Longitudinal relationships between school assets, traditional bullying, and internet gaming disorder: the role of self-control and intentional self-regulation among Chinese adolescents.

Introduction: Although developmental assets have been proven to be enabling factors for both adolescent traditional bullying and internet gaming disorder (IGD), there is a lack of empirical evidence that has investigated the direct relationship between school assets and both of these problematic behaviors concurrently. Based on the positive youth development (PYD) perspective, the present study aimed to explore the relationship between school assets, intentional self-regulation (ISR), self-control, traditional bullying, and IGD among Chinese adolescents. Methods: A total of 742 middle school students (Mage = 13.88 years, SD = 1.99 years) were followed up to measure school assets, ISR, self-control, traditional bullying, and IGD in two waves that were separated by 5 months. Results: Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that T1 school assets negatively predicted T2 traditional bullying and T2 IGD. T1 self-control significantly mediated the relationships between T1 school assets and T2 traditional bullying, as well as between T1 school assets and T2 IGD. Additionally, T1 ISR strengthened the positive effect of T1 school assets on T1 self-control and further moderated the two mediating paths. Discussion: These findings show that plentiful school assets support the development of self-control and are more successful in reducing traditional bullying and IGD, particularly among students with higher ISR. As a result, schools should take measures to provide superior-quality assets for the positive development of youth, which will help to prevent and relieve traditional bullying and IGD in the school context.

A bibliometric analysis of quality assurance in higher education institutions: Implications for assessing university's societal impact.

This study aims to provide a bibliometric overview of quality assurance (QA) research in higher education institutions (HEIs) from 1993 to 2022 and to identify significant trends. Scopus was utilised to retrieve data from 321 selected articles from 191 different sources. The methodology included science mapping with bibliometric indicators such as citations, co-citation analysis, and bibliometric coupling. Analysis of the data was done using VOSviewer and R-package using Biblioshiny. The findings indicate an increase in the number of articles and authors per paper that highlight QA key issues, the most promising QA practices, and the topics for future research. This study has significant importance to orient HEI's QA process towards the assessment of the university's societal impact.

Profiles of Chinese preschoolers' academic and social-emotional development in relation to classroom quality: A multilevel latent profile approach.

Linking classroom quality to separate domains of child development might neglect the transactional interactions across developmental domains. This research utilized latent profiles across academic and social-emotional development to explore which aspects of classroom quality can predict children's profiles at the classroom level. Data were drawn from 96 preschool classrooms and 547 children (3-5 years old) in China in 2020. Multilevel latent profile analysis identified three profiles (entitled low-, average- and high-level development at the individual level), and two classes (entitled average and below-, average and above) at the classroom level. Multinominal logistic regression analyses revealed that instructional quality in math, science, and diversity, and the interactional quality in supporting children's learning and critical thinking, predicted children's profiles.

Improving the accessibility to public schools in urban areas of developing countries through a location model and an analytical framework.

The location of primary public schools in urban areas of developing countries is the focus of this study. In such areas, new schools and modification of the current schools are required, and this process should be developed using rational and broad supporting tools for decision makers, such as optimization models. We propose a realistic coverage location model and a framework to analyze the location of schools. Our approach considers the existing schools and their resizing, the best locations of the new schools that may have different capacities, population coverage, walking distances and budget provisions for building and updating schools. As a case study, we assess the current primary school network in Ciudad Benito Juarez to provide managerial insights. Through the proposed framework, we analyze the current locations of schools and decisions to be made by considering future scenarios in different time periods. The proposed model is quite flexible and easy to adapt to new considerations, allowing it to be applied to regions in developing countries under similar conditions.

Nutrition education incorporation into mainstream primary school curriculum in Ghana: Stakeholders' sources of nutrition information and perceived barriers.

INTRODUCTION: Nutrition literacy has been cited as a crucial life skill. Nutrition education as a primary school subject has been treated inconsequentially when compared to other subjects. We investigated an aspect of the current state of nutrition education in Ghana by engaging stakeholders about their sources of nutrition information and the perceived barriers in implementing nutrition education in mainstream primary schools. METHODS: Three hundred and fifty one (351) primary school children, 121 homebased caregivers, six schoolteachers, two headteachers, two Ghana Education Service (GES) officials, and six school cooks were involved in the study. Surveys were used to collect data on nutrition information acquisition behaviors and to record perceived barriers. Key Informant Interviews were conducted among GES officials, headteachers, schoolteachers and school cooks, while Focus Group Discussions were used among homebased caregivers and children to gather qualitative information. RESULTS: Only 36.3% of the primary school children had heard about nutrition, and 71% of those got nutrition information from their family members. About 70% of homebased caregivers had heard or seen nutrition messages, and their source of nutrition information was predominantly traditional media. Schoolteachers mostly received their nutrition information from non-governmental organizations and the Internet, while most of the school cooks stated their main source of nutrition information was hospital visits. Perceived barriers included schoolteachers' knowledge insufficiency, and lack of resources to adequately deliver nutrition education. Lack of a clear policy appeared to be an additional barrier. CONCLUSION: The barriers to the implementation of nutrition education in the mainstream curriculum at the primary school level that were identified in this study can be resolved by: providing schoolteachers with learning opportunities and adequate nutrition education resources for practical delivery, having specific national policy framework, and including family members and school cooks in the nutrition education knowledge and information dissemination process.

Efeito de uma intervenção com jogos digitas e webgames na motivação intrínseca em escolares / Effect of an intervention with digital games and webgames on intrinsic motivation in schools

RESUMO O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o efeito de uma intervenção com jogos digitais associados aos webgames na motivação intrínseca de crianças de uma escola pública de Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. Participaram deste estudo de desenho de um estudo de intervenção pedagógica não randomizado, 50 estudantes (52% de meninas), com idade média de 6,7 (±0,54) anos. Duas turmas da escola foram transformadas em dois grupos de pesquisa: 1) grupo intervenção (vivência prévia de jogos digitais no computador e webgames durante as aulas de educação física); e 2) grupo controle (apenas vivência de webgame). O Inventário de Motivação Intrínseca foi o instrumento utilizado, e para comparação intra e intergrupos utilizou-se o método de Equações de Estimativas Generalizadas, adotando-se o nível de significância de 5%. Não foi identificado efeito isolado do grupo ou interação grupo vs momento, o que indica que o grupo submetido a intervenção não se diferiu do grupo controle ao longo do tempo em termos de motivação. Conclui-se que o tipo de intervenção pedagógica realizada não foi capaz de aumentar a motivação intrínseca do grupo intervenção, sugerindo a necessidade de adaptações na estrutura e estratégias da intervenção em um próximo estudo.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of an intervention with digital games associated with webgames on the intrinsic motivation of children from a public school in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina (Brazil). 50 students (52% girls) participated in this design study of non-randomized pedagogical intervention study, with a mean age of 6.7 (± 0.54) years. Two classroom groups were transformed into two research groups: 1) intervention group (preview experience of digital games on the computer and webgames during physical education classes); and 2) control group (only experience of webgame). The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory was the instrument used, and for intra and intergroup comparison, the Generalized Estimation Equations method was used, adopting a significance level of 5%. No isolated effect of the group or interaction between group vs moment was identified, which indicates that the group submitted to the intervention did not differ from the control group over time in terms of motivation. It is concluded that the type of pedagogical intervention performed was not able to increase the intrinsic motivation OF GROUP I, suggesting the need for adaptations in the structure and strategies of the intervention for future research.

School Sanitation-Related Psychosocial Stressors among Nigerian Students.

Psychosocial stressors are indicative of challenges associated with the social and environmental conditions an individual is subjected to. In a bid to clearly understand the present gaps in school sanitation, this cross-sectional study aimed to identify the sanitation-related psychosocial stressors experienced by students in a Nigerian peri-urban community and their associated impacts. A three-stage sampling technique was used to select 400 students from 10 schools. The students to toilet ratio were 1,521:0 and 1,510:0 for the public-school boys and girls, respectively, and 74:1 and 70:1 for the private-school boys and girls, respectively. Furthermore, public-school students had a significantly higher average stress level (P < 0.001, η2p = 0.071) and a significantly higher proportion of students experiencing school absenteeism (P < 0.001; odds ratio [OR] = 4.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.7-8.2), missed classes (P < 0.001; OR = 5.8; CI = 2.8-12.0), long urine/fecal retention time (P < 0.001; OR = 2.9; CI = 1.8-4.7), open defecation practice (P < 0.001; OR = 4.2; CI = 2.5-7.1), and open defecation-related anxiety (P < 0.001; OR = 3.6; CI = 2.0-6.5). Moreover, the inability to practice menstrual hygiene management was significantly associated with student-reported monthly school absence among girls (P < 0.001; OR = 4.5; CI = 2.2-9.4). Overall, over 50% of the respondents had reportedly been subjected to at least 14 of the 17 stressors outlined. The most prevalent stressors identified were concerns about disease contraction, toilet cleanliness, toilet phobia, privacy, and assault/injury during open defecation/urination. In conclusion, results show that the absence of functional sanitation facilities purportedly has a grievous effect on the mental, physical, social, and academic well-being of the students. This was clearly seen among public-school students. Subsequent sanitation interventions need to be targeted at ameliorating identified stressors.

Determinants of profiles of competence development in mathematics and reading in upper secondary education in Germany.

The registered report was targeted at identifying latent profiles of competence development in reading and mathematics among N = 15,012 German students in upper secondary education sampled in a multi-stage stratified cluster design across German schools. These students were initially assessed in grade 9 and provided competence assessments on three measurement occasions across six years using tests especially developed for the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). Using Latent Growth Mixture Models, Using Latent Growth Mixture Models, we aimed at identifying multiple profiles of competence development. Specifically, we expected to find at least one generalized (i.e., reading and mathematical competence develop similarly) and two specialized profiles (i.e., one of the domains develops faster) of competence development and that these profiles are explained by the specialization of interest and of vocational education of students. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find multiple latent profiles of competence development. The model describing our data best was a single-group latent growth model confirming a competence development profile, which can be described as specializing in mathematical competences, indicating a higher increase in mathematical competences as compared to reading competences in upper secondary school. Since only one latent profile was identified, potential predictors (specialization of vocational education and interest) for different profiles of competence development were not examined.

Pooling in a Pod: A Strategy for COVID-19 Testing to Facilitate a Safe Return to School.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted widespread closures of primary and secondary schools. Routine testing of asymptomatic students and staff members, as part of a comprehensive mitigation program, can help schools open safely. "Pooling in a pod" is a public health surveillance strategy whereby testing cohorts (pods) are based on social relationships and physical proximity. Pooled testing provides a single laboratory test result for the entire pod, rather than a separate result for each person in the pod. During the 2020-2021 school year, an independent preschool-grade 12 school in Washington, DC, used pooling in a pod for weekly on-site point-of-care testing of all staff members and students. Staff members and older students self-collected anterior nares samples, and trained staff members collected samples from younger students. Overall, 12 885 samples were tested in 1737 pools for 863 students and 264 staff members from November 30, 2020, through April 30, 2021. The average pool size was 7.4 people. The average time from sample collection to pool test result was 40 minutes. The direct testing cost per person per week was $24.24, including swabs. During the study period, 4 surveillance test pools received positive test results for COVID-19. A post-launch survey found most parents (90.3%), students (93.4%), and staff members (98.8%) were willing to participate in pooled testing with confirmatory tests for pool members who received a positive test result. The proportion of students in remote learning decreased by 62.2% for students in grades 6-12 (P < .001) and by 92.4% for students in preschool to grade 5 after program initiation (P < .001). Pooling in a pod is a feasible, cost-effective surveillance strategy that may facilitate safe, sustainable, in-person schooling during a pandemic.

Rational emotive occupational health coaching for quality of work-life among primary school administrators.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed at investigating the effect of rational emotive occupational health coaching on quality of work-life among primary school administrators. METHOD: This is a double blinded and randomized control design study. A total of 158 administrators were sampled, half of them were exposed to rational emotive occupational health treatment package that lasted for 12 sessions. Two self-report measures were utilized in assessing the participants using quality of work life scale. Data collected were analyzed using MANOVA statistical tool. RESULT: The results showed that rational emotive occupational health coaching is effective in improving perception of quality of work-life among public administrators. A follow-up result showed that rational emotive occupational health coaching had a significant effect on primary school administrators' quality of work life. CONCLUSION: This study concluded rational emotive occupation health coaching is useful therapeutic strategy in improving quality of work of primary school administrators, hence, future researchers and clinical practitioners should adopt cognitive-behavioral techniques and principles in helping employers as well as employees. Based on the primary findings and limitations of this study, future studies, occupational psychotherapists should qualitatively explore the clinical relevance of rational emotive occupational health practice across cultures using different populations.

Schools on the front lines: School based health centers amidst COVID-19.

School based health centers (SBHCs) are often at the front line of medical and mental health services for students in the schools they serve. Citywide school closures in New York City in March 2020 and ongoing social distancing procedures resulted in significant changes in SBHC services as well as access to these services. Furthermore, the combination of COVID-19 related stressors and the increased likelihood of adverse childhood events experienced by urban youth creates conditions for the exacerbation of mental health concerns among youth in metropolitan areas. The following article will explore the role of SBHCs as community agents focused on prevention and reduction of mental health concerns prior and during the current pandemic, as well as existing health disparities experienced by urban youth populations. The authors will also discuss research examining mental health concerns already present in global populations affected by COVID-19 as it may foreshadow the challenges to be faced by U.S. urban youth. Lastly, the authors describe recommendations, practice implications, and opportunities for preventative strategies and therapeutic interventions in school based health settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Prevention and management of allergic reactions to food in child care centers and schools: Practice guidelines.

Food allergy management in child care centers and schools is a controversial topic, for which evidence-based guidance is needed. Following the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach, we conducted systematic literature reviews of the anticipated health effects of selected interventions for managing food allergy in child care centers and schools; we compiled data about the costs, feasibility, acceptability, and effects on health equity of the selected interventions; and we developed the following conditional recommendations: we suggest that child care centers and schools implement allergy training and action plans; we suggest that they use epinephrine (adrenaline) to treat suspected anaphylaxis; we suggest that they stock unassigned epinephrine autoinjectors, instead of requiring students to supply their own personal autoinjectors to be stored on site for designated at-school use; and we suggest that they do not implement site-wide food prohibitions (eg, "nut-free" schools) or allergen-restricted zones (eg, "milk-free" tables), except in the special circumstances identified in this document. The recommendations are labeled "conditional" due to the low quality of available evidence. More research is needed to determine with greater certainty which interventions are likely to be the most beneficial. Policymakers might need to adapt the recommendations to fit local circumstances.

Is project-based learning effective among kindergarten and elementary students? A systematic review.

Project-based learning (PjBL) is becoming widespread in many schools. However, the evidence of its effectiveness in the classroom is still limited, especially in basic education. The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic review of the empirical evidence assessing the impact of PjBL on academic achievement of kindergarten and elementary students. We also examined the quality of studies, their compliance with basic prerequisites for a successful result, and their fidelity towards the key elements of PBL intervention. For this objective, we conducted a literature search in January 2020. The inclusion criteria for the review required that studies followed a pre-post design with control group and measured quantitatively the impact of PBL on content knowledge of students. The final sample included eleven articles comprising data from 722 students. The studies yielded inconclusive results, had important methodological flaws, and reported insufficient or no information about important aspects of the materials, procedure and key requirements from students and instructors to guarantee the success of PjBL. Educational implications of these results are discussed.

Beyond Sociodemographic and COVID-19-Related Factors: The Association Between the Need for Psychological and Information Support from School and Anxiety and Depression.

BACKGROUND In addition to sociodemographic and COVID-19- related factors, the needs of school support, including material, psychological and information support, have seldom been discussed as factors influencing anxiety and depression among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study, 3351 college students from China were surveyed through questionnaires about their sociodemographic and COVID-19 characteristics, the needs of school support, and their experiences with anxiety and depression. RESULTS Anxiety and depression were reported by 6.88% and 10.50% of students, respectively. Married, higher education, non-medical, and urban students had significantly higher risks of anxiety or depression. Additionally, symptoms such as cough and fever, especially when following a possible contact with suspected individuals, quarantine history of a personal contact, going out 1-3 times a week, not wearing a mask, and spending 2-3 hours browsing COVID-19-related information were significantly associated with the occurrence of anxiety or depression. Those who used methods to regulate their emotional state, used a psychological hotline, and who had visited a psychiatrist showed higher anxiety or depression. Those who used online curricula and books, used preventive methods for COVID-19, and who had real-time information about the epidemic situation of the school showed lower anxiety and depression. CONCLUSIONS In addition to sociodemographic and COVID-19-related aspects, students' needs for psychological assistance and information from schools were also associated with anxiety and depression among college students.

External evaluations for dyslexia: do the data support parent concerns?

A grassroots movement of parents who fear that their children's reading struggles are going unrecognized at school has led to dyslexia laws in all but three states in the U.S. The current study was undertaken to provide data relevant to this topic by characterizing the reading profiles of 71 children referred for testing at a center specializing in the assessment of reading disabilities. These children were receiving instruction and intervention in reading across the tiers of instructional support in general and special education within their schools. On average, the children demonstrated equivalent deficits in print literacy skills on norm-referenced assessments regardless of the intensity of their reading support, and the majority of children who were only receiving tier 1 instruction exhibited characteristics of dyslexia. Moreover, 69% of children only receiving tier 1 instruction, and all remaining children, performed below benchmark expectations on a curriculum-based measure of oral reading fluency. While these data are not an evaluation of the implementation of the state's dyslexia laws or the statewide implementation of RTI, they provide data characterizing the real struggles and lack of identification of children whose parents seek an external evaluation of their children's reading skills. However, they are set in the context of a state in which 66% of public-school children cannot read proficiently by the end of the third grade. The reading struggles highlighted in this clinic referral sample are unexceptional in the larger state context.

Risk for Fomite-Mediated Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Child Daycares, Schools, Nursing Homes, and Offices.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 can persist on surfaces, suggesting possible surface-mediated transmission of this pathogen. We found that fomites might be a substantial source of transmission risk, particularly in schools and child daycares. Combining surface cleaning and decontamination with mask wearing can help mitigate this risk.

Evaluation of reopening strategies for educational institutions during COVID-19 through agent based simulation.

Many educational institutions have partially or fully closed all operations to cope with the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we explore strategies that such institutions can adopt to conduct safe reopening and resume operations during the pandemic. The research is motivated by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's (UIUC's) SHIELD program, which is a set of policies and strategies, including rapid saliva-based COVID-19 screening, for ensuring safety of students, faculty and staff to conduct in-person operations, at least partially. Specifically, we study how rapid bulk testing, contact tracing and preventative measures such as mask wearing, sanitization, and enforcement of social distancing can allow institutions to manage the epidemic spread. This work combines the power of analytical epidemic modeling, data analysis and agent-based simulations to derive policy insights. We develop an analytical model that takes into account the asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19, the effect of isolation via testing (both in bulk and through contact tracing) and the rate of contacts among people within and outside the institution. Next, we use data from the UIUC SHIELD program and 85 other universities to estimate parameters that describe the analytical model. Using the estimated parameters, we finally conduct agent-based simulations with various model parameters to evaluate testing and reopening strategies. The parameter estimates from UIUC and other universities show similar trends. For example, infection rates at various institutions grow rapidly in certain months and this growth correlates positively with infection rates in counties where the universities are located. Infection rates are also shown to be negatively correlated with testing rates at the institutions. Through agent-based simulations, we demonstrate that the key to designing an effective reopening strategy is a combination of rapid bulk testing and effective preventative measures such as mask wearing and social distancing. Multiple other factors help to reduce infection load, such as efficient contact tracing, reduced delay between testing and result revelation, tests with less false negatives and targeted testing of high-risk class among others. This paper contributes to the nascent literature on combating the COVID-19 pandemic and is especially relevant for educational institutions and similarly large organizations. We contribute by providing an analytical model that can be used to estimate key parameters from data, which in turn can be used to simulate the effect of different strategies for reopening. We quantify the relative effect of different strategies such as bulk testing, contact tracing, reduced infectivity and contact rates in the context of educational institutions. Specifically, we show that for the estimated average base infectivity of 0.025 ([Formula: see text]), a daily number of tests to population ratio T/N of 0.2, i.e., once a week testing for all individuals, is a good indicative threshold. However, this test to population ratio is sensitive to external infectivities, internal and external mobilities, delay in getting results after testing, and measures related to mask wearing and sanitization, which affect the base infection rate.

Adverse childhood experiences among youth from high-achieving schools: Appraising vulnerability processes toward fostering resilience.

Among youth from high-achieving schools, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were examined in relation to (a) internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescence (n = 527), and (b) symptoms plus psychiatric diagnoses-based on multiple annual interviews-in adulthood (n = 316). Also examined were associations for a "Proxy ACEs" (P-ACEs) measure, containing items similar to those on standard ACEs measures without reference to abuse or neglect. Rates of ACEs were comparable with those in other studies; most commonly endorsed were perceived parental depression followed by aspects of emotional neglect. Groups exposed to zero, 1, 2, 3, and 4+ ACEs differed on symptoms in adulthood, with small to moderate effect sizes; in parallel comparisons of P-ACEs groups on Grade 12 symptoms, differences had large effect sizes. In relation to psychiatric diagnoses, comparisons with the zero ACEs group showed that groups with 1, 2, 3 ACEs, versus 4+ ACES, respectively, had twofold and over fivefold greater odds of having any lifetime diagnosis. The odds for internalizing diagnoses specifically were 2-6 times greater for individuals with 1, 2, and 3 ACEs, and 12 times greater for those reporting 4 ACEs. Remarkably, Grade 12 reports of 2, 3, and 4+ P-ACEs were linked to 2-3 times greater odds of a psychiatric disorder in adulthood, and 3-6 times greater odds for internalizing diagnoses specifically. In the future, assessments of ACEs and P-ACEs could facilitate early detection of problems among HAS students, informing interventions to mitigate vulnerability processes and promote resilience among these youth and their families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Analyzing the role of fidelity of RTI Tier 2 reading intervention in Spanish kindergarten and first grade students.

This study examined the role of fidelity in the reading outcomes within a Tier 2 intervention implemented by Spanish kindergarten and first grade school teachers. For this purpose, differences in reading performance growth were analyzed among at-risk students who received a Tier 2 intervention with high fidelity, at-risk students who received the same intervention with medium fidelity, and an at-risk control group that did not receive a Tier 2 intervention. Implementation fidelity was analyzed using direct observations and self-reports. All students were assessed three times during the academic year. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses were conducted to explore differences in growth rate. The at-risk children in the intervention condition showed a higher growth compared to at-risk children in the control condition, and specifically when the intervention was delivered with a high degree of fidelity.