A substantive body of research demonstrates negative bias toward reporting characteristics of young people associated with bullying and cyberbullying in schools, as both victims and perpetrators. The ...current study proposes a different approach. A sample of 2,799 postprimary school pupils aged 12 to 19 years (M = 15.5, SD = 1.66), divided equally across males and females, completed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth questionnaire (VIA-Youth; Park & Peterson, 2005) and Corcoran's (2013) modified version of the net-TEEN questionnaire (Machmutow et al., 2012). A series of stepwise regression analyzes found that the strength of "prudence" was a common denominator predicting nonparticipation in school bullying--as both perpetrators and victims of traditional and cyberbullying. Furthermore, the current study identified a list of other character strengths, such as "fairness" and "love, which predicted noninvolvement of each of the 4 bullying groups (traditional bullies, traditional victims, cyber bullies, cyber victims) differently. Implications of the current research for both practitioners and researchers are discussed, including the potential for the creation of a prosocial, strength-based program to prevent bully/victim problems in schools.
Recent evidence suggests that chloride channels may be involved in ischemic preconditioning (IPC). In this study, we tested whether the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) ...chloride channels, which are expressed in the heart and activated by protein kinase A and protein kinase C, are important for IPC in isolated heart preparations from wild-type (WT) and CFTR knockout (CFTR-/-) mice.
Hearts were isolated from age-matched WT or CFTR-/- (B6.129P2-Cftr(tm1Unc) and STOCKCftr(tm1Unc)-TgN 1Jaw) mice and perfused in the Langendorff or working-heart mode. All hearts were allowed to stabilize for 10 minutes before they were subjected to 30 or 45 minutes of global ischemia followed by 40 minutes of reperfusion (control group) or 3 cycles of 5 minutes of ischemia and reperfusion (IPC group) before 30 or 45 minutes of global ischemia and 40 minutes of reperfusion. Hemodynamic indices were recorded to evaluate cardiac functions. Release of creatine phosphate kinase (CPK) in the samples of coronary effluent and infarct size of the ventricles were used to estimate myocardial tissue injury. In WT adult hearts, IPC protected cardiac function during reperfusion and significantly decreased ischemia-induced CPK release and infarct size. A selective CFTR channel blocker, gemfibrozil, abrogated the protective effect of IPC. Furthermore, targeted inactivation of the CFTR gene in 2 different strains of CFTR-/- mice also prevented IPC's protection of cardiac function and myocardial injury against sustained ischemia.
CFTR Cl- channels may serve as novel and crucial mediators in mouse heart IPC.
Research exploring the well-being and pastoral care of pupils attending primary and post-primary schools has become an issue of increased discourse and growing national and international concern in ...recent years. Society often expects that teachers can support or facilitate pupils experiencing such issues; however, there is little research that explores whether pre-service teachers encounter these issues on school placement and how they approach such concerns if they do. This paper reports on a study of pre-service teachers (N = 354) from the Republic of Ireland (RoI) and Northern Ireland (NI) and the frequency with which they encountered issues relating to bereavement, separation and divorce (BeSAD). To address the training needs, six semi-structured interviews with experts in the area of BeSAD and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) are also included. The quantitative component of the research indicated that nearly half of the pre-service teachers had encountered pupils who had experienced some form of BeSAD whilst on school placement. Respondents lacked confidence when supporting pupils experiencing BeSAD, particularly in relation to separation and divorce. The interviews conducted with experts from NI and the RoI (N = 6) identified the core role that teachers play as advocates for pupils who have experienced BeSAD.
A focus on results and impact should be at the heart of every project's approach to research and dissemination. This article discusses the potential of Google Analytics (GA: ...http://google.com/analytics ) as an effective resource for measuring the impact of academic research output and understanding the geodemographics of users of specific Web 2.0 content (e.g., intervention and prevention materials, health promotion and advice). This article presents the results of GA analyses as a resource used in measuring the impact of the EU-funded CyberTraining project, which provided a well-grounded, research-based training manual on cyberbullying for trainers through the medium of a Web-based eBook ( www.cybertraining-project.org ). The training manual includes review information on cyberbullying, its nature and extent across Europe, analyses of current projects, and provides resources for trainers working with the target groups of pupils, parents, teachers, and other professionals. Results illustrate the promise of GA as an effective tool for measuring the impact of academic research and project output with real potential for tracking and understanding intra- and intercountry regional variations in the uptake of prevention and intervention materials, thus enabling precision focusing of attention to those regions.
A summary of current knowledge on successful responses to cyberbullying differentiating between three different response domains: reducing risks, combatting the problem, and buffering negative ...impact. A systematic literature search yielded thirty-six relevant studies, most of which report findings regarding general prevention strategies (e.g., anti-bullying policies or cybersafety strategies) and the use of coping strategies such as seeking support, responding (retaliation or confronting), technical solutions, and avoidant and emotion-focussed strategies. Whilst a few studies report perceived success, very few measure the success of the strategies in relation to risks and outcomes. There is a clear lack of evidence concerning successful responses. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Background: Unlike the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland has only recently (2003) implemented legislation regarding the requirement for anti-bullying policies in the province's school system.
Purpose: ...The purpose of the study was to ascertain the nature of the management of bully/victim problems across Northern Ireland schools prior to the enactment of legislation.
Sample: From an exhaustive sampling frame of all 1329 schools in Northern Ireland (96 nursery, 910 primary, 167 secondary, 73 grammar, 54 special, 29 further education), a total of 285 schools replied to a questionnaire (20 nursery, 181 primary, 41 secondary, 26 grammar, 13 special, 3 further education, 1 non-specified), a return rate of 23.11%.
Design and methods: A review of the literature and consultation with educational experts in Northern Ireland resulted in the development of an 'Audit' questionnaire designed to examine dissemination and implementation (or not) of Department of Education, or bespoke, discipline and anti-bullying policies; components of anti-bullying programmes; the communication of anti-bullying policies to the school community; staff training; reporting and management of claims of staff victimisation; sanctions against bullies; and homophobic bullying.
Results: It was found that, in a legislative vacuum, the schools in Northern Ireland had been acting in a proactive manner regarding the management of such bully/victim problems (e.g., development and implementation of policies, effective communication strategies).
Conclusions: These results provide a baseline from which the efficacy of subsequent legislation in Northern Ireland can be evaluated. Utilisation of the methodology adopted in this study would be beneficial in other jurisdictions in evaluations of knowledge, attitudes and management of bully/victim problems, either pre- or post-implementation of legislation.
School professionals, particularly school counsellors and school psychologists, require detailed knowledge of many important factors that contribute to the personal, academic, and vocational ...development of the students in their charge (e.g., psychosocial development, curricula developments, local community developments and initiatives, national and international policy developments). The amount of detail and knowledge required by school counsellors/psychologists is bewildering, even before consideration of the individual differences in those who require their help. A framework can provide school professionals with a parsimonious approach to organising, synthesising and understanding all the information that needs to be considered in relation to a child within a particular environment. The current article reviews and comments upon the usefulness of two such theoretical frameworks--Bronfenbrenner's ecological model (1979, 1989) and Spiel, Reimann, Wagner, and Schober's (2008) Bildung-Psychology approach--to an exploration and understanding of a common issue; namely, bully/victim problems among school pupils. It is argued that such ecological/systemic approaches could usefully inform the design and evaluation of future efforts to address school bullying and violence. By extension, we propose that the simplicity of such models is of great value to the school professional who seeks a framework that can guide them in their work.
Students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Republic of Ireland are required to have a formal psycho-educational assessment from an educational ...psychologist to register with Disability Services in HEIs, to be eligible for support through the Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD). Such assessments are expensive and often beyond the financial means of students and their families. However, there is a sustained demand from students experiencing academic difficulties for diagnostic assessment of SpLD (Association for Higher Education Access and Disability AHEAD, 2012). This study describes the SpLD screening and assessment practices implemented by HEIs in Ireland (n = 14), finding that (a) there are no defined parameters for assessment of SpLD in higher education (HE), meaning that methods and accuracy of identification of positive indicators may vary across HEIs; and (b) the majority of HEIs screen for dyslexia only, with little or no recognition of the need to assess for comorbidity of learning disabilities. Findings support the requirement for a reliable and valid standardised assessment procedure for Irish HEIs, which would provide equitable access to an initial diagnosis. Finally, a screening model is proposed, which is currently provided by one HEI.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and asthma are chronic illnesses that affect a substantial number of people. The continued high cost of clinic- and hospital-based care ...provision in these areas could be reduced by patients self-monitoring their condition more effectively. Such a move requires an understanding of how to predict self-monitoring compliance. Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (TPB) makes it possible to predict those clients who will comply with medical guidelines, prescription drug intake and self-monitoring behaviours (peak flow or blood sugar levels). Ninety-seven clients attending a medical centre located in a large urbanised area of Northern Ireland completed TPB questionnaires. Significant amounts of variance explained by the TPB model indicated its usefulness as a predictor of self-monitoring behaviour intentions in the sample. The results also highlighted the importance of subjective norm and perceived behavioural control within the TPB in predicting intentions. The utility of the TPB in this study also provides evidence for health promotion professionals that costly clinic/hospital treatment provision can be reduced, whilst also being satisfied with ongoing client self-monitoring of their condition.
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