Comparability of the 6-min walk test using different test configurations

The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is a common component of fitness assessments of older adults; however, differing course configurations might affect 6MWT performance. It is unclear how comparable 2 different configurations are. To determine the comparability of 2 courses, 35 adults >65 years of age completed two 6MWT, once walking around a 20- by 5-yd outdoor rectangle and once on an indoor oval track (circumference 144.3 yd). Scores for the 2 tests were internally consistent (intraclass correlation coefficient = .95). The participants walked farther on the oval track than around the rectangle (639 +/- 19 vs. 582 +/- 16 yd; p < .0001), but responses to the rectangular configuration could be readily estimated using the equation 66.7 yd + 0.807 x (oval walking distance), R2 = .85. Thus, within-participant responses are similar across both 6MWT, but the course configuration affects the distance walked.     

The Developmental Origins of Gaze‐Following in Human Infants

During the first year of life, infants develop the capacity to follow the gaze of others. This behavior allows sharing attention and facilitates language acquisition and cognitive development. This article reviews studies that investigated gaze‐following before 12 months of age in typically developing infants and discusses current theoretical perspectives on early GF. Recent research has revealed that early GF is highly dependent on situational constraints and individual characteristics, but theories that describe the underlying mechanisms have partly failed to consider this complexity. We propose a novel framework termed the perceptual narrowing account of GF that may have the potential to integrate existing theoretical accounts.     

A model for culturally adapting a learning system

The Cross-Cultural Adaption Model (XCAM) is designed to help identify cultural values contained in the text, narration, or visual components of a learning instrument and enables the adapter to evaluate his adapted model so that he can modify or revise it, and allows him to assess the modified version by actually measuring the amount of cultural conflict still present in it. Such a model would permit world-wide adaption of learning materials in population regulation. A random sample of the target group is selected. The adapter develops a measurin g instrument, the cross-cultural adaption scale (XCA), a number of statements about the cultural affinity of the object evaluated. The pretest portion of the sample tests the clarity and understandability of the rating scale to be used for evaluating the instructional materials; the pilot group analyzes the original version of the instructional mater ials, determines the criteria for change, and analyzes the adapted version in terms of these criteria; the control group is administered the original version of the learning materials; and the experimental group is administered the adapted version. Finally, the responses obtained from the XRA rating scale and discussions of both the experimental and control groups are studied and group differences are ev aluated according to cultural conflicts met with each version. With this data, the preferred combination of elements is constructed.     

Countering rumors about contraceptives

Rumors are among the serious problems of the National Population Program today. The principles related to the origin of rumors, who starts rumors pertaining to family planning, and how they spread are outlined. The basic approach in countering rumors for the pill and IUD is diagrammed so that each potential rumor is countered by a medical or nonmedical/technical explanation. Strategies used by information-education-communication programs to prevent rumors such as the small group discussion, selection and training of motivators, and use of mass media are discussed. Rumors about family planning are counteracted not with the use of elaborate techniques but with clear and fairly simple reassurances supported by medical evidence and case histories.     

Evaluation of Student Learning Outcomes in MSW Programs

Abstract

The Nation is experiencing a rural crisis of severe proportions. Initially, that crisis was tied to depressed commodity prices and the demise of family farms but current developments indicate that it is of greater scope. Farm closures have caused the exodus of citizens, businesses, banks and services from small towns, particularly in the Heartland and the agricultural South. Despair among farmers has resulted in suicide and homicide; a traditional way of life is under threat of extinction. Additionally, depressed oil and other mineral prices have changed the rhythm of many rural lives and caused displacement of workers in non-agricultural yet rural states. This paper reports the results of a national survey of social work schools and programs and assesses the response of social work education to this crisis. Programmatic innovations are inventoried; regional comparisons are offered on practitioner and program responses; factors that facilitated or hindered those responses are reviewed; and the purported anti-rural bias of social work is assessed.     

Child Care,Maternal Employment,and Children’s School Outcomes. An Analysis of Italian Data

In this paper we analyse the impact of mothers’ employment status and formal child care attendance during early childhood on children’s school grades later in life, controlling for socio-demographic factors. We use the year 2008 of the Italian ISFOL-PLUS dataset. The dataset provides information on each respondent’s demographic characteristics, as well as a set of retrospective information on the individual’s school grades at the end of junior high school, high school, and university, along with (in the 2008 wave only) information about the respondent’s formal child care attendance and mother’s employment status when he or she was under age of three. We estimate the effects of maternal employment and child care attendance on the probability that the respondent would have high grades at the end of high school. Since maternal employment and child care attendance are likely to be endogenously determined, we use an instrumental variable approach. Our empirical results show that while having a mother who was working (during early childhood) had no significant effect on an individual’s high school grades, child care attendance had a positive and significant effect. These results have potential policy implications. As maternal employment does not seem to negatively affect the development process of children, while child care attendance appears to have a positive impact on academic achievement, policy makers should consider expanding the availability of child care and promoting women’s participation in the labour market.     

Social Competence in Children At Risk Due to Prenatal Cocaine Exposure: Continuity Over Time and Associations with Cognitive and Language Abilities

The continuity of social competence between 36 months and first grade was examined in a sample of children at risk due to prenatal exposure to cocaine (N = 92). Parent report data on social competence were collected at 36 months of age and both parent and teacher report data were collected when children were in first grade. Regression analyses indicated that 36-month social competence significantly predicted first-grade parent ratings of social competence, even after controlling for cognitive ability. Thirty-six month social competence also predicted first-grade teacher ratings of competence, but these relations were mediated by child gender and cognitive ability. Early social competence was also a significant predictor of first-grade language ability, after controlling for 36-month language. These findings emphasize the importance of early social competence for later development.     

Impact of rater personality on transformational and transactional leadership ratings

This study addresses the role of rater personality in ratings of transformational and transactional leadership. In a naturalistic field study, we found that rater personality (i.e., agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness) was positively associated with ratings of transformational leadership, but significant rater personality effects were not found in an experimental study where leadership behavior was invariant. These results suggest that disagreements among raters about leaders' behaviors are not due solely to random error and may instead reflect true differences either in (a) the behaviors leaders exhibit toward individual followers or (b) personality-related differences between followers in attention to and recall of leadership behaviors. We also found that personality (of subordinates and peers) was not randomly distributed across leaders, though clustering effects were generally small. Practically, our results suggest that (a) individual reports of leadership may be better at predicting leadership outcomes than aggregated group reports – especially those related to individual attitudes and behaviors – though they are rarely used in the literature; (b) aggregation is complicated because rater personality is associated with leadership ratings and is not randomly distributed across leaders; and (c) corrections for measurement error based on inter-rater agreement may not be appropriate due to non-random unique rater variance.