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IntroductionLow- and middle-income countries have rapidly increasing numbers of people with dementia, yet little evidence on family caregiving interventions. We tested the preliminary efficacy and feasibility of a family caregiving intervention in northern Vietnam.MethodsNine clusters comprising 60 family caregivers were randomized to a culturally adapted version of a four- to six-session, multicomponent intervention delivered in-home over 2 to 3 months, or enhanced control. Eligible caregivers were ≥18 years of age and scored ≥6 on the Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI).ResultsFifty-one caregivers (85%) completed the study. Using analysis of covariance with 3-month assessment as the outcome and baseline assessment as a covariate, intervention group caregivers had an average ZBI (primary outcome) score 1.2 standard deviation (SD) lower (P=.02) and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (psychological distress) score 0.7 SD lower (P=.03) than controls.DiscussionIn the first study of its kind in Vietnam, a culturally adapted, manualized, family caregiver intervention was both efficacious and feasible.

Attendance at Catholic high schools is estimated to improve math test scores and to increase high school graduation rates and enrolment in 4-year college. Propensity score matching methods are used to obtain these estimated effects, based on data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study. Since selection into Catholic schools is non-random, matching methods help to overcome the problem of choosing instruments for identifying the Catholic school effect on educational outcomes. The difference-in-differences approach is used on test score data in order to control for fixed unobservable influences on outcomes.

This paper argues that the value added score published for all publicly funded secondary schools in England is an unreliable indicator of school performance. A substantial proportion of the between-school variation in the value added score is accounted for by factors outside the school’s control. These factors include several pupil-related variables such as the proportion of pupils on free school meals, the authorized absence rate of pupils and the proportion of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds. The value added score is also related to several school characteristics such as the school’s admission policy and its subject specialism. The main policy recommendation of this paper is that the value added score should not be used as a performance indicator, but should be used to gain a better understanding of why the value added score varies between schools.

This paper uses the traditional income framework and a non-monetary framework to estimate intergenerational mobility in economic status for a sample of 26 year-old whites, blacks and Hispanics in the USA using data from the first and fifth sweeps of the National Educational Longitudinal Study (1988 and 2000). Intergenerational income mobility is found to be greater for females than for males, though there are differences between whites, blacks and Hispanics. Transition probabilities indicate that Hispanics are the most upwardly mobile in terms of educational attainment and occupational status. Ordered logits are used to estimate the impact of parental education and occupation on educational and occupational outcomes.