Intercultural misunderstandings about health care : recall of descriptions of illness and treatment

Supported in part by the National Institute of Education under contract no. HEW-NIE-C-400-76-011

The effect of cultural knowledge on memory and language

Bibliography: leaves 25-27Supported by the National Institute of Education under contract no. US-NIE-C-400-76-011

Teachers' Interactive Thoughts About Pupil Cognition

97 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1982.This study addressed the question of how the extent of teachers' thinking about pupil cognition during instruction varies with instructional group size. Pupil cognition was defined as pupil comprehension, knowledge, learning, thinking, or instructional task performance. It was predicted on the basis of previous studies of teachers' interactive thoughts--as reported in stimulated recall interviews--that the extent of teachers' interactive thoughts about pupil cognition would decrease as instructional group size increased.Six teachers were each videotaped during three lessons. One lesson was taught to a single student (tutorial condition), one to a small group (3 to 9 students), and one to a large group (12 or more students). Teachers were shown 20 segments from the videotape and were asked to report after each one the thoughts they had experienced during that part of the lesson. Using transcripts of these stimulated recall interviews, three judges classified the previously identified interactive thought units into two categories, "pupil cognition" and "other." The dependent variable was the proportion of interactive thought units about pupil cognition in each of the three instructional group size conditions.Neither analysis of variance nor multiple regression analysis yielded a statistically significant effect for instructional group size. Subsequent content analysis of interactive thought units relating to pupil cognition produced the following findings: (a) proportions of interactive thought units where teachers evaluated or questioned pupil cognitive states or processes did tend to vary inversely with instructional group size, though the effect was not statistically significant; (b) more of teachers' interactive thoughts were expressed as questions in the small and large group conditions than in the tutorial condition; (c) teachers focused on individuals or on the group to an equal extent in the small and large group conditions, although they focused on a smaller fraction of the individuals in the large group condition.Statistical, methodological, and conceptual problems which could account for the null results were discussed. Recommendations for reconceptualizing the research problem were presented. It was also recommended that more research be done on contingencies between teachers' thoughts and their actions during instruction.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Intercultural misunderstandings about health care : Recall of descriptions of illness and treatment

Noncompliance with medical instructions is a major problem in health care. In areas of the world where traditional and Western systems co-exist, failure to follow medical directives has been attributed to the conscious rejection of Western medical beliefs and values by the indigenous population. This study provides evidence that the absence of shared concepts between practitioners and patients may impede even willing compliance. When patients do not possess the background knowledge, or schemata, undergirding the Western practitioners' conclusions and proposed treatment, they are unable to fully understand what is communicated because they lack the conceptual framework for integrating and holding the information presented. Matched groups of Australian Aboriginal and American women heard and recalled two stories incorporating Aboriginal and Western conceptions of illness and treatment. Analysis of the recall protocols reveals the effect of culture-based schemata on comprehension of the two stories. Implications for health care delivery are discussed.