Subjective and objective indicators of recovery in severe mental illness: a cross-sectional study

Background: This study aimed to determine whether subjective dimensions of recovery such as empowerment are associated with self-report of more objective indicators such as level of participation in the community and income from employment. A secondary aim was to investigate the extent to which diagnosis or other consumer characteristics mediated any relationship between these variables. Methods: The Community Integration Measure, the Empowerment Scale, the Recovery Assessment Scale, and the Camberwell Assessment of Needs Short Appraisal Schedule were administered to a convenience sample of 161 consumers with severe mental illness. Results: The majority of participants had a primary diagnosis of schizophreniform, anxiety/depression or bipolar affective disorder. The Empowerment Scale was quite strongly correlated with the Recovery Assessment Scale and the Community Integration Measure. Participants with a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder had signifi cantly higher recovery and empowerment scores than participants with schizophrenia or depression. Both empowerment and recovery scores were significantly higher for people engaged in paid employment than for those receiving social security benefits. Conclusions: The measurement of subjective dimensions of recovery such as empowerment has validity in evaluation of global recovery for people with severe mental illness. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is associated with higher scores on subjective and objective indicators of recovery

The role of language in mathematical development: Evidence from children with specific language impairments

A sample (n=48) of eight year olds with Specific Language Impairments is compared with age-matched (n=55) and language matched controls (n=55) on a range of tasks designed to test the interdependence of language and mathematical development. Performance across tasks varies substantially in the SLI group, showing profound deficits in production of the count word sequence and basic calculation and significant deficits in understanding of the place-value principle in Hindu-Arabic notation. Only in understanding of arithmetic principles does SLI performance approximate that of age-matched-controls, indicating that principled understanding can develop even where number sequence production and other aspects of number processing are severely compromised

Number skills and knowledge in children with specific language impairment

The number skills of groups of 7 to 9 year old children with specific language impairment (SLI) attending mainstream or special schools are compared with an age and nonverbal reasoning matched group (AC), and a younger group matched on oral language comprehension. The SLI groups performed below the AC group on every skill. They also showed lower working memory functioning and had received lower levels of instruction. Nonverbal reasoning, working memory functioning, language comprehension, and instruction accounted for individual variation in number skills to differing extents depending on the skill. These factors did not explain the differences between SLI and AC groups on most skills

Living Latin: Exploring a Communicative Approach to Latin Teaching Through a Sociocultural Perspective on Language Learning

This study is motivated by the search for new practices to enhance the teaching of ab initio Latin in UK universities. It arises out of a perception that traditional methods leave some students failing to achieve course aims, their own study goals, and, in the longer term, struggling to read Latin texts with understanding and engagement. At the outset of this research, there was little recent information on Latin pedagogy in UK universities or on student opinions on provision. Some scholarship expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of Latin reading skills attained, but little work had been done on defining the nature of desirable skills or in exploring how they might be attained or investigated. This study instigates progress in all these areas. To advance understanding of how Latin learning takes place and to investigate the potential benefits of existing conceptual and pedagogical frameworks, this study draws on modern language learning theories and teaching practices and explores the application of Vygotskian sociocultural theory to learning events taking place under a communicative teaching approach. Research methods were selected pragmatically, with quantitative methods deployed to obtain a comprehensive snapshot of current practice in UK universities, while the more complex areas of learning events and perceived benefits were investigated through a combination of participant observation, interviews and innovative reading and drawing exercises. The findings confirm that traditional ab initio Latin teaching approaches are not well-aligned with learners’ goals, establish the value of taking a broader approach to pedagogy and provide new ways of defining and investigating Latin reading skills. This research has the potential to enhance Latin pedagogy in UK universities and other institutions. It makes a seminal contribution to applying language learning theories to Latin and suggests innovative methods for aligning students’ needs and expectations with their learning experience

Power, knowledge, interests : understanding the emerging regime to control small arms and light weapons

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Self-Mutilation in a Community Sample of Adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to examine the provisional prevalence rates and characteristics of self-mutilative behavior in a community sample of adolescents. A total of 368 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 participated in this investigation. Thirty-nine percent of high school students sampled (n = 143) engaged in self-mutilation within the past year. Commonly endorsed behaviors were biting self, hitting self on purpose, and cutting/carving skin. Self-mutilators were likely to engage in these behaviors to reduce internal tension, as well as to gain attention. Self-mutilators were compared with non-mutilating adolescents (n = 225) on self-report measures of negative self-evaluation, cognitive distortions, social problem-solving capabilities, and suicide ideation. Self-mutilators reported greater negative automatic thoughts and poorer self-worth than non-mutilators. Additionally, self-mutilators were more likely to have made a suicide attempt(s) in the past and reported higher levels of suicide ideation. In multivariate regression analyses, suicide ideation and history of suicide attempt(s) contributed to the prediction of self-mutilative behavior, correctly classifying 71% of the total sample. Clinical implications of the results are discussed in the context of contemporary teenage culture

Maskosis the healing journey of Little Bear : a narrative analysis of the life of an Aboriginal man with quadriplegia

A narrative analysis was used to explore the question, “What does it mean to be an Aboriginal man with quadriplegia?” Six in-depth semi-structured interviews and follow-up reviews were conducted with Dennis Sapp, a 52-year old Plains Cree man with quadriplegia who requested that his full name be used in the thesis document. The results of the study appear in the form of a life story written in the first person derived through a process of narrative analysis of the interview transcripts. The narrative details Dennis’ early beginnings on the Little Pine Reserve near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada and his memories of his maternal grandfather, Cree elder and WWII Veteran, Tom Sapp, who raised Dennis in the traditional way until he was forced to go to the St. Anthony’s Residential School at Onion Lake at six years of age. The narrative includes an account of Dennis’ life before being taken to residential school, his experiences at residential school, and his life after leaving the school. In the narrative Dennis recounts the experience of losing his traditional culture and spirituality at residential school and the difficulties he encountered in his life as a result of the trauma of the residential school experience. He gives an account of sustaining a spinal cord injury and his experience post-injury and in rehabilitation. After reconnecting with his grandfather and returning to school to complete his education, Dennis rediscovered his traditional culture and spirituality and gained a renewed sense of meaning and purpose as a counsellor, disabilities advocate, and storyteller. Through regaining his culture and spirituality and sharing his story Dennis found balance and healing

Prohibiting public drinking in an urban area: determining the impacts on police, the community and marginalised groups

With public drinking laws proliferating across urban areas over the past 15 years, this project evaluated the implementation of these laws, their effectiveness, and their impact on a range of target groups including police, residents, traders, local health and welfare workers, and potentially marginalised groups. Overview Public drinking laws have proliferated across urban areas over the past 15 years; however, there have been very few evaluations of their impacts and effectiveness. The purpose of this project was to evaluate public drinking laws across three diverse inner-urban local government areas (LGAs) of Melbourne: the Cities of Yarra, Darebin and Maribyrnong. The objectives of this project were to evaluate the implementation of public drinking laws, the effectiveness of these laws and the impact of these laws on a range of target groups including police, residents, traders, local health and welfare workers, and potentially marginalised groups. The evaluation produced equivocal findings in relation to whether public drinking laws reduced congregations of drinkers (with differing findings across municipalities) and there was no evidence that these laws reduced alcohol-related crime or harm. However, public drinking laws do make residents feel safer and improve the amenity of an area from the perspective of residents and traders. The evaluation found that public drinking laws often result in negative impacts to marginalised individuals and this requires more consideration in the implementation and enforcement of these laws. It is important that public drinking laws are carefully considered, implemented and enforced (with local council officers and police liaising collaboratively to respond to the needs of the individual community) and are coupled with community-specific social inclusion strategies