Ready for Anything the World Gives Her? : A Critical Look at Sports-Based Positive Youth Development for Girls

Girl-centered sport and physical activity programs that are grounded in a positive youth development approach have grown tremendously in the United States since the 1990s. While research on the efficacy of sports-based positive youth development is limited, recent studies conducted in the United States suggest these programs yield benefits. Our assessment of the literature and programming efforts however highlight a significant gap in the theoretical assumptions of girl-centered, sports-based positive youth development: an understanding of the complexity of sport and physical activity within a gendered context. Focusing on the U.S. context and using a feminist sociological lens, we articulate a paradox in these programs: sport participation and physical activity can improve girls’ lives along numerous psycho-social dimensions, yet in absence of attention to the social and political context of gender relations, girl-centered, sports-based positive youth development programs risk unwittingly maintaining the gender status quo. We review three specific critiques to illustrate this paradox: 1) the emphasis on the individual and the immediate context of girls’ lives masks larger systems of inequality and privilege; 2) the use of post feminist narratives, such as Girl Power, suggests girls live in a world beyond sexism; and 3) the focus on reducing the childhood “obesity epidemic” through fitness contributes to harmful fat phobic messages for girls. We offer recommendations that assist programs in leveraging their existing strengths to have a meaningful impact on girls’ lives, and that address cultural and structural factors as well as individual and interpersonal ones.     

Effect of motivation on academic fluency performance in survivors of pediatric medulloblastoma

It has been proposed previously that extrinsic motivation may enable survivors of childhood medulloblastoma to significantly improve aspects of neurocognitive performance. In healthy populations, enhanced motivation has been shown to promote academic fluency, a domain likely more relevant to the educational outcomes of pediatric medulloblastoma survivors than academic skill development. The present study investigates the effect of enhanced extrinsic motivation on fluent (i.e., accurate and efficient) academic performance in pediatric medulloblastoma survivors. Participants were 36 children, ages 7–18, who had completed treatment for medulloblastoma. Participants completed a neuropsychological battery that included administration of equivalent tasks on Forms A and B of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Half were randomly assigned to an incentive condition prior to the administration of Form B. Provision of a performance-based incentive resulted in statistically significant improvement, but not normalization of function, in performance on measures of academic fluency. No demographic, treatment-related, academic, neuropsychological, or self-perception variables predicted response to incentive. Findings suggest that academic performance of survivors may significantly improve under highly motivating conditions. In addition to implications for educational services, this finding raises the novel possibility that decreased motivation represents an inherent neuropsychological deficit in this population and provides a rationale for further investigation of factors affecting individual differences in motivational processes. Further, by examining effort in a context where effort is not inherently suspect, present findings also significantly contribute to the debate regarding the effects of effort and motivation on neuropsychological performance.     

Socioemotional Correlates of Creative Potential in Preschool Age Children: Thinking Beyond Student Academic Assessments

This study examines the correlates of creative potential in preschool children, with a focus on children’s social behavior. Ninety-four preschool-aged children, their mothers, and teachers participated in the study. Mothers completed a questionnaire measure of children’s shyness, and teachers reported on children’s levels of shyness, prosocial behavior, and aggression. Children completed Torrance’s Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement. Results indicated that imagination was predicted by lower levels of shyness and greater prosocial behavior, whereas divergent thinking was predicted by older child age and teacher ratings of aggression. Implications for promoting young children’s creative potential in the classroom are discussed.     

The Relationship Between Burnout and Occupational Stress in Genetic Counselors

Burnout represents a critical disruption in an individual’s relationship with work, resulting in a state of exhaustion in which one’s occupational value and capacity to perform are questioned. Burnout can negatively affect an individual’s personal life, as well as employers in terms of decreased work quality, patient/client satisfaction, and employee retention. Occupational stress is a known contributor to burnout and occurs as a result of employment requirements and factors intrinsic to the work environment. Empirical research examining genetic counselor-specific burnout is limited; however, existing data suggests that genetic counselors are at increased risk for burnout. To investigate the relationship between occupational stress and burnout in genetic counselors, we administered an online survey to members of three genetic counselor professional organizations. Validated measures included the Maslach Burnout Inventory—General Survey (an instrument measuring burnout on three subscales: exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy) and the Occupational Stress Inventory—Revised (an instrument measuring occupational stress on 14 subscales). Of the 353 respondents, more than 40 % had either considered leaving or left their job role due to burnout. Multiple regression analysis yielded significant predictors for burnout risk. The identified sets of predictors account for approximately 59 % of the variance in exhaustion, 58 % of the variance in cynicism, and 43 % of the variance in professional efficacy. Our data confirm that a significant number of genetic counselors experience burnout and that burnout is correlated with specific aspects of occupational stress. Based on these findings, practice and research recommendations are presented.     

The Parable of the Sower: a case study examining the use of the Godly Play® method as a spiritual intervention on a psychiatric unit of a major children’s hospital

This case study examines the use of Godly Play® as a pastoral intervention on a psychiatric unit at Children’s Health – Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The chaplain adapts Godly Play®, more typically used as a programme of Christian formation in churches and schools, for this setting, leading a ‘Purpose and Meaning’ group weekly whose goal is to provide inpatients with a developmentally appropriate way of reflecting on and expressing their own sense of identity, purpose and meaning within the personal, social and spiritual milieu in which they identify themselves as members. The case study examines how the method is adapted as a spiritual intervention in a clinical setting, and analyses its effectiveness in meeting the stated goals of the group.     

Global cognitive function before,surrounding, and after ischemic stroke: the role of risk and protective factors varies with time among ischemic stroke survivors

An estimated 65% of individuals demonstrate multidomain cognitive impairment poststroke, although little is known about the varying role of cognitive risk and protective factors in preischemic, peri-ischemic, and postischemic stroke phases. Longitudinal changes in global cognitive function after ischemic stroke are not well characterized, especially in older adults over age 80. We examined global cognitive function trajectories in these three phases across a mean follow-up of 8.12 (2.30) years in 159 female stroke survivors aged 65–79 at baseline using linear mixed models with change points. In separate models controlling for demographic variables, we tested the interaction of baseline risk and protective factors with stroke phase on global cognitive function. None of the prestroke global cognitive function means or trajectories differed significantly. At the time of ischemic stroke, higher body mass index (BMI), the presence of hypertension (HTN), low optimism, and higher physical function were all associated with significantly greater mean decreases in global cognition (all p’s <.0.0001), but were not significantly different from the contrasting level (all p’s >0.05). Higher BMI, the presence of HTN, low optimism, and higher physical function were in turn protective of global cognitive decline postischemic stroke (all contrasting p values <.01). Baseline factors may play either a risk or a protective role in global cognitive function depending on the phase of ischemic stroke.     

Religious Involvement and Health Over Time: Predictive Effects in a National Sample of African Americans

In this study, two telephone interviews that assessed both religious involvement and health‐related quality of life were conducted approximately 2.5 years apart in a national sample of 290 African Americans. Religious involvement was assessed with an instrument that measured both personal religious beliefs (e.g., having a personal relationship with God) and more public religious behaviors (e.g., attending church services). Health‐related quality of life was measured with version 2 of the Medical Outcomes Study 12‐item short form (SF‐12v2). Structural equation models indicated that higher religious beliefs at baseline predicted better physical and mental health 2.5 years later. Higher religious behaviors at baseline contributed smaller, complementary suppression effects. Physical and mental health indicators from the SF‐12v2 at baseline did not predict changes in either religious beliefs or religious behaviors over time. These findings indicate that, for African Americans, personal religious beliefs lead to beneficial health effects over time, whereas individual differences in health do not appear to predict changes in religious involvement.     

Teachers’ awareness in identifying microaggressive behaviors within the K-12 classroom

In the field of education, teachers are sentries for maintaining proper decorum, upholding school policies, and maintaining a social justice classroom, free of adversarial behaviors. While the premise of proper social and academic student engagement is expected, teachers are not always aware of or able to respond to inappropriate social interactions. This qualitative study using a narrative inquiry approach investigates and portrays the levels of awareness and decision-making processes teachers possess when addressing microaggression and microaggressive behaviors. Five public school teachers from varying grade levels in a culturally diverse school district participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews for this study. Emergent themes included: (a) awareness and recognition of microaggression as related to bullying, (b) microaggression as denigrating behavior directed toward others, and (c) microaggression with the school discipline framework. Findings suggest that teachers often lack awareness of microaggression as a concept distinct from bullying. But when the distinction is evident, teachers understand how microaggression can be a precursor to bullying which, if proactively addressed within the school discipline framework, may result in preventing bullying incidents before they start. Teachers were interested in receiving targeted professional development and adjusting school discipline policy to consider microaggression a unique concept. Guidance is offered to support educators, schools, and districts as clear guidelines and policies are established pertaining to identifying and addressing microaggression within the school community, thereby ensuring social and behavioral awareness.

     

Evaluation of a Safe Sleep Training for Home Visitors and Their Clients

Sleep-related deaths are a common preventable cause of death, and such deaths occur disproportionately in families of color. Home visitors provide families with education about infant safe sleep guidelines; however, families face many barriers to engaging in safe sleep practices. This study evaluated the efficacy of a program to train home visitors to talk to clients about infant safe sleep using Motivational Interviewing and cultural sensitivity. We examined the effects of the intervention on home visitors’ (n?=?23) knowledge, MI skill use, and cultural sensitivity using a single group pre-post design. We also examined home visiting clients’ (n?=?78) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors using a quasi-experimental design. Home visitors were primarily female (97%), had a college degree (86%), and were primarily white (50%) or African American (43%). The home visiting clients were all female and were primarily African American (43%) and Caucasian (36%). Most clients (59%) earned less than 30,000 dollars per year. Home visitors showed significant improvement in MI skill use and cultural sensitivity from pre- to post-test. Regarding client outcomes, our results indicate a significant group by time interaction when predicting changes in client knowledge such that the treatment group showed larger gains than the control group. There were no significant differences between groups when predicting changes in client attitudes or behavior. MI may be an effective technique for home visitors to help increase families’ safe sleep knowledge. Additional research is needed to examine whether such training can translate to changes in families’ safe sleep behavior.