A longitudinal comparative study of the impact of the experience of social work education on interpersonal and critical thinking capabilities

Head (the intellectual/critical thinking) and Heart (the emotional-interpersonal) are long established twin-pillars of social work. Their importance is not just reflected in literature devoted to each but in the professional proficiencies and capabilities expected for practice. While clearly intertwined—both operate together in practice—and central to practice proficiencies/capabilities, implying implicit measurement of standards, there is a curious lack of research focusing on measurement of the two together. This novel study is the first to carry out a longitudinal comparative study examining the extent to which interpersonal and critical thinking capabilities are developed during the lifetime of qualifying social work training as measured through programme performance and development. It focuses on four cohorts (n = 170) at two Universities (Undergraduate and Masters). While findings show the interpersonal significantly underpinned performance and outcome, critical thinking—though embedded in Masters programme performance—was less significant, particularly in the undergraduate programmes. The study concludes that we cannot assume interpersonal and critical thinking capabilities are always incorporated into the learning process and attention should be paid to the overt measurement of interpersonal and critical thinking capabilities together with the processes and mechanisms by which they are focused on in programmes.     

Preventive Care's Forgotten Women: Life Course,Sexuality, and Sexual Health among Homosexually and Bisexually Active Women in France

Although studies show that women who have sex with women (WSW) have poorer sexual health and more limited access to health care for gynecological problems than other women, the social processes giving rise to such health differences have not, so far, been explored. These processes may be formed in response to a dominant social norm, which assigns women to a heterosexual and monogamous sexuality. Based on data from a national random survey of sexuality (N = 6,824), enriched by qualitative interviews with WSW (n = 40), this analysis shows that bisexually active women had similar socio-demographic profiles to heterosexually active women, whereas homosexually active women appeared to be more highly educated than other women and less likely to live as couples than bisexually active women. Bisexually active women had more diversified sexual trajectories and sexual networks than other women. Chlamydia prevalence was found to be higher among bisexually active women, and homosexually active women reported fewer medical consultations for gynecological reasons. These analyses highlight the need to deconstruct the binary classification of homosexual versus heterosexual women. Because of constraint by the monogamous heterosexual norm, bisexually active women were less likely to be tested for sexually transmitted infections, and homosexually active women were less likely to have had gynecological follow-ups.     

Blood Transfusion in Room 223

How educators handle conflicting views of Populism is important in engaging students in critical thinking.     

The recruitment and selection of hospital medical consultants

Abstract

The literature on selection has been dominated in recent decades by the ‘prediction’ paradigm. Such an approach requires a substantial number of positions to be filled in order to compute validity coefficients. There are other approaches, using a different paradigm, when concentrated on adjusting the organization and the employee. Here careful analysis of job demands is essential. This article describes such an analysis, taking the medical consultant as an example. The method can be used in an iterative way. It is useful when one has to work with small numbers of positions.     

Evaluating the Use of Spatial Covariance Structures in the Analysis of Cardiovascular Imaging Data

This article investigates the choice of working covariance structures in the analysis of spatially correlated observations motivated by cardiac imaging data. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we found that the choice of covariance structure affects the efficiency of the estimator and power of the test. Choosing the popular unstructured working covariance structure results in an over-inflated Type I error possibly due to a sample size not large enough relative to the number of parameters being estimated. With regard to model fit indices, Bayesian Information Criterion outperforms Akaike Information Criterion in choosing the correct covariance structure used to generate data.     

Methods to assess measurement error in questionnaires of sedentary behavior

Sedentary behavior has already been associated with mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Questionnaires are an affordable tool for measuring sedentary behavior in large epidemiological studies. Here, we introduce and evaluate two statistical methods for quantifying measurement error in questionnaires. Accurate estimates are needed for assessing questionnaire quality. The two methods would be applied to validation studies that measure a sedentary behavior by both questionnaire and accelerometer on multiple days. The first method fits a reduced model by assuming the accelerometer is without error, while the second method fits a more complete model that allows both measures to have error. Because accelerometers tend to be highly accurate, we show that ignoring the accelerometer's measurement error, can result in more accurate estimates of measurement error in some scenarios. In this article, we derive asymptotic approximations for the mean-squared error of the estimated parameters from both methods, evaluate their dependence on study design and behavior characteristics, and offer an R package so investigators can make an informed choice between the two methods. We demonstrate the difference between the two methods in a recent validation study comparing previous day recalls to an accelerometer-based ActivPal.     

Continuity and change in work-life balance choices

This paper explores the ways in which the work-life balance choices made by heterosexual couples differ in different generations, how such choices are gendered, and the extent to which 'individualization' provides an adequate conceptualization of the effects of social change on heterosexual couples. It argues that processes of individualization need to be seen in the context of changing social institutions, and that it is the de-institutionalization of 'the family' and the life course that is leading to a de-gendering of work-life balance choices. The paper draws on findings from a restudy of the family and social change and a study of the gender dimensions of job insecurity both of which were carried out in the same geographical location. The studies provide evidence of generational change in work-life balance choices and increasing occupational differentiation between heterosexual partners. This leads to a situation where increasingly choices are made which blur gendered boundaries and which has been made possible by a process of de-institutionalization of the male breadwinner family. Our findings support the contention that processes of individualization are more apparent amongst younger than older generations and that, because of changes external to the family, there is more negotiation and pragmatism amongst younger generations about work-life choices.     

Relocation stress syndrome in older adults transitioning from home to a long-term care facility: myth or reality?

Relocation stress syndrome is a nursing diagnosis characterized by symptoms such as anxiety, confusion, hopelessness, and loneliness. It usually occurs in older adults shortly after moving from a private residence to a nursing home or assisted-living facility. The primary purpose of this study was to validate the symptoms of relocation stress syndrome. Eight nursing home residents and 8 assisted-living facility residents were interviewed 2 to 10 weeks after admission, when symptoms of relocation stress syndrome are most likely to appear. Results of this study indicate that the incidence of relocation stress syndrome may be overestimated. More accurate diagnosis and treatment of depression in older adults is needed.     

DEVIL'S ADVOCACY AND DIALECTICAL INQUIRY EFFECTS ON PREDICTION PERFORMANCE: TASK INVOLVEMENT AS A MEDIATING VARIABLE

Critics of previous laboratory experiments comparing devil's advocacy (DA) to dialectical inquiry (DI) have suggested that these experiments produced misleading results because (1) they used subjects who had low levels of task involvement and (2) the DI treatment used was confusing to subjects and required further explanation to be useful. The present study examines the effects of four inquiry methods—expert (E), DA, DI, and DI with explanatory statement (DI+)—on subjects' performance at a financial prediction task. Results show that DA, DI, and DI + were superior to E when the state of the world differed significantly from assumptions underlying the expert's plan. For subjects with high task involvement, DI and DI + were more effective than E and DA. The results support some of the criticisms of previous laboratory research and suggest that future research on these decision aids should include task involvement as a factor.     

USING AN UNCERTAINTY MODEL TO ASSESS SALES RESPONSE TO ADVERTISING*

Implications of a probabilistic “random walk” model of incremental sales response to advertising are developed for various timing patterns of advertising expenditures. Maximum likelihood procedures for assessing advertising effectiveness and for estimating a decay (forgetting) rate are developed and applied to artificial data of known configuration and are used to assess the impact over time of a brochure program on mail-order sales. Results are also compared to those from alternative models involving various lag patterns in advertising effects.