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Although the number of publications on formative assessment in science education has long been high, there is no bibliometric analysis or scientific mapping in the literature to understand research trends in formative assessment research. This research aimed to examine the bibliometric results of articles on formative assessment in science education. Based on the criteria for inclusion and exclusion, 94 articles were selected for analysis. The results show that between 2015-2016 and 2020-2022, the number of publications on formative assessment increased substantially. Among the top ten institutions that contributed to the research are three institutions from the United States. The results also show that the United States had the most publications. Analysis of the co-citations showed that the "Journal of Research in Science Teaching," "Science Education," and the "International Journal of Science Education" were cited more than 100 times. The three most cited studies were published in "Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy, and Practice." The results show that the researcher used formative assessment, students, science education, teaching, education, engineering education, curricula, STEM, and e-learning in research on formative assessment. In light of the obtained results, practical suggestions for further studies are made in the conclusion.

This article theorizes how crises and markets shape the responses of consumers and producer organizations. We advance four propositions: 1) if a crisis requires major revisions in operational rules, less-exit sensitive (i.e., monopoly-like) organizations shall revise to aggregate preferences of organized producers; and more-exit sensitive (market-oriented) organizations, to the preferences of individual consumers; 2) if a sustained crisis widens the gap between incumbent organizations and consumer preferences, more consumers shall exit to alternative organizations; 3) if the incumbent organization controls valued resources, consumers shall select more-bounded exit options, which retain formal-legal ties with the incumbent; and 4) compared to less-bounded exit, more-bounded exit options shall enhance consumers' collective voice about incumbent organizations. We inductively derive our theory from an exploratory analysis of educational organizations in US and South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Many consumers were dissatisfied with regular-public schools and considered various exit alternatives, including non-regular schools (e.g., private, charter [US], homeschooling [US], special-purpose [Korea]) and private supplemental education. Compared to less-bounded exit (e.g., private schools), more-bounded exit options (e.g., charter, PSE) grew more, and contributed more to consumer voice about regular-public schools, during the pandemic.

The Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (LCTSR) is a popular instrument that measures the development of students' scientific reasoning skills. The instrument has a two-tier question design, which has led to multiple ways of scoring and interpretation. In this research, a method of pattern analysis was proposed and applied to analyze two-tier item pairs on the subskill of Control-of-Variable (COV) of LCTSR. The data were collected from students in grade 4 through college in both the United States and China. Students' response patterns to two combined item pairs were analyzed and compared against students at different grade levels and reasoning development levels. Six performance levels were established based on students' response patterns, serving as indicators of COV reasoning development levels. With the new method, a relation was obtained between students' level of COV skills and grade level, as well as their level of overall reasoning development. It can provide useful information on the possible developmental levels of students' reasoning skills.

This study explores the trends of chatbots in education studies by conducting a literature review to analyze relevant papers published in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals by searching the Web of Science (WoS) database. From the analysis results, it was found that the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong are the top three contributing countries or regions. In addition, most studies adopted quantitative methods in their research design, such as ANOVA (Analysis of variance), descriptive statistics, t test, and correlation analysis. ANCOVA (Analysis of covariance) was the most frequently adopted approach for comparing the performances or perceptions of different groups of students. From the analysis results, the greatest proportion of studies adopted guided learning, followed by no learning activities. It was determined that the studies related to chatbots in education are still in an early stage since there are few empirical studies investigating the use of effective learning designs or learning strategies with chatbots. This implies much room for conducting relevant research to drive innovative teaching in terms of improving the learning process and learning outcomes. Finally, we highlight the research gaps and suggest several directions for future research based on the findings in the present study.

The United States and Canada, two countries known to have large immigrant populations, have long since reflected a dichotomy, where Canada is generally perceived to be a country with language policies that demonstrate its receptiveness to embrace multiculturalism in schools and classrooms. In contrast, the United States has consistently espoused the notion that one is "American first" and one's cultural identity follows behind. It is within this context that the following study examines the difference in reading literacy performance between youth in the U.S. who self-identify as "native" English speakers and those who self-identify as "non-native" English speakers on the PISA assessment. The study also explores the difference in reading literacy performance among Canadian youth who self-identify as "native" English speakers, those who self-identify as "native" French speakers, and those who self-identify as neither "native" English nor "native" French speakers on PISA. Implications for policy, practice and society are discussed.

External accountability policies have spread fast across various educational systems over the past decades. This research examines the relations of internal and external accountability with students' math achievement drawing on PISA 2012. With a sample of 44 educational systems, of which external accountability policies were identified, the research conducted three-level hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) analyses. This research found that some internal accountability factors had tighter relations with math achievement, while the relations of external accountability policies with student performance were rather tenuous. However, equity of student math achievement was better ensured under strong accountability systems. The results suggest that policy makers of each country should consider strengths and weaknesses of external accountability in their own educational contexts.

Learning behavior of East Asian students has been debated due to their striking performance on international large-scale assessments. This study was a comparative study using latent class analysis to examine students' perceptions of learning strategies, students' reported learning strategy use, and the relationships between learning strategies and self-efficacy across Taiwanese and American students in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012. The results indicate that learning strategy items were perceived equivalently. Taiwanese students (5%) reported less memorization than American students (19%). More Taiwanese students (63%) reported elaboration strategy; more American students (57%) reported control strategy. High self-efficacy Taiwanese students reported memorization the least; high self-efficacy American students reported elaboration less than control strategy. Implications are discussed.

Studies investigating the relationship between dietary vitamin B1 intake and risk of Hyperuricemia (HU) are scarce, the present study aimed to examine the association of dietary vitamin B1 intake and HU among adults. This cross-sectional study included 5750 adults whose data derived from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from March 2017 to March 2020. The dietary intake of vitamin B1 was assessed using 24-h dietary recall interviews. The characteristics of study participants were grouped into five levels according to the levels of vitamin B1 quintile. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of HU, according to the vitamin B1 intake quintile for male and female separately. The dose–response relationship was determined by the restricted cubic spline (RCS). Smoothed curve fitting was used to assess serum uric acid concentration versus dietary vitamin B1 intake in the study population. The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 18.90% (20.15% and 17.79% for males and females, respectively) in the United States from March 2017 to March 2020. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that in the male population, the HU ratio (OR) of vitamin B1 intake in Q2 to Q5 compared with the lowest quintile (Q1) was 0.75 (95% CI 0.52, 1.09), 0.70 (95% CI 0.48, 1.02), 0.66 (95% CI 0.44, 0.99) and 0.55 (95% CI 0.34, 0.90). The P for trend was 0.028. In women, the ORs for vitamin B1 intake Q2 to Q5 were 0.87 (95% CI 0.64, 1.19), 0.97 (0.68–1.38), 1.05 (0.69–1.60) and 0.75 (0.42–1.34), respectively. The P for trend was 0.876. The RCS curve revealed a linear relationship between vitamin B1 intake and the risk of hyperuricemia in men (P nonlinear = 0.401). Smoothed curve fitting demonstrated a negative association between vitamin B1 intake and serum uric acid concentration in men, whereas there was no significant association between dietary vitamin B1 intake and the risk of hyperuricemia in women. In the US adult population, dietary vitamin B1 intake was negatively associated with hyperuricemia in males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To test whether adoption differentially benefited adopted youth's behavioral health, 243 female American youth who were adopted from China were compared with 234 non-adopted American peers, and 955 non-adopted Chinese peers living in China on four composite scales: School Problems, Internalizing Problems, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Personal Adjustment. The adopted youth were from high socioeconomic status (SES) families, while the two comparison groups were from average SES families. Self-report data were collected with the third edition of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC-3). Effect sizes showed that the adopted youth outperformed their non-adopted American and Chinese peers. Latent mean comparison using Mplus 8 showed that, controlling for age difference, the adopted youth's advantages over the comparison groups in some subscales dissipated. These findings were explained with possible compensating effects afforded by growing up in high SES adoptive environment, as well as on children's differential susceptibility to the benefit of intervention.

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has considerably heightened health and financial concerns for many individuals. Similar concerns, such as those associated with poverty, impair performance on cognitive control tasks. If ongoing concerns about COVID-19 substantially increase the tendency to mind wander in tasks requiring sustained attention, these worries could degrade performance on a wide range of tasks, leading, for example, to increased traffic accidents, diminished educational achievement, and lower workplace productivity. In two pre-registered experiments, we investigated the degree to which young adults' concerns about COVID-19 correlated with their ability to sustain attention. Experiment 1 tested mainly European participants during an early phase of the pandemic. After completing a survey probing COVID-related concerns, participants engaged in a continuous performance task (CPT) over two, 4-min blocks, during which they responded to city scenes that occurred 90% of the time and withheld responses to mountain scenes that occurred 10% of the time. Despite large and stable individual differences, performance on the scene CPT did not significantly correlate with the severity of COVID-related concerns obtained from the survey. Experiment 2 tested US participants during a later phase of the pandemic. Once again, CPT performance did not significantly correlate with COVID concerns expressed in a pre-task survey. However, participants who had more task-unrelated thoughts performed more poorly on the CPT. These findings suggest that although COVID-19 increased anxiety in a broad swath of society, young adults are able to hold these concerns in a latent format, minimizing their impact on performance in a demanding sustained attention task.

Background: The cardiometabolic index (CMI) is a new predictor of obesity-related diseases, but its link to periodontitis is under-researched. This study aims to examine the potential association between the CMI and periodontitis. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database (2009–2014) to examine the potential association between CMI and periodontitis. The study utilized a weighted multivariate logistic model to assess the association between TG, HDL-C, TG/HDL-C, obesity indices (BMI, WC, WHtR, CMI), and periodontitis, employing the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) to estimate areas under the curve (AUC). Furthermore, generalized smooth curve fitting was conducted to examine the relationship between CMI and periodontitis. Finally, the study incorporated subgroup analysis and interaction tests to examine consistency across different populations. Results: TG/HDL-C, WHtR, and CMI were positively associated with periodontitis in the fully adjusted classification model. It was observed that for each unit increase in CMI, there was a corresponding 17.8% increase in the prevalence of periodontitis [1.178 (1.049, 1.322) 0.00562] and 18.7% increase in the prevalence of moderate/severe [1.187 (1.057, 1.334) 0.00376] in the fully adjusted model. When CMI was used as a categorical variable, the adjusted OR for periodontitis prevalence increased significantly with increasing CMI after adjusting for all potential covariates (T3 vs. T1: OR, 1.28 [1.06, 1.55], p < 0.05). The ROC analysis indicated that a larger area under the curve was found in the CMI [0.554 (0.538–0.570)] than in the WC [0.544 (0.528–0.560)] and WHtR [0.544 (0.528–0.561)]. Nonetheless, the discrepancy observed did not reach statistical significance (all p > 0.05). Further generalized smooth curve fitting and threshold effect models indicated a positive linear correlation between CMI and periodontitis. Moreover, there is no interactive association between TG/HDL-C, WHtR, CMI, and periodontitis. Conclusions: This cross-sectional study revealed a positive relationship between CMI and periodontitis. Further prospective studies are warranted to validate our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Valbenazine is a highly potent and selective inhibitor of synaptic vesicular monoamine transporter 2. The current therapeutic doses of valbenazine for tardive dyskinesia (TD) are 40, 60, or 80 mg capsules, given orally, once daily (QD). While 40 and 80 mg were investigated in phase 3 KINECT® 3 trial and initially approved, the approval of valbenazine 60 mg was based on the analysis utilizing the Model‐informed drug development (MIDD) approach, facilitated through the US Food and Drug Administration's MIDD Pilot Program. This study aimed to demonstrate the efficacy of 60 mg QD dose through model simulations using an established exposure‐response (E‐R) relationship between valbenazine active metabolite [+]‐α‐dihydrotetrabenazine exposure and the change from baseline in Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale total score (AIMS‐CFB). A longitudinal E–R model was constructed based on the 40 and 80 mg data from the KINECT 3 trial. The final Emax model adequately predicted dose‐dependent improvement in the primary endpoint and was used to interpolate AIMS‐CFB for 60 mg at week 6. The efficacy of the unstudied 60 mg dose regimen is expected to be within the range of doses studied clinically with predicted mean AIMS‐CFB (95% confidence interval) of −2.69 (−3.30, −2.13) between observed mean AIMS‐CFB for 40 mg of −1.92 and 80 mg of −3.39. Results from this analysis provided the key evidence to establish efficacy of 60 mg QD without the need for an additional clinical trial. The availability of valbenazine 60 mg dose fills an existing medical need for patients with TD who could benefit from this third effective dose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study examined the current assessment practices in the math school of a large research university in the United States. After reviewing a sample of course syllabi offered in the spring 2021 semester, we descriptively summarized the use of 19 assessment methods in the school and examined the assessment patterns by subjects, class standings, and class size. Our study found that traditional homework and written tests were the most frequently used assessments in the school, while the use of learner-centered assessments was rare. Among the 19 assessment methods, we found significantly different usage of quizzes, participation scores, and projects by various course characteristics. Our case study demonstrates the gap between the recommended and actual assessment practice in U.S. higher education. We call for more future research that explores strategies to effect changes and increase the use of learner-centered assessment in higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In high-risk agricultural environments, tasks, weather, and work conditions vary throughout the year. Also, injuries peak during certain periods. The primary objective of this study was to examine operator- and farm-level characteristics as risk factors for injuries within each of the four seasons. The secondary objective was to examine seasonal differences in the incident location and primary cause of these injuries. Method: We analyzed data from the 2018 and 2020 Farm and Ranch Health and Safety Surveys (FRHSS), conducted in seven U.S. states by the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH), which were collected using a stratified random sampling approach to ensure representativeness. The survey data were merged with operation-level data from the Farm Market iD database. We employed Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to examine the association of seasonal injuries with individual and operation-level characteristics. The chi-square test of independence was used to assess the association between injury incident location and season, as well as injury cause and season. Pairwise Z-tests of proportions were conducted to evaluate the differences in the proportions of injuries due to specific combinations of injury location and cause across each pair of seasons. Results: Surveys conducted in 2018 and 2020 yielded a combined response rate of 15.9%, with 5,428 responses and 7,915 unique operators. Of these, 903 operators reported at least one injury during the past 12 months. Seasonally, most injuries occurred in spring (34.2%), followed by summer (24.7%). Male operators had higher injury odds in the spring (adjusted OR = 1.42) and summer (aOR = 2.41). Those managing both a farm and a ranch reported increased injury risks in winter (aOR = 1.73) and spring (aOR = 1.48). Operators in cow-calf operations faced higher springtime injury risks (aOR = 1.45). High stress and exhaustion were consistent risk factors across all seasons. The highest proportion of injury incidents occurred in the farmyard (43.6%), and livestock were the most common cause of injury (24.9%). Conclusion: Results highlight the need for season-specific prevention and intervention strategies, considering farmers' and ranchers' risk characteristics, injury locations, and causes. These findings can inform targeted measures for high-risk populations at optimal times and locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: College is a critical life stage for alcohol-related harms to others (AHTOs), gender, and sexual identity. We tested associations between inclusively-defined gender and sexual identities (separately) and AHTOs among college students. Methods: The Healthy Minds Study (n = 8,308) provided data about three AHTOs: (1) babysitting a drunk student, (2) alcohol-related unwanted sexual advance, and (3) alcohol-related sexual assault. Independent variables included gender and sexual identity. Results: One in four students (25.5%) reported babysitting, 6.2% reported unwanted advances, and 1.2% reported sexual assaults. Compared to cisgender males, cisgender females had higher odds of reporting babysitting (aOR = 1.36, p < 0.001) and unwanted advances (aOR = 2.59, p < 0.001); trans masculine students had higher odds of reporting sexual assaults (aOR = 4.49, p = 0.04). Conclusions: AHTOs are prevalent on college campuses, and cisgender female and trans masculine students have higher odds of experiencing them. Alcohol interventions may protect cisgender female and gender minority students from the drinkers around them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the nature of science (NOS) has emerged as a core curricular goal since at least the 1960s. While science education reforms around the world have shed light on various epistemic and social underpinnings of science, how science curriculum documents portray the nature of other related disciplines such as mathematics and engineering has drawn little attention. Such lack of attention is surprising, given the growing interest among educators in the integrated approach to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and the frequent emphasis on STEM in recent curriculum policy. The study reported in this paper aimed to understand how recent science education reform documents from the USA, Korea and Taiwan compare with regard to their representation of the nature of STEM disciplines. Using the framework of the family resemblance approach (FRA), we present a comparative analysis of three recent science education standards documents to examine their coverage of the epistemic underpinnings of STEM disciplines, particularly with regard to the disciplinary aims, values and practices. The results indicate that the features specific to science and shared by science and engineering were most frequently addressed in the standards documents, whereas mathematics-related features were rarely mentioned. Furthermore, there was variation in the coverage in terms of the nature of STEM disciplines. Based on the findings, we discuss the contributions of the FRA framework in analysing STEM curricula in an interdisciplinary manner and make suggestions for integrating the nature of STEM disciplines in science curriculum documents.

Globally, teacher education (TE) is challenged to change relationships with schools and teachers and become more collaborative in teaching and research. This study examined the way knowledge is developed, shared, and used when school and institution of higher education (IHE) partners create research networks in the context of master's programs for in-service teachers. These knowledge processes were studied from a social network perspective and compared in two different TE contexts. During 10 months, this mixed method study obtained two school networks and 36 personal networks and 124 critical incidents from 36 individual logs and interviews. Cross-case analyses provide insight in the social network structures, interpersonal relationships, and knowledge processes among IHE's and school's partners as well as the challenges in developing closer research relationships in a TE context.

Data from the National Immunization Survey-Child (NIS-Child) were analyzed to estimate coverage with childhood vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices among U.S. children by age 24 months. Coverage with nearly all vaccines was lower among children born in 2020 and 2021 than it was among those born in 2018 and 2019, with declines ranging from 1.3 to 7.8 percentage points. Analyses of NIS-Child data for earlier birth cohorts have not revealed such widespread declines in routine childhood vaccination coverage. Coverage among children born during 2020–2021 varied by race and ethnicity, health insurance status, poverty status, urbanicity, and jurisdiction. Compared with non-Hispanic White children, coverage with four of the 17 vaccine measures was lower among non-Hispanic Black or African American children as well as Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic) and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native children. Coverage was also generally lower among those covered by Medicaid or other nonprivate insurance, uninsured children, children living below the federal poverty level, and children living in rural areas. Coverage varied widely by jurisdiction, especially coverage with ≥2 doses of influenza vaccine. Children born during 2020–2021 were born during or after the period of major disruption of primary care from the COVID-19 pandemic. Providers should review children’s histories and recommend needed vaccinations during every clinical encounter. Addressing financial barriers, access issues, vaccine hesitancy, and vaccine-related misinformation can also help to increase coverage, reduce disparities, and protect all children from vaccine-preventable diseases. Strategies that have been found effective include implementation of standing orders and reminder and recall systems, strong physician recommendations to vaccinate, and use of immunization information systems to identify areas of lower coverage that could benefit from targeted interventions to increase immunization rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In order to be positioned to address the increasing strain of burnout and worsening nurse shortage, a better understanding of factors that contribute to nursing workload is required. This study aims to examine the difference between order‐based and clinically perceived nursing workloads and to quantify factors that contribute to a higher clinically perceived workload. Design: A retrospective cohort study was used on an observational dataset. Methods: We combined patient flow, nurse staffing and assignment, and workload intensity data and used multivariate linear regression to analyze how various shift, patient, and nurse‐level factors, beyond order‐based workload, affect nurses' clinically perceived workload. Results: Among 53% of our samples, the clinically perceived workload is higher than the order‐based workload. Factors associated with a higher clinically perceived workload include weekend or night shifts, shifts with a higher census, patients within the first 24 h of admission, and male patients. Conclusions: The order‐based workload measures tended to underestimate nurses' clinically perceived workload. We identified and quantified factors that contribute to a higher clinically perceived workload, discussed the potential mechanisms as to how these factors affect the clinically perceived workload, and proposed targeted interventions to better manage nursing workload. Clinical Relevance: By identifying factors associated with a high clinically perceived workload, the nurse manager can provide appropriate interventions to lighten nursing workload, which may further reduce the risk of nurse burnout and shortage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We aimed to analyse the differences in the risk of geriatric syndromes between older adults with and without coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients from the US Collaborative Network in the TriNetX between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2022. We included individuals aged older than 65 years with at least 2 health care visits who underwent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests during the study period. We excluded those with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, diagnosis with neoplasm and geriatric syndromes before the index date, and death within 30 days after the index date. The index date was defined as the first date of the PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 during the study period. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for eight geriatric syndromes were estimated for propensity score-matched older adults with and without COVID-19. Subgroup analyses of sex and age were also performed. Results After propensity score matching, 315 826 patients were included (mean [standard deviation] age, 73.5 [6.4] years; 46.7% males and 51.7% females). The three greatest relative increases in the risk of geriatric syndromes in the COVID-19 cohort were cognitive impairment (HR: 3.13; 95% CI: 2.96–3.31), depressive disorder (HR: 2.72; 95% CI: 2.62–2.82) and pressure injury (HR: 2.52; 95% CI: 2.34–2.71). Conclusions The risk of developing geriatric syndromes is much higher in the COVID-19 cohort. It is imperative that clinicians endeavour to prevent or minimise the development of these syndromes in the post-COVID-19 era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Live dietary microbes have been hypothesized to promoting human health. However, there has been lacking perceptions to crystallize nexus between consumption of foods with live microbes and mortality. Objective: To investigate the association of consumption of foods with medium to high amounts of live microbes with all-cause, cancer-specific, and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-specific mortality. Methods: The data were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2018 at baseline linked to the 2019 National Death Index records. Based on consumption of foods that were categorized as either having medium or high microbial content (MedHi foods), participants were classified into three groups. Kaplan–Meier survival curves and multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate the association of consumption of MedHi foods with mortality. Population-attributable fractions (PAFs) of consumption of MedHi foods in relation to mortality risk were also estimated. Results: A total of 35,299 adults aged ≥ 20 years were included in this study. During a median follow-up of 9.67 years, compared with adults in G1, those in G3 had 16% (hazard ratio [HR], 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77–0.90) reduced risk of all-cause mortality, and 23% (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.67–0.89) reduced risk of CVD-specific mortality. The PAF of high (G3) vs. intermediate or low consumption of MedHi foods (G1 + G2) with all-cause and CVD-specific mortality was 3.4% and 4.3%, respectively. Conclusions: Consumption of foods with higher microbial concentrations is associated with a reduced risk of all-cause and CVD-specific mortality in US adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Vaccines for Children (VFC) program was established in 1994 to provide recommended vaccines at no cost to eligible children and help ensure that all U.S. children are protected from life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases. Methods: CDC analyzed data from the 2012–2022 National Immunization Survey-Child (NIS-Child) to assess trends in vaccination coverage with ≥1 dose of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR), 2–3 doses of rotavirus vaccine, and a combined 7-vaccine series, by VFC program eligibility status, and to examine differences in coverage among VFC-eligible children by sociodemographic characteristics. VFC eligibility was defined as meeting at least one of the following criteria: 1) American Indian or Alaska Native; 2) insured by Medicaid, Indian Health Service (IHS), or uninsured; or 3) ever received at least one vaccination at an IHS-operated center, Tribal health center, or urban Indian health care facility. Results: Overall, approximately 52.2% of U.S. children were VFC eligible. Among VFC-eligible children born during 2011–2020, coverage by age 24 months was stable for ≥1 MMR dose (88.0%–89.9%) and the combined 7-vaccine series (61.4%–65.3%). Rotavirus vaccination coverage by age 8 months was 64.8%–71.1%, increasing by an average of 0.7 percentage points annually. Among all children born in 2020, coverage was 3.8 (≥1 MMR dose), 11.5 (2–3 doses of rotavirus vaccine), and 13.8 (combined 7-vaccine series) percentage points lower among VFC-eligible than among non–VFC-eligible children. Conclusions and implications for public health practice: Although the VFC program has played a vital role in increasing and maintaining high levels of childhood vaccination coverage for 30 years, gaps remain. Enhanced efforts must ensure that parents and guardians of VFC-eligible children are aware of, have confidence in, and are able to obtain all recommended vaccines for their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Malignant brain tumors are malignancies which are known for their low survival rates. Despite advancements in treatments in the last decade, the disparities in malignant brain cancer mortality among the US population remain unclear. Methods: We analyzed death certificate data from the US CDC WONDER from 1999 to 2020 to determine the longitudinal trends of malignant brain tumor mortality. Malignant brain tumor (ICD-10 C71.0–71.9) was listed as the underlying cause of death. Age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) per 100,000 individuals were calculated by standardizing the AAMR to the year 2000 US population. Results: From 1999 to 2020, there were 306,375 deaths due to malignant brain tumors. The AAMR decreased from 5.57 (95% CI, 5.47–5.67) per 100,000 individuals in 1999 to 5.40 (95% CI, 5.31–5.48) per 100,000 individuals in 2020, with an annual percent decrease of −0.05 (95% CI, −0.22, 0.12). Whites had the highest AAMR (6.05 [95% CI, 6.02–6.07] per 100,000 individuals), followed by Hispanics (3.70 [95% CI, 3.64–3.76]) per 100,000 individuals, blacks (3.09 [95% CI, 3.04–3.14] per 100,000 individuals), American Indians (2.82 [95% CI, 2.64–3.00] per 100,000 individuals), and Asians (2.44 [95% CI, 2.38–2.50] per 100,000 individuals). The highest AAMRs were reported in the Midwest region (5.58 [95% CI, 5.54–5.62] per 100,000 individuals) and the rural regions (5.66 [95% CI, 5.61–5.71] per 100,000 individuals). Conclusions: Our study highlights the mortality disparity among different races, geographic regions, and urbanization levels. The findings underscore the importance of addressing the disparities in malignant brain tumors that existed among males, white individuals, and rural populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intentional forgetting of unwanted information is a crucial cognitive function that is often studied with directed forgetting (DF) procedure, whereby cuing some study materials with Forget (F) instruction impairs their memory compared to cuing with Remember (R) instruction. This study investigates how the nature of information (verbal or pictorial), its semantic significance (meaningful or meaningless), and the degree of prior episodic familiarity influence DF. Before the DF phase, stimuli were familiarised by pre-exposing them 0, 2, or 6 times in a prior preview phase. Finally, memory for all items was assessed with old/new recognition test. Experiment 1 employed words, Experiment 2 utilised fractal images, Experiment 3 featured both meaningful and meaningless object images, and Experiment 4 used words and nonwords. Our results indicate that materials that produced better memory performance are not always harder to intentionally forget. Previewed items showed reduced DF compared to non-previewed items regardless of the nature of information, and meaningless stimuli are challenging to intentionally forget regardless of their degrees of familiarisation unless they are meaningless verbal materials. Collectively, the results highlight the importance of joint consideration of the stimulus format, its meaningfulness, and its episodic familiarity in understanding conditions that interact with intentional forgetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the rapid escalation of cybercrimes in modern society, few viable cybersecurity and cybercrime prevention programs exist. Consequently, this research considers cybersecurity as a key element for mitigating the potential risk and incidents of cybercrime. The study aims to understand the role of individuals' cybersecurity knowledge and awareness in shaping their cybersecurity intention and behavior in the United States. The results reveal that information and communications technology variables, education, income, and gender are contributing predictors of a level of cybersecurity knowledge. The effects of information and communications technology variables varied across gender for both correct and uncertain responses. The findings highlight the importance of a comprehensive understanding of both technical and human/individual factors for cybersecurity knowledge and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global pandemic has disrupted virtually all countries on health, psychological functioning, and economies, to name a few. Accurate information has also fallen victim to the pandemic, which has been rife with misinformation and conspiracy theories. The current study investigated Covid-19 deceptions related to employment. With complete anonymity via MTurk, 389 participants from the United States rated their likelihood of deception regarding hypothetical four workplace scenarios. The first set of analyses examined differences between high and low risk of deceptions for each scenario based on participants' self-appraisals. The largest differences were found for general conspiracy beliefs and affective disorders, specifically major depression and generalized anxiety. The second set of analyses focused across the workplace scenarios on two operationalized groups with Likely-Deceptive (n = 189) vastly outnumbering Likely-Genuine (n = 55). Personal experiences with Covid-19 dramatically increased deceptions. Testing positive for Covid-19 increased the odds of being in the Likely-Deceptive by twelve-fold. Two discriminant models examined cognitive misbeliefs and psychological functioning. When both were combined, depression and Covid-19 misinformation produced the strongest structure coefficients followed closely by general conspiracy beliefs and generalized anxiety. The far-ranging implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The management of pediatric dermatological conditions such as alopecia areata (AA), psoriasis, atopic dermatitis (AD), and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) has significantly evolved with the introduction of biologics and small molecule targeted therapies. The advancement in understanding the immunopathogenesis of these chronic skin conditions has led to the development and approval of novel biologics and small molecule therapies. Initially approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for adults, most of these therapies are now being evaluated in clinical trials for safety and efficacy in adolescents and children, expanding new treatment options for pediatric patients. The role of the FDA in drug approval is multifaceted from drug inception, ensuring that research, data, and evidence show that the proposed drug is effective and safe for the intended use. Objective: The goal of this review article is to provide an overview of the recently FDA-approved and potential biologic and oral small molecule therapies in clinical trials for AA, psoriasis, AD, and HS in pediatric patients. Methods: The search for this review included keywords in ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed, and Google Scholar for the latest research and clinical trials relevant to these conditions and treatments without the PRISMA methodology. Results: For pediatric AA, ritlecitinib is FDA-approved, while baricitinib and updacitinib are in phase 3 clinical trials for pediatric approval. The FDA-approved drugs for pediatric psoriasis include secukinumab, ustekinumab, ixekizumab, etanercept, and apremilast. Other phase 3 clinical trials for pediatric psoriasis include risankizumab, guselkumab, tildrakizumab, brodalumab, and deucravacitinib. For pediatric AD, the FDA-approved drugs are dupilumab, tralokinumab, abrocitinib, and upadacitinib, with many other drugs in phase 3 trials. Adalimumab is an FDA-approved biologic for pediatric HS, with various clinical trials ongoing for adults. The approved biologics and small molecule therapies had higher efficacy and improved safety profiles compared to traditional medications. Conclusions: With numerous ongoing trials, the success of these clinical trials could lead to their inclusion in treatment guidelines for these chronic skin conditions. Biologics and small molecule therapies offer new avenues for effective disease management, enabling personalized therapeutic interventions and improving pediatric health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global soil degradation due to road erosion is an escalating concern. This study employed bibliometric analysis using the Science Citation Index‐Expanded dataset to gain insights into research trends in road erosion. It covered the years 2000–2021, revealing a steady increase in annual research publications, particularly after 2018. The United States and Catena was the leading contributor and the most popular journal, respectively. The primary research areas identified by keywords and statistical analysis are the forests and arid regions in the temperate climate zone (including temperate continental climate and temperate monsoon climate) and the tropical climate zone (including tropical rainforest climate and tropical monsoon climate). Since 2012, a noticeable shift from traditional methods to emerging technologies like isotope tracing (e.g., 137Cs, 210Pb) and machine learning (e.g., random forest) was observed, indicating evolving in methodologies with changes in research scales. The study emphasized the inevitability of road erosion, highlighting the crucial role of effective road management and restoration. It proposed integrating best management practices and ecosystem restoration strategies into watershed management, combined with advanced technological approaches, to foster sustainable watershed development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The high prevalence of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in the United States necessitates further investigation into its impact on complications associated with total hip arthroplasty (THA). This study utilizes a large nationwide database to explore risk factors in DKD cases undergoing THA. Methods: This research utilized a case–control design, leveraging data from the national inpatient sample for the years 2016 to 2019. Employing propensity score matching (PSM), patients diagnosed with DKD were paired on a 1:1 basis with individuals free of DKD, ensuring equivalent age, sex, race, Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI), and insurance coverage. Subsequently, comparisons were drawn between these PSM-matched cohorts, examining their characteristics and the incidence of post-THA complications. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was then employed to evaluate the risk of early complications after surgery. Results: DKD's prevalence in the THA cohort was 2.38%. A 7-year age gap separated DKD and non-DKD patients (74 vs. 67 years, P < 0.0001). Additionally, individuals aged above 75 exhibited a substantial 22.58% increase in DKD risk (49.16% vs. 26.58%, P < 0.0001). Notably, linear regression analysis yielded a significant association between DKD and postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI), with DKD patients demonstrating 2.274-fold greater odds of AKI in contrast with non-DKD individuals (95% CI: 2.091–2.473). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that DKD is a significant risk factor for AKI in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty. Optimizing preoperative kidney function through appropriate interventions might decrease the risk of poor prognosis in this population. More prospective research is warranted to investigate the potential of targeted kidney function improvement strategies in reducing AKI rates after THA. The findings of this study hold promise for enhancing preoperative counseling by surgeons, enabling them to provide DKD patients undergoing THA with more precise information regarding the risks associated with their condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the relationship between personality traits and financial satisfaction and explored if the perceived COVID-19 impacts on finance and well-being play moderating roles. With data from a national online survey in the United States, results indicate that personality traits significantly predict financial satisfaction levels, with openness positively influencing financial satisfaction. Additionally, the results reveal that perceived COVID-19 impacts on finance and well-being moderate the relationship between personality traits and financial satisfaction. In instances where the financial and well-being effects of COVID-19 are considered, openness inversely relates to financial satisfaction, whereas neuroticism shows a positive association. These findings suggest a nuanced interplay of psychological characteristics with financial satisfaction in the face of global disruptions such as COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As student bodies on college campuses in the United States (U.S.) continue to diversify, university counseling centers have begun to recognize the importance of hiring multilingual therapists and trainees to meet the needs of 66 million U.S. residents who speak languages other than English. The study used a qualitative approach to better understand the experiences of multilingual therapists and trainees working at university counseling centers in the U.S. Thirty-one participants (three men and 28 women; 27 senior staff and four trainees) completed an online survey with six open-ended questions. The following themes were identified: rewards and benefits of providing multilingual therapy, supervision experiences given, and organizational support provided to multilingual therapists. Senior staff participants also make suggestions for trainees who would like to practice multilingual therapy as well as support that agencies can offer to their multilingual therapists. Limitations, practical implications, and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examined the clinical practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs about assessing and treating written language among speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with school-aged clients (aged 5–21 years) in school and non-school settings in the United States. Method: A survey was completed by a nationwide sample of 344 SLPs working with school-aged clients in the United States. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine differences between (a) SLPs’ self-efficacy in assessing and treating spoken versus written language and (b) school-based and non–school-based SLPs’ clinical practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs about their roles with written language. Results: All respondents reported significantly lower rates of self-efficacy in assessing and treating written language compared to spoken language, and their self-efficacy had a significant, positive relationship with the amount of clinical time devoted to written language. School-based SLPs devoted a significantly lower percentage of clinical time to written language, had significantly lower self-efficacy in addressing written language, and had lower rates of agreement on statements about their roles and responsibilities with written language compared to non–school-based SLPs. These differences were not found with spoken language. The most prevalent written language needs on respondents’ workloads were reported as written expression (69.3%) and reading comprehension (66%). Conclusions: School-based and non–school-based SLPs report different levels of clinical time devoted to written language, self-efficacy in addressing written language, and beliefs about their roles in addressing written language. There is a need to investigate the reasons for these differences and the potential impact of preservice and in-service training in ameliorating them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to describe the prevalence and predictors of symptom and function clusters related to physical, emotional, and social components of general health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a population-based sample of prostate cancer (PCa) survivors. METHODS: Participants (N = 1,162) completed a baseline survey at a median of 9 months after diagnosis to ascertain the co-occurrence of eight symptom and functional domains that are common across all cancers and not treatment-specific. We used latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify subgroup profiles of survivors with low, moderate, or high HRQOL levels. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to identify clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with survivors' membership in the low versus moderate or high HRQOL profile. RESULTS: The LPA identified 16% of survivors who were categorized in the low HRQOL profile at baseline, indicative of the highest symptom burden and lowest functioning. Factors related to survivors' membership in the low versus higher HRQOL profile groups included less than age 65 years at diagnosis, identifying as non-Hispanic Black race, not working, being a former versus never smoker, systemic therapy, less companionship, more comorbidities, lower health care financial well-being, or less spirituality. Several factors remained associated with remaining in the low versus higher HRQOL profiles on the follow-up survey (n = 699), including younger age, Black race, comorbidity, and lower financial and spiritual well-being. CONCLUSION: About one of six PCa survivors experienced elevated physical and psychosocial symptoms that were independent of local curative therapy, but with younger age, race, comorbidity, and lower financial and spiritual well-being as stable risk factors for poor HRQOL over time. About 16% of prostate cancer survivors experience concurrent physical and mental health symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A student's socioeconomic status (SES) has a significant relation to their academic achievement. Much of this work has explored this in math and reading, but less is known about how SES relates to science achievement, particularly in the early grades. Using quantile regression with nationally representative data, we explored this relation in 12,676 kindergarten students (51.2% boys, 52.2% White, 21.8% Hispanic, 12.7% Black and 6.6% Asian) and 10,339 fifth‐grade students (51.3% boys, 49.4 White, 27.2% Hispanic, 9.4% Black and 8.2% Asian). We found less variability in science achievement scores for those high on SES than those low on SES. The scores of the high SES students cluster together on the high end of science achievement, whilst those from low SES score across the distribution. These findings highlight the need to explore what can mitigate the relation between SES and science achievement and where resources to support science achievement are most needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although cyberbullying is relational by nature, prior models focused on individual explanations for cyberbullying rather than integrating contextual processes. We present the Relational Model of Cyberbullying Motivation and Regulation (RMC). This model applies the concepts of proximal processes (e.g., interactions with parents, teachers, peers) from ecological systems theory and the concepts of psychological resources (e.g., autonomy, competency, and relatedness) from self determination theory to explain youth motivation and self-regulation of cyberbullying. First, we review theoretical foundations for the theories involved and outline postulates for youths' proximal influences, motivations for, and regulation against cyberbullying perpetration. Then, we present a pathway by which the most proximal social influences on youth impact the development of psychological resources, which then may impact cyberbullying. We also present pathways by which autonomy, competence, and relatedness have an indirect impact on cyberbullying via motivation and self-regulation. The RMC informs intervention efforts by identifying proximal contexts and leverage points to disrupt processes that lead to competence and/or autonomy to cyberbully others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with severe neurological impairment (SNI) often receive care in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), yet little is known about their parents' experiences. Objective: To examine sources of and changes in stress among parents of children with SNI in the PICU. To compare stressors with "good parent" attributes that describe duties parents aim to uphold for their child. Design/Setting/Subjects: Prospective mixed-methods cohort study at a single U.S. children's hospital. Participants included English-speaking parents/legal guardians of a child with SNI with an expected length of stay >1 week and life expectancy >4 weeks. Measurements: Ten-point stress scale administered at PICU admission and discharge with open-ended response items. A subset of parents completed 1:1 semistructured interviews. Data were integrated to examine differences among participants whose stress increased, stayed the same, or decreased, and themes were compared with "good parent" attributes. Results: Twenty-five parents/legal guardians completed the surveys; 15 completed the interviews. Children were a median of 7 years old (interquartile range [IQR] 4, 9; range 1–21) and had a median PICU length of stay of 10 days (IQR 7, 15; range 3–62). Twenty percent (n = 5) of parents were fathers, and 36% (n = 9) had a minority racial/ethnic background. Stress was moderate at admission (mean 6.8, standard deviation [SD] ±1.7) and discharge (mean 6, SD ±2); 32% (n = 8) reported stress trajectories that stayed the same or increased. Major themes included uncertainty, advocacy, and vulnerability and related closely to "good parent" attributes. Conclusion: Stress among parents of children with SNI related to uncertainty, advocacy, and vulnerability and suggested tensions with "good parent" attributes. Key message: This mixed-methods prospective cohort study suggests that uncertainty, advocacy, and vulnerability are sources of parental stress in the PICU. Most parents reported moderate stress at both PICU admission and discharge. One-third reported that their stress stayed the same or increased, despite their child's improving health. Themes/subthemes related closely to "good parent" attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the associations between the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and the risk of developing uveitis among cancer patients. Methods: Cancer patients who received ICI therapy and a comparison group of cancer patients who did not receive ICI therapy were retrospectively recruited from the TriNetX electronic heath-record registry. The outcome of interest was the development of new-onset uveitis. Propensity score matching based on a 1:1 ratio was conducted in order to reduce bias. Multi-variate cox proportional hazard models and Kaplan Meier method were also utilized to assess for the risk of uveitis among cancer patients who received ICI therapy. Results: 71931 cancer patients (54.7% male; 76.5% white; mean age at index 63.6 ± 12.2 years) who received ICI treatment (ICI group) and 71931 cancer patients (54.7% male; 77% white; mean age at index 63.5 ± 12.4 years) who never received ICI (comparison group) were recruited. Associated Kaplan-Meier curves showed significantly increased uveitis risk among the ICI group for all follow-up years (p<0.001). The risk of uveitis was also higher among the ICI group during the 144-month follow-up period with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.39 (95% CI: 2.07-2.75). Increased risk for specific uveitis diseases, such as iridocyclitis, chorioretinal inflammation, retinal vasculitis, unspecified purulent endophthalmitis, panuveitis and sympathetic uveitis were found. Subgroup analysis demonstrated an elevated hazard ratio for the development of uveitis among ICI recipients, spanning individuals below the age of 65 as well as those aged 65 and older. The elevated hazard ratio for uveitis development among ICI recipients was also observed across all genders, among those of white and Asian ethnicities, those with smoking history, and those with comorbid conditions such as hypertension and dyslipidemia, in comparison to their non-ICI counterparts. An additional subgroup analysis on monotherapy versus combinatory ICI regimens was also conducted. Individuals who received monotherapy from the class of anti-PD-1 (HR:1.98 [CI: 1.65-2.37]) and anti-CTLA-4 (HR:5.86 [CI:1.99-17.24]) exhibited elevated hazard ratios for uveitis development compared to their non-ICI comparators. Those exposed to combinatory ICI regimens, specifically a combination of anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA4 (HR: 5.04 [CI:3.55-7.16]), showed increased hazard ratios for uveitis development compared to their non-ICI comparators. In contrast, individuals exposed to a combination of anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 (HR: 2.47 [CI:0.81-7.50]) did not demonstrate an increased risk for uveitis compared to their non-ICI comparators. Conclusion: A significantly increased risk for uveitis diseases was found among the ICI group from the first year of follow-up. Increased awareness should be promoted on the occurrence of uveitis among cancer patients receiving ICI therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using third-party education agents is a well-established practice in many countries. As a result, the number of international students placed by agents has grown considerably over the past years. However, in the US, the practice of using agents to increase international enrollment still carries a derogatory connotation in the educational community. Inexperience with agents coupled with incomplete knowledge about students' experiences using agents may contribute to misunderstandings about agent recruitment practices that may lead to biased institutional decisions. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, this study provides a better understanding of the use of education agents and how they may assist students' application to a US higher education institution. The study also reveals the potential problems for students using the services of agents. (Contains 5 figures and 3 tables.)

For the past six years the authors have been working together on a major study of early childhood education in China, Japan, and the United States. This study, "Continuity and Change in Preschools in Three Cultures," is a sequel to "Preschools in Three Cultures," a book by Joseph Tobin, David Wu, and Dana Davidson that was published in 1989. In the new study, as in the original one, the authors have found major differences in how these three countries approach the education and care of young children. In this paper, the authors present examples of preschool practices from China and Japan that they suggest can be used to improve early childhood education in the US. They call these examples lessons for the US, but they are not suggesting that American early childhood educators should copy these approaches. Instead, they are hoping that American teachers who have read this paper and had the opportunity to reflect on the logic of the Chinese and Japanese approaches will find that they have a new way of thinking about their practice.

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently listed as the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. Accumulating data shows the association between COPD occurrence and the usage of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) in patients. However, the underlying pathogenesis mechanisms of COPD have not been fully understood. Methods: In the current study, bENaC-overexpressing mice (bENaC mice) were subjected to whole-body ENDS exposure. COPD related features including emphysema, mucus accumulation, inflammation and fibrosis are examined by tissue staining, FACS analysis, cytokine measurement. Cell death and ferroptosis of alveolar epithelial cells were further evaluated by multiple assays including staining, FACS analysis and lipidomics. Results: ENDS-exposed mice displayed enhanced emphysema and mucus accumulation, suggesting that ENDS exposure promotes COPD features. ENDS exposure also increased immune cell number infiltration in bronchoalveolar lavage and levels of multiple COPD-related cytokines in the lungs, including CCL2, IL-4, IL-13, IL-10, M-CSF, and TNF-α. Moreover, we observed increased fibrosis in ENDS-exposed mice, as evidenced by elevated collagen deposition and a-SMA+ myofibroblast accumulation. By investigating possible mechanisms for how ENDS promoted COPD, we demonstrated that ENDS exposure induced cell death of alveolar epithelial cells, evidenced by TUNEL staining and Annexin V/PI FACS analysis. Furthermore, we identified that ENDS exposure caused lipid dysregulations, including TAGs (9 species) and phospholipids (34 species). As most of these lipid species are highly associated with ferroptosis, we confirmed ENDS also enhanced ferroptosis marker CD71 in both type I and type II alveolar epithelial cells. Discussion: Overall, our data revealed that ENDS exposure exacerbates features of COPD in bENaC mice including emphysema, mucus accumulation, abnormal lung inflammation, and fibrosis, which involves the effect of COPD development by inducing ferroptosis in the lung. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better understand speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') pre-service and in-service training experiences in literacy and the relationship between their literacy training experiences and current practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs regarding their roles in literacy assessment and treatment, a web-based survey of SLPs was conducted (n = 444). Responses revealed that 60% of respondents completed at least one literacy course in their graduate programs: 55% took courses that embedded content in literacy assessment or treatment, and 23% took courses dedicated to literacy. These results varied based on the decade of graduation. Although 73.5% of respondents felt that their graduate programs trained them well or very well to assess and treat spoken language, only 8.5% felt the same about literacy. Most respondents (80%) reported completing in-service literacy training, and 89% reported wanting more literacy training. Completion of in-service training was positively, significantly related to respondents' current literacy-related clinical practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs regarding their roles; however, pre-service literacy training was not significantly related to any of these. Though in-service training appears to play a role in helping SLPs deliver literacy services, more emphasis on increasing the quantity and quality of pre-service and in-service training in the assessment and treatment of literacy is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]