Metacognition in nurse practitioner students: How nurse educators can best serve their students

The dynamic and changing healthcare environment requires educators to prepare nurse practitioner students with more than knowledge and skills. Healthcare providers need to be prepared with enhanced skills related to critical thinking and decision making. Metacognition training has been used by many disciplines within and outside of healthcare to prepare individuals to work in an environment that has volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, and delayed feedback (VUCAD). This retrospective exploratory study uses computerized strategic management simulation (SMS) data to address the question: What parameters of metacognition do master's level nurse practitioner (NP) students excel versus underperform? Elements of Presentation: Presentation will include SMS parameters linked with the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) Core Competencies. In doing this, faculty can better assess students' individualized learning needs and tailor their academic education to address specific needs. Fifty-nine master's level students completed SMS, measuring five unique parameters of metacognition (Crisis, Task, Strategy, People & Information Management). Students' mean and median scores were observed to be high range for crisis management; and moderate range for task management, strategy management, and people management. Conversely, mean and median scores were in the low range for information management. Knowledge gained from this study can be used for curriculum development and planning to ensure that the parameters of metacognition are demonstrated throughout the curriculum's content delivery, training exercises, and evaluation methods. Knowledge related to areas in which NP students score in the low range can be added to courses to assist students better.     

Trauma-Informed Knowledge and Practices in School Psychology: A Pilot Study and Review

Growing acknowledgement that adverse childhood experiences are widespread and can threaten healthy development has led to advocacy for schools to systematically incorporate trauma-sensitive practices and policies. While the background and training of school psychologists would seem to make them the ideal professionals to lead such work, little is known regarding their preparedness to engage in these school-based practices. The current pilot study examines the experiences, education and training, confidence and competence, current and desired roles, and perceived barriers and supports of school psychology trainers, trainees, and practitioners to engage in trauma-informed practices within schools. Results indicated that high majorities reported scant knowledge or competencies across domains of professional practice considered essential to trauma-informed care delivery. Findings and implications are discussed.     

AN EVALUATION OF EVIDENCE‐BASED INTERVENTIONS TO INCREASE COMPLIANCE AMONG CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

We evaluated 4 evidence‐based interventions to increase compliance. Three children with autism who exhibited noncompliance when asked to relinquish a preferred toy were exposed sequentially to interventions that included a reduction in response effort, differential reinforcement, and guided compliance. Results indicated that effort reduction alone was ineffective and that each participant's compliance improved after exposure to a different intervention; these results highlight the need to individualize treatments for compliance.     

Statistical equating with measures of oral reading fluency

Recent research on curriculum-based measurement of oral reading fluency has revealed important issues in current passage development procedures, highlighting how dissimilar passages are problematic for monitoring student progress. The purpose of this paper is to describe statistical equating as an option for achieving equivalent scores across non-parallel reading passages. The psychometric and design properties of words-correct scores are examined, and the requirements of traditional equating methods are discussed. Simulated and empirical words-correct scores are used to demonstrate the steps in the equating process and the situations in which each method is most appropriate.     

Conditioned stimulus informativeness governs conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus associability

In a conditioning protocol, the onset of the conditioned stimulus ([CS]) provides information about when to expect reinforcement (unconditioned stimulus [US]). There are two sources of information from the CS in a delay conditioning paradigm in which the CS-US interval is fixed. The first depends on the informativeness, the degree to which CS onset reduces the average expected time to onset of the next US. The second depends only on how precisely a subject can represent a fixed-duration interval (the temporal Weber fraction). In three experiments with mice, we tested the differential impact of these two sources of information on rate of acquisition of conditioned responding (CS-US associability). In Experiment 1, we showed that associability (the inverse of trials to acquisition) increased in proportion to informativeness. In Experiment 2, we showed that fixing the duration of the US-US interval or the CS-US interval or both had no effect on associability. In Experiment 3, we equated the increase in information produced by varying the C/T ratio with the increase produced by fixing the duration of the CS-US interval. Associability increased with increased informativeness, but, as in Experiment 2, fixing the CS-US duration had no effect on associability. These results are consistent with the view that CS-US associability depends on the increased rate of reward signaled by CS onset. The results also provide further evidence that conditioned responding is temporally controlled when it emerges.     

Authoritative Parenting, Parenting Stress, and Self-Care in Pre-Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

Parent involvement in type 1 diabetes (T1DM) care leads to improved adherence; however, the manner in which parents approach illness management interactions with children must also be considered. It was hypothesized that greater use of an authoritative parenting style and less parenting stress would be associated with greater behavioral adherence and better metabolic control. Ninety-five primary caregivers of preadolescents (ages 8-11) with T1DM completed questionnaires assessing parenting style, pediatric parenting stress, and child behavioral adherence. Caregivers primarily self-identified as using an authoritative parenting style. Greater authoritative parenting was associated with greater behavioral adherence and less difficulty with pediatric parenting stress; no differences in metabolic control were observed. Greater engagement in authoritative parenting behaviors may contribute to increased age-appropriate child behavioral adherence and less pediatric parenting stress. Interventions highlighting diabetes-specific authoritative parenting techniques may enhance health outcomes and improve overall family functioning.     

Personal Genomic Testing as Part of the Complete Breast Cancer Risk Assessment: A Case Report

Patient access and utilization of personal genomic testing is becoming increasingly common. We present a case of a patient's personal genomic screening results leading to early detection of infiltrating breast ductal cell carcinoma via MRI scan. This case exemplifies the successful integration of personal genomic testing into the primary care setting, with the guidance and support of genetic counseling services. We discuss the scientific basis of the patient's genome scan results and risk assessment, and how this informed her decision-making and subsequent screening. We also expound upon the role of personal genomic testing as compared to other screening tests in the complete breast cancer risk assessment.     

Minds on the blink: The relationship between inattentional blindness and attentional blink

Failures of conscious visual awareness occur when specific task demands prevent an observer from detecting a stimulus that would otherwise be clearly visible. Two examples are inattentional blindness (IB) and attentional blink (AB). IB is the failure to detect an unexpected stimulus when attention is otherwise engaged. AB describes the inability to detect a second target that is presented within 180-500?ms of the first target. Previous research has suggested that similar cognitive processes underlie both IB and AB; however, they are distinct phenomena, and no evidence has directly linked the two. We tested the same group of observers on an IB task and an AB task. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that "non-noticers" who failed to detect an unexpected stimulus in the IB task also demonstrated a larger AB effect. This suggests that some observers may be more generally susceptible to failures of conscious visual awareness, regardless of specific context.