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Introduction. Site visits (SVs) are a common component of clinical education. The purpose of this paper was to explore clinicians' perspectives regarding SVs, including methods of communication used and their effectiveness, purposes of SVs, and the level of interaction between the stakeholders. Review of the Literature. Several communication methods are used to conduct SVs, with varying levels of "richness" and effectiveness. Previous studies have explored the perceptions of physical therapist (PT) students and Directors of Clinical Education regarding communication methods used during SVs, as well as reporting the purposes, effectiveness, and logistics. Subjects. Clinicians, including clinical instructors (CIs) and Site Coordinators of Clinical Education, from across the United States, representing various geographical locations and settings were invited to participate. Methods. An electronic survey was distributed to participants using information from 2 PT education programs and the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument database. Results. A total of 273 responses were included in the analysis. Clinicians ranked in-person visits as their first choice of communication for future SVs (n = 157, 59.9%) and indicated that inperson communication was "very effective" (n = 143, 52.4%) when compared with videoconferencing (n = 55, 20.1%) and telephone (n = 49, 17.9%). Clinicians ranked verifying the competency level of the student and verifying site resources during the SV as "extremely important" or "important" (n = 257, 94.2% and n = 250, 91.5%, respectively). Answering CI's questions and providing support to the CI were also identified as "extremely important" or "important" (n = 262, 96% and n = 244, 89.4%, respectively). Analysis of open-ended responses revealed 5 themes: Communication is important, flexibility allows best fit for a situation, on-site visits offer a more complete picture, real-time dialog is preferred, and email can lead to misinterpretation. Discussion and Conclusion. Communication is a key component of the clinical-academic relationship. Although clinicians prefer in-person communication, flexibility is necessary when planning and conducting SVs. Future research recommendations include gathering student and clinician perceptions regarding faculty involvement in SVs, as well as gathering faculty perspectives regarding their participation in SVs. In addition, the impact of the pandemic on the future of SVs warrants further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The primary aim of this study was to provide a comparison of the effects of 2 commonly used pedagogical approaches (paper-based case studies vs authentic patient experiences) on clinical reasoning and critical thinking of secondyear entry-level physical therapy students. Current literature reveals a lack of consistency in how clinical reasoning is taught and assessed in physical therapist education. There is a need for evidence-based approaches to develop clinical reasoning in entry-level physical therapy students in the United States. Subjects. Twenty-three students in their second year of a Doctor of Physical therapy (DPT) degree program participated in this study. Methods. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group or to receive 1 of 2 supplemental learning activities (paper-based case studies or authentic patient experiences). Outcomes measured preintervention and postintervention included the Health Science Reasoning Test with Numeracy (HSRT-N) and the Self- Assessment of Clinical Reasoning and Re- flection (SACRR). Data analysis included a comparison of effect sizes of change scores between groups and correlational analysis of pretest scores and student factors. Results. Authentic patient experiences demonstrated a moderate to large effect size for improved HSRT-N scores on 5 of 8 subscales, compared with paper-based case studies. Authentic patient experiences demonstrated a moderate effect size for improved SACRR scores compared with the control group. Discussion and Conclusion. The use of authentic patient experiences may be more effective than paper-based case studies for improving critical thinking and clinical reasoning in an entry-level DPT curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the national and state prevalence of being "Healthy and Ready to Learn" (HRL) and associated sociodemographic, health, family and neighborhood factors. Cross-sectional analysis of the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health, a nationally representative parent-reported survey administered by web and paper June 2016 to February 2017. Four domains were constructed from 18 items through confirmatory factor analyses: "Early Learning Skills", "Social-Emotional Development", "Self-Regulation", and "Physical Well-being and Motor Development." Each item and domain were scored according to age-specific standards as "On-Track", "Needs Support", and "At Risk" with overall HRL defined as "On-Track" in all domains for 7565 randomly selected children ages 3 to 5 years. In 2016, 42.2% of children ages 3 to 5 years were considered HRL with the proportion considered "On-Track" ranging from 58.4% for Early Learning Skills to 85.5% for Physical Well-being and Motor Development"; approximately 80% of children were considered "On-Track" in Social-Emotional Development and Self-Regulation, respectively. Sociodemographic differences were mostly non-significant in multivariable analyses. Health, family, and neighborhood factors (ie, special health care needs status/type, parental mental health, reading, singing and storytelling, screen time, adverse childhood experiences, and neighborhood amenities) were associated with HRL. HRL prevalence ranged from 25.5% (NV) to 58.7% (NY), but only 4 states were significantly different from the U.S. overall. Based on this pilot measure, only about 4 in 10 US children ages 3 to 5 years may be considered "Healthy and Ready to Learn." Improvement opportunities exist for multiple, modifiable factors to affect young children's readiness to start school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In a paper recently published in this journal, Cidell and Beata (2009) used a one-way ANOVA test with a post hoc procedure (Bayesian model selection) to assess the importance of spatially sensitive certification of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. However, this analysis is inappropriately applied as it fails to recognize dependencies and hierarchies among the observation units, which result in pseudoreplication. Using an alternative, three-stage sampling method based on the neoFisherian paradigm, this paper reanalyzed the spatial sensitivity of the LEED categories. Contrary to Cidell and Beata''s findings, the reanalysis shows that the indoor environmental quality (aspatial) category seems to be more preferable than the sustainable sites and energy and atmosphere (spatially sensitive) categories for LEED projects in the United States. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper explored the relationship between the abuse of drug and youth violence in Nigeria. The petroleum hawkers who were almost exclusively males, within the age bracket 15-35 years and with a penchant for violence in the city of Minna, Nigeria , had their activities examined as a reference point for youth violence. The antisocial activities of petroleum hawkers during fuel procurement often threaten peace which has also earned them an identity A multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select four wards out of eleven that constitute Minna metropolis. A sample of two hundred (200) respondents was selected, however, only 165 were found to be good for analysis after data cleaning, representing 83% of the response rate. Using Pearson Product Moment Correlation, the study found that violence activities among petroleum hawkers were attributable to drug abuse as a result of significant correlation at P≥0.05. The result of regression analysis indicates that poverty (r=8.4) could adequately explain drug abuse and violent activities among petroleum hawkers in the area of this study ,but age(r=0.5) could not. In fact, other factors that propelled hawkers to violence were peer group influence, learning (.456) and gangstarism (.217) which correlated at P≥ 0.01 level of significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the analysis of continuous variables collected through a complex sample design, the sparseness of data in the tail region may lead to relatively poor performance for design-based estimation of distribution functions and also to potential instability of direct design-based estimators of their covariance matrices. Consequently, it is of interest to consider approximation methods that may lead to more stable covariance matrix estimators. Accordingly, one may seek to obtain better inference methods by fitting an appropriate parametric model to data from these tail regions. This paper develops one such approximation method by examining the effect of cluster sampling on the covariance and correlation matrices of sample distribution functions based on a superpopulation model. The results are applied to data from a stratified multistage sampling design. It is then compared with the empirical result from medical examination data from the US Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]