Resilient teachers: resisting stress and burnout

In Australia, the incidence of teacher stress and burnout has caused serious concern. Many studies of teacher stress have focused on the dysfunctional strategies of individual teachers – in other words they have adopted a deficit approach to the problem with the focus firmly fixed on whats going wrong. From this perspective, the failure of some teachers to cope has generally been defined as a personal rather than an institutional weakness and the solutions that have been promoted have been largely palliative or therapeutic. The study reported in this paper adopted a different approach to the question of teacher stress and burnout. Instead of asking whats going wrong we asked why are some teachers able to cope successfully with the same kinds of stressors that appear to defeat others – in other words, we looked at whats going right.     

In defense of cultural competency in psychotherapy and treatment

Cultural competency guidelines and policies are being widely established. Yet some critics have challenged the evidence for cultural competency and the lack of efficacy studies that demonstrate its outcomes. Various positions are examined that discuss cultural competency research. They include the need for more resources for research, scientific practices that overlook ethnic research findings, fruitfulness of theory-driven rather than population-based research, problems in defining cultural competency as a technique, and development of policies in the absence of research. Implications of these positions are discussed.     

Formula: see text]Executive functions in extremely low birth weight and late-preterm preschoolers: Effects on working memory and response inhibition

Executive function (EF) refers to fundamental capacities that underlie more complex cognition and have ecological relevance across the individual's lifespan. However, emerging executive functions have rarely been studied in young preterm children (age 3) whose critical final stages of fetal development are interrupted by their early birth. We administered four novel touch-screen computerized measures of working memory and inhibition to 369 participants born between 2004 and 2006 (52 Extremely Low Birth Weight [ELBW]; 196 late preterm; 121 term-born). ELBW performed worse than term-born on simple and complex working memory and inhibition tasks and had the highest percentage of incomplete performance on a continuous performance test. The latter finding indicates developmental immaturity and the ELBW group's most at-risk preterm status. Additionally, late-preterm participants performed worse compared with term-born on measures of complex working memory but did not differ from those term-born on response inhibition measures. These results are consistent with a recent literature that identifies often subtle but detectable neurocognitive deficits in late-preterm children. Our results support the development and standardization of computerized touch-screen measures to assess EF subcomponent abilities during the formative preschool period. Such measures may be useful to monitor the developmental trajectory of critical executive function abilities in preterm children, and their use is necessary for timely recognition of deficit and application of appropriate interventional strategies.     

Fabricated Illness: Working within the Family System to Find a Pathway to Health

The term medically unexplained symptoms refers to a clinical presentation where the child's symptoms and impairment cannot be explained by any known organic pathology, and may include conversion disorders, somatoform pain disorders, factitious disorder, and factitious disorder by proxy. In this case study, we present our treatment of a 9‐year‐old girl with a 2‐year history of medically unexplained abdominal cramping and vaginal discharge. During the 9 months that we worked with this family, we were never able to clarify in our own minds the source of the child's symptoms—that is, who was responsible for their induction or who was the instigator or maintainer of the exaggerated symptoms. Nor did we come to fully understand the function of the symptoms in the family system. Our case report does not answer either of these questions. Instead, we describe how we worked with the family despite the ongoing ambiguities as to why the symptoms were occurring and who was inducing them. The functional outcome was disappearance of symptoms, return to full school attendance, and improved parenting behavior.     

Stuttering severity and educational attainment

Purpose

This study investigated the relationship between self-reported stuttering severity ratings and educational attainment.

Method

Participants were 147 adults seeking treatment for stuttering. At pretreatment assessment, each participant reported the highest educational level they had attained and rated their typical and worst stuttering severity on a 9-point scale for a range of speaking situations. These included: (1) talking with a family member, (2) talking with a familiar person, not a family member, (3) talking in a group of people, (4) talking with a stranger, (5) talking with an authority figure such as a work manager or teacher, (6) talking on the telephone, (7) ordering food or drink, and (8) giving their name and address.

Results

There was a significant negative relationship between highest educational achievement and mean self-reported stuttering severity rating for the eight situations.

Conclusions

Future research is needed to investigate how this result should be addressed in educational institutions.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) describe the negative effects of stuttering through childhood to adulthood; (2) identify some of the negative consequences associated with stuttering on peer and teacher relationships, and academic performance at school; and (3) summarise the relationship between stuttering severity and educational attainment.     

Jandu Yani U (for all families): Tailored Triple P Training and Support Promote Empowerment in Remote Aboriginal Communities

Journal of Child and Family Studies - To enhance the accessibility and acceptability of evidence-based parenting programs in Indigenous communities, there is a need to build a confident and skilled...     

Missional Congregations in Civil Society: An Imagination for God's World

This article provides glimpses of the emerging missional church within the civil society arena from the perspective of congregational case studies. Civil society studies offer five potential community contributions that provide congregations expanded possibilities for discerning and fulfilling their missional vocations in their communities. Framed within trinitarian missional theology, these create a meaningful framework for congregations to expand their imaginations and strengthen their public participation with God's mission in today's world.     

If We Build It … Will They Come? – Establishing a Cancer Genetics Services Clinic for an Underserved Predominantly Latina Cohort

Background: Cancer genetic counseling and testing is a standard of care option for appropriate families and can identify individuals at increased risk prior to diagnosis, when prevention or detection strategies are most effective. Despite documented efficacy of cancer risk reduction in high-risk individuals, underserved and minority individuals have a disproportionate cancer burden and limited access to genetic counseling. Methods: A needs assessment survey documented gaps in knowledge and interest in prevention. Satellite clinics were established at two indigent healthcare systems. Cancer genetics CME lectures were conducted and referral guidelines disseminated to clinicians who referred patients for counseling. Results: An increase in clinician knowledge was demonstrated post-CME and reflected by quality referrals. Eighty-eight percent of patients kept their appointments. In the predominantly Latina⁶ (n=77) clinic population, 71.4% were affected with cancer, and 17 mutation positive families were identified. Preliminary data shows a positive impact on patients' motivation and behavior. The majority has expressed satisfaction and reduction in anxiety. Conclusions: This study demonstrates feasibility and acceptability of cancer genetics services in this population, suggesting the potential to reduce cancer morbidity in underserved, high-risk families.“Latino” is the most common census term for individuals of Spanish, Mexican, Central and South American, Cuban, or Puerto Rican descent, referring to ethnicity, and is generally considered a more ethnically/culturally based term for individuals of the aforementioned groups. As this cohort is female the feminine noun “Latina” is used