Effect of a Faith-Based Education Program on Self-Assessed Physical,Mental and Spiritual (Religious) Health Parameters

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of attending a faith-based education program (FBEP) on self-assessed physical, mental and spiritual health parameters. The study was designed as a prospective, observational, cohort study of individuals attending a 5-day FBEP. Out of 2650 sequential online registrants, those previously unexposed to the FBEP received automated invitations to complete 5 sequential Self-Assessment Questionnaire’s (SAQ’s) containing: (1) Duke University Religion Index (DUREL); (2) Negative Religious Coping (N-RCOPE); (3) Perceived Stress Scale (PSS); (4) Center for Epidemiology and Statistics-Depression Scale (CES-D); (5) Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ); and the (6) State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Pre-attendance SAQ (S1) was repeated immediately post-FBEP (S2), at 30 days (S3), 90 days (S4) and after 1 year (S5). Of 655 invited, 274 (42 %) succeeded, 242 (37 %) failed and 139 (21 %) declined to complete S1. Of the 274, 37 (14 %) were excluded at on-site interview; 26 (9 %) never attended the FBEP (i.e., controls: 5♂; 21♀; 27–76 years); and 211 (77 %) participated (i.e., cases: 105♂; 106♀; 18–84 years) and were analyzed over time: 211 (S1); 192 (S2); 99 (S3); 52 (S4); 51 (S5). IRB approval was via the Human Research Ethics Committee of Stellenbosch University. DUREL showed significant, sustained changes in Intrinsic Religiosity. N-RCOPE showed significant, lasting improvement. In others, median values dropped significantly immediately after the FBEP (S1:S2) for STAI-State p < 0.0001; PSS p < 0.0001; BIPQ p < 0.0001; and CES-D p < 0.0001; and at 1 month (S1:S3) for STAI-Trait p < 0.001; all changes were sustained (S3 through S5). This FBEP produced statistically and clinically significant changes; these lasted in those followed up >1 year.     

The nature and rationality of conversion

We can differ in our beliefs, values, interests, goals, preferences, and moral psychologies. How we see things can be different. But in none of these respects is our thinking fixed. Beliefs, values, preferences, moral psychology, and so on can change. And sometimes, the change can be significant enough to warrant talk of a conversion. The aim of this paper is then to investigate the nature and rationality of conversion. What is it to undergo a conversion? What practical or epistemic justification can be given of conversion?     

Locomotor Analysis of the Taiep Rat

Locomotor activity (tremor, ataxia, immobility, epilepsy, and paralysis) in the taiep rat, which suffers from a myelin deficient disorder, has not been previously documented. This study used walking track analysis of footprints to analyze locomotor activity in the taiep rat in comparison to normal, age-matched controls. The results confirmed differences between normal and taiep rats in terms of stride length, step length, and stride width. In addition, we found significant interactions between age and condition for stride and step length. The results suggest that locomotor analysis is a sensitive indicant of myelin deficiency. The results are discussed in terms of the underlying myelin deficiency and possible treatment regimens.     

GRADSCOPE: An Analysis of the Item Structure and a Survey of Usage

Two studies of GRADSCOPE, the most widely-used system for computer-assisted careers guidance in higher education in Britain, are reported. The first is an item analysis of the GRADSCOPE questionnaire. The six-factor solution from this factor analysis suggests that, with the exception of the Artistic theme, the content domain of the GRADSCOPE questionnaire covers Holland's occupational themes, and that GRADSCOPE is primarily concerned with the motivational component rather than the performance requirements of jobs. The second study, a postal survey of careers services and careers advisers about their experiences of using the interactive version of GRADSCOPE, aimed to examine the potential of interactive systems to effect change in careers work.     

Fluent and nonfluent forms of transfer in reading: words and their message

In two experiments, we examined transfer to the reading of a normal text from a prior reading of that intact text or from a prior reading of a scrambled word version of the passage. In Experiment 1, we studied good and poor readers in Grade 4; in Experiment 2, high- and low-ability undergraduate readers. Good readers at both ages showed rereading benefits only when the prior reading was of the intact text, with no reliable benefit from experience with words only. The poorer readers showed reliable rereading benefits even when only the words, in a scrambled order, were read on the first encounter. The results are discussed in terms of two forms of transfer: nonfluent reading transfer when attention must be focused on word recognition, and fluent rereading transfer when word recognition is skilled so that attention can be focused on text processing.     

Children's patterns of reasoning about reading and addition concepts

Children's reasoning was examined within two educational contexts (word reading and addition) so as to understand the factors that contribute to relational reasoning in the two domains. Sixty‐seven 5‐ to 7‐year‐olds were given a series of related words to read or single‐digit addition items to solve (interspersed with unrelated items). The frequency, accuracy, and response times of children's self‐reports on the conceptually related items provided a measure of relational reasoning, while performance on the unrelated addition and reading items provided a measure of procedural skill. The results indicated that the children's ability to use conceptual relations to solve both reading and addition problems enhanced speed and accuracy levels, increased with age, and was related to procedural skill. However, regression analyses revealed that domain‐specific competencies can best explain the use of conceptual relations in both reading and addition. Moreover, a cluster analysis revealed that children differ according to the academic domain in which they first apply conceptual relations and these differences are related to individual variation in their procedural skills within these particular domains. These results highlight the developmental significance of relational reasoning in the context of reading and addition and underscore the importance of concept‐procedure links in explaining children's literacy and arithmetical development.     

A construction based analysis of child directed speech

The child directed speech of twelve English‐speaking motherswas analyzed in terms of utterance‐level constructions. First, the mothers' utterances were categorized in terms of general constructional categories such as Wh‐questions, copulas and transitives. Second, mothers' utterances within these categories were further specified in terms of the initial words that framed the utterance, item‐based phrases such as Are you …, I'll …, It's …, Let's …, What did … The findings were: (i) overall, only about 15% of all maternal utterances had SVO form (most were questions, imperatives, copulas, and fragments); (ii) 51% of all maternal utterances began with one of 52 item‐based phrases, mostly consisting of two words or morphemes (45% began with one of just 17 words); and (iii) children used many of these same item‐based phrases, in some cases at a rate that correlated highly with their own mother's frequency of use. We suggest that analyses of adult–child linguistic interaction should take into account not just general constructional categories, but also the item‐based constructions that adults and children use and the frequency with which they use them.     

UNDERSTANDING KNOWLEDGE TRANSMISSION

We must allow that knowledge can be transmitted. But to allow this is to allow that an individual can know a proposition despite lacking any evidence for it and reaching belief by an unreliable means. So some explanation is required as to how knowledge rather than belief is transmitted. This paper considers two non‐individualistic explanations: one in terms of knowledge existing autonomously, the other in terms of it existing as a property of communities. And it attempts to decide what is at issue between these explanations.