Literacy skills of Australian Indigenous school children with and without otitis media and hearing loss

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between reading, spelling, and the presence of otitis media (OM) and co-occurring hearing loss (HL) in metropolitan Indigenous Australian children, and compared their reading and spelling outcomes with those of their non-Indigenous peers. OM and HL may hinder language development and phonological awareness skills, but there is little empirical evidence to link OM/HL and literacy in this population. Eighty-six Indigenous and non-Indigenous children attending pre-primary, year one and year two at primary schools in the Perth metropolitan area participated in the study. The ear health of the participants was screened by Telethon Speech and Hearing Centre EarBus in 2011/2012. Participants’ reading and spelling skills were tested with culturally modified sub-tests of the Queensland University Inventory of Literacy. Of the 46 Indigenous children, 18 presented with at least one episode of OM and one episode of HL. Results indicated that Indigenous participants had significantly poorer non-word and real word reading and spelling skills than their non-Indigenous peers. There was no significant difference between the groups of Indigenous participants with OM and HL and those with normal ear health on either measure. This research provides evidence to suggest that Indigenous children have ongoing literacy development difficulties and discusses the possibility of OM as one of many impacting factors.     

Mothers’ Implicit Theories of Early Literacy Instruction: Implications for Children's Reading and Writing

Subjects in this exploratory study were 19 five‐ to six‐year‐old children and their mothers. Mothers completed surveys of family literacy practices and beliefs about early reading Instruction and children's emergent literacy skills were assessed. Results showed that one group of mothers held implicit theories that resembled whole language models of literacy Instruction. A second group of mothers held views that resembled a phonics orientation, while a smaller group of mothers had more varied and idiosyncratic beliefs. Mothers’ implicit theories were associated with their modeling of literacy behaviors, helping their children write, and with their children's independent exploration of writing and current levels of literacy skill. Results point to the importance of parents’ implicit developmental theories and the heed to understand how parental belief systems affect the roles that families play in literacy acquisition.     

利用“师生共建科研团队”模式提高医学信息学学生的职业素养

探讨了师生共建科研团队的内涵、实施模式以及取得的成效,指出该模式是培养医学信息技术高素质创新人才的有效途径之一。     

Disseminating treatment for anxiety disorders: Step 1: Recognizing the problem as a precursor to seeking help

Untreated mental illness is a substantial public health issue in the United States, with only approximately 1/3 of the estimated 46 million adults in the US with mental illness receiving treatment. Many of the individuals with mental illness suffer from excessive anxiety, as over 25% of Americans experience an anxiety disorder during their lifetime and most of these individuals remain untreated. Building from the premise that recognizing one's symptoms precedes requests for help, the current paper presents data from 577 adults (50% Caucasian, 50% African American) in the US regarding their ability to recognize anxiety disorders. Findings from a national survey showed that when presented with detailed vignettes portraying symptoms and their impact, 50% of respondents correctly recognized depression, whereas less than 20% correctly recognized the anxiety disorders. Recognition that the symptoms were a cause for concern was much more common, with 75% or more of the sample noting concern. Responses were surprisingly similar across the two races, and few consistent moderators were found. In conclusion, increasing recognition of anxiety disorders may be a useful first step toward increasing service utilization.     

Good Googling: A Consumer Health Literacy Program Empowering Parents to Find Quality Health Information Online

Only 12% of Americans possess adequate health literacy skills. Among the populations cited with the lowest health literacy are those who experience chronic health conditions. A pilot health information literacy program was designed for parents of children with complex medical needs to help improve low health literacy in this population. The program targeted finding and determining trustworthy information online and was evaluated using a pre-post survey design. After the program parents’ confidence improved significantly in finding, interpreting, and judging quality online health information. These skills play an important role in promoting family-centered care and decreasing the burden on health care consumers.     

Does long time spending on the electronic devices affect the reading abilities? A cross-sectional study among Chinese school-aged children

Home literacy environment (HLE) is one of most important modifiable risk factors to dyslexia. With the development in technology, we include the electronic devices usage at home, such as computers and televisions, to the definition of HLE and investigate its impact on dyslexia based on the on-going project of Tongji's Reading Environment and Dyslexia Study. The data include 5063 children, primary school students (grade 3–grade 6), from a middle-sized city in China. We apply the principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the large dimension of variables in HLE, and find the first three components, denoted as PC1, PC2 and PC3, can explain 95.45% of HLE information. PC1 and PC2 demonstrate strong positive association with ‘total time spending on electronic devices’ and ‘literacy-related activity’, respectively. PC3 demonstrates strong negative association with ‘restrictions on using electronic devices’. From the generalized linear model, we find that PC1 significantly increases the risk of dyslexia (OR = 1.043, 95% CI: 1.018–1.070), while PC2 significantly decreases the risk of dyslexia (OR = 0.839, 95% CI: 0.795–0.886). Therefore, reducing the total time spending on electronic devices and increasing the literacy-related activity would be the potential protective factors for dyslexic children in China.     

Engagement: an indicator of difference in the perceptions of antenatal care for pregnant women from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds

Background Socioeconomically deprived women are at greater risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Research tends to focus on access of services. Yet access may not equate with the equity of services for women from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Objectives To determine whether pregnant women’s perceptions of antenatal provision differed in relation to their socioeconomic deprivation ranking (determined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2006). Design A longitudinal, qualitative study with comparative antenatal case studies between January 2007 and April 2009. Setting/Participants Cases were primigravida women from ‘least deprived’ (n = 9) and ‘most deprived’ (n = 12) geographical areas within one local authority in Scotland. Analysis Data were analysed using case study replication analysis. Results There was little difference in access to antenatal services between the ‘least’ and ‘most’ deprived groups. Perception of care differed in relation to the level of ‘engagement’ (defined using constructs of: language and personalization of care; power and relationships; and health literacy). Engagement was evidenced in most of the ‘least deprived’ cases and almost none of the ‘most deprived’ cases. Specifically, socioeconomically deprived women described less evidence of personal connection to their own care, effective communication and the opportunity for shared decision making. Conclusion In women from socioeconomically deprived areas, access may be a less useful indicator than engagement when assessing antenatal service quality. As engagement levels may be one method by which to predict and improve health outcomes, a more equitable antenatal service may need to be developed through the early identification of those women at risk of non‐engagement.     

分层递进式中医药信息素养教育

介绍了中医药信息素养教育启蒙教育阶段与学科教育阶段和拓展教育阶段的教学内容设计，教学形式选择，教学过程设计，以提升中医药信息的教学效果。