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The older adult population in the US is burgeoning and nurses will be at the forefront of providing the skilled, compassionate care needed for them. Undergraduate nursing students do not commonly desire to work with older adults after graduation, likely related to negative attitudes, which can adversely impact the care provided. To determine the effect of a course using a suite of teaching techniques designed to positively shift nursing students' attitudes toward older adults. A one group pre and post-test design was used to test the effect of completion of the Nursing Care of the Older Adult course on baccalaureate undergraduate junior level nursing students' attitudes toward older people at a large University in the Midwest for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020). A quality assurance evaluation using a voluntary anonymous survey (Kogan's Attitude Toward Older People Instrument) on paper (2019) or online (2020) took place on the first and last day of class. Normality was assessed and the central limit theorem was applicable, therefore, independent samples t-tests were performed on the primary outcome, total score, with the primary predictor as pre vs post. This process was repeated on a 2020 cohort in the same course with a paired samples t-test, as paired subject ID's were recorded in 2020 but not in 2019. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all parts of academic life, no direct comparisons were made between the 2019 and 2020 samples. Course content included lectures, videos, MaskEd™ simulation, group work, case studies and clinical experiences. Both cohorts had significant improvement in the total Kogan instrument score, indicating a positive change in attitudes toward older adults [2019 pre M 167.2, SD 20.3 to post M 176.9, SD 22.4, t (292.43) = 3.96, p < 0.001 and 2020 pre M 179.4, SD 21.3 to post M 188.1, SD 22.2, t (70) = −5.61, p < 0.001]. The innovative, intentional teaching strategies incorporated into this gerontology course were effective in promoting positive attitudes toward older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in two collaborative interpretive studies—one with women in India who were survivors of domestic violence, and another with queer youth and youth of color in the Midwest who were survivors of sexual assault—this paper argues that there is a hidden curriculum of violence. This curriculum of violence can be traced through affective resonances that exist within an assemblage of violence. Powerfully enacted on the bodies of women and girls and their ways of being, these lessons occur across contexts, from the classroom through the communities where they are learned. This is significant because victims/survivors of such violence are often working to exercise their available power within a set of agentic contingencies that reify oppression, making it difficult to surmount normalized aggressions that are ultimately understood as business-as-usual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training is one human resource development practice found in most organizations, however, studies showed that little attention is given to the importance of training evaluation in real life practices. This study is an exploration of the practices and perceptions of hotel managers in training evaluation using Kirkpatrick's and Phillips's models. In-depth interviews were conducted with six hotel managers and paper-based questionnaires were sent out to managers of hotels with more than 30 rooms in a Midwestern state. The findings indicated that hotel managers viewed training evaluation activities as important and observation was rated the most important and the most frequently employed method for managers in evaluating training. The study's findings contribute to the literature by providing researchers with more insights into how hotel managers evaluate their training and what they believed a practical process should possess. It also gives researchers a brief understanding of the perceptions of managers from different hotel sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the address given by the author during the general session of the Midwest Sociological Society's 25th anniversary meeting on April 13, 1962, in Des Moines, Iowa. It discusses the author's experience with the society and his participation in its previous annual conferences. During his term as secretary of the society he has observed the changes in the structure and the functions of the society since its reorganization in 1937. The most important phenomenon having implications for a regional society is the decline in regionalism of American sociology. Regionalism, in the sense that it existed in 1937 has disappeared. The birth of the society have a significant impact on the origins of modern American sociology. The educational institutions established by notable members of the society have contributed to the production of doctor of philosophy degree in sociology.

This study extends a typology of parent–offspring drug talk styles to early adolescents and investigates associations with adolescent substance use. Data come from a self-report survey associated with a school-based, 7th grade drug prevention curriculum. Mixed methods were used to collect data across four measurement occasions spanning 30 months. Findings highlight the frequencies of various drug-talk styles over time (i.e., situated direct, ongoing direct, situated indirect, ongoing indirect, never talked), messages adolescents hear from parents, and comparisons of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use by drug-talk style. This study advances an understanding of parent–adolescent communication about substances and holds practical implications for drug prevention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research highlights the pedagogical significance of dialogic spaces in supporting critical reflection and transformative learning among prospective teachers in the United States. It finds that, with elucidation of the multiple voices and texts from prospective teachers’ field experience, teacher educators can stimulate deep reflection to springboard transformative learning. It also finds that ePortfolios have strong potential to support a dialogic approach to reflection. However, it is also clear that, absent systematic observation and careful follow-up dialogue, the potential to move from reflection to transformative learning is limited. The findings will help teacher educators rethink the design and practice of supervision with ePortfolios, reinforcing that critical dialogue between the supervisor and the prospective teachers is key to supporting prospective teachers’ critical reflection and transformative learning, and to improving their teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is implementing opioid overdose (OOD) education and naloxone distribution to reduce rising rates of OOD deaths. This study assessed knowledge and interest in OOD prevention with naloxone at a VHA hospital where naloxone kits were not yet available.Methods: Veterans receiving opioids for ≥3 months, including 52 from the Opioid Substitution Clinic (OSC) and 38 from the Pain Management Clinic (PMC), were interviewed about their attitudes and experience with OOD and naloxone.Findings: 52% of OSC and 21% of PMC veterans reported having ever experienced an OOD. Less than half had heard of naloxone and none owned a naloxone kit. After a brief explanation, 73% of OSC and 55% of PMC veterans reported wanting a kit. Veterans who reported wanting a kit were more likely to have witnessed (p < 0.001) and/or experienced (p < 0.001) an OOD and were more likely to have used intravenous drugs in their lifetimes (p < 0.05).Conclusions: Participants were not well informed about naloxone but many OSC veterans had a history of OOD and were interested in having a naloxone kit. There was also a subgroup of veterans prescribed opioids for chronic pain who had a history of OOD and were interested in naloxone. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study charts pathways through message resistance to enhance the persuasiveness of diabetes self-care messages. A 2 (narrative) × 2 (other-referencing) × 2 (message) × 4 (order) experiment with adult diabetics (N = 58) tested whether packaging overt recommendations as a story rather than an informational argument (i.e., narrative structure) and highlighting the impact of health decisions on family and friends rather than the individual (i.e., other-referencing) can effectively attenuate psychological reactance to messages encouraging healthy diet and physical activity. Narrative and other-referencing each led to lower perceived threat to choice, less state anger and counterarguing, less negative cognitive responses, more positive attitudes toward the ad and the behaviors promoted, and greater intended compliance with message recommendations. Findings illustrate two strategies that communicators may employ in order to benefit from clear, direct health messages while avoiding the reactance they may provoke. Moreover, findings inform message design for diabetes self-care education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This qualitative study in a Midwestern US city examines how school and community-based organizations support homeless students’ connections to education-related resources and relationships. Drawing from organizational brokerage theory, which delineates how individuals’ chances to thrive are shaped by the organizations in which they participate, the study finds that brokerage practice unfolds and is affected by variables at three specific levels. First, social workers, teachers, and principals at theindividual schoollevel arranged for registration, enrollment, and other immediate connections for students. Second,school district-level actors played key roles in orchestrating homeless students’ transportation and educators’ professional development across the city. Third, a range ofneighborhoodfactors – including immigration and housing trends – affected the ways and extents to which organizations identified and supported homeless students. The study concludes by presenting several implications for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research indicates that nurses feel they have not had adequate training to prepare them for caring for a dying patient and their family. As the demand for nurses continues to grow, and the population continues to age, caring for dying patients will become a more significant stressor. The stress of the situation, combined with the lack of adequate training contributes to nurse burnout during a time when retaining nurses is vital to our medical care system. Therefore, this study is an effort to learn not only how nurses feel about their end-of-life training, but also to explore what they would change. Results indicate that nurses feel they have inadequate training about death and dying and offer two suggestions for training: incorporating experience and incorporating communication training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Internet is an important aspect of leisure among older adults, and satisfaction with Internet usage may be conducive to the well-being of older adults. This study explored via questionnaires the relationship between older adults' leisure satisfaction and their affinity for the Internet. A total of 103 older adults were recruited from a local aging agency in a Midwestern city in the United States. The results showed that low and high affinity groups had significantly different means for psychological benefits, educational stimulation, social relationship, and relaxation. The findings suggest that older adults with higher levels of affinity for the Internet are likely to be satisfied with their leisure pursuits. While some studies have reported negative aspects of using the Internet, such as increased depression and loneliness, the present study supports the results from a variety of studies that suggest that using the Internet has positive outcomes for older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses trends and issues affecting sociology during the 25-year existence of the Midwest Sociological Society. During the covered period the influence of the pioneers in the building of American sociology, though waning, was still directly transmitted through some of their students who held key positions in sociology departments in the Midwest. The generation that first established and manned sociology departments in the burgeoning universities and colleges of the Midwest was for the most part strongly imbued with the idea and ideal of social progress. In place of social philosophies built on dubious foundations, the discipline has a nascent but growing science. The new empiric mood and objective orientation expelled not only the sociology of progress but brought into considerable disrepute the sociology of reform. Ambilances about the trends affecting the discipline of sociology have been raised by problems precipitated by the onset of the space age and mass higher education.