The impact of study abroad on improved cultural awareness: a quantitative review

ABSTRACT

Studying abroad (SA) represents a valuable experience for many students within higher education settings. Recently, the number of students choosing to SA within higher education has risen. Quantitative and qualitative research indicates that SA improves learning as related to ancillary types of learning outcomes, such as with cultural awareness (CA). CA is knowledge gained about similarities and differences among and between cultural groups. The goal of the present quantitative review was to compile and evaluate, in a comprehensive manner, published findings, addressing the impact of SA in higher education on CA. To accomplish this goal, articles reporting empirical results were collected, and effect sizes for statistical comparisons were calculated. Across 28 independent studies, SA was found to be associated with marked increases in CA (mean effect size, d = 0.569). A critical evaluation of empirical studies on SA and CA shows many important flaws and limitations. Many studies are based on self-report data derived from relatively small samples of US students studying abroad for 1 year or less. This quantitative review provides support for the hypothesis that SA may improve CA, but also demonstrates the need for further rigorous research to be conducted in this area.     

A systematic review on community-based interventions for elder abuse and neglect

Elder abuse and neglect is a societal issue that requires prevention and intervention strategies at the practice and policy level. A systematic review on the efficacy of community-based elder abuse interventions was undertaken to advance the state of knowledge in the field. The peer-reviewed literature between 2009 and December 2015 were searched across four databases. Two raters independently reviewed all articles, assessed their methodological quality, and used a modified Sackett Scale to assign levels of evidence. Four thousand nine hundred and five articles were identified; nine were selected for inclusion. Although there was Level-1 evidence for psychological interventions (n = 2), only one study on strategies for relatives (START) led to a reported decrease in elder abuse. There was Level-4 evidence for conservatorship, an elder abuse intervention/prevention program (ECARE), and a multidisciplinary intervention (n = 4), in which one study yielded significant decreases in elder abuse and/or neglect. The remaining three were classified as Level-5 evidence (n = 3) for elder mediation and multidisciplinary interventions. There are limited studies with high levels of evidence for interventions that decrease elder abuse and neglect. The scarcity of community-based interventions for older adults and caregivers highlights the need for further work to elevate the quality of studies.     

Family interventions in early psychosis service delivery: A systematized review

The objective of this study was to explore the development of family intervention in an early psychosis context. The role played by family members and friends in the recovery of individuals with early psychosis is extremely important, and there is a growing body of literature that reflects this. However, how mental health services can best support and utilize family and friends as a core component in recovery from early psychosis is not yet established. The methodology entailed a systematic review of the international literature. Results from the current review highlight the principles of family engagement, its effectiveness to enhance service user outcomes, the need to differentiate early psychosis psycho-education from that provided in enduring illness, and challenges in implementation. The number of studies generally, and the number explicitly articulating and trialling family interventions being used in practice, are limited. This seems to highlight that—although practice guidelines acknowledge the importance of family support—there are challenges in implementation of evidence-based practice principles in this area. Changes in policy and service delivery are recommended for programs and services to better achieve family-sensitive and family-inclusive practice as core business in mental health service delivery.     

Grandparent-Grandchild Communication: A Review of Theoretically Informed Research

This article reviews theoretically informed research on grandparent-grandchild (GP-GC) communication. Research has been organized herein according to whether it is guided by an intergroup theory, an affect theory, or another type of theory. After reviewing research under these three broad categories, a heuristic value and degree of support for each theory are proposed for helping future researchers in their theoretical selections. Each theory is then positioned in a two-dimensional space consisting of interpersonal and intergroup dimensions to visually demonstrate theoretical lacunae that future researchers can address. We end by discussing how researchers can utilize theory as a basis for probing the role of demographic characteristics in influencing GP-GC communication.     

Managing Retail Shelf and Backroom Inventories When Demand Depends on the Shelf‐Stock Level

Inventory displayed on the retail sales floor not only performs the classical supply function but also plays a role in affecting consumers’ buying behavior and hence the total demand. Empirical evidence from the retail industry shows that for some types of products, higher levels of on‐shelf inventory have a demand‐increasing effect (“billboard effect”) while for some other types of products, higher levels of on‐shelf inventory have a demand‐decreasing effect (“scarcity effect”). This suggests that retailers may use the amount of shelf stock on display as a tool to influence demand and operate a store backroom to hold the inventory of items not displayed on the shelves, introducing the need for efficient management of the backroom and on‐shelf inventories. The purpose of this study is to address such an issue by considering a periodic‐review inventory system in which demand in each period is stochastic and depends on the amount of inventory displayed on the shelf. We first analyze the problem in a finite‐horizon setting and show under a general demand model that the system inventory is optimally replenished by a base‐stock policy and the shelf stock is controlled by two critical points representing the target levels to raise up/drop down the on‐shelf inventory level. In the infinite‐horizon setting, we find that the optimal policies simplify to stationary base‐stock type policies. Under the billboard effect, we further show that the optimal policy is monotone in the system states. Numerical experiments illustrate the value of smart backroom management strategy and show that significant profit gains can be obtained by jointly managing the backroom and on‐shelf inventories.     

The Role of Intuition in Risk/Benefit Decision-Making in Human Subjects Research

One of the key principles of ethical research involving human subjects is that the risks of research to should be acceptable in relation to expected benefits. Institutional review board (IRB) members often rely on intuition to make risk/benefit decisions concerning proposed human studies. Some have objected to using intuition to make these decisions because intuition is unreliable and biased and lacks transparency. In this article, I examine the role of intuition in IRB risk/benefit decision-making and argue that there are practical and philosophical limits to our ability to reduce our reliance on intuition in this process. The fact that IRB risk/benefit decision-making involves intuition need not imply that it is hopelessly subjective or biased, however, since there are strategies that IRBs can employ to improve their decisions, such as using empirical data to estimate the probability of potential harms and benefits, developing classification systems to guide the evaluation of harms and benefits, and engaging in moral reasoning concerning the acceptability of risks.     

河北省绿色大学建设研究

分析世界上绿色大学的产生及在我国的发展历程。对照我省高校现状,总结出我省建设绿色大学的意义在于绿色大学是国家和我省生态文明建设的有力支撑,绿色大学是培养可持续发展人才的重要载体,绿色大学是我省高校实现跨越式发展的内在要求。发现我省绿色大学建设存在政府部门和高校重视不够,理论研究严重滞后于实践,绿色教育开发不足的问题,提出了我省绿色大学建设应充发挥政府部门的引导作用,持续加大建设绿色大学的宣传力度,科学制定实施方案并全力组织实施等措施。     

Evaluation logic in practice: Findings from two empirical investigations of American Evaluation Association members

Surveys of two independent random samples of American Evaluation Association (AEA) members were conducted to investigate application of the logic of evaluation in their evaluation practice. This logic consists of four parts: (1) establish criteria, (2) set standards, (3) measure performance on criteria and compare to standards, and (4) synthesize into a value judgment. Nearly three-fourths (71.84% ± 5.98%) of AEA members are unfamiliar with this logic, yet a majority also indicate its importance and utility for evaluation practice. Moreover, and despite unfamiliarity with the four steps of the logic of evaluation, many AEA members identify evaluative criteria (82.41% ± 3.34%), set performance standards (60.55% ± 7.39%), compare performance to standards (62.14% ± 5.98%), and synthesize into an evaluative conclusion (75.00% ± 5.80%) in their evaluation practice. Much like the working logic of evaluation, however, application of the general logic varies widely.     

The Structure and Measurement of Career Indecision: A Critical Review

This article presents a comprehensive review of literature published between 2000 and 2017 relating to the theoretical and empirical progress of indecision structural models and assessment. Because career indecision remains a central topic for counseling, it is important for the field to achieve an updated understanding of relevant models and measurement. Based on their review, the authors found that factors of career indecision can be reliably and validly measured by three instruments: the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire, the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties scale, and the Career Indecision Profile. Drawing from these results, the authors developed an integrative model of career indecision consisting of five factors: neuroticism/negative affectivity, choice/commitment anxiety, need for information, lack of readiness, and interpersonal conflicts. Implications and recommendations for practice and research are discussed in a global context.