Attitudes toward higher education and course evaluation.

Tested the hypothesis that course evaluations are related to (a) students' and instructors' own and perceived attitudes toward higher education and college teaching and (b) congruence between students' and instructors' own and perceived attitudes. Two experiments were conducted with 24 college instructors and 889 students. The evaluation measure contained 18 5-step items drawn from previous studies; factor analysis yielded 4 factors—Intellectual Challenge, Student–Instructor Rapport, Content/Structure, and Teaching Method—accounting for 64% of the variance in the final instrument. Regression analyses show that attitudes accounted for close to 50% of evaluative variance. The most efficient subset of predictors was instructors' attitudes as perceived by students such that the attribution to instructors of attitude items preferred by students was associated with positive course evaluation. These items tended to be progressive or social in orientation. Results support the hypotheses which were derived from directive state and balance theories. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internal-external control and attitude toward disability.

Results in 160 male students divided into internal, middle, and external locus of control groups (Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale) indicate that internal Ss did not differentiate between disabled and nondisabled employees, whereas external Ss did make such a differentiation. The externals' distinction, however, was in evaluating the disabled employee more positively rather than more negatively, as predicted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of a required college health and physical education course on the health status of alumni

Social interactions between mothers that were holding their infants and other group members were studied in a wild group of moor macaques (Macaca maurus). Affiliative approaches to infants (AAI) by group members that were accompanied with particular behaviours, such as mouthing and touching or affiliative grunts, were observed frequently. Females approached mothers with infants more frequently than did males in all age classes. Female reproductive status, parity and dominance relationships between interactants had little effect on the frequency of approaches. Mothers received more grooming and performed less grooming when they were holding their infants than when they were not. A high level of social tolerance in macaque species with relaxed dominance styles might allow the free expression of AAI. Dominance styles among females and AAI could be linked via a positive feedback relationship since AAI might play a role in relaxing the dominance style among females.     

The role of cognitive appraisal and friendship provisions in adolescents' affect and motivation toward activity in physical education

This study investigated the mediational role of affect in the influence of perceived success, causal attributions, and friendship provisions on choice and future expectancies for success and enjoyment, using a multi-sample structural equation modeling approach. Subjects were 422 seventh- and eighth-grade students participating in physical education classes. Higher levels of perceived success, personally controllable attributions, companionship, and esteem support were found to positively influence levels of affect experienced, which in turn enhanced future expectancies for success and enjoyment in physical education and choices to participate in physical activity outside of school. Furthermore, participation experience outside of school influenced adolescents' perceptions within the physical education setting and their consequent affect and motivation.     

Relationship between personal insecurity and attitude toward psychological methodology.

"It is intriguing to speculate about how a scientist's personal needs may affect his theoretical orientation and the kind of research he does." A research investigation is described in which "each subject's attitude toward psychological methodology was evaluated on an objective-intuitive continuum… " and level of anxiety was measured by a semi-projective technique devised by the authors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal attitude toward pregnancy and the risk of neonatal death

OBJECTIVES: Reduced options for fertility control over the past decade have increased the rates of unwanted pregnancy. We evaluated whether a woman's negative attitude toward her pregnancy increased the risk of perinatal mortality, in a large, prospective cohort study. METHODS: The association between attitude toward the pregnancy and perinatal mortality was evaluated in a longitudinal cohort study of 8823 married, pregnant patients enrolled from 1959 to 1966 in the Child Health and Development Studies. RESULTS: Women who reported during the first trimester of prenatal care that the pregnancy was unwanted were more than two times more likely to deliver infants who died within the first 28 days of life than were women reporting accepted pregnancies. A positive attitude toward pregnancy was not associated with fetal death or post-neonatal death. CONCLUSIONS: These data, collected when induced abortions were illegal, may have important implications for the 1990s. If maternal attitude toward the pregnancy is associated with neonatal mortality and abortion laws change such that access is restricted, infant mortality may increase because a greater proportion of births will be unwanted.     

The development of a course in basic physical examination skills

Basic clinical skills of most medical school undergraduates continue unobserved and deficiencies have been detected in a significant number of physicians during residency. Nevertheless, our health care system is calling for competent graduates with solid basic clinical skills and a larger representation of qualified generalists in the increasingly important managed care environment. The need for a better introduction to Clinical Skills course was identified by students and clinical faculty at Ponce School of Medicine. In response to these concerns a new curriculum was developed with clear objectives, effective instructional strategies, and performance-based evaluation, with adult learning principles as its framework. The musculoskeletal examination unit of the curriculum was pilot tested and the course evaluation strategies revealed satisfaction with objectives, instructional and evaluation strategies, as well as improved confidence, and sense of usefulness for the learned skills. A curriculum in basic clinical skills that incorporates adult learning principles with solid instructional strategies can increase the confidence and skills of the learners and should lead to improved outcomes.     

Problem-based medical education: development of a theoretical foundation and a science-based professional attitude

Problem-based learning, combined with early patient contact, integration between different subject areas, elements of multiprofessional education, and special emphasis on the development of communications skills has become the basis for the medical curriculum at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Link?ping. Critics have questioned the depth of the scientific and theoretical aspects of the curriculum. Through a series of specific measures in the organization of the curriculum and examinations, and due to the pedagogical principles involved per se, our claim is that students graduating at Link?ping do possess the required theoretical knowledge and a scientific attitude to the practice of medicine, at least equivalent to that obtained in a more conventional medical curriculum. One such specific measure is that all students perform one field study and two scientific studies during the course of the curriculum. An investigation of student opinions regarding the value of performing scientific projects of their own have shown that these projects have had a positive impact on the students' general scientific attitude and their willingness to engage in future scientific work. The specific skills acquired, as confirmed by oral examinations, were largely determined by the scientific nature of the chosen field of study. Our graduates have not yet progressed far enough in their careers for comparisons to be made on the basis of the Swedish Licensing Board Internship Examinations, but continuing evaluations of students, graduates and licensed doctors emerging from the curriculum will provide future evidence as to whether our present evaluation is correct.     

对我院体育教育专业武术普修课教学现状的几点思考

运用文献资料法、逻辑归纳法等,通过对我院体育教育专业武术普修课教学现状的分析,认为:我院武术普修课教学存在着诸如武术普修课学时偏少、教学内容结构不尽合理主要以武术基本功和套路教学为主、教学过程和模式单调、教学评价不注重学生个体性差异、武术场地器材及武术类图书影像资料不足等问题,在此基础上就相关问题提出增加教学课时数量、增加武术历史与文化及攻防实用性技术教学内容、采用现代化多媒体教育教学技术丰富教学手段、完善考核内容并制定科学的考核标准、加大经费投入力度等解决措施.     

浅谈体育教学中的美育

为探讨在体育教学中进行美育的可行性及效果,我们抽取了女生班学生进行教学实验。结果表明,体育教学中进行美育很有必要,其重点在于提高体育教师审美素质,着重对学生进行形体美的教育和训练,使美育与体育教学融为一体。     

On-line literature retrieval as a continuing medical education course

The effectiveness of a mass separation technique, previously used for the extraction of larvae of lymphatic-dwelling filarial worms from batches of vector mosquitoes, was tested as a means of recovering infective-stage larvae of Onchocerca volvulus from Simulium ochraceum in Guatemala. Blood-engorged flies, collected from 10 infected human attractants, were maintained for 9 days to allow ingested microfilariae to develop to the infective stage. The numbers of Onchocerca larvae recovered after groups of these flies were crushed and washed into tissue culture fluid in Baermann funnels was compared with the numbers obtained by individual dissections of flies fed on the same subjects. The mass separation procedure gave a mean recovery rate of 0.03 larva/fly and detected larvae only in flies which had fed on those subjects with the highest microfilarial skin densities. Dissections yielded 0.50 larva/fly (a 16.7-fold increase) and detected larvae in flies collected from all test subjects. The explanation for the ineffectiveness of the mass separation technique may lie in the observed sluggishness of infective-stage Onchocerca larvae and a consequent inability to free themselves from the fly fragments in the Baermann funnel.     

Tension neck and evaluation of a physical training course among office workers in a bank corporation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a physical training course in a group of patients (n = 74) suffering from chronic tension neck. All participants in the course were employed by a bank corporation in Helsinki, Finland. A comparable control group (n = 77) consisted of office workers with tension neck from the same bank corporation who did not attend any training course. The outcome was analysed 6 months after the course. Pain and disability in the neck and shoulder region did not vary significantly between the group which participated in the training course and the control group. The experimental group had increased the amount of physical workout compared to the control group (83.7% vs 69.0%, P = 0.0448). Also, regarding the frequency of relaxation and stretching exercises the two groups differed significantly: the experimental group had continued to perform exercises more often (P = 0.0434). The frequency of sick leave days did not significantly differ between the groups, but the office workers in the experimental group had more periods of extended sick leave (> 10 days) and the controls had more frequent short sick leaves. The experimental group did increase their physical workout significantly compared with the controls, but no differences were detected regarding pain and disability. In order to gain more benefit more attention should be paid to the educational part of the training courses in order to enhance the patients' self-care abilities. Also, strategies to alleviate psychosocial problems and organized relaxation exercises could decrease muscle tension in the neck in office workers.     

Homophobia and physical aggression toward homosexual and heterosexual individuals.

This study examined the relationship between homophobia (defined as self-reported negative affect, avoidance, and aggression toward homosexuals) and homosexual aggression. Self-identified heterosexual college men were assigned to homophobic (n?=?26) and nonhomophobic (n?=?26) groups on the basis of their scores on the Homophobia Scale (HS; L. W. Wright, H. E. Adams, & J. A. Bernat, 1999). Physical aggression was examined by having participants administer shocks to a fictitious opponent during a competitive reaction time (RT) task under the impression that the study was examining the relationship between sexually explicit material and RT. Participants were exposed to a male homosexual erotic videotape, their affective reactions were assessed, and they then competed in the RT task against either a heterosexual or a homosexual opponent. The homophobic group reported significantly more negative affect, anxiety, and anger-hostility after watching the homosexual erotic videotape than did the nonhomophobic group. Additionally, the homophobic group was significantly more aggressive toward the homosexual opponent, but the groups did not differ in aggression toward the heterosexual opponent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of students' attitudes toward television as a medium of instruction in a psychology course.

74 students enrolled in an elementary psychology course taught through 2 weekly television sessions and 2 weekly discussion-group sessions were asked (1) whether they would take another course using television and (2) whether the on-campus discussion added anything. 70% of the Ss answered YES to the first question, and 42% answered YES to the second. Open-ended responses revealed reasons for the answers given. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acceptance of physical disability and attitudes toward personal appearance.

Investigated appearance management (AM) as a social–psychological variable in 322 physically disabled university students. The questionnaire included an AM and social interaction scale and measures of acceptance of disability. A tendency to regard AM as a form of compensation was associated with a tendency to view physical disability as a central or salient aspect of personal identity. Data suggest that AM is regarded by some as a means for ameliorating the social impact of a physical disability, but is expected to serve only a secondary role in impression formation. The relationship between disability acceptance and predisposition toward AM is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)