The impact of AIDS and the dread of acquiring HIV infection from patients have led to the resurgence in infection-control practices among health care workers. Recent reports of blood-borne pathogen transmission in health care settings, including oral health, have caused considerable public health concern. Transmission has been reported from patient to patient, patient to health care workers, but rarely from health care worker to patient. The risks of dental clinicians acquiring serious infections have been well documented but the risk to dental assistants has received less attention, especially in South Africa. Aim: To assess infection-control practices of dental assistants and their level of adherence to universal precautions in public health care facilities in Limpopo Province. Objectives: To establish the prevalence and the type of occupational exposures among dental assistants working in public health care facilities in Limpopo Province. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among dental assistants in Limpopo Province in 2005. The study population comprised all 73 employees who performed the functions of a dental assistant in public dental facilities. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information regarding work experiences and training, infection-control practice and knowledge, and the nature, incidences and reporting of any occupational exposures they had experienced. A follow-up telephone call was made to these dental assistants, after they had received the questionnaire, to re-iterate the importance of the survey and to request them to complete and return the questionnaire in the prepaid envelope they had been given. The facilities were clustered according to the six districts in Limpopo Province. Ethical approval was given by the University of the Witwatersrand and the Department of Health and Welfare in Limpopo Province. Results: Fifty-nine dental assistants returned the completed questionnaire, giving a response rate of 80.8%. Epi Info Version 3.3.2 programme was used to analyze the data. The majority of respondents were female (95%), with a mean age of 40.2 years (age range 23-54). More than 90% of the respondents had no formal training for their occupation, half (49.1%) did not have any health training, 22% were auxiliary nurses, 18.6% were “correspondence-trained” assistants who had been trained via distance learning and had no practical clinical training and only 10.2% of the respondents had received training at a technikon or university . The majority of the dental facilities (57.6%) had one dental assistant working alone, followed by those with two or three assistants (39.5%). The number of respondents assisting more than two oral clinicians in a day was 93.3%. The mean number of clinicians assisted per day was 3.8. The total numbers of dental assistants who experienced occupational exposures while working at the various dental clinics were 26 (44.1%), with 11.5% experiencing multiple injuries within the preceding six months. Auxiliary nurses and trained assistants were significantly more likely than untrained assistants to be aware of universal precautions, their protective effects, needle stick protocols, and of the need for personal protective equipments to be worn for all procedures (p=0.001). Compliance with infection-control practices was low overall. More than twothirds of the assistants routinely wore gloves during procedures. The lowest compliance reported was the use of protective eye shields, whilst more than 62.7% were not vaccinated against hepatitis B virus. More than two-thirds of the assistants were injured in the process of removing and or cleaning instruments; 65.3% of the injuries were direct punctures. Twenty-three percent did not report the injury. The risk of injury for the untrained assistants was 9.9 times higher than that for auxiliary nurses, p=0.008. A small percentage (23.8%) of those with sharp injuries was placed on antiretroviral drugs. Surprisingly, a significant high percentage of respondents were given wound cleaning only as treatment of their occupational exposures (78.4%) and sharp injuries (83%). Conclusion and recommendation More than 90% of the respondents had no formal training for their occupation. Dental assistants were understaffed and had increased workload. The greatest incidence of injury was associated with the handling of sharp objects, and this included recapping used needles. Occupational exposures to infectious material were found to be relatively high whilst compliance to some basic infection-control guidelines was low among dental assistants. The training of dental assistants should be regulated. More suitably qualified dental assistants should be appointed and existing ones should be given inservice training on the importance of infection-control practices and compliance with universal precautions.

This study examines how paralegal training in Lesotho was designed and managed. It analyses the content of the training and methods used. An assessment is made of how the participants used the training in the field. Since the inception of paralegal training in 1993 in Lesotho, no systematic and consolidated analysis lias been done to present a story on the existence o f the paralegal training programme. Paralegal training in this context is defined as the training of community-based people who are given skills to help disadvantaged individuals and groups to fight for thcirrights through the legal system. The legal profession adopted the use o f "barefoot lawyers" to address the imbalance in the accessibility o f legal services and facilities. Internationally the use of paralegals has taken root. In Lesotho the use of paralegals is fairly new, so there is the need to explore mis approach. There are two organisadons involved in paralegal training - the Community Legal Resource and Advice Centre (CLRAC) and the Lesotho Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). Both serve urban and rural populations. Lesotho being a case in point, this is a study aimed at obtaining in-depth information to highlight the paralegal training programme in Lesotho. It sought to ask critical questions about who were recruited as paralegal trainees, which topics were handled in the paralegal training programme, what training methods were used and what responsibilities paralegals fulfil after training. The outcome of this study has already contributed towards establishing a common content and methodology by presenting a systematic analysis of differences and common issues. The methods used to compile the Lesotho case study of paralegal training were reference to files and reports kept by CLRAC and FIDA,in house interviews and observations and interviews with paralegals and village leaders. Forty paralegals, who were trained by the two organisations, were involved in the study. They were identified from the districts o f Module's Hock, Mafeteng, Thaba-Tseka, (the three districts where CLRAC operates), Teyateyaneng and Quthing (two o f the three districts where FIDA operates). An interview schedule was developed which was used lo collect the information from the different respondents who were available during data collection phase of the study. The outcome of this study is that paralegal work is useful. There is the need to train more people as paralegals and to design the paralegal training programme in such a way that it responds to problems within a given context of rural and urban settings.

In order to equip teachers for the complexity of their job, teacher education programs have shifted away from training teachers in exactly what to do, focusing instead on how to approach the classroom. Teacher educators are working towards programs that develop beliefs that directly and positively affect the actions of teachers in the classrooms (Darling-Hammond, 2006). One particularly interesting case of teachers-in-training are graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), because they are both students and teachers simultaneously. In addition, GTAs are often learning how to teach while organizing, managing, and instructing classes, with varying levels of experience, training, responsibility, and support (Jordan & Howe, 2018; Patel, 2017). Although there is a body of work exploring the roles GTAs play as students and in institutions (Jordan & Howe, 2018; Park, 2004), GTAs have not generally been examined as classroom teachers. This study explores language GTAs’ beliefs about teaching, how their beliefs connect to their practice, and factors that affect their ability to implement their beliefs using data collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The findings show that GTAs (1) describe, instead of state, their beliefs focusing on classroom atmosphere and communicative language teaching factors; (2) are able to demonstrate their beliefs at least some of the time in their teaching; and (3) report contextual factors, such as time constraints and departmental training, that both hinder and facilitate their ability to implement their beliefs in their practices. Based on these findings, it is suggested that GTAs be provided opportunities to explicitly identify and reflect on their beliefs, make clear and accurate connections between their teaching and their beliefs, and experience an appropriate balance of support and autonomy. These suggestions are made so that GTAs might be more successful in integrating their beliefs and practices in ways that allow them to fulfill their roles as students and teachers well.

Through an exploratory qualitative, interpretive frame that employed an ethnographic methodological approach, this research focuses on teaching assistants (TAs) teaching in a lab, tutorial, or discussion group. Nine TAs share their learning journey as they begin teaching in higher education. The theoretical lens that frames this research is workplace learning. Interviews, observations, video-recordings, field notes, and learning diaries were subjected to thematic analysis, looking for dominant themes associated to TAs’ characteristics, their learning process related to teaching, and the knowledge they developed about teaching and student learning. Key findings include the recognition that TAs bring robust conceptions and dispositions to their first teaching position that is approached from a student subject position as they are becoming teachers. As TAs are being teachers, they control their self-directed learning process as they make decisions on-the-fly within a diverse learning environment that ranges from expansive to strategic to restrictive affordances. Coupled with a discretionary reflective practice, TAs’ knowledge development about teaching and student learning is solely dependent upon their experience, making forthcoming development of knowledge about teaching and student learning relegated to chance. This focus on TAs’ learning in the workplace illuminates the need for a deep learning approach to learning about teaching and student learning that needs to begin with graduate students’ first appointment as a TA. In addition, this deep learning approach needs to be encased in an expansive learning environment that provides opportunities for continuous support through various forms of mentorship, instruction, and development of reflective practice. / Graduate

The central purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship of locus of control and academic success in selected medical office assisting students. The instrument for locus of control assessment was the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale (ANSIES). Structured interviews were used to elicit personal responses for the purpose of confirming the locus of control direction that was indicated by the instrument. The research questions addressed the relationship of locus of control to the degree of internality or externality associated with the grade point average (GPA) for the Fall term. The findings concluded that there was a relationship of locus of control to academic success as measured by GPA in two of the four subsets of the study population. The students in the study population that received the highest GPA had the most internal locus of control. The students in the study population that received the least academic success with a GPA below 2.00 had an external locus of control. The subset with a GPA range of 2.00-2.99 demonstrated a more internal locus of control. However, the subset with a GPA range of 3.00-3.99 scored the most external direction of all groups. The findings from the structured interviews illustrated the phenomenon of shifting locus of control in response to a single question. The analysis from the structured interviews indicated more internality than was indicated on the ANSIES. The findings indicated that there was a relationship to internal locus of control and highest academic success (4.00 GPA) as measured by grade achievement. A more external locus of control was demonstrated in those individuals with the lowest academic success. The findings for the two middle subsets did not illustrate a relationship between internality and academic success or externally associated with a lower level of academic achievement. The principal implication of this research for education with regard to this study population is that locus of control is not a reliable predictor of academic success. The principal research recommendation entails further inquiry into selfefficacy, the phenomena of shifting internality, the measurement of this study population, characteristics of medical office assisting students, and locus of control as a predictors of academic success. / Graduation date: 1995

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Sept. 18, 2008). PDF text: ix, 185 p. : ill. ; 1 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3304202. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thèse d'exercice : Médecine. Médecine générale : Université de Nantes : 2004. / Bibliogr. f. 309-318 [91 réf.].

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama, 1984. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-121).

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of a competency-based training program on the attitudes of 45 teacher-aide trainees as defined and measured on two separate attitude measurement instruments. Instrument I, the Opinionnaire On Attitudes Toward Education, was designed to measure attitudes toward child-centered policies and practices in education. Instrument II, the Education Scale, was designed to measure attitudes varying from very favorable toward progressive educational practices to very favorable toward traditional educational practices.

The purpose of this study was to develop, initiate, and evaluate a pre-service paraprofessional teaching program for prospective biology and earth science teachers. The program was designed to place the paraprofessional in a secondary school for either full or half days for one quarter of the academic year.The population included all Ball State University sophomores and juniors planning to become science teachers (in biology or earth science) who had not started their education sequence. The Experimental Group was limited to those of the population who volunteered to participate in the program. The scope of the Experimental Group was further limited by the fact that all credit hours granted were elective hours.The measuring instruments used in this study were the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI), Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS), and Semantic Differential Test (SDT). Questionnaires were also sent to principals of participating schools, to clinical teachers, and to the paraprofessionals. The three tests (MTAI, TSCS, and SDT) were given before and after the experimental period to the Experimental Group and Control Group P (prospective teachers enrolled in the Human Growth and Development course at Ball State University). National Science Foundation Institute participants at Ball State University (Control Group I) were also given the MTAI and SDT. The norms established by Control Group I were used to determine if the post test means of the Experimental Group and Control Group P were in the direction of Control Group I.The program extended through the academic school year of 1969-1970, and the fall and winter quarter of 1970-1971. The Experimental Group was composed of thirty-four students.To determine relationships existing among the groups of this study, three statistical techniques were utilized. Student's t-test was used to determine if a significant change occurred between the means of two groups. To give a visual effect, the resultant changes in mean scores between groups were shown graphically. Finally, analysis of the questionnaires answered by principals, clinical teachers, and the Experimental Group were tabulated utilizing percentages, and chi square was calculated assuming a 50-50 distribution of yes and no responses of those who answered the questions.The .05 level of significance was used to test the significance of difference between the means and that of chi square values.3Scores of the Minnesota Teachers Attitude Inventory, Tennessee Self Concept Scale, and Semantic Differential Test did not yield conclusive results, but the questionnaires were very revealing. The principals of participating schools, the clinical teachers, and the Experimental Group were all enthusiastically in favor of the program. The principals unanimously agreed that the program was of value to the school and to the paraprofessionals, that the program was not an administrative problem, and that the program should be continued. The clinical teachers agreed overwhelmingly that the program was of value to them, to their students, and to the paraprofessionals. They also agreed that the program should be continued, that planning was not a problem, and that the paraprofessionals were cooperative, helpful and did not create problems with their students. The paraprofessionals unanimously agreed that the program should be continued and that it was of value to them.