BEYOND WORDS: HOW LEARNING TO READ AND MENTAL HEALTH ARE RELATED FOR STRUGGLING READERS

The overarching purpose of this research program was to describe how intervening for academic deficits may be accompanied by changes in mental health. This multi-dimensional, multi-perspective, and iterative research program was developed to report on two distinct but related studies that addressed the same issue: in what ways does the mental health of students change as they transition from being struggling readers to more able readers? To describe the changes, these studies used a number of qualitative research methodologies—focus groups, individual interviews, and ethnographic case studies. Themes that emerged from the focus group and interview data in the first study were used to create a model that guided observations and interview questions in the second study. The first study described what parents, classroom teachers, and two reading instructors of nine previously struggling readers reported as the outcomes of becoming a more proficient reader. Data from this study indicated three broad domains in which change, as perceived by participants, occurred―cognitive/learning, behavioural/social, and psychological/emotional. Within these three domains, six dimensions were identified as having changed as reading improved: (a) academic achievement, (b) attitude, (c) attention, (d) behaviour, (e) mental health, and (f) empowerment. These domains, dimensions, and 15 constituent elements were used to create the model to guide the subsequent study. The purpose of the second study was to validate and refine this model by using an ethnographic case study approach to explore the ways in which the model accounted for the changes in reading and mental health seen in three boys over the months they participated in the intervention. By investigating the relationship between learning to read and mental health, this research aimed to enhance our understanding of how gains in reading may also improve the mental health of struggling readers. The model was found to be robust and a convenient conceptual framework to further our understanding of this relationship. Importantly, gains made in the cognitive/learning domain through an effective reading intervention, offered in a supportive learning environment, were shown to be accompanied by concomitant gains in both the behavioural/social and psychological/emotional domains—all of which enhance student thriving.

Just Need Some Satisfaction: Examining the Relationship between Passion for Exercise and the Basic Psychological Needs

Individuals often pursue activities for which they are passionate about, and this passion is operationalized as being harmonious (an autonomous desireto engage in the activity) or obsessive (a controlled desire to engage in the activity) in nature (Vallerand et al., 2003). With regard to harmonious passion, Vallerand et al. (2003) suggests that it is fostered in environments that nurture innate needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The purpose of the present study was to explore the nature of the passion-basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy, relatedness) relationship. Kinesiology students (N = 917; Mage = 18.54 SD = 1.66) completed the Passion Scale (Vallerand et al., 2003) and the Psychological Need Satisfaction in Exercise Scale (Wilson et al., 2006). Results from the SEM path analysis indicated that harmonious passion was positively related to competence (SPE = .43) and relatedness (SPE = .43) and obsessive passion was negatively related to autonomy (SPE = -.18)(CFI = .90, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .07). Implications for exercise participation/enjoyment are discussed.

A Scoping Review of Psychological Interventions for PTSD in Military Personnel and Veterans.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has emerged as a key concern for military and veteran populations. This article describes what is being done programmatically and therapeutically to treat PTSD in military personnel and veterans returning from deployment. This scoping review demonstrates that (1) research published in this area has been rapidly increasing since its inception in the 1980s; (2) the vast majority of articles focus on cognitive-behavioral approaches to treatment, and this area of the literature presents strong evidence for these approaches; and (3) there is a lack of randomized controlled trials for treatments, such as art therapies and group therapies.