Conceptions of Quality and Approaches to Quality Assurance in Ontario’s Universities

Many international, political, and economic influences led to increased demands for development of new quality assurance systems for universities. Like many policies and processes that aim to assure quality, Ontario’s Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) did not define quality. This study sought to explore conceptions of quality and approaches to quality assurance used within Ontario’s universities. A document analysis of the QAF’s rationale and structure suggested that quality was conceived primarily as fitness for purpose, while suggested indicators represented an exceptional conception of quality. Ontario universities perpetuated such confusion by adopting the framework without customizing it to their institutional conceptions of quality. Drawing upon phenomenographic traditions, a qualitative investigation was conducted to better understand various conceptions of quality held by university administrators and to appreciate ways in which they implemented the QAF. Three main approaches to quality assurance were identified: (a) Defending Quality, characterized by conceptions of quality as exceptional, which focuses on administrative accountability and uses a hands-off strategy to defend traditional notions of quality inputs and resources; (b) Demonstrating Quality, characterized by conceptions of quality as fitness for purpose and value for money, which focuses on accountability to students and uses centralized engaged strategies to demonstrate how programs meet current priorities and intended outcomes; and (c) Enhancing Quality, characterized by conceptions of quality as transformation, which focuses on reflection and learning experience and uses engaged strategies to find new ways of improving learning and teaching. The development of a campus culture that values the institution’s function in student learning and quality teaching would benefit from Enhancing Quality approaches to quality assurance. This would require holistic consideration of the beliefs held by members of the institution, a clear articulation of the institution’s conceptions of quality, and a critical analysis of how these conceptions align with institutional practices and policies.

Teachers’ Beliefs and Perceptions of Bullying and Bullying Prevention Initiatives

While bullying prevention programs appear to be decreasing the number of bullying incidents overseas, bullying prevention programs here in Canada have not been proving as effective. Evaluations of bullying prevention programs often focus on the outcomes and neglect to examine the training regimen for teachers. As teachers are on the front lines of bullying prevention programs, the current study explored teachers’ beliefs about the various types of bullying, their perceptions of their own abilities (e.g., teacher bullying prevention efficacy (TBPE), self-concept, and theory of mind) to implement bullying prevention initiatives, and how the school climate may influence their efficacy beliefs. Participants in the current study were 61 Canadian teachers (n = 51 women), predominantly from Ontario. Participating teachers represented all elementary division levels (primary, junior, and intermediate). Participants’ teaching experience ranged from zero years of teaching (pre-service) to 28 years of experience (M = 10.50, SD = 7.35). It was found that participants reported a relatively high TBPE score, which was related to their likely intervention in cyberbullying situations but not for other forms of bullying situations. It was found that teachers were most likely to intervene in physical bullying than verbal, relational, and cyberbullying, respectively. TBPE was influenced by the school climate. Teachers’ scores on the theory of mind scale was not a significant indicator of any teachers’ bullying beliefs. Analyses exploring the relationship between bullying beliefs and self-concept, morality predicted teachers TBPE scores and the likelihood of intervention. Teachers’ recommendations for bullying prevention training and school bullying prevention programs were explored. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practice and future research.

Diversity Discourse and the Ontario Educator: The Understandings of Race and Whiteness Among New White Ontario Teachers

As a recent teacher education graduate, I have been left with more questions than answers about how to create and maintain an equitable and antioppressive classroom. These complicated questions of equity laid the groundwork for this study, which explored how new teachers understood diversity, specifically whiteness, and how they connected these perceptions to their course-related experiences in their teacher education program. Using a qualitative approach, this study problematized the lack of critical discussions around diversity taking place in Ontario teacher education courses. Through purposive, homogenous sampling, 7 new Ontario educators participated in a semistructured interview that focused on their experiences as teacher candidates and new teachers and their understandings and ideas regarding diversity, race, and more specifically, whiteness. The findings suggest that the greater Canadian discourse surrounding multiculturalism impacts the everyday diversity talk of the participants, and that problematic ideas of acceptance and tolerance are common. The findings also show a strong discomfort and unfamiliarity among the participants with the terms whiteness and white privilege. Finally, the results also revealed that new teachers have limited experience in their teacher education to discuss and learn about diversity, particularly critical discussions about race and privilege. Through this investigation, I aimed to bring attention to the necessity of having these critical, albeit difficult, discussions around diversity and whiteness in order to support new, predominately white, teachers.

Youth engagement: the ethics of inclusion and exclusion

This study focuses on the engagement of children and youth in their communities and the ways they are included in and excluded from community life. Using a content analysis of a small town United States newspaper over a one-year period, examples of engagement were identified and classified into 12 categories: programs, clubs and special events; fundraising and community service; business and community support; participation in community events; school events; athletic and other performances; employment; involvement in local planning and decision making; serving as a community representative; visibility and recognition; criminal activity and accidents; and use of public space. Examples of community exclusion were identified as well. Young people were engaged primarily through activities that were adult-directed or supervised, or organized through schools, churches, and youth clubs. There was little involvement in local planning, decision making, or activism. Some evidence existed of peer teaching, leadership, and self-initiated activities, as well as intentional efforts by adults to give youth a greater voice in community activities. Implications include several ethical issues regarding the role of young people in community life, particularly young children, and the need for greater awareness on the part of communities of the contributions young people can make.

Investigating active transportation to and from school : identification of predictors and health benefits

Funding support for this doctoral thesis has been provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Public Health Agency of Canada, QICSS matching grant, and la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales-Université de Montréal.

Some problems in set topology relating group of homeomorphisms and order

In this thesis we investigate some problems in set theoretical topology related to the concepts of the group of homeomorphisms and order. Many problems considered are directly or indirectly related to the concept of the group of homeomorphisms of a topological space onto itself. Order theoretic methods are used extensively. Chapter-l deals with the group of homeomorphisms. This concept has been investigated by several authors for many years from different angles. It was observed that nonhomeomorphic topological spaces can have isomorphic groups of homeomorphisms. Many problems relating the topological properties of a space and the algebraic properties of its group of homeomorphisms were investigated. The group of isomorphisms of several algebraic, geometric, order theoretic and topological structures had also been investigated. A related concept of the semigroup of continuous functions of a topological space also received attention

Workforce Issues in the Greater Boston Health Care Industry: Implications for Work and Family

Interviews with more than 40 leaders in the Boston area health care industry have identified a range of broadly-felt critical problems. This document synthesizes these problems and places them in the context of work and family issues implicit in the organization of health care workplaces. It concludes with questions about possible ways to address such issues. The defining circumstance for the health care industry nationally as well as regionally at present is an extraordinary reorganization, not yet fully negotiated, in the provision and financing of health care. Hoped-for controls on increased costs of medical care – specifically the widespread replacement of indemnity insurance by market-based managed care and business models of operation--have fallen far short of their promise. Pressures to limit expenditures have produced dispiriting conditions for the entire healthcare workforce, from technicians and aides to nurses and physicians. Under such strains, relations between managers and workers providing care are uneasy, ranging from determined efforts to maintain respectful cooperation to adversarial negotiation. Taken together, the interviews identify five key issues affecting a broad cross-section of occupational groups, albeit in different ways: Staffing shortages of various kinds throughout the health care workforce create problems for managers and workers and also for the quality of patient care. Long work hours and inflexible schedules place pressure on virtually every part of the healthcare workforce, including physicians. Degraded and unsupportive working conditions, often the result of workplace "deskilling" and "speed up," undercut previous modes of clinical practice. Lack of opportunities for training and advancement exacerbate workforce problems in an industry where occupational categories and terms of work are in a constant state of flux. Professional and employee voices are insufficiently heard in conditions of rapid institutional reorganization and consolidation. Interviewees describe multiple impacts of these issues--on the operation of health care workplaces, on the well being of the health care workforce, and on the quality of patient care. Also apparent in the interviews, but not clearly named and defined, is the impact of these issues on the ability of workers to attend well to the needs of their families--and the reciprocal impact of workers' family tensions on workplace performance. In other words, the same things that affect patient care also affect families, and vice versa. Some workers describe feeling both guilty about raising their own family issues when their patients' needs are at stake, and resentful about the exploitation of these feelings by administrators making workplace policy. The different institutions making up the health care system have responded to their most pressing issues with a variety of specific stratagems but few that address the complexities connecting relations between work and family. The MIT Workplace Center proposes a collaborative exploration of next steps to probe these complications and to identify possible locations within the health care system for workplace experimentation with outcomes benefiting all parties.

Presión arterial en preescolares de la localidad de Usaquén en Bogotá

Introducción: La hipertensión arterial es un problema de salud pública tanto en países industrializados como en vía de desarrollo. Su prevalencia en la infancia viene en aumento por lo que es relevante determinarla en niños preescolares a nivel local. Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia de hipertensión arterial en niños de tres a cinco años de una cohorte de 14 hogares infantiles del ICBF de la localidad de Usaquén en Bogotá. Materiales y métodos: Se realizó un estudio de corte transversal analítico, utilizando la base de datos de un ensayo aleatorizado y controlado del año 200913, y se evaluaron las cifras de tensión arterial de acuerdo a sexo, edad, talla y su correlación con el IMC con un nivel de confianza del 95% y precisión del 1%. Se calcularon las medias, desviaciones estándar, percentiles y prevalencia. Resultados: Se obtuvo una muestra de 1035 casos, encontrándose una prevalencia de 4,5% de HTA sistólica, 10,4% de diastólica, ambas en estadio I; teniendo en cuenta tanto sistólica como diastólica, fue de 11,6% en estadio I. Se determinaron los valores de presión arterial sistólica y diastólica en cuartiles de acuerdo a edad, sexo y talla. El coeficiente de correlación entre el IMC y los niveles de presión arterial sistólica y diastólica fueron de 0.0992 y 0.0362 respectivamente. Conclusión: La prevalencia de HTA general fue de 11,6%, predominando la diastólica en estadio I en niños preescolares. No se encontró correlación entre el IMC y las cifras de tensión arterial sistólica y diastólica.

Efectividad de la vacuna acelular antipertussis en adolescentes: una revisión sistemática

La incidencia de la tosferina ha mostrado un incremento en los últimos años; afectando predominantemente a los niños menores de 1 año, adolescentes y adultos. En el 2005 el Comité Asesor de Prácticas en Inmunización (ACIP) recomendó administrar una dosis de refuerzo de la vacuna acelular antipertussis a los adolescentes. Esta estrategia ha sido adoptada por distintos países. Sin embargo hasta el momento no existe una revisión sistemática que evalúe la efectividad de esta medida de prevención primaria. Métodos: Revisión sistemática de la literatura de artículos acerca de la efectividad de la vacuna acelular antipertussis como dosis de refuerzo en adolescentes. Resultados: La búsqueda inicial arrojó un total de 121 resultados, de los cuales solo 4 cumplieron los criterios de selección. Se evaluó en éstos, la inmunogenicidad generada contra tétanos y difteria por la vacuna Tdap vs Td con resultados significativos y similares. Además se documentó la respuesta inmunológica protectora generada por la Tdap contra tosferina. En cuanto a la reactogenicidad, en general fue baja. Discusión: La vacuna Tdap genera inmunogenicidad similar a la Td contra tétanos y difteria. Además proporciona adecuada protección contra la tosferina como dosis de refuerzo en los adolescentes. Conclusión: La evidencia disponible sugiere que se puede recomendar la vacuna Tdap como dosis de refuerzo en adolescentes entre los 10 y los 18 años de edad por su baja reactogenicidad y adecuada inmunogenicidad contra tétanos, difteria y B. Pertussis.

Niveles de actividad física, condición física y tiempo en pantallas en escolares de Bogotá, Colombia: Estudio FUPRECOL

Examina la relación entre los niveles de actividad física (AF) de forma objetiva, la condición física (CF) y el tiempo de exposición a pantallas en niños y adolescentes de Bogotá, Colombia.

Parental and peer support on physical activity among portuguese children and adolescents

Objetivo: A presente dissertação de mestrado teve como principal objetivo estudar a associação entre o suporte parental e dos pares na atividade física das crianças e adolescentes dos 10 aos 17 anos de idade. Método: Foi efetuada uma revisão sistemática de literatura (RSL) onde se sumarizou o estado da arte sobre a temática. Posteriormente foi realizado um estudo observacional transversal onde se investigou como o suporte dos pais (tangível e intangível) e dos pares estão associados com a atividade física entre crianças e adolescentes, examinando as diferenças entre géneros e a sua variação com a idade. Participaram no estudo 1876 crianças e adolescentes, de ambos os sexos, entre os 10 aos 17 anos de idade, participantes do projeto PESSOA. Resultados: Os resultados do estudo transversal corroboram os resultados de alguns estudos da revisão sistemática de literatura uma vez que, apesar das diferenças metodológicas entre os estudos, foram encontradas correlações significativas entre o suporte parental e o nível de atividade física das crianças e adolescentes. Há diferenças entre géneros no tipo de suporte parental e no suporte dos pares. O estudo transversal demonstrou uma associação positiva entre o suporte dos pares e a idade. Esta associação destaca-se na transição da infância para a adolescência. Em ambos os géneros, o suporte dos pares registou uma maior associação à atividade física do que o suporte dos pais. Conclusões: A realização deste estudo demonstra que os pais e os pares são fatores chave na atividade física das crianças e adolescentes. Em diferentes fases da infância e da adolescência, o papel de cada um deles altera-se de acordo com vários fatores do envolvimento físico e social. É necessário mais investigação nesta área, preferencialmente estudos longitudinais que permitam uma melhor compreensão de como as diferentes fontes (pais e pares) e os diferentes tipos de suporte (tangível e intangível) evoluem ao longo da infância e da adolescência e qual o seu impacto nos diferentes níveis de atividade física.

UK construction orders and output: A comparison of government and commercially available data 1995-2001

Because of the importance and potential usefulness of construction market statistics to firms and government, consistency between different sources of data is examined with a view to building a predictive model of construction output using construction data alone. However, a comparison of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) series shows that the correlation coefcient (used as a measure of consistency) of the DTI output and DTI orders data and the correlation coefficient of the DTI output and ONS output data are low. It is not possible to derive a predictive model of DTI output based on DTI orders data alone. The question arises whether or not an alternative independent source of data may be used to predict DTI output data. Independent data produced by Emap Glenigan (EG), based on planning applications, potentially offers such a source of information. The EG data records the value of planning applications and their planned start and finish dates. However, as this data is ex ante and is not correlated with DTI output it is not possible to use this data to describe the volume of actual construction output. Nor is it possible to use the EG planning data to predict DTI construc-tion orders data. Further consideration of the issues raised reveal that it is not practically possible to develop a consistent predictive model of construction output using construction statistics gathered at different stages in the development process.

Living with ASD: how do children and their parents assess their difficulties with social interaction and understanding?

Social interaction and understanding in autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are key areas of concern to practitioners and researchers alike. However, there is a relative lack of information about the skills and competencies of children and young people with ASD who access ordinary community facilities including mainstream education. In particular, contributions by parents and their children have been under-utilized. Using two structured questionnaires, 19 children with ASD reported difficulties with social skills including social engagement and temper management and also reported difficulties with social competence, affecting both friendships and peer relationships. Parents rated the children's social skill and competence as significantly worse than did the children themselves, but there was considerable agreement about the areas that were problematic. Using an informal measure to highlight their children's difficulties, parents raised issues relating to conversation skills, social emotional reciprocity and peer relationships. The implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.

Computerised therapies for anxiety and depression in children and young people: a systematic review and meta-anaylsis

One quarter of children and young people (CYP) experience anxiety and/or depression before adulthood, but treatment is sometimes unavailable or inadequate. Self-help interventions may have a role in augmenting treatment and this work aimed to systematically review the evidence for computerised anxiety and depression interventions in CYP aged 5–25 years old. Databases were searched for randomised controlled trials and 27 studies were identified. For young people (12–25 years) with risk of diagnosed anxiety disorders or depression, computerised CBT (cCBT) had positive effects for symptoms of anxiety (SMD −0.77, 95% CI −1.45 to −0.09, k = 6, N = 220) and depression (SMD −0.62, 95% CI −1.13 to −0.11, k = 7, N = 279). In a general population study of young people, there were small positive effects for anxiety (SMD −0.15, 95% CI −0.26 to −0.03; N = 1273) and depression (SMD −0.15, 95% CI −0.26 to −0.03; N = 1280). There was uncertainty around the effectiveness of cCBT in children (5–11 years). Evidence for other computerised interventions was sparse and inconclusive. Computerised CBT has potential for treating and preventing anxiety and depression in clinical and general populations of young people. Further program development and research is required to extend its use and establish its benefit in children.