Search

This exploratory case study integrated digital media into an intergenerational art class. Its goals were to generate knowledge of how to bring young children and elders together to expand their opportunities for meaning-making and seeing themselves in affirming ways so as to generate transferable understanding of digitally enhanced multimodal curricula across the lifespan. Participants included 15 elders and 9 pre-schoolers. Focusing on how the digital media were used and with what implications for participants' literacy and identity options as well as relationship-building, data were collected through ethnographic methods, and a qualitative thematic analysis with multimodal elements was conducted. The study found that the digital media were used in tangent with non-digital media for the creation of digital portfolios, digital text-making, and teacher- and participant-led referencing for text-making. Findings suggest that the integration of digital media enhanced literacy options by providing new ...

The method of [Formula: see text]-stratification aims to reduce item overexposure in computerized adaptive testing, as items that are administered at very high rates may threaten the validity of test scores. In existing methods of [Formula: see text]-stratification, the item bank is partitioned into a fixed number of nonoverlapping strata according to the items’[Formula: see text], or discrimination, parameters. This article introduces a continuous [Formula: see text]-stratification index which incorporates exposure control into the item selection index itself and thus eliminates the need for fixed discrete strata. The new continuous [Formula: see text]-stratification index is compared with existing stratification methods via simulation studies in terms of ability estimation bias, mean squared error, and control of item exposure rates.

Contains fulltext : 200437.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) OBJECTIVES: The impact of nutrition status on outcomes in pediatric severe sepsis is unclear. We studied the association of nutrition status (expressed as body mass index z score) with outcomes in pediatric severe sepsis. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of the Sepsis Prevalence, Outcomes, and Therapies study. Patient characteristics, ICU interventions, and outcomes were compared across nutrition status categories (expressed as age- and sex-adjusted body mass index z scores using World Health Organization standards). Multivariable regression models were developed to determine adjusted differences in all-cause ICU mortality and ICU length of stay by nutrition status. SETTING: One-hundred twenty-eight PICUs across 26 countries. PATIENTS: Children less than 18 years with severe sepsis enrolled in the Sepsis Prevalence, Outcomes, and Therapies study (n = 567). INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Nutrition status data were available for 417 patients. Severe undernutrition was seen in Europe (25%), Asia (20%), South Africa (17%), and South America (10%), with severe overnutrition seen in Australia/New Zealand (17%) and North America (14%). Severe undernutrition was independently associated with all-cause ICU mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.2-7.7; p = 0.02), whereas severe overnutrition in survivors was independently associated with longer ICU length of stay (1.6 d; p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable variation in nutrition status for children with severe sepsis treated across this selected network of PICUs from different geographic regions. Severe undernutrition was independently associated with higher all-cause ICU mortality in children with severe sepsis. Severe overnutrition was independently associated with greater ICU length of stay in childhood survivors of severe sepsis.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention models may not address psychological complexities among adolescents with mental illnesses. This study examined contextual factors related to HIV/STI risk among heterosexually active Black adolescents with mental illnesses to inform the development of targeted HIV/STI prevention strategies. Black adolescent males and females (aged 14–17) were recruited from outpatient mental health programs in Philadelphia, PA to complete a computer-assisted personalized interview on sociodemographics, sexual behaviors, and emotion regulation (N = 53). Two sample t-tests, Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests and regression modeling were used to examine differences in the study measures by gender and relationship status. Reports of sexual partner concurrency were high—both while already in a sexual relationship (67.3%) and multiple sexual partners in the same day (42.3%). Boys reported significantly more risk behaviors than girls. Sadness dysregulation predicted currently being in a relationship, older age at first oral sex, fewer vaginal sexual partners and fewer unprotected oral sexual encounters. Coping difficulties predicted a greater number of vaginal and oral sexual partners, and a lower age at first vaginal sex. Increasing depression severity was related to older age at first vaginal sex, fewer vaginal sexual partners and fewer unprotected oral sexual encounters in the past 3 months. This formative work suggests that coping mechanisms should be addressed in HIV/STI prevention research through the inclusion of activities targeted toward emotion regulation and decreasing sexual risk behaviors. Psycho-education and skills building may mitigate the psychopathology that contributes to HIV/STI risk in the target demographic.