISPR-Cas pathways) that is critical for crRNA function and can be used to engineer crRNAs that direct cleavage of novel targets. We also present data that indicates that the Cmr complex cleaves an endogenous complementary RNA in Pyrococcus furiosus, providing direct in vivo evidence of RNA targeting by the CRISPR-Cas system. Our findings indicate that the CRISPR RNA-Cmr protein pathway may be exploited to cleave RNAs of interest

Sexual and Relationship Violence Prevention and Response: What Drives the Commuter Campus Student Experience?

This exploratory study brings together two lines of inquiry on (a) college campus-based respodfdfdfdnses to sexual and intimate partner violence among students, and (b) the characteristics, experiences, and challenges unique to commuter students and commuter institutions of higher education. Using qualitative analysis of 14 in-depth interviews with campus personnel and focus groups with a total of 71 students on three commuter campuses in the Pacific Northwest, we offer a detailed description of the experiences and characteristics of commuter students as they pertain to sexual and relationship violence programming and prevention, the associated nature of commuter campus communities, and the resulting lack of visibility of the issue of sexual and relationship violence on commuter campuses. We conclude that creative, tailored approaches to prevention and response services on commuter campuses are needed to address the unique circumstances and challenges facing commuter campus students

Sexual and Relationship Violence Prevention and Response: What Drives the Commuter Campus Student Experience?

This exploratory study brings together two lines of inquiry on (a) college campus-based responses to sexual and intimate partner violence among students, and (b) the characteristics, experiences, and challenges unique to commuter students and commuter institutions of higher education. Using qualitative analysis of 14 in-depth interviews with campus personnel and focus groups with a total of 71 students on three commuter campuses in the Pacific Northwest, we offer a detailed description of the experiences and characteristics of commuter students as they pertain to sexual and relationship violence programming and prevention, the associated nature of commuter campus communities, and the resulting lack of visibility of the issue of sexual and relationship violence on commuter campuses. We conclude that creative, tailored approaches to prevention and response services on commuter campuses are needed to address the unique circumstances and challenges facing commuter campus students

Physical Violence by Partner during Pregnancy and Use of Prenatal Care in Rural India

The role of physical violence during pregnancy on receipt of prenatal care is poorly understood, particularly for South Asian countries that have high levels of both fertility and domestic violence. Data from the 1998/1999 Indian National Family Health Survey and a 2002/2003 follow-up survey that re-interviewed women in four states were analyzed, examining the association between physical violence during pregnancy and the uptake of prenatal care. Women who experienced physical violence during pregnancy were less likely to receive prenatal care, less likely to receive a home-visit from a health worker for a prenatal check-up, less likely to receive at least three prenatal care visits, and less likely to initiate prenatal care early in the pregnancy. This study highlighted the constraining effect that the experience of physical domestic violence during pregnancy had on the uptake of prenatal care for women in rural India. Maternal health services must recognize the unique needs of women experiencing violence from their intimate partners