Schools’ Efforts to Involve Latino Families of Students with Visual Impairments

2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (7) ◽  
pp. 389-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline Milian

This study found that Latino families thought that schools did well in providing information about their children with visual impairments and inviting families to school programs and poorly on encouraging families to volunteer at school, providing assistance to families in helping their children with self-care activities, and making home visits. The families’ ratings varied by the children's ages and reading modes, by the length of time the families had lived in the United States, and the languages the families spoke.

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Brian ◽  
Laura Bostick ◽  
Angela Starrett ◽  
Aija Klavina ◽  
Sally Taunton Miedema ◽  
...  

Children with visual impairments often exhibit difficulties with locomotor skills (e.g., the ability to move one’s body from one place to another), warranting the need for ecologically valid interventions with conditions that attempt to match the real world in a variety of settings. Parents and physical education teachers are the ones choosing to provide movement opportunities for children with visual impairments and must be included in any ecologically valid intervention strategy. This was a descriptive-analytic study. To support the greatest diversity in settings, the authors recruited 94 participants (blind = 44 and low vision = 50; Mage = 13.01 years, SD = 3.26) from schools for the deaf and blind in the United States (teacher led, n = 17) or Latvia (teacher led, n = 57), through an online LISTSERV throughout the United States (parent led, n = 10), and a control subgroup (n = 10). At the pretest, no participant’s motor development met age expectations. Children with visual impairments from multiple locations and cultures significantly improved compared with controls who did not. Results were most favorable when the physical educator was the interventionist. However, further research is needed to replicate these findings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-247
Author(s):  
Paula Wenner Conroy

Introduction Although there is much research related to the adoption of children with disabilities in general, there is none that focuses specifically on the experiences of parents who have adopted children with visual impairments (that is, who are blind or have low vision) from outside of the United States (also called “intercountry” or “international” adoption). Methods Fifteen parents of children who were adopted from outside the United States and had visual impairments were interviewed in this exploratory study. The participants all lived in the United States following the adoptions and volunteered to participate in this study in 2015. Research questions focusing on pre-adoption (why and who), challenges, and supports framed the open-ended interviews. The interviews were transcribed and themes emerged through the process of coding. Results Parents shared their personal experiences through interviews. All 15 parents had similarities in the process of adoption. Parents adopted in order to begin or enlarge their families, but did not necessarily go into the process desiring to adopt a child with a visual impairment. Challenges were experienced in the areas of medical, educational, and social-emotional needs. Parents agreed that supports were necessary before, during, and after the adoption process. Discussion The need for supports throughout the entire process of inter-country adoption of a child with a visual impairment was made clear through this study. Adoption agencies and agencies for visually impaired individuals are in a good position to set up support networks and mentorship programs. Implications for practitioners This study only scratches the surface of the topic of intercountry adoption of children with visual impairments. By sharing experiences, attention can be given to issues, and systems can be put into place to better support families in raising internationally adopted children with visual impairments.


2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (11) ◽  
pp. 685-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Ponchillia ◽  
Jennifer Armbruster ◽  
Jennipher Wiebold

The National Sports Education Camps Project (NSEC), a joint partnership between Western Michigan University and the United States Association of Blind Athletes, provides short-term interventions to teach sports to children with visual impairments. A study comparing 321 students with visual impairments, ranging in age from 8 to 19 years, before and after they participated in the camp found that they knew more about sports, were able to jump and throw farther, held more positive attitudes, and were more likely to become involved in local sports activities. Benefits of short-term specialized programming and implications for practice were also examined.


1989 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Pagliano

The education of children with visual impairments in Australia has a long history of innovations which have been at the forefront of special education. Educators in Australia and the United States often face similar philosophical concerns and issues. Differences which do occur in Australia appear to be mainly owing to the lack of national legislation and the absence of a strong research base. Decision-making in Australia has tended to be regional and primarily determined by a combination of demand, availability of human and material resources, and international trends. Support for these observations has been found by examining recent Australian developments, especially those relating to integration.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 507-508
Author(s):  
Ying Wang ◽  
Mandong Liu ◽  
Iris Chi

Abstract Chinese immigrant caregivers face unique self-care difficulties in the United States due to language barriers, cultural isolation, and occupational stress. This study aimed to conduct a formative evaluation on a caregiver self-care curriculum of an app designed for Chinese immigrants in the United States. Using a co-design approach in 2019, 22 Chinese immigrant caregivers in Los Angeles county were recruited through purposive sampling method. The directed content analysis was adopted to analyze the qualitative data using NVivo 12.1.0 software. We organized the findings under two main contents: self-care and caregiving. Three categories were identified under the self-care content: physical health, emotional and mental health, and support resources. Sixteen subcategories under physical health (e.g., dietary supplements), five subcategories under emotional and mental health (e.g., depression) and eight subcategories under support resources (e.g., support and networking group, senior center) are suggested. Two categories were identified under the caregiving content: caregiving knowledge and skills, and community resources. Fourteen subcategories under caregiving knowledge and skills (e.g., care assessment) and six subcategories under community resources (e.g., medical emergency call) were mentioned. With this useful information, we could further refine the self-care curriculum to be more linguistically, culturally and occupationally sensitive for Chinese immigrant caregivers. Empowerment approach for enhancing the ability to caregiving and self-care should be emphasized in content design for immigrant caregivers. The co-design approach is crucial for planning of the program and intervention curriculum to improve understanding of the users’ needs and better cater them.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Ausili ◽  
Claudio Barbaranelli ◽  
Barbara Riegel

Measuring self-care behaviors is crucial in diabetes research worldwide. Having a common measure of self-care represents an unmet need limiting the development of the science. The Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory was developed to address limitations of previous tools that were not theoretically grounded, strong in psychometrics, and clinically validated. However, the generalizability and comparability of the Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory has not been tested across cultures and languages. The aim of this study was to test the invariance of the Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory measurement model between Italy and the United States. Data from two multicenter cross-sectional studies were used. Two diabetes clinics and two hospitals in Italy and the United States were involved. We enrolled 200 adults in Italy and 226 in the United States, all with a confirmed diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory was used to measure self-care maintenance, monitoring, and management behaviors as described in the middle range theory of self-care of chronic illness. Configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariance were tested for each scale. Three of the four measurement equivalence levels were supported in the three Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory Scales, whereas strict invariance—the highest level—was reached only by the Self-Care Maintenance and Self-Care Monitoring Scales. Clear support for the use of the Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory in diabetes research was provided. Cross-national comparisons of self-care between groups of Italian and U.S. patients are supported, based on the invariance of the measurement model. Aggregation of research data obtained using the Self-Care of Diabetes Inventory across countries could support knowledge development in the field of diabetes self-care.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Henderson ◽  
Melanie Gross Hagen ◽  
Zareen Zaidi ◽  
Valentina Dunder ◽  
Edlira Maska ◽  
...  

Purpose: We aimed to study the impact of a combined faculty-student book club on education and medical practice as a part of the informal curriculum at the University of Florida College of Medicine in the United States.Methods: Sixteen medical students and 7 faculties who participated in the book club were interviewed through phone and recorded. The interview was then transcribed and entered into the qualitative data analysis program QSR NVivo (QSR International, Burlington, MA, USA). The transcripts were reviewed, and thematic codes were developed inductively through collaborative iteration. Based on these preliminary codes, a coding dictionary was developed and applied to all interviews within QSR Nvivo to identify themes.Results: Four main themes were identified from interviews: The first theme, the importance of literature to the development and maintenance of empathy and perspective-taking, and the second theme, the importance of the book club in promoting mentorship, personal relationships and professional development, were important to both student and faculty participants. The third and fourth themes, the need for the book club as a tool for self-care and the book club serving as a reminder about the world outside of school were discussed by student book club members.Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that an informal book club has a significant positive impact on self-care, perspective-taking, empathy, and developing a “world outside of school” for medical school students and faculty in the United States. It also helps to foster meaningful relationships between students and faculty.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Sharon E. Moore ◽  
A. Christson Adedoyin ◽  
Sharon D. Jones-Eversley ◽  
Carla M. Curtis

ObjectiveThe importance of self-care for social workers as first responders is underscored in light of the sociopolitical, economic, and pandemic challenges that accompanied the presidency of Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States.MethodsWe conducted an extensive review of the literature on the conceptualization, dimensions, benefits, importance, and indispensability of self-care for social workers, especially in stressful socio-political and toxic work environments. Chaos theory served as the theoretical scaffold of our research.ResultsInevitably our research found that the ability of social workers to effectively serve as first responders during chaotic times depends on a proactive and consistent practice of self-care by social workers as an essential best practice.ConclusionsThe consequences of the policies of the 45th president of the United States have taken their toll on the citizenry, with the increase in stress in the nation. Undoubtedly, social workers as first responders, therapists, and educators are at the receiving end of ensuing political and socioeconomic uncertainties. We posit that for social workers to remain steadfast, unshakable, and abiding in the solemn pursuit of social justice and an egalitarian society, this is the era for social workers to embrace and persistently practice self-care.


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