Assessing Screenshots: An in-school evaluation of a middle-school digital citizenship curriculum (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Bickham ◽  
Summer Moukalled ◽  
Heather Inyart ◽  
Rona Zlokower
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
New England ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Well Being ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Digital Citizenship ◽  
Online Bullying ◽  
Online Interactions ◽  
Post Test

BACKGROUND Screenshots is an in-school curriculum that uses aspects of digital citizenship to develop the emerging digital social skills of middle-schoolers with the long term goal of improving their health and well-being. The program seeks to create a knowledge base on which young adolescents can build a set of beliefs and behaviors that foster respectful interactions, prosocial conflict resolutions, and safe and secure uses of communication technology. Intervening in this way can improve mental health by limiting their exposure to cyberbullying and other forms of negative online interactions. This study reports on an evaluation of Screenshots conducted with 7th graders in a public school system of a mid-size New England City. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the Screenshots program in increasing participants’ knowledge about key concepts of digital citizenship and in shifting beliefs and intended behaviors to align with pro-social, respectful, and safe online interactions. Additionally, the study examines the extent to which the program has differing effects for boys and girls in terms of their conflict and bullying resolution strategies. METHODS This quasi-experimental evaluation was conducted in four middle schools in which one group of 7th graders received the Screenshots curriculum and another did not. Before and after the curriculum, all students completed a questionnaire that measured their knowledge of and beliefs about digital citizenship and related online behavioral concepts, their attitudes regarding strategies for stopping online bullying, and their intended online conflict resolution behaviors. RESULTS The sample included 92 students who received the curriculum and 71 in the comparison group. Pre- to post-test retention rates ranged from 52.4% to 84% varying by school and condition. Results showed an increase in knowledge about key curricular concepts for some students (F1,32= 9.97, P = .003). In response to some individual items, student increased their beliefs supportive of online privacy (F1,42= 4.389, P=.04) and safety (F1,76= 2.79, P=.099) compared to the comparison group. Gender moderated the results related to conflict resolution with some boys reducing their endorsement of an aggressive option (F2,40= 5.77, P = .006), and some girls increasing their tendency to pursue a non-aggressive option (pre-test=3.83, post-test=3.58). Participants, on average, reported learning something new from the classes. CONCLUSIONS This study represents a rare evaluation of an in-school digital citizenship program and demonstrates the effectiveness of Screenshots. Students’ increased knowledge of key curricular concepts represents a foundation on which to develop future beliefs and healthy behaviors. Differences in how boys and girls experience and perpetrate online aggression likely explain the conflict resolution findings and emphasizes the need to examine gender differences in response to these programs. Students high rating of the relevance of Screenshot’s content reinforces the need for this type of intervention.

scholarly journals Social groupwork for promoting psychological well-being of adolescents enrolled in sponsorship programs

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 520
Author(s):  
Shinto Joseph ◽  
Dr. Sheeja Remani B Karalam
Keyword(s):  
Comparison Group ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Well Being ◽  
P Value ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Development Interventions ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Child Sponsorship

Background: The dearth of data on adolescents highlighted in the UN’s data disaggregation against the agenda ‘no one left behind’ calls for research on ‘the second decade’. Moreover, India is a country with the world’s largest adolescent population, and as such, studies and policies for developing competencies of adolescents are crucial to the country’s development; interventions instilling confidence to aspire to a better future in underprivileged adolescents are vital to mitigate inequity. Methods: This intervention study adopted a quasi-experimental design to measure the effectiveness of social groupwork in raising the psychological well-being of adolescents in child sponsorship programs in Kerala. Forty adolescents from a Child Sponsorship Program (CSP) center in Kochi were recruited for the study. Those suggested by the CSP center considering their poor academic performance and behavior problems were allocated to the intervention group and the rest to the comparison group.  The intervention was designed in response to the information garnered through a preliminary study and administered to the intervention group (n=20). We conducted pre-test and post-test for both the intervention group and comparison group (n=20). Results: Comparison between pre- and post-measurements carried out using paired sample t-test for the intervention group and comparison group separately gave a p-value of <0.05 for the intervention group and >0.05 for the comparison group. Thus, it was proved that psychological well-being of participants in the intervention group was raised significantly due to the social group work intervention. Conclusions: Applying refined granularity, this research adds data specifically on adolescents enrolled in child sponsorship programs and sets a blueprint for social groupwork to improve their psychological well-being. Proposing a conceptual framework for child sponsorship programs, this study recommends further research in all aspects of its functioning, and interventions at group, family, and community levels, for the well-being and empowerment of marginalized adolescents.

scholarly journals Positive Psychology Intervention for Families of Hospitalized Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doralúcia Gil da Silva ◽  
Claudia Hofheinz Giacomoni
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Hospitalized Children ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Pilot Intervention

Abstract Positive Psychology interventions may benefit families with hospitalized children. This study aimed to evaluate a pilot intervention in positive psychology for parents with hospitalized children with acute health conditions. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with thirty mothers with a mean age of 25.37 (SD = 7.3), most of them with incomplete elementary school and married. A focal intervention was applied in the individual and group modality and a comparison group was carried out. Pre- and post-test evaluations were performed using standardized instruments on subjective well-being, symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress and ways of coping with problems. Data pointed out that in the intervention group, the levels of positive affects and problem-focused coping increased in relation to the comparison group. Likewise, in the individual intervention there was also an increase in problem-focused coping in relation to the comparison group.

Self-compassion and empathy in caregiver and comparison groups: Differences in negative components

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Beals ◽  
Melissa Birkett
Keyword(s):  
Comparison Group ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Personal Distress ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Descriptive Information ◽  
Supportive Behavior ◽  
Comparison Groups ◽  
Health And Well Being

Self-compassion and empathy are positively associated with mental health, physical health, and well-being. Caregivers higher in self-compassion and empathy show increased caring and supportive behavior. Cultivating self-compassion and empathy have been suggested to enhance positive outcomes, however descriptive information about these constructs is lacking for caregiver and comparison groups. The current study examined self-compassion and empathy among caregivers (self-identified parents of at least one child under 18 years of age; n=335) and a comparison group (n=215). Caregivers had higher scores of total self-compassion and empathy, with lower scores of self-judgement, isolation, and overidentification (self-compassion subscales), and personal distress (empathy subscale). Describing self-compassion and empathy in caregiver and comparison groups has implications for key health outcomes and highlights differences in self- and other-directed constructs in a diverse sample of adults.

scholarly journals Perceived Sensory Dimensions of Green Areas: An Experimental Study on Stress Recovery

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5419
Author(s):  
Sanaz Memari ◽  
Mahdieh Pazhouhanfar ◽  
Patrik Grahn
Keyword(s):  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Film Clip ◽  
Cultural Ecosystem Services ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Health And Well Being

Natural environments have been shown to promote health, and are, therefore, important for achieving social sustainability in cities. As cities grow and become denser, it is important to develop knowledge about the characteristics of natural environments that work to promote health. Perceived Sensory Dimensions (PSDs) is a tool that defines eight different cultural ecosystem services. They correspond to different human needs (rest, exercise, socialising, pleasure, or security) resulting in rehabilitation and health and well-being promotion. An experiment was conducted to study the potential of PSDs to restore people who experienced stressful accidents. One hundred and fifty-seven participants were recruited and asked first to watch a film clip of serious accidents, then to look at the pictures, depicting one particular type of PSDs, while listening to its respective audio recording. Their stress levels were measured before exposure to the stressor (baseline), after exposure to the stressor (pre-test), and after exposure to a particular type of PSDs (post-test). The results show that all eight PSDs effectively provide mental recovery, but there are statistical differences in their potentials. As such, it is proposed that the combined potential of the PSDs is needed, and should be used to increase the capacity and supply of health-promoting urban green areas.

scholarly journals Grandparent Resilience: Improving Self-Efficacy in Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 510-510
Author(s):  
Aimee Fox ◽  
Nathaniel Riggs ◽  
Loriena Yancura ◽  
Christine Fruhauf
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Paired Samples ◽  
Post Test

Abstract Grandparents often protect against childhood trauma and promote resilience through their nurturance, love, and support when raising grandchildren. Despite the beneficial role grandparents have on their grandchildren, grandparents may experience challenges of their own, including physical, mental, and emotional health issues, lack of resources, and social isolation. Few interventions exist to help grandparents successfully adapt to the challenges they face as primary parenting figures. The purpose of this study was to test preliminary efficacy of a strengths-based intervention for grandparents raising grandchildren aimed at increasing self-care behaviors, managing emotions, and connecting to community resources. Grandparents (N = 137) providing primary care to grandchildren were recruited to participate in a single-group, pre- and post-test design, 6-week intervention. Self-efficacy was assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at a 6-month follow-up. To evaluate who the intervention might be most beneficial for, grandparents’ service knowledge, perceived support from others, and length of care provided, measured at baseline, were analyzed for moderating effects. Results of paired-samples t-tests reveal significant increases in self-efficacy (p = .013) from baseline to post-test, which were maintained at the 6-month follow-up (p = .010). Hierarchical multiple regression showed interaction effects of the hypothesized moderators were not significant, indicating improvements in self-efficacy regardless of individual variability at baseline. As demonstrated, interventions can be effective at increasing self-efficacy in grandparents raising grandchildren and strengths-based approaches have the potential to provide universal benefits to grandparents, thus improving functioning in grandfamilies and promoting the health and well-being of grandparents and their grandchildren.

scholarly journals Pre-post effect sizes should be avoided in meta-analyses

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Cuijpers ◽  
E. Weitz ◽  
I. A. Cristea ◽  
J. Twisk
Keyword(s):  
Comparison Group ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Behaviour Therapy ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Cognitive Behaviour ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Highly Cited

AimsThe standardised mean difference (SMD) is one of the most used effect sizes to indicate the effects of treatments. It indicates the difference between a treatment and comparison group after treatment has ended, in terms of standard deviations. Some meta-analyses, including several highly cited and influential ones, use the pre-post SMD, indicating the difference between baseline and post-test within one (treatment group).MethodsIn this paper, we argue that these pre-post SMDs should be avoided in meta-analyses and we describe the arguments why pre-post SMDs can result in biased outcomes.ResultsOne important reason why pre-post SMDs should be avoided is that the scores on baseline and post-test are not independent of each other. The value for the correlation should be used in the calculation of the SMD, while this value is typically not known. We used data from an ‘individual patient data’ meta-analysis of trials comparing cognitive behaviour therapy and anti-depressive medication, to show that this problem can lead to considerable errors in the estimation of the SMDs. Another even more important reason why pre-post SMDs should be avoided in meta-analyses is that they are influenced by natural processes and characteristics of the patients and settings, and these cannot be discerned from the effects of the intervention. Between-group SMDs are much better because they control for such variables and these variables only affect the between group SMD when they are related to the effects of the intervention.ConclusionsWe conclude that pre-post SMDs should be avoided in meta-analyses as using them probably results in biased outcomes.

The Post-Deportation Human Rights Project: Participatory Action Research with Maya Transnational Families

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lykes ◽  
Erin McDonald ◽  
Cesar Boc
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
New England ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Parents ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Southern New England ◽  
Immigrant Organizations ◽  
The Right

As the number of immigrants in the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades, so has the number of human rights violations against immigrants in the form of arrests without warrants, detention and deportation of parents without consideration of the well-being of their children, and incarceration without bail or the right to a public attorney. The Post-Deportation Human Rights Project (PDHRP) at Boston College was developed to investigate and respond to the legal and psychological effects of deportation policies on migrants living in or deported from the United States. This unique multidisciplinary project involves lawyers, social science faculty, and graduate students—all of whom are bilingual, one of whom is trilingual, and many of whom are bicultural—working together in partnership with local immigrant organizations to address the psychosocial impact of deportation on Latino and Maya families and communities. Our work includes psycho-educational and rights education workshops with immigrant parents and their children in southern New England as well as a cross-national project based in the U.S. and Guatemala supporting transnational families through participatory research, educational workshops, and legal resources.

Identification of the Optimal Recipient Layer for Transplanted Fat: A Prospective Study on Breast Lipoaugmentation

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 1071-1081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoshuang Guo ◽  
Dali Mu ◽  
Wenshan Xing ◽  
Yaping Qu ◽  
Jie Luan
Keyword(s):  
Patient Satisfaction ◽  
Prospective Study ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Prospective Clinical Study ◽  
Pectoralis Muscle ◽  
Recipient Site ◽  
Minimal Invasiveness ◽  
Volume Retention

Abstract Background Fat grafting has become a popular procedure in aesthetic and reconstructive surgeries due to its safety, minimal invasiveness, and favorable visual outcomes, although the volume retention rate is unpredictable. Objectives A prospective clinical study on lipoaugmentation of the breast was conducted to compare fat retention rates in the pectoralis muscle and the periglandular area. Methods This prospective study included 20 breasts from 11 patients who underwent primary lipoaugmentation. Volume retention rate and percentage augmentation among different recipient layers, as well as complications and patient satisfaction, were evaluated. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed preoperatively and at 1 day and 3 months postoperatively. Complications were recorded, and patient satisfaction was appraised through the use of the Breast-Q questionnaire. Results Breasts were injected with 207 ± 29 mL of fat, achieving overall volume retention rates of 56.63% ± 16.40%. The overall augmentation was 21.53% ± 10.27%. Volume retention rate was significantly higher (59.00% ± 13.84%) in the periglandular area than in the pectoralis muscle (47.21% ± 22.41%) (P = 0.04). Augmentation was significantly higher (32.13% ± 12.96%) in the periglandular area than in the pectoralis muscle (4.95% ± 4.23%) (P = 0.00). Pain and numbness were the only reported complications. The Breast-Q score increased significantly for the measures “satisfaction with breasts,” “psychosocial well-being,” and “sexual well-being.” Conclusions Fat transfer is a safe and acceptable method for aesthetic and reconstructive breast surgery. The periglandular area was a better recipient site than muscle for transferred fat. Level of Evidence: 4

scholarly journals Volunteers’ Felt Respect and Its Associations With Volunteering Retention, Daily Affect, Well-being, and Mortality

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (8) ◽  
pp. 1625-1636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwight C K Tse
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Volunteer Work ◽  
Daily Affect

Abstract Objectives Volunteering is associated with improved physical and psychological well-being; volunteers feeling more respect for their work may have better well-being than their counterparts. Methods This study investigated the effects of felt respect for volunteer work on volunteering retention, daily affect, well-being (subjective, psychological, and social), and mortality. The study analyzed survey and mortality data from a national sample of 2,677 volunteers from the Midlife in the United States Study over a 20-year span. Daily affect data were obtained from a subsample of 1,032 volunteers. Results Compared to volunteers feeling less respect from others, those feeling more respect (a) were more likely to continue volunteering 10 and 20 years later, (b) had higher levels of daily positive affect and lower levels of daily negative affect, and (c) had higher levels of well-being over a 20-year period. The effect of felt respect on mortality was not statistically significant. Discussion Greater level of felt respect for volunteer work is positively related to volunteers’ retention rates, daily affective experience, and well-being.

scholarly journals Mediation as a Component of Communicative Competence in Training International Relations Professionals: Collaboration Between Russia and Kazakhstan

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
Irina E. Abramova ◽  
Anastasia A. Ananyina ◽  
Anna M. Esengalieva
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
International Relations ◽  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Well Being ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact

The world lives in the era of conflict, when the safety and well-being of states or individuals to a large extent depend on the availability of well-trained professionals who are able to perform mediating functions, keeping in mind ethnic, national, political, cultural and other differences between conflicting sides. However, employers increasingly claim that todays graduates lack the skills required for conflict management and mediation even in homogeneous working environments, let alone multinational teams and international interaction. This problem is particularly relevant for the field of international relations where conflict resolution by peaceful means is very important. Countries with transition economies, such as Russia and Kazakhstan, where there is a gap between labor market requirements and university teaching practices, have been searching for new ways to educate and train young specialists. This article presents the preliminary results of a collaborative project between Petrozavodsk State University of the Russian Federation and Gumilyov Eurasian National University of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The project includes a set of dialogue- and polylogue-based learning activities with special focus on addressing any discrepancies, misunderstandings and divergence of views. The aim of the paper is to assess the impact of professionally oriented cross-border communication in the English language on the readiness of international relations students from Russia and Kazakhstan for resolving future professional disputes through mediation. The authors used formal structured questionnaires with closed-ended questions for obtaining necessary data and the comparative analysis method for interpreting them. The results suggest that systematic English-language cross-border communication in a realistic work-like environment will demonstrate the importance of mediation as a component of professional communicative competence to the students and will better prepare future foreign affairs staff for conflict resolution and mediation.

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