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PubMed1999

Teaching support in the behavioural sciences for non-english speaking background medical undergraduates.

INTRODUCTION: This paper reports on a teaching strategy designed to support first year undergraduate medical students from non-English speaking backgrounds in a behavioural science course taught at an Australian university. METHOD: The strategy is described, as is the language profile of students from two successive cohorts who participated in the teaching programme. The effectiveness of the intervention in improving students' academic performance is explored, as gauged by summative assessment and student perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that students disadvantaged by difficulties with language and/or knowledge of Australian culture were able to perform at least as well as other students on a number of summative criteria. Non-English speaking background students perceived the behavioural science course to be difficult, and indicated that they found the teaching support offered to them to be useful. The methodological difficulties and limitations involved in the evaluation of a teaching programme such as this are discussed and the conclusions that can be validly drawn are considered.

Australia↗
PubMed2003

The effect of a psychiatric attachment on students' attitudes to and intention to pursue psychiatry as a career.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined determinants of students' attitudes to psychiatry and intentions to pursue psychiatry as a career, considering: (1) experiences during the clinical attachment; (2) type of curriculum (traditional or problem-based), and (3) student characteristics (age and gender). The relationships between attitudes, career intentions and academic performance were examined. METHOD: Fourth year medical students (n = 379) completed questionnaires at the beginning and end of an 8-week psychiatry attachment to assess their attitudes to psychiatry, career intentions and experiences during the attachment. Students completed two assessments consisting of a multiple choice paper and a clinical viva. Consecutive cohorts of students receiving a traditional curriculum (n = 188) and a problem-based curriculum (n = 191) were compared. RESULTS: Students' attitudes to psychiatry improved and intentions to pursue psychiatry as a career increased during the attachment. These changes were predicted by specific experiences during the attachment, such as receiving encouragement from consultants, seeing patients respond well to treatment and having direct involvement in patient care. There was no difference in change in attitudes or career intentions between the two cohorts. Students with more favourable attitudes or career intentions at the outset did not report more favourable experiences during the attachment. Attitudes and career intentions were unrelated to performance in psychiatry assessments. Improvement in attitudes was related to an increased intention to pursue psychiatry as a career. CONCLUSIONS: Change in attitudes and career intentions was dependent on the actions of the clinical teachers. Undergraduate teachers may have an important influence on the numbers of doctors who choose this specialty as a career.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

An epidemiological survey of recurrent abdominal pain in a rural Malay school.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of complaints of recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) among school children aged 11-12 years in a rural setting in Malaysia. METHODOLOGY: Questionnaires were distributed to all parents and teachers of children aged 11-12 years who attended a small rural school in which all the children were Malays. Complaints of RAP were defined as at least three such complaints occurring over a period of at least 3 months. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty questionnaires were distributed, of which 148 were returned, giving a response rate of 92.5%. Sixty-one children (41.2%) had RAP. Approximately 45.2% of girls and 35.9% of boys reported having RAP. Compared with children without RAP, there was a significantly larger number of children with RAP (85.2%) who had at least one stress factor (P = 0.0109). There were no significant associations between RAP and total family income (P = 0.0573), a history of abdominal pain in at least one parent (P = 0.1686), a history of abdominal pain in at least one sibling (P = 0.0617), academic performance (P = 0.9967) or the degree of sports participation (P = 0.8469). There was an increased incidence of other systemic complaints in children with RAP when compared with children without RAP. CONCLUSION: Recurrent abdominal pain was found to be common among 11- to 12-year-old children in a rural Malay school. There was a significant association found between RAP and the presence of stressful events, as well as with the presence of other systemic complaints.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed2001

Impact of pediatric epilepsy on the family: a new scale for clinical and research use.

PURPOSE: There is no brief, global instrument available that specifically measures the psychosocial impact of pediatric epilepsy on the family. An 11-item scale was created for parents' use to evaluate the influence of epilepsy on the major aspects of their family and child's life. This will be a helpful tool both in the clinical setting and as an outcome measure for research studies. METHODS: Mothers rated their child's quality of life on a visual analogue scale (1-6) and completed the Impact of Pediatric Epilepsy Scale (IPES), which assesses the impact on academic achievement, participation in activities, health, relationships with family and with peers and siblings, social activities, self-esteem, and the caregiver's hopes for their child's future adapted from the scale developed by Jacoby. External validation was determined by comparison of the IPES with physicians' reports of the characteristics of the child's epilepsy and neurological limitations and parents' ratings on the Family Environment Scale or Parenting Stress Index. In addition, each school-aged child completed the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, Brother-Sister Questionnaire, and Loneliness Scale. Teachers of children completed the Academic Performance Rating Scale. Seven days later, retest reliability of the IPES was evaluated. RESULTS: Ninety-seven mothers of children aged 2-16 years completed the IPES and the appropriate family and age-related questionnaires. Internal validation on the IPES yielded a Cronbach's a for the scale of 0.92. A significant Pearson's correlation indicated that total scores were consistent over time (r = 0.81). Spearman's correlations for the individual items were also significant, ranging from 0.48 to 0.78. Significant Spearman's correlations also indicated that quality of life was negatively related to impact on each of the 11 items of psychosocial function. Children with IPES scores above the median differed in some psychosocial aspects from those who scored below. Their parents were more stressed, their siblings were more respectful, they had lower self-esteem, and they experienced more emotional problems. Total impact was also significantly related to seizure frequency, total number of medications taken, number of visits to a physician in the previous year, and number of nights spent in hospital for neurological reasons. CONCLUSIONS: The IPES is an accurate, acceptable, and quick measurement tool that reflects the way in which childhood epilepsy has an impact on the child and on family life. It may be helpful in routine clinical care and may be useful in the research setting to find ways to improve the lives of children with epilepsy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Narcolepsy in children.

Core symptoms of narcolepsy are similar in children compared with adults, but expression may be different due to more severe manifestations, maturational factors, and the significant impact of symptoms on behavior and academic performance. Diagnosis of narcolepsy in children is often challenging and requires a detailed history followed by polysomnography and the Multiple Sleep Latency Test. Management involves a comprehensive approach, including patient and family education and emotional support; behavioral strategies, such as good sleep hygiene and planned naps; and pharmacologic intervention. Despite dramatic progress recently in understanding the etiology of human narcolepsy through molecular genetic investigations, the disorder remains a chronic and often disabling disease with major impact on the lives of children and their families.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Unpacking the 'value added' impact of continuing professional education: a multi-method case study approach.

The tangible benefits of continued professional education (CPE) continues to be widely debated within nursing. Whilst there is a plethora of literature relating to CPE, there is an absence of empirical evidence confirming the value of educational activities. Using a case study approach, this study sought to examine the relationship between undertaking a named course (Children's Neuroscience Course) and the perceived benefits to practitioners. Nursing students who had successfully undertaken the course (n = 14) were invited to participate. Self-report evaluations (completed at induction, mid point and exit), academic performance, and data collected from a questionnaire were analyzed using non-parametric measures. In addition, semi-structured interviews (n = 9) were undertaken and analyzed using a thematic content approach. Second level analysis involved triangulating the various data sets using coding frames and three themes were identified: improved knowledge, improved care delivery and professional development, which were judged as benefits to the practitioners who had undertaken the course. Further, there was a significant relationship between undertaking the course and participant's perception of their increased abilities in delivering care to the child with a neurological problem and their families. This paper will illustrate the benefits of a multi-method case study approach for evaluating the 'value added' impact of educational provision.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Women in medical education. A status report.

Women now make up 37 percent of medical school applicants, 34 percent of medical students, 28 percent of residents, and 19 percent of full-time medical school faculty members. These proportions have grown from 26, 25, 19, and 15 percent, respectively, 10 years ago. A comparison of the academic performance of male and female medical students reveals few differences, particularly on standardized measures. However, women trainees experience more stress than men. Traditional differences in the choice of specialty by men and women are not diminishing. Women's accession to senior faculty positions has not kept pace with their increasing representation on the faculty--a cause of continuing concern. The percentage of female faculty members who are professors has changed from 8 to 9 percent in 10 years (as compared with 32 percent of male faculty members in 1988). I conclude that the numbers of women are increasing rapidly at the lower levels of medical education, but not at the upper levels.

Education, Medical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Delivering health care to children on their turf: an elementary school-based wellness center.

The main focus of school nurses is keeping children healthy by stressing health maintenance, wellness education, and injury prevention. Through the joint effort of numerous interested parties, a school-based wellness center was started in a 397-student, ethnically diverse elementary school. Various consultants including a social worker, dietician, psychologist, psychiatrist, and local dentist are available to help children in high-risk categories. The Wellness Center collaborates with the children's primary care provider in coordinating health care. Local nurse practitioner students use the Wellness Center as part of their clinical rotations, allowing them to integrate and apply their pediatric theoretical and medical/nursing knowledge. Outcome measures include higher academic performance, increased school attendance, increased student registration and participation in the Wellness Center, and increased compliance with immunizations.

Child↗
PubMed2005

On class differentials in educational attainment.

Social class differentials in educational attainment have been extensively studied in numerous countries. In this paper, we begin by examining class differentials in the progression to higher secondary education among 16-year-old children in England and Wales. As has been shown for other countries, the differentials result both from the primary effects of differing levels of academic performance of children of different class background and from the secondary effects of differences in the educational choices that these children make at given levels of performance. Through counterfactual analyses in which the performance distribution of one class is combined with the choice distribution of another, primary and secondary effects are decomposed and the former are shown to be roughly three times the size of the latter.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Self-instruction and learning disabilities: maintenance, generalization, and subject characteristics.

The present study assessed the effects of self-instructional training on learning-disabled children's perceptual deficits. Twenty-nine children (M age = 9.70 years) were assigned randomly to a control (n = 10), an attention-placebo control ( = 9), and self-instruction group (n = 10). Analyses of covariance (with the pretest score as the covariate) yielded significant treatment effects at post- and maintenance testing, although there was no evidence whatsoever of any generalization to academic performance of classroom behavior. Analysis of the frequency of overt self-verbalizations at post- and maintenance testing further suggested the efficacy of self-instructions for direct treatment effects. Finally, the importance of S characteristics in self-regulation programs was emphasized: Children with an internal locus of control orientation tended to use overt self-verbalizations most frequently.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Family environment and adolescent psychological well-being, school adjustment, and problem behavior: a pioneer study in a Chinese context.

Chinese secondary school students (N = 365) responded to instruments measuring their family environment, psychological well-being, school adjustment, and problem behavior. Measures of the family environment include perceived paternal and maternal parenting styles, family functioning, and conflict with father and mother. Results from bivariate and canonical correlation analyses showed that in general, adolescents' perceptions of parenting styles, family functioning, and parent-adolescent conflict were significantly related to scores on measures of psychological well-being (general psychiatric morbidity, life satisfaction, purpose in life, hopelessness, and self-esteem), school adjustment (perceived academic performance and school conduct), and problem behavior (smoking and psychotropic drug abuse). The findings suggest that family factors play an important role in influencing the psychosocial adjustment, particularly the positive mental health, of Chinese adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

The relation of family functioning to adolescent psychological well-being, school adjustment, and problem behavior.

The association between family functioning and adolescent adjustment was examined in 429 Chinese adolescents via children's and parents' reports. The ratings obtained from the different sources indicated that family functioning was significantly related to measures of (a) adolescent psychological well-being (general psychiatric morbidity, life satisfaction, purpose in life, hopelessness, and self-esteem), (b) school adjustment (perceived academic performance and school conduct), and (c) problem behavior (smoking and abusing psychotropic drugs). The findings suggest that there is an intimate link between family functioning and the psychosocial adjustment, particularly the positive mental health, of Chinese adolescents.

Achievement↗
PubMed1997

The influence of a big brothers program on the adjustment of boys in single-parent families.

This study is an evaluation of the self-competence, academic performance, behavioral problems, and parent-child relations of boys who had been raised in single-parent families headed by their mothers and who had weekly contact with an adult friend or companion through a midwestern affiliate of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. Results indicated that participation in such a program was not related to changes in the areas investigated. These findings are not consistent with the social support literature suggesting that an adult companion or friend may benefit children in single-parent families. Further study with a larger sample, over a longer time frame, is recommended.

Achievement↗
PubMed1998

Family capital, children's individual attributes, and adolescents' aspirations: a follow-up analysis.

In this follow-up study of an earlier investigation (Marjoribanks, 1992), relationships were examined between family capital, children's individual attributes, immediate family settings, and adolescents' aspirations. There were 500 Australian adolescents (250 girls, 250 boys) and their parents in the sample. The results of this study and of the earlier investigation suggest that (a) family environmental contexts are moderately to largely associated with children's academic performances and adolescents' aspirations; (b) relationships between family contexts, children's individual attributes, and adolescents' aspirations are mediated fully or in part by adolescents' perceptions of their parents' support for learning; and (c) there are gender-related differences in the nature of the associations among family capital, individual attributes, immediate family settings, and adolescents' aspirations.

Achievement↗
PubMed2003

Reciprocated and unreciprocated dyadic peer preferences and academic achievement of Israeli and immigrant students: a longitudinal study.

The authors used a longitudinal design to investigate 2 major issues: first, whether popularity with classmates results in better academic achievement or academic achievement improves popularity with classmates; and second, how time affects in-group and out-group contacts in the elementary school. The authors studied these issues by means of an interactive measure of reciprocated and unreciprocated contacts with peers. This measure indicated the extent to which aspirations for close relations were fulfilled or not fulfilled by each member of a dyad. Participants were 305 fifth- and sixth-grade Israeli students and 100 immigrant classmates. Results indicated (a) higher academic achievement predicted higher numbers of bids for reciprocal contacts in class but not higher numbers of bids for contacts that were not reciprocated; (b) a higher level of unreciprocated bids for contact seemed to have a detrimental effect on academic performance; (c) teachers tended to rate as more adjusted to school the immigrant students who were willing to engage in more intensive reciprocated contacts with Israeli peers; and (d) reciprocated contacts tended to increase whereas unreciprocated contacts were inclined to decrease as a function of time. These changes over time were more prominent for the dominant hosts than for their migrant classmates.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2001

Perceptions of student peer tutors in a problem-based learning programme.

The use of student peer tutors is an attractive and affordable alternative in a problem-based programme. Previous literature has focused on comparing the academic performance of faculty-tutored and student-tutored groups. This study used qualitative methods to examine a peer-tutoring model from the perspective of the student tutor. Students in the final semester of a two-year accelerated physiotherapy programme kept a reflective journal outlining their experiences in facilitating a group of peers from the same class. Content analysis of 56 journals indicated that the students struggled with basic facilitation skills and had difficulty separating the role of student from that of tutor. Students also developed strategies to allow them to succeed, were able to evaluate their performance in a positive light and appeared to value their tutoring experience.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

The association between student characteristics and the development of clinical reasoning in a graduate-entry, PBL medical programme.

This study sought to assess the extent to which the entry characteristics of students in a graduate-entry medical programme predict the subsequent development of clinical reasoning ability. Subjects comprised 290 students voluntarily recruited from three successive cohorts of the University of Queensland's MBBS Programme. Clinical reasoning was measured once a year over a period of three years using two methods, a set of 10 Clinical Reasoning Problems (CRPs) and the Diagnostic Thinking Inventory (DTI). Data on gender, age at entry into the programme, nature of primary degree, scores on selection criteria (written examination plus interview) and academic performance in the first two years of the programme were recorded for each student, and their association with clinical reasoning skill analysed using univariate and multivariate analysis. Univariate analysis indicated significant associations between CRP score, gender and primary degree with a significant but small association between DTI and interview score. Stage of progression through the programme was also an important predictor of performance on both indicators. Subsequent multivariate analysis suggested that female gender is a positive predictor of CRP score independently of the nature of a subject's primary degree and stage of progression through the programme, although these latter two variables are interdependent. Positive predictors of clinical reasoning skill are stage of progression through the MBBS programme, female gender and interview score. Although the nature of a student's primary degree is important in the early years of the programme, evidence suggests that by graduation differences between students' clinical reasoning skill due to this factor have been resolved.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Learning syndromes afflicting beginning medical students: identification and treatment--reflections after forty years of teaching.

During 40 years experience teaching beginning medical students primarily microscopic anatomy (cell biology, histology and embryology), but also occasionally neuroanatomy and gross anatomy and while serving as the course director for Microscopic Anatomy for 18 years and counseling students with academic performance problems, a set of syndromes were identified that impact on student learning. Each of these syndromes were given names reflective of the underlying problem, i.e. 'Oh Yeah', 'Too Many Books', 'Six Chambered Heart', 'Old Test Question', 'Slip and Slide', etc. syndromes. In this paper each syndrome is presented and discussed and specific treatments for each syndrome are presented. In addition, advice for beginning medical students on how to study ('The Split Brain' method), developed in association with the treatments for the syndromes, is presented.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate↗