The ARGUE Mnemonic: A Strategy to Improve Argumentative Essay Writing with Students who have Visual Impairments

Writing can be a challenging task for many students. This study offered 10 ninth-grade students (8 females, 2 males) with visual impairments located in the Western United States the opportunity to learn a mnemonic strategy for argumentative-essay writing called ARGUE: Analyze data; Review keywords and create sentences; Generate a plan; Use your thoughts to say an oral draft; and Express your ideas in typed text. Action research methods were employed in the study from April through May over twenty-one 65-minute sessions. All students argumentative essay writing skills increased in content and quality by the end of the intervention’s timeline, except for one. Another student had an increase for content but not quality. Three participants had the highest end-of-intervention gains. They also had the largest gains in number of words written. From the results of repeated measures t-tests, there was a significant difference in the scores for content in baseline and application conditions. All student participants felt others would benefit from using ARGUE and that the mnemonic was effective as is. Limitations and future research are also discussed.

Scientific production about palliative care and communication in online journals: a scoping review

ABSTRACT Objectives: to characterize publications about palliative care and communication, with an emphasis on the approaches addressed, disseminated in online journals. Methods: it is a scope review, in which the mnemonic strategy Problem, Concept and Context was used, based on database research. The sample consisted of 86 publications. Results: most publications were written in the English language, published in the journal BMC Palliative Care, and with level of evidence IV. As for the approaches approached, the following stand out: Importance of communication in palliative care; Breaking the bad news in palliative care; Training professionals/staff to communicate in palliative care; and Communication strategies in palliative care. Final Considerations: the review made it possible to map a significant number of publications on palliative care and communication. It is recommended to produce new studies with better scientific evidence that guide the assistance of health professionals.

Prospective Memory and Spontaneous Compensatory Mnemonic Strategy Use in the Laboratory and Daily Life in HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders

Objective: Older adults with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are at high risk for deficits in the resource-demanding, strategic aspects of prospective memory (PM) that can adversely affect health outcomes. This study examined the frequency and correlates of spontaneous compensatory strategy use during a laboratory-based PM task and its associations with the use of mnemonic strategies in daily life. Method: Participants included 53 older adults with HAND, 89 older persons with HIV without HAND, and 62 seronegatives who completed the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT), on which the type, frequency, and quality of their compensatory strategy use was quantified. Participants also completed self-report measures of PM symptoms and the frequency of mnemonic compensatory strategy use in daily life. Results: There were no significant group-level effects on strategy use during the CAMPROMPT. Persons with HAND had significantly lower time-, but not event-based PM scores. Higher compensatory strategy use was strongly associated with better PM, particularly for time-based cues. Moreover, higher compensatory strategy use on the CAMPROMPT was associated with more frequent general mnemonic strategy use in daily life, and specifically with more frequent use of internal PM strategies (e.g., visualization) for medication adherence. Conclusions: Spontaneous compensatory mnemonic strategy use can support PM performance among older adults with HAND in the laboratory, and this strategy use may parallel the use of similar strategies in daily life. Future studies may examine whether compensatory mnemonic strategies can be taught and used to support PM in the daily lives of older persons with HIV disease.