Reproductive justice and support for young fathers

The current article addresses the interests and contributions of fathers to child development and well-being within a reproductive and social justice framework. We present an overview of research on the role of fathers in the lives of children from the prenatal period through early childhood, with an emphasis on fathers as partners and caregivers in promoting the reproductive health and safety of women and the healthy development of young children. We explore especially the challenges of young, at-risk fathers as well as system and practice opportunities that support their contributions as partners and parents. Our goal of the article is to extend the discourse on reproductive and social justice to include the shared responsibility of all parents and facilitate circumstances whereby children experience the support needed to become nurturing caregivers for the next generation.     

The Ecology of Experiences for African American Women in Clinical Doctoral Programs

African American women must navigate higher education, in particular, clinical doctoral programs, as a gendered racial minority. These women often endure multiple levels of discrimination to obtain their degree. Findings of this study highlight these experiences and suggest the importance of increasing supports for African American women in clinical doctoral programs. Practices and supports should be put in place so that students of color are not marginalized because of their race. Las mujeres afroamericanas tienen que pasar por la educación superior, y particularmente en programas de doctorado clínico, como una minoría racial y de sexo. Estas mujeres sufren con frecuencia múltiples niveles de discriminación para poder obtener su titulación. Los hallazgos de este estudio destacan estas experiencias y sugieren la importancia de incrementar los apoyos para mujeres afroamericanas en programas de doctorado clínico. Deberían implementarse prácticas y apoyos para que las estudiantes de color no sean marginadas por su raza.     

The Perpetual Outsider: Voices of Black Women Pursuing Doctoral Degrees at Predominantly White Institutions

This qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of Black female doctoral students at predominantly White institutions and their impact on academic persistence and overall well‐being. Fifteen Black female doctoral students participated in semistructured interviews, and each one was administered a demographic questionnaire and was extended an opportunity to participate in member checking. All data collected from the semistructured interviews, demographic questionnaires, and member‐checking exercises were analyzed using Black feminist thought as an interpretive lens. Whereas several themes emerged and are discussed in previous articles (Shavers & Moore, 2014a, 2014b), this article focused on the “Perpetual Outsider” theme, comprising the following subthemes: (a) unwelcoming spaces, (b) tokenism, and (c) outsiders at home. Implications are offered based on identity, support systems, and group counseling. Este estudio cualitativo exploró las percepciones y experiencias de estudiantes negras de doctorado en instituciones predominantemente blancas, así como su impacto en la persistencia académica y bienestar general. Quince estudiantes negras de doctorado participaron en entrevistas semiestructuradas, y a cada una de ellas se les administró un cuestionario demográfico y se les ofreció la oportunidad de participar en seguimientos de miembros. Todos los datos recopilados a partir de las entrevistas semiestructuradas, los cuestionarios demográficos y los ejercicios de seguimiento de miembros fueron analizados e interpretados desde la perspectiva del pensamiento feminista negro. Aunque surgieron varios temas que se comentan en artículos anteriores (Shavers & Moore, 2014a, 2014b), este artículo se centra en el tema del “Forastero perpetuo”, que incluye los siguientes subtemas: (a) espacios hostiles, (b) representación simbólica y (c) forasteros en casa. Se ofrecen implicaciones basadas en la identidad, sistemas de apoyo y consejería de grupo.     

Philosophy of Education as an Academic Discipline in Turkey: The Past and the Present

This article aims to present the past and present state and future possibilities of philosophy of education as an academic discipline in Turkey as related to teacher training programs and academic studies in higher education institutions. It takes philosophy of education as consisting of the approaches that have emerged in its history. It has come to Turkey as a part of the modernization of education. It seems that during the Republican era in Turkey before World War II, mainly due to the dominance of the German conception of educational studies, the pedagogy and the history of pedagogy courses and the textbooks for them, which were central to the curricula of teacher training schools, contained the subjects of philosophy of education in its continental form; and after World War II philosophy of education is mostly understood, primarily due to Turkey’s changing international relations and the spread of American influence, as the isms and the doctrines approaches as found in the USA between the 1940s and 1960s, while other approaches in the field have been less influential. The article identifies how the restructuring of the teacher training system and the curricula of Faculties of Education in 1998 was a serious blow to the discipline, since it excluded philosophy of education from the curricula of teacher preparation schools, and the flourishing discipline thus lost its hold and importance in the undergraduate programs, and then in graduate programs. But the 2006 revision of the curricula has given a kiss of life to the discipline. There are reasons to think that it can recover in the coming period.

Implementation Matters: A Review of Research on the Influence of Implementation on Program Outcomes and the Factors Affecting Implementation

The first purpose of this review was to assess the impact of implementation on program outcomes, and the second purpose was to identify factors affecting the implementation process. Results from over quantitative 500 studies offered strong empirical support to the conclusion that the level of implementation affects the outcomes obtained in promotion and prevention programs. Findings from 81 additional reports indicate there are at least 23 contextual factors that influence implementation. The implementation process is affected by variables related to communities, providers and innovations, and aspects of the prevention delivery system (i.e., organizational functioning) and the prevention support system (i.e., training and technical assistance). The collection of implementation data is an essential feature of program evaluations, and more information is needed on which and how various factors influence implementation in different community settings.     

Challenges in Supporting Community Implementation of Science-based Programs: A Critical Review of Local Partnerships for Success Plans

This paper provides the opportunity to consider local challenges to implementing science-based programs. Wandersman et al. (American Journal of Community Psychology 2008) define three systems necessary to effectively implement science-based programming. These systems include the Prevention Support System, which is responsible for assisting communities in implementing effective practices; the Prevention Research System, which is responsible for developing and packaging prevention programming; and the Prevention Delivery System, which is responsible for delivering services. The authors conduct a content analysis related to six county level efforts to implement science-based programs in Ohio. These counties are part of a larger Ohio initiative referred to as Partnerships for Success. The authors suggest that local officials are quite skilled at accessing the Prevention Research System and providers at the local level represent an effective service delivery system. The authors contend that the Prevention Support System in these counties is capable of enhancing several functions related to local infrastructure but is deficient in other important elements.     

Mentor commitment in formal mentoring relationships

This research examined the role of mentor commitment relative to protégé perceptions of relationship quality within formal mentoring programs. Based on a matched sample of 91 mentors and protégés, the results indicated that mentor commitment related positively to protégé reports of relationship quality. This relationship was stronger for male protégés than for female protégés. The results indicated that protégés reported higher quality relationships when mentors underestimated their commitment to the relationship relative to the protégés estimate of mentor commitment. Suggestions for future research are offered.     

A longitudinal study of work-based, adult-youth mentoring

Using a longitudinal design, this study explored the relation of urban high school student attitudes toward school, work, and self-esteem beliefs to work-based mentoring, mentor satisfaction, and employment status. Participants included high school students taking part in a formal work-based mentoring program, students who established informal mentoring relationships at work, students who worked without a mentor, and students who were not employed during the academic year. While there were no significant group differences in the measures at the start of the year, results at the end of the year showed that students in the formal mentoring program believed more strongly that school was relevant to work than those who worked without a mentor. Students with mentors had higher levels of self-esteem than those who did not work. Students who were highly satisfied with their mentors had higher levels of self-esteem and believed more strongly that school was relevant to the workplace than students who did not work. The implications of these results are discussed and future research areas are identified.     

Master's Level Training in Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Does It Meet the SIOP Guidelines?

In order to assess the extent to which terminal master's level I/O programs were consistent with Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) guidelines, recent graduates of master's level I/O and related programs were surveyed. The survey focused on the competency areas emphasized in the SIOP (1994) guidelines: data collection and analysis competencies, core I/O competencies, and additional I/O competencies. Participants in the survey provided their perceptions of the coverage of the various competencies in graduate school as well as the importance of these competencies in their current jobs. The results of the survey show that current master's level programs are generally consistent with the guidelines. Both data collection/data analysis competencies and core I/O competencies were perceived as having been well covered. Further, these same competencies were for the most part seen as important in the participants' current jobs.     

The dynamic infrastructure of mind—A hypothesis and some of its applications

A mechanism underlying the computational properties of the cognitive architecture is construed based on a minimal list of operational clusters. This general processing mechanism constitutes the dynamic infrastructure of mind (DIM). DIM consists in categories of mental operations foundational for learning that contain inborn components called inner operations, which are self-developing in the interaction mind-environment. Within the DIM paradigm, the input cognitive systems are not domain specific or core-knowledge specific, they are operational specific and capable of further developments that become domain specific while experiencing the environment. Arguments for this construal come from three sources: literature review, data collected through classroom observations, and a four-year experimental study of teaching and learning mathematics in primary grades. The outcomes of that experiment led to a methodology of learning based on activating the operational infrastructure of mind, which enhances students' flexibility of thinking and predicts the capacity to solve creatively a variety of problems.