Sunha Kim

Predictors of caregiver burden in caregivers of individuals with dementia.

AIMS This article is a report on a study of the multidimensional predictors of caregiver burden in caregivers of individuals with dementia using nationally representative data. BACKGROUND Caregiver burden affects the health of both caregivers and their care-recipients. Although previous studies identified various predictors of caregiver burden, these predictors have not been confirmed in nationally representative population. METHODS Data for this secondary analysis was provided by the National Alliance for Caregiving, American Association of Retired Persons. The data were collected through a telephone survey of randomly selected adults in seven states in 2003 (weight adjusted n = 302). Descriptive statistics, inter-correlation analysis and a hierarchical multiple regression analysis were performed. RESULTS/FINDINGS Disease-related factors were the most significant predictors, explaining 16% of caregiver burden; these were followed by caregiver socio-demographical factors and caregiving-related factors (F = 21·28, P < 0·01). Significant individual predictors were impairment of activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living, the number of hours of caregiving, use of coping strategies, co-residence, spousal status and caregiver gender (P < 0·05). CONCLUSION Impaired function in care-recipients predicts caregiver burden, and also interacts with demographical- and caregiving-related factors. Thus, it will be beneficial to both care-recipients and caregivers to target nursing interventions and community services to improve the functional abilities of individuals with dementia.

Does Computer Use Promote the Mathematical Proficiency of ELL Students

The study explored the effects of computer use on the mathematical performance of students with special attention to ELL students. To achieve a high generalizability of findings, the study used a U.S. nationally representative database, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), and adopted proper weights. The study conducted both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to examine the direct and longitudinal effects of three types of computer use: home computer access, computer use for various purposes, and computer use for math. The study found positive effects of home computer access and computer use for various purposes for English-speaking groups. It is important to note that computer use for math was associated with a reduced gap in math achievement between native English-speaking and ELL students. In particular, when Hispanic and Asian students frequently used computers for math, they showed high math performances when compared with their English-speaking counterparts.

Computer Access and Computer Use for Science Performance of Racial and Linguistic Minority Students

This study examined the effects of computer access and computer use on the science achievement of elementary school students, with focused attention on the effects for racial and linguistic minority students. The study used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) database and conducted statistical analyses with proper weights and design-effect adjustments. After controlling for age, gender, prior science performance, and family socioeconomic level, the effects of computer access and computer use on English Language Learners (ELL) and on English-speaking students were examined and compared by subdividing the participants into four racial groups: Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian. The results revealed that access to home computers and purposeful computer use had positive effects on the science performance of English-speaking students. In contrast, mere frequent computer use by English-speaking students yielded negative effects. Home computer access for ELL students indicated negative effects, especially for Hispanic ELL students. Frequent computer use also indicated negative effects for African-American and Hispanic English-speaking students, and for Asian ELL students. These results enhance our understanding of computer use in regard to science learning, and provide implications for future practice.

Differential effects of learning games on mathematics proficiency

This study examined the effects of a learning game, [The Math App] on the mathematics proficiency of middle school students. For the study, researchers recruited 306 students, Grades 6–8, from two schools in rural southwest Virginia. Over a nine-week period, [The Math App] was deployed as an intervention for investigation. Students were assigned to game intervention treatment, and paper-and-pencil control conditions. For the game intervention condition, students learned fractions concepts by playing [The Math App]. In the analysis, students’ mathematical proficiency levels prior to the intervention were taken into account. Results indicate that students in the game intervention group showed higher mathematics proficiency than those in the paper-and-pencil group. Particularly, the significantly higher performances of intervention groups were noted among 7th graders and inclusion groups. The empirically derived results of the reported study could contribute to the field of educational video game research, which has not reached a consensus on the effects of games on students’ mathematics performance in classroom settings.

The effects of an educational video game on mathematical engagement

In an effort to maximizing success in mathematics, our research team implemented an educational video game in fifth grade mathematics classrooms in five schools in the Eastern US. The educational game was developed by our multi-disciplinary research team to achieve a hypothetical learning trajectory of mathematical thinking of 5th grade students. In this study, we examined overall engagement and three sub-domains of engagement as outcome variables after ten sessions of treatment with fifth grade students. The results showed that both male and female the video game group had slight increases in all engagement levels while students, particularly male, in the paper-and-pencil drill group displayed large decreases in all engagement levels. Implications of the study are 1) more fine-grained evidence of engagement in three sub-domains after implementing an educational video game, and 2) a consideration of gender differences in engagement levels in mathematics in the adoption of a video games.

School Involvement of Parents of Linguistic and Racial Minorities and Their Children's Mathematics Performance.

The goal of the study was to provide empirical findings on the effects of different types of parents’ school involvement (PSI) on their childrens mathematics performance. For PSI, we explored parent participation in parent–teacher conferences, voluntary parental involvement in school activities, parent informal contact with school or teachers, and parental phone contact with school or teachers. In addition, we paid focused attention to families of linguistic and racial minority groups who may have different dynamics of PSI for childrens schooling and academic achievement. We conducted comprehensive descriptive statistics and multilevel longitudinal modelling using a nationally representative database, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K), to establish study conclusions with high validity and generalizability. The results showed that four different types of PSI had differential effects for different linguistic and racial groups. The study findings have practical suggestions and implications for educational researchers and practitioners.

ICT for Children of Immigrants: Indirect and Total Effects via Self-Efficacy on Math Performance

This study compared the direct, indirect, and total effects of information, communication, and technology (ICT) variables on math achievement for second-generation immigrant, first-generation immigrant, and nonimmigrant students. A path model was used to analyze U.S. nationally representative data from the Program for International Student Assessment to examine the effects of ICT access and computer use for schoolwork practice and for programming, with self-efficacy as a mediator. The results indicate that second-generation students with two foreign-born parents demonstrated significantly lower mathematics performance than nonimmigrant students. However, the first-generation students did not show any difference from nonimmigrant students. ICT access had significantly positive effects for all three groups, while computer use for schoolwork practice showed overall negative effects. Importantly, computer use for programming showed a differential effect across the three groups, with positive indirect and total effects for second-generation students but overall negative effects for the first-generation and nonimmigrant students.

Survival analysis for Hispanic ELL students’ access to postsecondary schools: discrete model or Cox regression?

ABSTRACT Survival analysis is an advanced statistical method to investigate the occurrence and the timing of an important event such as school access, dropout, and graduation in a longitudinal framework. The aim of our study is to provide practical guidelines for empirical researchers in choosing an appropriate survival analysis model. For this goal, this study chose two major survival analytical models of a discrete-time hazard model and a Cox regression model and compared analytical outcomes considering time metrics, as well as sample sizes and censoring proportions. In the analytical model, the combined specifications of varying factors using two models were adopted to analyse the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002. We chose the college access of Hispanic English Language Learners to understand the importance of adopting a proper survival model to examine the educational outcome in the educational context. Importantly, we considered the hazard probability for the target event in the model specification which is a fundamental yet often neglected component of survival analysis. We recommended discrete models for the cases with a smaller number of time points, larger time metrics, larger sample size, and smaller proportions of censored observations.