The status of PhD education in economic, social, and administrative sciences between 2005 and 2008

OBJECTIVES

To describe the funding, education, enrollment, and graduation patterns from economic, social, and administrative sciences PhD programs in colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States.

METHODS

Economic, social, and administrative sciences PhD programs were identified from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Web site. A 41-item online survey instrument was sent to the director of graduate studies of each identified program. Only programs offering a PhD degree were included in the study.

RESULTS

Of the 26 programs surveyed, 20 (77%) provided useable responses to the survey instrument. Approximately 91% of PhD programs guarantee funding to incoming students with an average commitment of 2.9 years. On average, students were paid a stipend of $18,000 per year for commitments to research and teaching assistantships, each averaging approximately 2 years in length. Programs admitted an average of 3.5 students per year and graduated approximately 85% of entering students. The majority of students are non-US citizens and accept positions in either academic or industrial positions after graduation.

CONCLUSIONS

Most economic, social, and administrative sciences PhD programs guarantee funding to incoming PhD candidates. Programs offering funding packages significantly below the average may be at a competitive disadvantage. It is unclear whether the number of students graduating from PhD programs is adequate to fulfill academic and industrial needs.

English Language Teaching: phonetics, phonology and auditory processing contributions

BACKGROUND

interrelation of phonetics, phonology and auditory processing in English Language Teaching.

AIM

to determine whether prior contact with English phonetics favors general learning of this language (L2), i.e. second language, in Portuguese speakers; to verify performance of these individuals in an auditory processing test prior to and after being taught L2.

METHOD

participants of the study were eight college students who had only studied English in high school. These participants were divided into two groups: control group - were only enrolled in English classes; experimental group - were enrolled in English phonetic classes prior to their enrollment in English classes. Participants were submitted to an auditory processing test and to an oral test in English (Oral Test) prior to and after the classes. Data were analyzed in the same way, i.e. prior to and after the classes.

RESULTS

these were expressed statistically by T-Student's test. Analyses indicated no difference in performance between groups. Scores indicated better performance of the control group for answering questions in English in the Oral Test. The experimental group had better performance in the auditory processing test after being enrolled to English phonetic classes and English course.

CONCLUSION

prior basic knowledge of English did not enhance general learning (improvement in pronunciation) of the second language, however, it improved the ability of temporal processing in the used test.

'Football for Health'--a football-based health-promotion programme for children in South Africa: a parallel cohort study

OBJECTIVES

To develop, implement and assess an interactive, football-based health education programme for children in South Africa.

DESIGN

Prospective cohort study with control group.

SETTING

Two schools in Khayelitsha township, South Africa.

PARTICIPANTS

370 children making up two intervention groups (Grade 6: 125; Grade 7: 131) and one control group (Grade 7: 114).

INTERVENTION

Eleven 90 min sessions, each divided into two 45 min halves of Play Football (football skills) and Play Fair (health issues), each session focused on one specific health risk factor.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Health knowledge using a 20-item questionnaire; coaches' attitudes towards their training programme using a 10-item questionnaire and children's attitudes towards the health education programme using a six-item questionnaire.

RESULTS

Children in the Grade 7 intervention group showed significant (p<0.05) increases in the proportion of correct responses for nine of the 20 health knowledge questions postintervention, and these increases were maintained at 3 months postintervention. The Grade 6 intervention group showed significant increases in the proportion of correct responses for 15 of the 20 health knowledge questions postintervention. The Grade 7 control group showed a significant increase in the proportion of correct responses to one of the 20 health knowledge questions post-Play Football sessions and nine of 20 questions post-Play Fair sessions. Over 90% of the children provided positive attitude responses to the health-education programme.

CONCLUSIONS

The programme demonstrated that it was possible to implement a football-based health-education programme for children in Africa that achieved significant increases in health knowledge and that was also well received by participants.

Sexual abuse by men who work with children

There is a dearth of knowledge about those who sexually abuse children while working in organizations. Here, we adopt a case study approach to examine this problem. We focus on eight adult males who had been imprisoned for abusing a total of 35 children while working in educational and voluntary settings. We provide a detailed account of abusers' characteristics, their strategies, how victims were selected, how trust was secured, and how victims' silence was ensured. Finally, we reflect on the extent to which our work might contribute toward the prevention of this form of abuse.

Using Guttman's mapping sentences and Many Facet Rasch Measurement Theory to develop an instrument that examines the grading philosophies of teachers

This study presents an approach to questionnaire design within educational research based on Guttman's mapping sentences (Guttman, 1977) and Many-Facet Rasch Measurement Theory (Linacre, 1994). The primary purpose of this study was to illustrate how Guttman's mapping sentences can be used to develop an instrument that explores the grading philosophies of teachers. A secondary purpose was to clarify teacher grading philosophies (i.e., severity or leniency) as a measurement construct. We designed a 54-item questionnaire in which each item represented a unique combination of student characteristics, i.e., varying levels of classroom achievement, ability, behavior, and effort. The grades assigned by the teachers to the scenarios were analyzed using the FACETS (Linacre, 2007) computer program. The results of the analyses suggest that the grading philosophies of teachers represent a unidimensional construct which is influenced, to varying extents, by the classroom achievement (primarily), behavior, and effort of students; whereas the measurement value added by the inclusion of the ability facet is uncertain.

Teaching public health in undergraduate medical courses: a case study in three universities in Paraná

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE

Historically, different concepts of public health have influenced both the specific teaching in this field and its participation in general physician training. Starting from this assumption, the objective of this paper was to study how public health has been taught in undergraduate medical courses, focusing on structure and on how this has affected curriculum design in three universities in the State of Paraná, Brazil.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Qualitative investigation developed at Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL) and Universidade Positivo (UnicenP).

METHODS

This study included a documentary analysis on pedagogical projects and on how these are actually experienced by those working on them. Eleven managers and 18 teachers were interviewed, as well as four groups of students that were formed in the three medical courses.

RESULTS

Between 5 and 20% of Public Health topics were shown to be included in the curriculums, depending on the teaching strategies used. However, they were always set up within academic approaches that were strongly linked to healthcare services. This situation has been strengthened through the degree of progress made by the National Health System (Sistema Unico de Saúde, SUS) in both cities (Curitiba and Londrina).

CONCLUSIONS

Regardless of the nature of the university, the administrative and academic setup of the course and of the different ways of incorporating teachers, Public Health is present and takes on considerable relevance for medical training, even if it does not constitute a linking thread within undergraduate medical courses.

Educational supervision and the impact of workplace-based assessments: a survey of psychiatry trainees and their supervisors

BACKGROUND

Educational supervision (ES) is considered to be an essential component of basic specialist training in psychiatry in the UK. However, previous studies have indicated variation in its provision, and uncertainty about structure and content. Workplace-based assessments (WPBAs) were introduced in 2007 as part of major postgraduate medical training reform. Placing considerable time demands on trainees and supervisors alike, the extent to which WPBAs should utilise ES time has not been specified. As ES and WPBAs have discrete (although complementary) functions, there is the potential for this increased emphasis on assessment to displace other educational needs.

METHODS

All junior doctors and their educational supervisors in one UK psychiatry training scheme were surveyed both before and after the introduction of WPBAs. Frequency and duration of ES were established, and structure, content and process were ascertained. Opinions on usefulness and responsibility were sought. The usage of ES for WPBAs was also assessed.

RESULTS

The response rate of 70% showed general agreement between trainees and supervisors, but some significant discrepancies. Around 60% reported 1 hour of ES taking place weekly or 3 times per month. Most agreed that responsibility for ES should be shared equally between trainees and supervisors, and ES was largely seen as useful. Around 50% of trainees and supervisors used 25-50% of ES time for WPBAs, and this did not appear to affect the usefulness of ES or the range of issues covered.

CONCLUSION

ES continues to be an important component of psychiatric training. However, using ES for WPBAs introduces the potential for tension between trainees' education and their assessment by emphasising certain training issues at the expense of others. The impact of reduced training time, WPBAs and uncertainties over ES structure and content should be monitored to ensure that its benefits are maximised by remaining tailored to individual trainees' needs.

Reliability of the term ‘support’ in singing

The usefulness of a term depends on the extent to which it means the same thing to different people. In this investigation we examine the term 'support', commonly used in vocal pedagogy. Singing lessons given by co-author SS to five students at varying stages were recorded on DAT. By listening to these recordings, she selected 42 examples, each a few seconds long, that she found representative of different degrees of support ranging from perfect to nil. These examples were presented in random order to nine experts, all with a professional involvement in singing. Thirteen of the stimuli occurred twice in the test. Intra- and inter-rater reliability were found to be high, Cronbach alpha=0.910, and mean correlation 0.743 (SD 0.137). These data support the assumption that the term support has a similar meaning to voice experts and should thus be useful in voice terminology.

The State of EMS Education Research Project:

OBJECTIVES

The preparation of emergency medicine practitioners occurs at a variety of levels, via individuals with various levels of experience and training, and through a variety of oversight organizations. The purpose of this study was to quantify the characteristics of those recognized as prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) educators, the type and amount of infrastructure available to facilitate the learning process, and what attributes and common practices the profession values.

METHODS

The respondents (n = 1,691) were generated randomly from a nationwide systematic sample of all known EMS instructors. The sample was adequate to generalize to the 15,000 EMS educators. Face validity and content validity were assured through use of a 24-member focus group of EMS educators, practitioners, and administrators, who reviewed the questionnaire. Reliability estimates were generated via Cronbach's alpha and Kuder-Richardson 20 and 21 and ranged from 0.59 to 0.83, with a grand mean for the seven study constructs of 0.70. Factor analysis with varimax rotation explained 40% to 66% of the respective construct variance, with a grand mean of 56% of the response variance explained.

RESULTS

The respondents were satisfied with their teaching experience (98%), expected to continue (80%), and taught because of a perceived dearth of qualified instructors. Only half of the respondents utilized federally generated curricular materials, and approximately 20% were uncomfortable in assessing psychomotor skills. The relationship of testing to assessment and skill performance appeared to be the most significant pedagogic challenge.

CONCLUSIONS

The respondents were a senior group of educators committed to the training of new providers who will comprise the foundation of future EMS educational efforts at the national level.

[Impact of the funding reform of teaching hospitals in Brazil]

OBJECTIVE

To assess the impact of funding reform on the productivity of teaching hospitals.

METHODS

Based on the Information System of Federal University Hospitals of Brazil, 2003 and 2006 efficiency and productivity were measured using frontier methods with a linear programming technique, data envelopment analysis, and input-oriented variable returns to scale model. The Malmquist index was calculated to detect changes during the study period: 'technical efficiency change,' or the relative variation of the efficiency of each unit; and 'technological change' after frontier shift.

RESULTS

There was 51% mean budget increase and improvement of technical efficiency of teaching hospitals (previously 11, 17 hospitals reached the empirical efficiency frontier) but the same was not seen for the technology frontier. Data envelopment analysis set benchmark scores for each inefficient unit (before and after reform) and there was a positive correlation between technical efficiency and teaching intensity and dedication.

CONCLUSIONS

The reform promoted management improvements but there is a need of further follow-up to assess the effectiveness of funding changes.

Impact of infrastructure on graduate dental education and dental clinic productivity

Using all-inclusive data from 126 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities that provide dental services, this study identified the staffing infrastructure under which the Veterans Health Administration can provide graduate dental education without compromising dental clinic productivity. From regression analyses, we found that teaching residents has a negative impact on staff dentists' productivity; however, when the dental assistant to provider ratio is greater than or equal to 1.0, dental residents' workload contribution can offset the negative impact on overall clinic productivity. In the presence of dental residents, the dental assistant, front-desk personnel, and dental treatment room to provider ratios have a positive impact on productivity. The optimal ratios were calculated as 1.5 for dental assistants, 2.1 for dental treatment rooms, and 0.57 for front-desk personnel.

Safety leadership in the teaching laboratories of electrical and electronic engineering departments at Taiwanese Universities

INTRODUCTION

Safety has always been one of the principal goals in teaching laboratories. Laboratories cannot serve their educational purpose when accidents occur. The leadership of department heads has a major impact on laboratory safety, so this study discusses the factors affecting safety leadership in teaching laboratories.

METHOD

This study uses a mail survey to explore the perceived safety leadership in electrical and electronic engineering departments at Taiwanese universities.

RESULTS

An exploratory factor analysis shows that there are three main components of safety leadership, as measured on a safety leadership scale: safety controlling, safety coaching, and safety caring. The descriptive statistics also reveals that among faculty, the perception of department heads' safety leadership is in general positive. A two-way MANOVA shows that there are interaction effects on safety leadership between university size and instructor age; there are also interaction effects between presence of a safety committee and faculty gender and faculty age.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

It is therefore necessary to assess organizational factors when determining whether individual factors are the cause of differing perceptions among faculty members. The author also presents advice on improving safety leadership for department heads at small universities and at universities without safety committees.

National growth in simulation training within emergency medicine residency programs, 2003-2008

OBJECTIVES

The use of medical simulation has grown dramatically over the past decade, yet national data on the prevalence and growth of use among individual specialty training programs are lacking. The objectives of this study were to describe the current role of simulation training in emergency medicine (EM) residency programs and to quantify growth in use of the technology over the past 5 years.

METHODS

In follow-up of a 2006 study (2003 data), the authors distributed an updated survey to program directors (PDs) of all 179 EM residency programs operating in early 2008 (140 Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education [ACGME]-approved allopathic programs and 39 American Osteopathic Association [AOA]-accredited osteopathic programs). The brief survey borrowed from the prior instrument, was edited and revised, and then distributed at a national PDs meeting. Subsequent follow-up was conducted by e-mail and telephone. The survey concentrated on technology-enhanced simulation modalities beyond routine static trainers or standardized patient-actors (high-fidelity mannequin simulation, part-task/procedural simulation, and dynamic screen-based simulation).

RESULTS

A total of 134 EM residency programs completed the updated survey, yielding an overall response rate of 75%. A total of 122 (91%) use some form of simulation in their residency training. One-hundred fourteen (85%) specifically use mannequin-simulators, compared to 33 (29%) in 2003 (p < 0.001). Mannequin-simulators are now owned by 58 (43%) of the programs, whereas only 9 (8%) had primary responsibility for such equipment in 2003 (p < 0.001). Fifty-eight (43%) of the programs reported that annual resident simulation use now averages more than 10 hours per year.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of medical simulation has grown significantly in EM residency programs in the past 5 years and is now widespread among training programs across the country.

Harsh corporal punishment of Yemeni children: occurrence, type and associations

OBJECTIVE

To examine the occurrence, type and associations of harsh corporal punishment in Yemen.

METHODS

Caregiver and teacher reports were obtained on 1,196 Yemeni 7-10-year olds obtained by systematic random sampling of children in the 1st to 4th grades of urban and rural schools. Caregivers (86% mothers) reported on disciplinary practices, socio-familial background, and child psychopathology. Teachers reported on school performance and child psychopathology.

RESULTS

More than half of the rural caregivers and about a quarter of the urban caregivers reported using harsh corporal punishment (hitting children with implements, tying them up, pinching them, or biting them). Harsh corporal punishment was significantly associated with poor school performance and both behavioral and emotional difficulties. The socio-familial factors that were independently associated with harsh corporal punishment were: rural area, male gender of the child, low maternal education, and large family size.

CONCLUSION

Harsh corporal punishment is very common in Yemen. International findings suggest that the association with school failure and psychological maladjustment may well be causal. Promoting parental use of effective and non-violent disciplinary methods should be a public health priority.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Yemen urgently needs to develop and evaluate programs that teach parents how to use culturally appropriate rewards and non-abusive sanctions to shape children's behavior without stunting their academic and emotional development. Persuading parents to adopt such approaches may need programs that focus not just on techniques but also on attitudes, e.g. challenging the commonly held belief that children will not develop properly unless they are beaten when they do wrong.

Psychiatric resident and attending diagnostic and prescribing practices

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates whether two patient population groups, under resident or attending treatment, are equivalent or different in the distribution of patient characteristics, diagnoses, or pharmacotherapy.

METHODS

Demographic data, psychiatric diagnoses, and pharmacotherapy data were collected for 100 random patient charts of psychiatric residents, and were then compared with 100 random patient charts of attending psychiatrists.

RESULTS

Student's t test and chi square analysis suggested no statistically significant differences in the average number of comorbid Axis I diagnoses, percentages of patients with Axis II diagnoses, or major differences in the specific percentages of the 10 most common Axis I diagnoses. Furthermore, there were no statistically significant differences in the average number of psychiatric medications prescribed for pharmacological management of mental illness, or ratios of specific drug classes utilized.

CONCLUSION

There seems to be no major differences in patient characteristics or in the treatment techniques that were utilized.

Psychometric properties of the School Anxiety Scale-Teacher Report (SAS-TR)

This paper describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a teacher report scale of anxiety in children. After initial pilot, the School Anxiety Scale-Teacher Report (SAS-TR) was reduced to 16 items which were answered on a 4-point scale. Psychometric evaluation was conducted on 240 community and 140 anxiety disordered children aged 5-12 years. Factor analysis identified two subscales reflecting social and generalized anxiety. The SAS-TR was found to have acceptable internal consistency, appropriate relationships with other teacher report scales, and was positively correlated with parent report of child anxiety. Gender and age effects on total and subscale scores were not evident. Clinical utility was evident with the scale discriminating between the community and clinical groups, correctly classifying a large proportion of anxiety disordered children and showing sensitivity to changes in anxiety with treatment. The SAS-TR complements existing measures and can be used within a multi-informant approach to the assessment of child anxiety.

Quality of standardised patient research reports in the medical education literature: review and recommendations

CONTEXT

In order to assess or replicate the research findings of published reports, authors must provide adequate and transparent descriptions of their methods. We conducted 2 consecutive studies, the first to define reporting standards relating to the use of standardised patients (SPs) in research, and the second to evaluate the current literature according to these standards.

METHODS

Standards for reporting SPs in research were established by representatives of the Grants and Research Committee of the Association of Standardized Patient Educators (ASPE). An extensive literature search yielded 177 relevant English-language articles published between 1993 and 2005. Search terms included: 'standardised patient(s)'; 'simulated patient(s)'; 'objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)', and 'clinical skills assessment'. Articles were limited to those reporting the use of SPs as an outcome measure and published in 1 of 5 prominent health sciences education journals. Data regarding the SP encounter, SP characteristics, training and behavioural measure(s) were gathered.

RESULTS

A random selection of 121 articles was evaluated according to 29 standards. Reviewers judged that few authors provided sufficient details regarding the encounter (21%, n = 25), SPs (16%, n = 19), training (15%, n = 15), and behavioural measures (38%, n = 44). Authors rarely reported SP gender (27%, n = 33) and age range (22%, n = 26), whether training was provided for the SPs (39%, n = 47) or other raters (24%, n = 29), and psychometric evidence to support the behavioural measure (23%, n = 25).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that there is a need for increased rigor in reporting research involving SPs. In order to support the validity of research findings, journal editors, reviewers and authors are encouraged to provide adequate detail when describing SP methodology.

Clinical teaching capacity in New Zealand general practice

AIM

To explore the capacity for both undergraduate and postgraduate clinical teaching by New Zealand general practitioners in general practices.

METHOD

A postal survey sent to 1168 GPs (constituting a stratified sample of one-third of the members of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners [RNZCGP]) received 561 responses-a response rate of 48%. 508 responses were eligible for further analysis.

RESULTS

Respondents were similar in gender mix and age range to the total membership of the RNZCGP. Over half of all respondents (286/508; 56%) were currently (or had been) involved in some clinical teaching in practices. The most common reason identified for enjoying teaching was 'Facilitating students with their learning' (214/288; 74%) and 'Learning from teaching' (213/288; 74%). The most common reason for not teaching was 'Lack of time to provide clinical teaching' (239/508; 47%). Most participants (398/508; 78%) indicated that only one or two students could be accommodated at the practice at any one time.

CONCLUSION

A sizable proportion of the total GP workforce is already involved in some form of clinical teaching, even allowing for a likely higher response rate among teaching GPs. Most respondents indicated that practices currently have limited capacity for teaching, although identified barriers would be surmountable with adequate resources. These findings have important implications for the future of not only undergraduate medical education in community clinical settings, but also proposed increases in general practice vocational training necessary to meet current and future workforce requirements.

Pain syndromes in competitive elite level female artistic gymnasts. Role of specific preventive-compensative activity

The pain is a serious problem in advanced level female artistic gymnasts because it decreases the performance. The pain is due to the high numbers of hours spent in training sessions and may be associated to injuries that have relatively high incidence and severity in these athletes. We investigated the role of a preventive-compensative physical activity program, implemented in the warm-up and the cool-down session of standard training, in the prevention and reduction of the pain syndromes, evaluated in elite level young female artistic gymnasts. Thirty elite level female athletes, 10-14 years old, participated in this study and were followed for 12 weeks during the competition preparation period. Fifteen athletes were trained with preventive-compensative motory program implemented in the ordinary training (intervention group) and fifteen (control group) followed the standard training. All athletes completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding the pain intensity on the basis of a Visual Analogue Scale pre- and post- intervention. The experimental protocol consisted of three steps: the treatment of the shortened muscle chains according to Active Posture Reeducation method, the propriocettive-coordinative training with wobble board and the mobilization and stretching of back using fitball. Before intervention, the pain in practicing this sport was reported by 83% of all the athletes. The most common primary pain sites were the ankle and low back; the pain anatomical location was correlated to the training. After intervention, low back pain assessment showed a decrease of pain identified as mild (from 56% to 44%) or moderate (from 33% to 22%) and a disappearance of severe pain (from 11% to 0%). Ankle pain decreased and/or disappeared: the mild pain from 33% to 27%, moderate from 27% to 13% and severe from 13% to 0%. The pain analysis did not show different results in the control group. Our results indicated that the performed preventive-compensative training is of value, in a short time perspective, in preventing and reducing the pain syndromes in these athletes.

[Psychosocial burdens in teaching proffession--initial results of Questionnaire of Occupational Burdens in Teaching (QOBT)]

BACKGROUND

This article presents the results obtained using a new tool for measuring psychosocial burdens in teaching profession--the Questionnaire of Occupational Burdens in Teaching (QOBT). In its first theoretical part, some typologies of stressors in teaching, developed in other countries, are presented and the need to construct a new tool in Poland is discussed.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In this part, the construction process of the new tool and its three scales comprising: Conflict Situations, Organizational Burdens and Lack of Work Sense are described. The psychometric features of the new questionnaire (e.g., Cronbach a = 0.63-0.84) are also given. The results are based on a large random sample of teachers from the Łódz voivodeship.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The results did not show significant differences in the level of occupational burdens between men and women. Generally, neither are seniority and age related to the level of burdens. One exception are Organizational burdens that slightly more affect older teachers. The study also showed the need to incorporate the activities at the organizational level into programs on occupational stress.

Reflective listening in counseling: effects of training time and evaluator social skills

Psychology students received a 14-, 28-, or 42-hour training course in reflective listening. Before and after training, the students participated in role-played counseling conversations with confederates, who rated them. The conversations were captured on audio- or videotape, categorized, and rated by external evaluators. Results suggested that the students used reflective listening equally after different lengths of training. However, longer training resulted in the confederates disclosing more emotion, the psychology students remembering the information relayed better, and the evaluators perceiving the therapeutic relationship as better. This was especially true among the evaluators who self-reported high social skills.