Shape, Space and Typeface: Mapping Black Subjectivity through Caribbean Aesthetics

The Caribbean is frequently imagined and aestheticized by the image of the basin, which limits the way the region is confined in geographic and historic terms. By conceptualizing the poets as mapmakers, the collections by Kei Miller, Olive Senior, and M. NourbeSe Phillip reference the container of the basin but remediate it in poetic terms. The movement towards a distinctive lack of containment illustrates the dynamic literary and geographical operations of the Caribbean, linking typography and topography. Reading with a new lens, including digital resources that re-spatialize these poems, demonstrates the complexities that characterize the formation of these texts and how they resist neat containers and containment, thereby charting new ways to redraw and reimagine places and spaces

EXPLORING TEACHER’S CHOICES TO PROMOTE DIVERSE CLASSROOM LIBRARIES: A NARRATIVE CASE STUDY APPROACH

The purpose of this narrative case study was to identify how teachers include diverse literature in their classroom libraries to provide students with multiple opportunities to read different points of view. The central research questions were: How do teachers provide students with opportunities to explore differing viewpoints through books in classroom libraries? How do teachers choose books and materials to create safe spaces for diverse learners through classroom libraries? Lastly, how are laws impacting how teachers select books to include in their classroom libraries? Data collection consisted of focus group interviews where teachers shared their experiences with providing students opportunities to explore literature through their classroom libraries. The data was coded with in vivo coding to take the participant’s exact words from the focus groups. The theoretical framework that was used to guide this study was Williams Glasser’s choice theory, which states that we choose everything that we do. Glasser’s theory aligns with this study because teachers choose what books they want in their classrooms. This case study had a sample of 10 teachers from multiple counties in the state of South Carolina. All of the data was analyzed and compiled for the reader thematically. Themes were chosen based on how often they appeared in the interviews. An item became a major theme if it was discussed in each interview by the teachers. The themes that were found included: welcoming classroom libraries, diversity in literature, windows and mirrors, and censorship. The results from the study indicate that teachers understand the importance of diverse books in the classroom because they help students discover multiple perspectives. However, educators worry about repercussions if they include a book the district or parents don’t like in their classroom libraries. The findings from this study can add to the literature on the importance of diverse literature in classrooms and the risks teachers take by providing it to students

Holding Steady, Looking Ahead: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost Sharing Practices in Medicaid and CHIP, 2010-2011

Analyzes findings on state trends in maintaining or expanding eligibility for public coverage and improving enrollment and renewal procedures. Highlights the challenges of developing the Web-based eligibility systems required under healthcare reform

Performing Under Pressure: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP, 2011-2012

Analyzes findings on state trends in maintaining or expanding eligibility for public coverage and improving enrollment and renewal procedures. Highlights some states' expansion of Medicaid eligibility and the use of technology to achieve efficiencies

Measuring Competency in Social Work: LGBTQIA Populations

The study conducted interviews to measure the level of competency social workers have assisting members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, and asexual community (LGBTQIA+) using a qualitative exploratory research design. Data was collected from nine social workers from the United States of America. Key findings indicated the participants generally did not feel competent to work with this community, particularly transgender persons. Training at work, through school, or learned on their own about serving LGBTQIA+ clients were generally limited in scope. Lastly, findings on what the participants thought the specialized needs of the transgender population were ranged from more education, quality mental health services, and access to health care. Recommendations include agencies requiring yearly mandatory LGBTQIA+ training, utilizing affirmative and trauma informed care, and the hiring and supporting of queer social workers to increase visibility in the field

Weekly group tummy time classes are feasible and acceptable to mothers with infants: a pilot cluster randomized controlled trial

2020, The Author(s). Background: The World Health Organization recommends 30 min of tummy time daily for improved motor development and reduced likelihood of plagiocephaly. As only 30% of infants meet this recommendation, parents require strategies and support to increase this proportion. Methods: The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and potential efficacy of a group intervention to promote tummy time. The design is a cluster randomized controlled trial with concealed allocation, assessor blinding, and intention-to-treat analysis. Five groups of healthy infants (N = 35, baseline mean (SD) age 5.9 (2.8) weeks) and their mothers attending local mother\u27s groups (Australia) were randomly allocated to the intervention or control group. The intervention group received group tummy time classes in addition to usual care. The control group received usual care with their child and family health nurse. Primary outcomes were intervention feasibility and acceptability. Secondary outcomes were tummy time duration (accelerometry), adherence to physical activity guidelines, head shape, and motor development. Measures were taken at baseline, post-intervention, and when infants were 6 months of age. Analyses were by linear mixed models and Cohen\u27s d statistic. Results: Recruitment, retention, and collection of objective data met feasibility targets. Acceptability was also met with intervention mothers reporting the information, goal planning, and handouts significantly more useful and relevant than control group mothers (p \u3c 0.01). Moderate effect sizes were also found at post-intervention for tummy time duration, adherence to physical activity guidelines and infant ability in prone and supine favoring the intervention group (intervention infants had a mean of 30 min and 30% adherence to guidelines (95% CI 0 to 60.6 min) compared to the control infants who had a mean of 16.6 min and 13% adherence to the guidelines (95% CI 0 to 42.1 min, Cohen\u27s d = 0.5). Limitations were the small sample size, 4-week intervention, limited accelerometer use, and a homogenous sample of participants. Conclusion: Group tummy time classes delivered in a mother\u27s group setting were shown to be feasible and acceptable. A larger randomized controlled trial is warranted. Trial registration: ANZCTR, ACTRN12617001298303p. Registered 11 September 201

Hospitalisations from one to six years of age: Effects of Gestational Age and Severe Neonatal Morbidity

Background: To investigate whether the adverse infant health outcomes associated with early birth and severe neonatal morbidity (SNM) persist beyond the first year of life and impact on paediatric hospitalisations for children up to six years of age. Methods: The study population included all singleton live births, >32 weeks gestation in New South Wales, Australia in 2001-2005, with follow-up to six years of age. Birth data were probabilistically linked to hospitalisation data (n=392,964). The odds of hospitalisation, mean hospital length of stay (LOS) and costs, and cumulative LOS were evaluated by gestational age and SNM using multivariable analyses. Results: A total of 74,341 (18.9%) and 41,404 (10.5%) infants were hospitalized once and more than once, respectively. SNM was associated with increased odds of hospitalisation once (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.16 [95% CI 1.10, 1.22]), and more than once (aOR 1.51 [1.42, 1.60]). Decreasing gestational age was associated with increasing odds of hospitalisation more than once from aOR 1.19 at 37-38 weeks to 1.49 at 33-34 weeks. Average LOS and costs per hospital admission were increased with SNM but not with decreasing gestational age. Cumulative LOS was significantly increased with SNM and decreasing gestational age. Conclusions: Adverse effects of SNM and early birth persist between one and six years of age. Strategies to prevent early birth and reduce SNM, and to increase health monitoring of vulnerable infants throughout childhood may help reduce paediatric hospitalisations.NHMRC, NSW Health Population Health and Health Services Gran

California Student Counselors Reflect on a Study Abroad Experience in New Zealand

Seven counseling and guidance students from California participated in a study abroad program in which they were placed in a high school in Auckland, New Zealand, for one month. Their comments on the experience in response to researchers’ questions form the basis of this paper. They suggest that the participants benefited from being immersed in a culturally different context where they had to consider differences in school organization, counseling priorities, and students’ cultural mores. This immersion required them to think about their own professional values and to engage in high level learning, appropriate to masters level field experience work. They commented especially on different approaches to cultural and racial issues in New Zealand and California and on experiencing a counseling profession that is more focused on addressing social issues than on college readiness