H. Russell Searight - Böcker

Assessment requirements in universities have become nearly universal. Evaluation efforts typically focus on documenting student and program learning outcomes. Despite being framed as tools for enhancing educational quality, decades of assessment efforts suggest that this goal is not being met. This critique is contextualized within broader social-historical shifts in higher education, pointing out how assessment practices have paralleled trends toward corporatization and heightened administrative oversight. Many assessment professionals adopted methodologies from behavioural science and educational measurement, while neglecting essential measurement principles, resulting in data quality issues. Existing assessment measures often exhibit questionable reliability and validity, undermining their effectiveness. This book suggests that the prevalent summative approach to course objectives may not be the best method for improving instruction or assessing student learning. Alternatives such as research derived from the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and qualitative, formative assessments may yield more meaningful, quality-driven information.

Health and Behavior: A Multidisciplinary Approach recognizes that health is impacted by multiple systems–ranging from the individual to the international. While providing current information in common areas addressed in health psychology such as stress, chronic pain, cigarette smoking and sleep disorders, the book examines cross-cultural dimensions in wellness and health care as well as health communication ranging from clinician and patient to the social marketing models used in public health. The book departs from traditional health psychology and health behavior textbook with its attention to public policy and international dimensions of health care. Topics include an international comparison of health care systems, a history of health care funding in the United States including the Affordable Care Act, the role of Federal Social Security Disability policy in chronic pain management, international medical tourism, and health care disparities in the United States. Each chapter begins with a “conversation” with the author relating the topic to real world problems as well as the student’s life experience.

This text explores family of origin treatment, which looks at patterns and rules in a family which affect interactions within that family. These patterns are then unconsciously utilized throughout a person's life in work and family settings. Examining and understanding these family rules allows an emphasis on cultural diversity. The family is often the basis for ethnic, cultural and religious norms. Examining these norms can help the individuals and their families deal with norms and variations from these norms, when confronting issues such as marriage and intimacy, sexual orientation and religious belief.

This text explores family of origin treatment, which looks at patterns and rules in a family which affect interactions within that family. These patterns are then unconsciously utilized throughout a person's life in work and family settings. Examining and understanding these family rules allows an emphasis on cultural diversity. The family is often the basis for ethnic, cultural and religious norms. Examining these norms can help the individuals and their families deal with norms and variations from these norms, when confronting issues such as marriage and intimacy, sexual orientation and religious belief.

This book provides an up-to-date description of cross-cultural aspects of end-of-life decision-making. The work places this discussion in the context of developments in the United States such as the emphasis on patient informed consent, “right to die” legal cases, and the federal Patient Self-Determination Act. With the globalization of health care and increased immigration from developing to developed countries, health care professionals are experiencing unique challenges in communicating with seriously ill patients and their families about treatment options as well as counselling all patients about advance medical care planning. While many Western countries emphasize individual autonomy and patient-centered decision-making, cultures with a greater collectivist orientation have, historically, often protected patients from negative health information and emphasized family-centered decision-making. In order to place these issues in context, the history of informed consent in medicineis reviewed. Additionally, cross-cultural issues in health care decision-making are analysed from the perspective of multiple philosophical theories including deontology, utilitarianism, virtues, principlism, and communitarian ethics.  This book is a valuable addition to courses on end-of-life care, death and dying, cross-cultural health, medical anthropology, and medical ethics and an indispensable guide for healthcare workers dealing with patients coming from various cultural backgrounds.

Internationally, marginalized populations, including indigenous people, refugees fleeing both war and the effects of climate change and people-of-color, have borne a disproportionate share of serious COVID 19 illnesses and deaths.

Internationally, marginalized populations, including indigenous people, refugees fleeing both war and the effects of climate change and people-of-color, have borne a disproportionate share of serious COVID 19 illnesses and deaths.