Textual representations of diversity in COAMFTE accredited doctoral programs

The use of the Internet is growing at a staggering pace. One significant use of the Internet is for potential students and the parents of potential students to explore educational possibilities. Along these lines potential marriage and family therapy students may have many questions that include a program's commitment to cultural diversity. This study utilized qualitative content analysis methodology in combination with critical race theory to examine how Commission On Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) accredited doctoral programs represented cultural text on their World Wide Web pages. Findings indicate that many COAMFTE-accredited doctoral programs re-present programmatic information about diversity that appear to be incongruent with cultural sensitivity. These apparent incongruities are highlighted by the codification, inconsistent, and isolated use of cultural text. In addition, cultural text related to social justice was absent. Implications and suggestions are discussed.     

From bedside to bench: does mental and physical activity promote cognitive vitality in late life?

A wide range of animal and human studies provide evidence for the potential of physical and cognitive exercise in promoting cognitive health later in life. The effects of such activities on intermediate outcomes, such as cognitive performance, are becoming clearer, as are the molecular mechanisms involved. Physical and cognitive exercise might increase "cognitive reserve" and increase the overall health of the brain, thereby reducing or delaying cognitive impairment and dementia. However, conclusive evidence for such benefits is not yet established. The third annual Bedside to Bench conference, cosponsored by The American Geriatrics Society and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging, reviewed current knowledge regarding the role of physical and cognitive exercise in promoting cognitive vitality. Conference attendees identified gaps in our current understanding of these processes and recommended next steps for research. In particular, researchers will need to explore clinical issues related to the timing, intensity, and duration of various types and combinations of physical and cognitive activities in animal models to elucidate the mechanisms involved and inform the design of future human studies. The concept of the enriched environment currently employed in animal studies to promote physical activity, socialization, and problem solving should be explored in human studies.     

What's News in Business Cycles

In the context of a dynamic, stochastic, general equilibrium model, we perform classical maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimations of the contribution of anticipated shocks to business cycles in the postwar United States. Our identification approach relies on the fact that forward‐looking agents react to anticipated changes in exogenous fundamentals before such changes materialize. It further allows us to distinguish changes in fundamentals by their anticipation horizon. We find that anticipated shocks account for about half of predicted aggregate fluctuations in output, consumption, investment, and employment.     

Speculative Overpricing in Asset Markets With Information Flows

In this paper, we derive and experimentally test a theoretical model of speculation in multiperiod asset markets with public information flows. The speculation arises from the traders' heterogeneous posteriors as they make different inferences from sequences of public information. This leads to overpricing in the sense that price exceeds the most optimistic belief about the real value of the asset. We find evidence of speculative overpricing in both incomplete and complete markets, where the information flow is a gradually revealed sequence of imperfect public signals about the state of the world. We also find evidence of asymmetric price reaction to good news and bad news, another feature of equilibrium price dynamics under our model. Markets with a relaxed short‐sale constraint exhibit less overpricing.     

Simulation based learning in midwifery education: a systematic review

AimTo critically examine the evidence for simulation based learning in midwifery education.BackgroundSimulated Learning Programs (SLPs) using low to high fidelity techniques are common in obstetric professionals’ education and focus on the development of team work, labour and obstetric emergencies.Review methodsA systematic review incorporating critical appraisal approaches, setting clear objectives and a defined search and analysis strategy. Evidence from obstetrics, neonatology, technical and non-technical skills (teamwork) was included where it informed the development of midwifery curricula. Studies in English from 2000 to 2010 were included searching CINAHL Plus, OVID Medline, Cochrane, SCOPUS and ProQuest and Google Scholar.ResultsTwenty-four papers were identified that met the inclusion criteria. All were quantitative reports; outcomes and levels of evidence varied with two notable papers indicating that simulation had an impact on clinical practice. Benefits of SLP over didactic formats were apparent, as were the development of non-technical skills confidence and competence. The study outcomes were limited by the range of evidence and context of the reports which focussed on obstetric emergency training using a number of simulation techniques.ConclusionThere is evidence that simulated learning of midwifery skills is beneficial. Simulation learning has an educational and clinical impact and advantages over didactic approaches. Where clinical practice is infrequent i.e. obstetric emergencies, simulation is an essential component of curricula. Simulation enhances practice and therefore may reduce the time taken to achieve competence; however there is no evidence from the literature that simulation should replace clinical practice.     

From “can-do” girls to insecure and angry: affective dissonances in young women’s post-recessional media

Feminist scholars have begun to unpack the ways in which neoliberalism is underpinned by particular gendered affective investments: drives for perfection, confidence, and the careful observance of feeling rules mandating a pleasing balance of resilience and approachability. In this context, we are interested in mapping the cultural production of affective dissonances with neoliberal modes of thriving. We draw attention to post-recessional television made by and about young women that articulate affective dissonances with the confident subjectivities associated with neoliberal cultural mythologies of girlpower. We suggest that within recent, largely USA, television some important questioning of such mythologies is taking place through the articulation of young women’s anger, insecurity, anxiety, and misplaced confidence. Such affective dissonances may to some extent serve to problematise myths about both the accessibility and appeal of highly individualist career-oriented lifestyles idealised in cultural mythologies of powerful “can-do” girls. Our analysis aims at two-fold consideration of: first, how giving voice to young women as “suffering actors” may open space for dissonant affective positions that connect to feminist aims of social transformation; and second, consideration of the ways in which exclusionary technologies of femininity may also operate through representations of young women’s anger, insecurity, and anxiety. Through this analysis we contribute to understanding dialectical tensions in the psychic and affective life of post-feminism and feminine subjectification in the neoliberal, post-recessional socio-cultural context.     

Learning with active rural community-dwelling older adults: comprehensive effects of intergenerational service-learning in Taiwan

This study evaluated the experiences of college students serving with active, rural community-dwelling older adults and evaluated outcomes among the students, older adults, and community leaders in rural Taiwan. Thirty-one undergraduate students assisted older adults for six weeks at three senior citizen centers as they participated in an active aging competition. The analysis of qualitative data indicated that students adapted to the communicating barriers of language and cultural variances, were aware that older adults longed for company, and impressed the active image of older adults. The results of this study indicated that service-learning with rural community-dwelling older adults simultaneously benefits students, community leaders, and older adults.     

Heterosexual Women’s and Men’s Labeling of Anal Behaviors as Having “Had Sex”

This study explored labeling of penile–anal intercourse (PAI), manual–anal (MA), and oral–anal (OA) behaviors as having “had sex” among heterosexual men and women with such experience residing in the United States (n = 3,218). Adult men and women completed an online questionnaire assessing sexual behaviors and whether each counted as having had sex. With the exception of anal intercourse, there was high variation in whether a behavior was labeled having had sex. There was not consensus on which anal sexual behaviors constituted having had sex, with attitudes varying across age, gender, and behavioral experience. Those who were older, male, and had the specific behavioral experience were more likely to label it as having had sex. Behaviorally specific assessments of the various anal behaviors as part of the sexual repertoire is critical to more accurate evaluation of sexual histories and assessment of risks to sexual health.     

Explaining Different Paths in Social Health Insurance Countries – Health System Change and Cross‐border Lesson‐drawing between Germany,Austria and the Netherlands

The issues of ‘policy diffusion’ or ‘policy transfer’ and ‘mutual learning’ have become important topics in comparative research on social policy and health systems. In current debates on explaining reform in ‘Bismarckian’ social (health) insurance systems, however, these issues have been neglected. In particular, the role of ‘negative lesson‐drawing’ in the sense of avoiding mistakes of others has not often been considered. This article compares health system change in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, three countries with health systems of the social insurance type. In contrast to the existing literature, our analysis stresses that these countries have taken different reform paths since the 1990s. By applying a most similar systems design, we analyze how far cross‐border lesson‐drawing has contributed to health system divergence in the three countries. The empirical basis of the analysis is semi‐structured qualitative expert interviews, a method appropriate for tracing processes of lesson‐drawing. We argue that in order to fully understand the diverging reform trajectories, we need to take into account how political decision‐makers refer to (negative) experiences of other countries. Generally, national driving forces for health system change were at the heart of many crucial reforms during the period studied. Nevertheless, we claim that it was the German bad practice role model that kept the reform paths of Austria and Germany apart in the Austrian health reform discussion between 2000 and 2005.