External quality assurance for cervical cytology in developing countries. Experience in Peru and Nicaragua

Given interest from the professionals concerned, an external quality assurance scheme for cervical cytology can successfully be introduced in developing countries. This is a very important precondition if screening programs are to be expanded and decreases in mortality from cervical cancer are to occur in developing countries. Nicaragua and Peru have been experimenting with an external quality assurance system adapted from the Scottish and Northern Ireland scheme. It has been received with enthusiasm and acceptance and has helped cytology laboratories in these countries focusing on quality issues. Nevertheless, a successful quality control scheme that is to result in improvements in the quality of professionals' diagnostic skills needs to be accompanied by a remedial program for subperformers.

Effectiveness of a Training Program for ECT Nurses

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly technical procedure requiring a team that consists of an anesthetist, a psychiatrist, a clinical nurse specialist, and recovery nurses. Traditionally, nursing education and training in the context of providing a safe and high standard of care has not been addressed. Ninety-two nurses from 42 different health agencies participated in a training program focusing on defibrillation, electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring, intubation, stimulus dosing, setting up the ECT equipment, and caring for the patient. A non-experimental, one-group, pretest-posttest research design was used in this study to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program for nurses working with ECT. Effective training for nurses was hypothesized to make a difference in the standards of practice and clinical effectiveness for patients undergoing ECT. Findings from this study indicated a major knowledge deficit in key components of ECT among nurses who have responsibilities in this area of nursing care. With effective training, nurses' confidence levels increased related to setting up the equipment, administering a double dose, helping with intubation, and using a defibrillator. If nurses are to effectively function as team members in the ECT procedure, they must receive the training necessary to prepare them for this important role. The results of this study support the recommendation of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists that ECT nurses should be appropriately trained in anaesthetic and resuscitation techniques and modern ECT practice.

Scholastic performance of adolescents

OBJECTIVE

To find out the factors affecting scholastic performance of adolescents belonging to various groups and the determinants for poor scholastic performance.

METHODS

1892 adolescents of 13 to 19 years age group belonging to different category of schools were interviewed and assessed by a team consisting of pediatrician, psychologist and PG-DCCD* students using Teenage Screening Questionnaire--Trivandrum and Study Habit Rating Scale. Daily study pattern, Family environment, Education status of parents, Personal distractions, and Attitude towards studies were observed as factors affecting scholastic performance.

RESULT

On multivariate analysis the predictor variables for poor scholastic performance were; lower studying daily lessons, poor concentration in studies, lower education status of father and unhappy family.

CONCLUSION

It is feasible to identify determinants of scholstic performance and plan intervention strategies at school level.

Child maltreatment training in doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology: where do we go from here?

The American Psychological Association (APA) has called for improving knowledge regarding child abuse and neglect among psychologists by increasing training. The present study examined the extent of child abuse training provided by APA-accredited doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology by surveying the training directors in 1992 and 2001. The survey assessed available coursework, practica, and research experience in the area of child maltreatment. Findings indicated that more than half of all programs cover child maltreatment in three or more courses, and most programs discuss child maltreatment in ethics/professional seminars. Most students have some exposure to clients with abuse-related problems, and some have opportunities to participate in maltreatment research. Nonetheless, training falls short of APA recommendations for minimal levels of competence in child maltreatment, with no change in training in the past decade. Recommendations for improving training include more discussion among program faculty, attention to essential competencies, and specific suggestions for developing interdisciplinary training.

Measuring client satisfaction with public education I: meeting competing demands in establishing state-wide benchmarks

By its very nature, a large-scale evaluation of client satisfaction with public education using a quantitative approach, places almost impossibly competing demands on the research methodology. This paper reports on the use of a suite of Rasch measurement techniques to meet the competing demands in establishing state-wide benchmarks relating to the School Opinion Survey carried out over 1200 government schools in one state of Australia. Although the evaluation had to establish system-wide representative parent and student benchmarks, meaningful quantitative estimates of client satisfaction had to be provided at the smallest public schools. The final 20-item School Opinion Survey Parent and Student Forms were designed following feedback from the administration of trial forms. Instrument development was monitored by the results of Rasch modeling. The Rasch modeling property of specific objectivity was empirically verified when calculation of identical benchmark estimates resulted from the construction of simulated population proportional samples using sample:population size weightings.

Evaluation of the PAHO/WHO training program on the detection and treatment of depression for primary care nurses in Panama

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the efficacy of a training program developed by Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) for primary care nurses aimed at improving their capacity to detect and manage depression.

METHOD

Changes in knowledge and clinical practice were assessed in a group of primary care nurses in Panama who underwent the program. They were compared with a group of controls.

RESULTS

Nurses who underwent the training program showed a statistically significant improvement in knowledge and detection of depressive disorders. In addition, they increased their notification of patients with depression to the primary care physician. No change was noted in the control group.

CONCLUSION

The results point to the benefit of the PAHO/WHO training program for primary care nurses in the care of major depression. Further studies are required to confirm these results.

Quantitative and qualitative documentation of early literacy instruction

Quantitative and qualitative procedures were used in this pilot study to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a language and literacy instruction model for meeting the needs of children with impairments, delays, and differences in regular Head Start classrooms. Although the project addresses a variety of literacy domains, this article focuses on rhyming and letter naming. In the instruction model, children were exposed to motivating examples of rhyme and letter targets in different activity structures embedded across the curriculum. A crossover design compared two classrooms of children trained on letter and rhyme targets in a different order. Results of an analysis of variance revealed a significant Condition (rhyme first vs. letter first) x Task (rhyme generation vs. letter generation) x Time (Posttest 1 vs. Posttest 2) interaction. At the first posttest, children in the rhyme-first condition performed better than those in the letter-first condition on rhyme generation, whereas children in the letter first condition performed better on letter generation. At the second posttest, after the groups had experienced instruction in both areas, the children performed comparably on both tasks. In addition to the quantitative analyses, qualitative analyses were also conducted. A qualitative examination of children's participation revealed their affective involvement and engagement in instructional activities. Changes in the children's awareness of their capacity to rhyme and changes in their displayed abilities to participate in rhyming activities were also documented.

Preparing psychologists to link systems of care in managing and preventing children's health problems

OBJECTIVE

To describe the need for innovations in training to link health, educational, and family systems and to illustrate how this can be accomplished through child-oriented psychology training programs.

METHODS

We describe multiple pathways for the preparation of child-oriented psychologists to link health, educational, and family systems, in keeping with the National Institute of Mental Health guidelines for preparing professionals in child and adolescent psychology. These pathways include training embedded in graduate programs specializing in clinical child, pediatric, school, community, and family psychology. This article highlights a training initiative for preparing child-oriented psychologists based in a school psychology program.

RESULTS

A partnership between Lehigh University and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has been developed to prepare school psychologists to coordinate community-based systems of care to promote positive educational and health outcomes for children. This program emphasizes both intervention and prevention and provides a set of integrated experiences in both health care and educational settings.

CONCLUSIONS

We highlight components of this program relevant to the preparation of pediatric psychologists. We identify and discuss potential challenges in establishing training programs for the preparation of professionals to link health, school, and family systems.

[Training physicians in medical prevention specialty: problems and prospects]

Trained personnel makes effective activities of our country's state sanitary-and-epidemiological service and its promising development. Hygienists and epidemiologists have been trained at specialized faculties for more than 70 years. The state sanitary-and-epidemiological service has recently taken measures to preserve and train highly qualified specialists. In accordance with the continuous trade education concept, postgraduate training is an essential link in the moulding of a well-educated physician who can work under the present conditions. Analyzing how the current governmental educational standard in the medico-prevention specialty is met has revealed some substantial shortcomings and sets a task to correct it in the context of better training.

Deafness in sub-Saharan Africa

Deaf education in sub-Saharan Africa originated in the 19th century, primarily through efforts by hearing European missionaries who typically followed their homelands' oral-only practices. But education became available to only a fraction of the deaf population. In the 20th century, Andrew Foster, a deaf African American missionary and Gallaudet University's first African American graduate, had unparalleled impact on deaf education in the region, establishing 31 schools for the Deaf, training a generation of deaf leaders, and introducing his concept of Total Communication, which embraced both American and indigenous signs. Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa have provided leadership in deaf education, but throughout the region there is growing acceptance of sign language use in school, and secondary and postsecondary education for the Deaf is increasingly available. Some national constitutions safeguard the rights of citizens with disabilities and even recognize indigenous sign languages. International disability organizations, particularly the World Federation of the Deaf, have helped change attitudes and train leaders. Despite some grim present realities, prospects for continued progress are good.

Identifying novel helix-loop-helix genes in Caenorhabditis elegans through a classroom demonstration of functional genomics

A 14-week, undergraduate-level Genetics and Population Biology course at Morgan State University was modified to include a demonstration of functional genomics in the research laboratory. Students performed a rudimentary sequence analysis of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome and further characterized three sequences that were predicted to encode helix-loop-helix proteins. Students then used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to determine which of the three genes is normally expressed in C. elegans. At the end of this laboratory activity, students were 1) to demonstrate a rudimentary knowledge of bioinformatics, including the ability to differentiate between "having" a gene and "expressing" a gene, and 2) to understand basic approaches to functional genomics, including one specific technique for assaying for gene expression. It was also anticipated that students would increase their skills at effectively communicating their research activities through written and/or oral presentation. This article describes the laboratory activity and the assessment of the effectiveness of the activity.

Evaluating a science diversity program at UC Berkeley: more questions than answers

For the past three decades, much attention has been focused on developing diversity programs designed to improve the academic success of underrepresented minorities, primarily in mathematics, science, and engineering. However, ethnic minorities remain underrepresented in science majors and careers. Over the last 10 years, the Biology Scholars Program (BSP), a diversity program at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, has worked to increase the participation and success of students majoring in the biological sciences. A quantitative comparison of students in and out of the program indicates that students in BSP graduate with a degree in biology at significantly higher rates than students not in BSP regardless of race/ethnicity. Furthermore, students who are in BSP have statistically lower high school grade point averages (GPAs) and Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) scores than students not in BSP. African-American and Hispanic students who join BSP graduate with significantly higher UC Berkeley biology GPAs than non-BSP African-American and Hispanic students, respectively. Majority (Asian and White) students in BSP graduate with statistically similar UC GPAs despite having lower SAT scores than non-BSP majority students. Although BSP students are more successful in completing a biology degree than non-program members, the results raise a series of questions about why the program works and for whom.

Sharing science: characteristics of effective scientist-teacher interactions

Despite national guidelines to reform K-12 science education, our students are not learning science any better. Conducted under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a symposium examined several programs where professional scientists interact with classroom teachers to improve science education. Symposium participants described their projects and discussed the factors that contribute or detract from each project's success. The events of this symposium are critically analyzed. Four themes emerged as issues that affect the successful implementation and continuation of science education reform projects: scientific literacy as a primary goal, personal characteristics and commitment of project partners, curricular change built on social and developmental goals, and the incentive/reward structures in universities and school systems. This review of the emergent themes places the opinions of the symposium participants into the larger context of a growing science education research literature to inform others about synergy between professional scientists and classroom teachers. Our aim is to help others learn about the characteristics of effective partnerships to improve science education.

[Development of the concept of evaluation in educational programmes]

The term evaluation has only recently found its place in educational terminology, in Poland. As in other domains, it has now become established, but even today there are studies in which such terms as control or assessment of teaching, without mentioning evaluation, are used. In the leading Polish education dictionary by Okon from 1984, there is no entry under evaluation. However, the concept of educational evaluation has been taken up in many pedagogic works by the 1990. The precise functions, the object of evaluation and the information needed should be well defined with respect to the evaluated programme. A ISO the criteria must be spelled out and the values of the planners and of the consumers ought to be concordant. This paper attempts to show the trends and the developing concepts in educational evaluation and their significant at the time of Poland's accession to the European Union.