A study of the Methodist youth movement

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Can Holistic Wellness Predict Teacher Effectiveness?

Wellness literature reported that the current focus on academic achievement and high-stakes testing has sacrificed wellness in students, and ?there is a strong need and a public outcry to promote wellness in public schools? (Myers & Sweeney, 2005a, p. 228). Also, ?the promotion of schoolwide well-being will enrich the academic experience of students and families. In addition, school staff members who are aware and knowledgeable of wellness concepts may be more likely to apply healthy strategies in the curriculum and throughout the school? (Myers & Sweeney, p. 232). Effective teacher research supported the Student Teacher Assessment Instrument as a viable measure of teacher effectiveness. The purpose of this research was to determine whether holistic wellness as defined by creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self as measured by the 5F-Wel can be used to predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI. The research question proposed for this study was: Is there a relationship between wellness as measured by the Five Factor Wellness Inventory and effective teaching as measured by the STAI? The research design was correlational. A convenience sample of voluntary participants among the 54 teacher interns during the spring 2006 semester from Mississippi State University-Meridian campus was used. The predictor variables were the second order factor scores on the 5F-Wel. These factors are creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self. The dependent variable was the overall formative score on the STAI. The results obtained show the predictor variables included in the multiple linear regression analysis did not predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI at an accuracy greater than chance. A statistically significant relationship between the predictor variables and dependent variable was not found. Specifically, wellness as measured by the second order factors on the 5F-Wel did not predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI in this study. Recommendations included: (a) using similar methodology in other studies and (b) replicating the study with future cohorts of student interns from Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus

Can Holistic Wellness Predict Teacher Effectiveness?

Wellness literature reported that the current focus on academic achievement and high-stakes testing has sacrificed wellness in students, and ?there is a strong need and a public outcry to promote wellness in public schools? (Myers & Sweeney, 2005a, p. 228). Also, ?the promotion of schoolwide well-being will enrich the academic experience of students and families. In addition, school staff members who are aware and knowledgeable of wellness concepts may be more likely to apply healthy strategies in the curriculum and throughout the school? (Myers & Sweeney, p. 232). Effective teacher research supported the Student Teacher Assessment Instrument as a viable measure of teacher effectiveness. The purpose of this research was to determine whether holistic wellness as defined by creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self as measured by the 5F-Wel can be used to predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI. The research question proposed for this study was: Is there a relationship between wellness as measured by the Five Factor Wellness Inventory and effective teaching as measured by the STAI? The research design was correlational. A convenience sample of voluntary participants among the 54 teacher interns during the spring 2006 semester from Mississippi State University-Meridian campus was used. The predictor variables were the second order factor scores on the 5F-Wel. These factors are creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self. The dependent variable was the overall formative score on the STAI. The results obtained show the predictor variables included in the multiple linear regression analysis did not predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI at an accuracy greater than chance. A statistically significant relationship between the predictor variables and dependent variable was not found. Specifically, wellness as measured by the second order factors on the 5F-Wel did not predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI in this study. Recommendations included: (a) using similar methodology in other studies and (b) replicating the study with future cohorts of student interns from Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus

Implicit and Explicit Processes in Multiple Cue Judgement

Making judgements often involves integrating multiple pieces of information, or cues, in the environment. While experts, such as physicians, are able to make accurate judgements from multiple cues, they often have poor insight into how they make their inferences. This provides some indication that judgement is influenced by knowledge that is implicit and inaccessible to verbal report. In the present thesis, the cognitive processes involved in multiple cue judgement were explored by training participants on a small number of novel cues using the multiple cue probability learning (MCPL) paradigm. In a training phase, participants predicted a criterion and received outcome feedback in response to each judgement. Learning and judgement in these tasks is often assumed to draw on explicit hypothesis-testing processes. However, a great deal of research suggests that implicit as well as explicit processes can contribute to performance on complex tasks. In eight experiments, several methods were used to examine the role of explicit and implicit processes in multiple cue judgement. While concurrent working memory loads failed to disrupt judgements after learning, we nevertheless found clear evidence that explicit processing is involved in the learning of negative, but not positive cues. Performance on such tasks was correlated with individual differences in working memory capacity, as well as measures of explicit knowledge obtained in the learning process. The results are discussed with respect to dual process theories of learning, judgement, and reasoning. The findings of the present thesis indicate that multiple cue judgement is best viewed within a dual process framework

Ambiguous artifacts : exploring sensemaking towards organizational identification

Scholars have long sought to understand how professionals construct their identity relative to the organizations in which they work. Organizations put in place loose and flexible structures to be responsive to emerging opportunities and challenges and to encourage and manage organizational and industry changes. New organizations may be especially likely to adopt unorthodox or intentionally ambiguous structures to set themselves apart and address problems that motivate their founding and diversify their structures. Research in turn needs to understand how organizational members accommodate uncertain and shifting organizational structures by negotiating the personal, professional, and organizational aspects of their identity through communicative sensemaking. I contribute to the study of organizational identity and sensemaking processes through a qualitative case study that explores how individuals construct their identity in the absence of conventional sensegiving artifacts. Discursively vague job titles, indefinite and inapplicable job descriptions, and unclear and ambiguous organizational structures prompt continuous sensemaking. Analysis of interview data and field notes uncovered alternate schemas and resulting work practices individuals engage in as they negotiate their organizational identity to cope with uncertainty and ambiguity.Communication Studie

Understanding health risk comprehension: The role of math anxiety, subjective numeracy, and objective numeracy

Background. Numeracy skills are important for medical decision making as lower numeracy is associated with misinterpreting statistical health risks. Math anxiety, characterized by negative emotions about numerical tasks, and lower subjective numeracy (i.e., self-assessments of numerical competence) are also associated with poor risk comprehension. Objective. To explore independent and mediated associations of math anxiety, numerical ability, and subjective numeracy with risk comprehension and to ascertain whether their associations are specific to the health domain. Methods. Objective numeracy was measured with a 14-item test. Math anxiety and subjective numeracy were assessed with self-report scales. Risk comprehension was measured with a 12-item test. In Experiment 1, risk comprehension items were limited to scenarios in the health domain. In Experiment 2, participants were randomly assigned to receive numerically-equivalent risk comprehension items in either a health or non-health domain. Results. Linear regression analyses revealed that individuals with higher objective numeracy were more likely to respond correctly to the risk comprehension items, as were individuals with higher subjective numeracy. Higher math anxiety was associated with a lower likelihood of correct responding when controlling for objective numeracy, but not when controlling for subjective numeracy. Mediation analyses indicated that math anxiety may undermine risk comprehension in three ways, including through: (1) objective numeracy; (2) subjective numeracy; and (3) objective and subjective numeracy in serial, with subjective numeracy mediating the association between objective numeracy and risk comprehension. Findings did not differ by domain. Conclusions. Math anxiety, objective numeracy, and subjective numeracy are associated with risk comprehension through unique pathways. Education initiatives for improving health risk comprehension may be most effective if jointly aimed at tack-ling numerical ability as well as negative emotions and self-evaluations related to numeracy

Risk-Exposure Density and Mileage Bias in Crash Risk for Older Drivers

Driver crash rates per mile indicate high crash risk in older age. A reliance on mileage alone may underestimate risk exposure of older drivers as they tend to avoid highways and travel more on non-freeways (e.g., urban roads) that present greater hazards. We introduce risk exposure density as an index of exposure that incorporates mileage, frequency of travel, and travel duration. Population-wide driver fatalities in the U.S. during 2002?2012 were assessed per driver age (16?20, 21?29, 30?39, 40?49, 50?59, 60?69, >70 years) and gender. Mileage, frequency, and duration of travel per person were used to assess risk exposure. Mileage-based fatal crash risk increased greatly among male (RR=1.73; 95% CI:1.62,1.83) and female (RR=2.08; 95% CI:1.97,2.19) drivers from age 60?69 years to age >70 years. Adjusting for their density of risk exposure, fatal crash risk increased only slightly from age 60?69 years to age >70 years among male (RR=1.09; 95% CI:1.03,1.15) and female (RR=1.22; 95% CI:1.16,1.29) drivers. While ubiquitous in epidemiology research, mileage-based assessments can produce misleading accounts of driver risk. Risk exposure density incorporates multiple components of travel and reduces bias caused by any single indicator of risk exposure

Crash risk by driver age, gender, and time of day using a new exposure methodology

Introduction: Concerns have been raised that the nonlinear relation between crashes and travel exposure invalidates the conventional use of crash rates to control for exposure. A new metric of exposure that bears a linear association to crashes was used as basis for calculating unbiased crash risks. This study compared the two methods – conventional crash rates and new adjusted crash risk – for assessing the effect of driver age, gender, and time of day on the risk of crash involvement and crash fatality. Method: We used police reports of single-car and multi-car crashes with fatal and nonfatal driver injuries that occurred during 2002–2012 in Great Britain. Results: Conventional crash rates were highest in the youngest age group and declined steeply until age 60–69 years. The adjusted crash risk instead peaked at age 21–29 years and reduced gradually with age. The risk of nighttime driving, especially among teenage drivers, was much smaller when based on adjusted crash risks. Finally, the adjusted fatality risk incurred by elderly drivers remained constant across time of day, suggesting that their risk of sustaining a fatal injury due to a crash is more attributable to excess fragility than to crash seriousness. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate a biasing effect of low travel exposure on conventional crash rates. This implies that conventional methods do not yield meaningful comparisons of crash risk between driver groups and driving conditions of varying exposure to risk. The excess crash rates typically associated with teenage and elderly drivers as well as nighttime driving are attributed in part to overestimation of risk at low travel exposure. Practical Applications: Greater attention should be directed toward crash involvement among drivers in their 20s and 30s as well as younger drivers. Countermeasures should focus on the role of physical vulnerability in fatality risk of elderly drivers

Единое образовательное пространство в рамках государств содружества

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. Evidence suggests that smokers may be at increased risk of prostate cancer compared to non-smokers. In the present study we ask whether adult men who smoke are also less likely to undergo screening for prostate cancer. Adult men aged 46 and above completed a single questionnaire including demographic items and items concerning their smoking status and previous testing for prostate cancer. The questionnaire also included an 11 item numeracy scale. Compared to smokers, non-smokers and ex-smokers were around two times more likely to have undergone screening for prostate cancer, and had been tested more frequently. Smokers are not only more likely to develop prostate cancer, they are, paradoxically, less likely to undergo screening for prostate cancer. Health care professionals need to be cognizant of individual differences in screening behavior and that smokers have a reduced likelihood of choosing to screen. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

What are the factors that contribute to road accidents? An assessment of law enforcement views, ordinary drivers’ opinions, and road accident records

What are the main contributing factors to road accidents? Factors such as inexperience, lack of skill, and risk-taking behaviors have been associated with the collisions of young drivers. In contrast, visual, cognitive, and mobility impairment have been associated with the collisions of older drivers. We investigated the main causes of road accidents by drawing on multiple sources: expert views of police officers, lay views of the driving public, and official road accident records. In Studies 1 and 2, police officers and the public were asked about the typical causes of road traffic collisions using hypothetical accident scenarios. In Study 3, we investigated whether the views of police officers and the public about accident causation influence their recall accuracy for factors reported to contribute to hypothetical road accidents. The results show that both expert views of police officers and lay views of the driving public closely approximated the typical factors associated with the collisions of young and older drivers, as determined from official accident records. The results also reveal potential underreporting of factors in existing accident records, identifying possible inadequacies in law enforcement practices for investigating driver distraction, drug and alcohol impairment, and uncorrected or defective eyesight. Our investigation also highlights a need for accident report forms to be continuously reviewed and updated to ensure that contributing factor lists reflect the full range of factors that contribute to road accidents. Finally, the views held by police officers and the public on accident causation influenced their memory recall of factors involved in hypothetical scenarios. These findings indicate that delay in completing accident report forms should be minimised, possibly by use of mobile reporting devices at the accident scene