Sue Walker

Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Young Children's Peer-Related Social Competence and Individual Differences in Theory of Mind

In this study, the author examined the relationship between theory-of-mind understanding and preschool-aged childrens peer-related social competence. One hundred eleven 3- to 5-year-old children (48 boys, 63 girls) participated in 2 theory-of-mind tasks designed to assess their understanding of false belief. Teachers rated childrens peer-related social behavior in terms of prosocial behavior, aggressive or disruptive behavior, and shy or withdrawn behavior. Results indicated that, after controlling for age, theory-of-mind understanding significantly predicted aggressive or disruptive behavior for boys and prosocial behavior for girls. Theory-of-mind understanding also was related to lower scores of shy or withdrawn behavior for boys. Results are discussed in terms of the gender differences in the factors contributing to early peer competence.

Peer mentoring for first‐year teacher education students: the mentors’ experience

Universities worldwide are developing peer mentoring programmes to assist first‐year students’ transition into university life. Awareness of the mentees’ experiences in the mentoring programme – the successes and challenges – contributes to ongoing planning for successful transition for first‐year students. Also, understanding the mentors’ experiences can contribute to the success of the programme and, more importantly, can lead to strong self efficacy for the mentors. This qualitative study appraises a mentoring programme for first‐year undergraduate students from the mentors’ perspective. The mentors’ experiences, both positive and negative, are discussed and a relational model of mentoring is presented. The results of this inquiry have implications for the development of future mentoring programmes, particularly in terms of mentor recruitment and preparation, if first‐year students are to be effectively oriented and supported in their transition to university study.

Accuracy of external cause-of-injury coding in hospital records

Objective: To appraise the published evidence regarding the accuracy of external cause-of-injury codes in hospital records. Design: Systematic review. Data sources: Electronic databases searched included PubMed, PubMed Central, Medline, CINAHL, Academic Search Elite, Proquest Health and Medical Complete, and Google Scholar. Snowballing strategies were used by searching the bibliographies of retrieved references to identify relevant associated articles. Selection criteria: Studies were included in the review if they assessed the accuracy of external cause-of-injury coding in hospital records via a recoding methodology. Methods: The papers identified through the search were independently screened by two authors for inclusion. Because of heterogeneity between studies, meta-analysis was not performed. Results: Very limited research on the accuracy of external cause coding for injury-related hospitalisation using medical record review and recoding methodologies has been conducted, with only five studies matching the selection criteria. The accuracy of external cause coding using ICD-9-CM ranged from ∼ 64% when exact code agreement was examined to ∼85% when agreement for broader groups of codes was examined. Conclusions: Although broad external cause groupings coded in ICD-9-CM can be used with some confidence, researchers should exercise caution for very specific codes until further research is conducted to validate these data. As all previous studies have been conducted using ICD-9-CM, research is needed to quantify the accuracy of coding using ICD-10-AM, and validate the use of these data for injury surveillance purposes.

The utility and challenges of using ICD codes in child maltreatment research: A review of existing literature

OBJECTIVE The objectives of this article are to explore the extent to which the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) has been used in child abuse research, to describe how the ICD system has been applied, and to assess factors affecting the reliability of ICD coded data in child abuse research. METHODS PubMed, CINAHL, PsychInfo and Google Scholar were searched for peer reviewed articles written since 1989 that used ICD as the classification system to identify cases and research child abuse using health databases. Snowballing strategies were also employed by searching the bibliographies of retrieved references to identify relevant associated articles. The papers identified through the search were independently screened by two authors for inclusion, resulting in 47 studies selected for the review. Due to heterogeneity of studies meta-analysis was not performed. RESULTS This paper highlights both utility and limitations of ICD coded data. ICD codes have been widely used to conduct research into child maltreatment in health data systems. The codes appear to be used primarily to determine child maltreatment patterns within identified diagnoses or to identify child maltreatment cases for research. CONCLUSIONS A significant impediment to the use of ICD codes in child maltreatment research is the under ascertainment of child maltreatment by using coded data alone. This is most clearly identified and, to some degree, quantified, in research where data linkage is used. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The importance of improved child maltreatment identification will assist in identifying risk factors and creating programs that can prevent and treat child maltreatment and assist in meeting reporting obligations under the CRC.

Teaching cause-of-death certification: lessons from international experience.

Background and objective The accuracy of cause-of-death statistics substantially depends on the quality of cause-of-death information in death certificates, primarily completed by medical doctors. Deficiencies in cause-of-death certification have been observed across the world, and over time. Despite educational interventions targeted at improving the quality of death certification, their intended impacts are rarely evaluated. This review aims to provide empirical evidence that could guide the modification of existing educational programmes, or the development of new interventions, which are necessary to improve the capacity of certifiers as well as the quality of cause-of-death certification, and thereby, the quality of mortality statistics. Design A literature review using keywords: death; certification; education/training. Data sources The primary search through PubMed. Reference lists in individual articles from the primary search and also manual searching of other databases such as Google Scholar and OpenDOAR. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Evaluation studies which assessed educational interventions for medical students and doctors on correct completion of death certificates. Results All educational interventions identified in this review improved certain aspects of death certification although the statistical significance of evaluation results varies with the type of intervention: printed educational material alone being the intervention with the least educational impact and interactive workshops being the most effective intervention. Conclusions Pragmatic education on best practice for cause-of-death certification is a basic step to ensure accurate information for each individual case, leading to the production of high quality mortality statistics for epidemiology, public health policy and research. Development of new educational interventions or modification of existing programmes should be based on evidence of the benefits from current and past interventions provided under varying circumstances.

Quality of cause-of-death reporting using ICD-10 drowning codes: a descriptive study of 69 countries

BackgroundThe systematic collection of high-quality mortality data is a prerequisite in designing relevant drowning prevention programmes. This descriptive study aimed to assess the quality (i.e., level of specificity) of cause-of-death reporting using ICD-10 drowning codes across 69 countries.MethodsWorld Health Organization (WHO) mortality data were extracted for analysis. The proportion of unintentional drowning deaths coded as unspecified at the 3-character level (ICD-10 code W74) and for which the place of occurrence was unspecified at the 4th character (.9) were calculated for each country as indicators of the quality of cause-of-death reporting.ResultsIn 32 of the 69 countries studied, the percentage of cases of unintentional drowning coded as unspecified at the 3-character level exceeded 50%, and in 19 countries, this percentage exceeded 80%; in contrast, the percentage was lower than 10% in only 10 countries. In 21 of the 56 countries that report 4-character codes, the percentage of unintentional drowning deaths for which the place of occurrence was unspecified at the 4th character exceeded 50%, and in 15 countries, exceeded 90%; in only 14 countries was this percentage lower than 10%.ConclusionDespite the introduction of more specific subcategories for drowning in the ICD-10, many countries were found to be failing to report sufficiently specific codes in drowning mortality data submitted to the WHO.

Sociometric Stability and the Behavioral Correlates of Peer Acceptance in Early Childhood

ABSTRACT The author presents findings from an Australian study examining the behavioral correlates and stability of social status among preschool-aged children. Using sociometric assessment, the author determined the social status of an initial sample of 187 preschool-aged children (94 boys, 93 girls; M age = 62.4 months, SD age = 4.22 months). The author observed children (N = 70) who were classified as rejected, neglected, or popular. For a total of 25 min during a 3-month period, the author observed children engaging in free play in their preschool centers. Results indicate that children classified as popular were more likely to engage in cooperative play, engage in ongoing connected conversation, and display positive affect, compared with those classified as rejected or neglected. Popular children were less likely than rejected children or neglected children to engage in parallel play, onlooker behavior, or alone-directed behavior. To test for stability and change, the author repeated sociometric interviews 6 months after initial sociometric classification. Results indicate that preschool-aged childrens social status classifications showed a moderate to high rate of stability for those children classified as popular, rejected, or neglected.

Classifying External Causes of Injury: History, Current Approaches, and Future Directions

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is used to categorize diseases, injuries, and external causes of injury, and it is a key epidemiologic tool enabling storage and retrieval of data from health and vital records to produce core international mortality and morbidity statistics. The ICD is updated periodically to ensure the classification system remains current, and work is now under way to develop the next revision, ICD-11. It has been almost 20 years since the last ICD edition was published and over 60 years since the last substantial structural revision of the external causes chapter. Revision of such a critical tool requires transparency and documentation to ensure that changes made to the classification system are recorded comprehensively for future reference. In this paper, the authors provide a history of the development of external causes classification and outline the external cause structure. They discuss approaches to manage ICD-10 deficiencies and outline the ICD-11 revision approach regarding the development of, rationale for, and implications of proposed changes to the chapter. Through improved capture of external cause concepts in ICD-11, a stronger evidence base will be available to inform injury prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and policy initiatives to ultimately contribute to a reduction in injury morbidity and mortality.

Causes of injuries resulting in hospitalisation in Australia: assessing coder agreement on external causes

Objective: To assess extent of coder agreement for external causes of injury using ICD-10-AM for injury-related hospitalisations in Australian public hospitals. Methods: A random sample of 4850 discharges from 2002 to 2004 was obtained from a stratified random sample of 50 hospitals across four states in Australia. On-site medical record reviews were conducted and external cause codes were assigned blinded to the original coded data. Code agreement levels were grouped into the following agreement categories: block level, 3-character level, 4-character level, 5th-character level, and complete code level. Results: At a broad block level, code agreement was found in over 90% of cases for most mechanisms (eg, transport, fall). Percentage disagreement was 26.0% at the 3-character level; agreement for the complete external cause code was 67.6%. For activity codes, the percentage of disagreement at the 3-character level was 7.3% and agreement for the complete activity code was 68.0%. For place of occurrence codes, the percentage of disagreement at the 4-character level was 22.0%; agreement for the complete place code was 75.4%. Conclusions: With 68% agreement for complete codes and 74% agreement for 3-character codes, as well as variability in agreement levels across different code blocks, place and activity codes, researchers need to be aware of the reliability of their specific data of interest when they wish to undertake trend analyses or case selection for specific causes of interest.

The quality of cause-of-injury data: where hospital records fall down.

Objectives: This research identifies the level of specificity of cause‐of‐injury morbidity data in Australia. The research explores reasons for poor‐quality data across different causes‐of‐injury areas, including a lack of clinical documentation and insufficient detail in the classification system.