%0 Book %A National Research Council %T Technology and Assessment: Thinking Ahead: Proceedings from a Workshop %@ 978-0-309-08320-1 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10297/technology-and-assessment-thinking-ahead-proceedings-from-a-workshop %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10297/technology-and-assessment-thinking-ahead-proceedings-from-a-workshop %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Engineering and Technology %K Education %P 104 %X The papers in this collection were commissioned by the Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA) of the National Research Council (NRC) for a workshop held on November 14, 2001, with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Goals for the workshop were twofold. One was to share the major messages of the recently released NRC committee report, Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment (2001), which synthesizes advances in the cognitive sciences and methods of measurement, and considers their implications for improving educational assessment. The second goal was to delve more deeply into one of the major themes of that report-the role that technology could play in bringing those advances together, which is the focus of these papers. For the workshop, selected researchers working in the intersection of technology and assessment were asked to write about some of the challenges and opportunities for more fully capitalizing on the power of information technologies to improve assessment, to illustrate those issues with examples from their own research, and to identify priorities for research and development in this area. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Hilton, Margaret %T Enhancing Undergraduate Learning with Information Technology: A Workshop Summary %@ 978-0-309-08278-5 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10270/enhancing-undergraduate-learning-with-information-technology-a-workshop-summary %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10270/enhancing-undergraduate-learning-with-information-technology-a-workshop-summary %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Education %P 110 %X Enhancing Undergraduate Learning with Information Technology reports on a meeting of scientists, policy makers, and researchers convened to discuss new approaches to undergraduate science, mathematics, and technology education. The goal of the workshop was to inform workshop participants and the public about issues surrounding the use of information technology in education. To reach this goal, the workshop participants paid particular attention to the following issues: What educational technologies currently exist and how they are being used to transform undergraduate science, engineering, mathematics, and technology education; What is known about the potential future impact of information technology on teaching and learning at the undergraduate level; How to evaluate the impact of information technology on teaching and learning; and What the future might hold. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Kilpatrick, Jeremy %E Swafford, Jane %T Helping Children Learn Mathematics %@ 978-0-309-08431-4 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10434/helping-children-learn-mathematics %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10434/helping-children-learn-mathematics %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Education %P 52 %X Results from national and international assessments indicate that school children in the United States are not learning mathematics well enough. Many students cannot correctly apply computational algorithms to solve problems. Their understanding and use of decimals and fractions are especially weak. Indeed, helping all children succeed in mathematics is an imperative national goal. However, for our youth to succeed, we need to change how we’re teaching this discipline. Helping Children Learn Mathematics provides comprehensive and reliable information that will guide efforts to improve school mathematics from pre--kindergarten through eighth grade. The authors explain the five strands of mathematical proficiency and discuss the major changes that need to be made in mathematics instruction, instructional materials, assessments, teacher education, and the broader educational system and answers some of the frequently asked questions when it comes to mathematics instruction. The book concludes by providing recommended actions for parents and caregivers, teachers, administrators, and policy makers, stressing the importance that everyone work together to ensure a mathematically literate society. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Kent, Stephen T. %E Millett, Lynette I. %T IDs -- Not That Easy: Questions About Nationwide Identity Systems %@ 978-0-309-08430-7 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10346/ids-not-that-easy-questions-about-nationwide-identity-systems %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10346/ids-not-that-easy-questions-about-nationwide-identity-systems %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Computers and Information Technology %P 74 %X IDs—Not That Easy highlights some of the challenging policy, procedural, and technological issues presented by nationwide identity systems. In the wake of the events of September 11, 2001, nationwide identity systems have been proposed to better track the movement of suspected terrorists. However, questions arise as to who would use the system and how, if participation would be mandatory, the type of data that would be collected, and the legal structures needed to protect privacy. The committee’s goal is to foster a broad and deliberate discussion among policy-makers and the public about the form of nationwide identity system that might be created, and whether such a system is desirable or feasible. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Graham, Patricia Albjerg %E Stacey, Nevzer G. %T The Knowledge Economy and Postsecondary Education: Report of a Workshop %@ 978-0-309-08292-1 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10239/the-knowledge-economy-and-postsecondary-education-report-of-a-workshop %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10239/the-knowledge-economy-and-postsecondary-education-report-of-a-workshop %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Education %K Industry and Labor %P 216 %X The Workshop on the Knowledge Economy and Postsecondary Education documents changes seen in the postsecondary education system. In her report Lisa Hudson focuses on who is participating in postsecondary education; Tom Bailey concentrates on community colleges as the most responsive institutions to employer needs; Carol Twigg surveys the ways that four-year institutions are attempting to modify their curricular offerings and pedagogy to adapt those that will be more useful; and Brian Pusser emphasizes the public’s broader interests in higher education and challenges the acceptance of the primacy of job preparation for the individual and of "market" metaphors as an appropriate descriptor of American higher education. An example of a for-profit company providing necessary instruction for workers is also examined. Richard Murnane, Nancy Sharkey, and Frank Levy investigate the experience of Cisco high school and community college students need to testify to their information technology skills to earn certificates. Finally, John Bransford, Nancy Vye, and Helen Bateman address the ways learning occurs and how these can be encouraged, particularly in cyberspace. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Reschly, Daniel J. %E Myers, Tracy G. %E Hartel, Christine R. %T Mental Retardation: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits %@ 978-0-309-08323-2 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10295/mental-retardation-determining-eligibility-for-social-security-benefits %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10295/mental-retardation-determining-eligibility-for-social-security-benefits %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 350 %X Current estimates suggest that between one and three percent of people living in the United States will receive a diagnosis of mental retardation. Mental retardation, a condition characterized by deficits in intellectual capabilities and adaptive behavior, can be particularly hard to diagnose in the mild range of the disability. The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) provides income support and medical benefits to individuals with cognitive limitations who experience significant problems in their ability to perform work and may therefore be in need of governmental support. Addressing the concern that SSA’s current procedures are consistent with current scientific and professional practices, this book evaluates the process used by SSA to determine eligibility for these benefits. It examines the adequacy of the SSA definition of mental retardation and its current procedures for assessing intellectual capabilities, discusses adaptive behavior and its assessment, advises on ways to combine intellectual and adaptive assessment to provide a complete profile of an individual's capabilities, and clarifies ways to differentiate mental retardation from other conditions. %0 Book %A Institute of Medicine %A National Research Council %E Wunderlich, Gooloo S. %E Rice, Dorothy P. %E Amado, Nicole L. %T The Dynamics of Disability: Measuring and Monitoring Disability for Social Security Programs %@ 978-0-309-08419-2 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10411/the-dynamics-of-disability-measuring-and-monitoring-disability-for-social %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10411/the-dynamics-of-disability-measuring-and-monitoring-disability-for-social %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Health and Medicine %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Surveys and Statistics %P 368 %X The Society Security disability program faces urgent challenges: more people receiving benefits than ever before, the prospect of even more claimants as baby boomers age, changing attitudes culminating in the Americans With Disabilities Act. Disability is now understood as a dynamic process, and Social Security must comprehend that process to plan adequately for the times ahead. The Dynamics of Disability provides expert analysis and recommendations in key areas: Understanding the current social, economic, and physical environmental factors in determining eligibility for disability benefits. Developing and implementing a monitoring system to measure and track trends in work disability. Improving the process for making decisions on disability claims. Building Social Security's capacity for conducting needed research. This book provides a wealth of detail on the workings of the Social Security disability program, recent and emerging disability trends, issues and previous experience in researching disability, and more. It will be of primary interest to federal policy makers, the Congress, and researchers—and it will be useful to state disability officials, medical and rehabilitation professionals, and the disability community. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Porter, Andrew C. %E Gamoran, Adam %T Methodological Advances in Cross-National Surveys of Educational Achievement %@ 978-0-309-08333-1 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10322/methodological-advances-in-cross-national-surveys-of-educational-achievement %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10322/methodological-advances-in-cross-national-surveys-of-educational-achievement %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Education %P 384 %X In November 2000, the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (BICSE) held a symposium to draw on the wealth of experience gathered over a four--decade period, to evaluate improvement in the quality of the methodologies used in international studies, and to identify the most pressing methodological issues that remain to be solved. Since 1960, the United States has participated in 15 large--scale cross--national education surveys. The most assessed subjects have been science and mathematics through reading comprehension, geography, nonverbal reasoning, literature, French, English as a foreign language, civic education, history, computers in education, primary education, and second--language acquisition. The papers prepared for this symposium and discussions of those papers make up the volume, representing the most up--to--date and comprehensive assessment of methodological strengths and weaknesses of international comparative studies of student achievement. These papers answer the following questions: (1) What is the methodological quality of the most recent international surveys of student achievement? How authoritative are the results? (2) Has the methodological quality of international achievement studies improved over the past 40 years? and (3) What are promising opportunities for future improvement? %0 Book %A Institute of Medicine %A National Research Council %T Integrity in Scientific Research: Creating an Environment That Promotes Responsible Conduct %@ 978-0-309-08479-6 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10430/integrity-in-scientific-research-creating-an-environment-that-promotes-responsible %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10430/integrity-in-scientific-research-creating-an-environment-that-promotes-responsible %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Policy for Science and Technology %K Education %P 216 %X "Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character."—Albert Einstein Integrity in Scientific Research attempts to define and describe those elements that encourage individuals involved with scientific research to act with integrity. Recognizing the inconsistency of human behavior, it stresses the important role that research institutions play in providing an integrity—rich environment, citing the need for institutions to provide staff with training and education, policies and procedures, and tools and support systems. It identifies practices that characterize integrity in such areas as peer review and research on human subjects and weighs the strengths and limitations of self—evaluation efforts by these institutions. In addition, it details an approach to promoting integrity during the education of researchers, including how to develop an effective curriculum. Providing a framework for research and educational institutions, this important book will be essential for anyone concerned about ethics in the scientific community. %0 Book %E Peat, F. David %T From Certainty to Uncertainty: The Story of Science and Ideas in the Twentieth Century %@ 978-0-309-17021-5 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10248/from-certainty-to-uncertainty-the-story-of-science-and-ideas %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10248/from-certainty-to-uncertainty-the-story-of-science-and-ideas %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Explore Science %K Biography and Autobiography %P 246 %X Early theorists believed that in science lay the promise of certainty. Built on a foundation of fact and constructed with objective and trustworthy tools, science produced knowledge. But science has also shown us that this knowledge will always be fundamentally incomplete and that a true understanding of the world is ultimately beyond our grasp. In this thoughtful and compelling book, physicist F. David Peat examines the basic philosophic difference between the certainty that characterized the thinking of humankind through the nineteenth century and contrasts it with the startling fall of certainty in the twentieth. The nineteenth century was marked by a boundless optimism and confidence in the power of progress and technology. Science and philosophy were on firm ground. Newtonian physics showed that the universe was a gigantic clockwork mechanism that functioned according to rigid laws—that its course could be predicted with total confidence far into the future. Indeed, in 1900, the President of the Royal Society in Britain went so far as to proclaim that everything of importance had already been discovered by science. But it was not long before the seeds of a scientific revolution began to take root. Quantum Theory and the General Theory of Relativity exploded the clockwork universe, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that our knowledge was, at best, incomplete—and would probably remain that way forever. There were places in the universe, such as black holes, from which no information at all could ever be obtained. Chaos Theory also demonstrated our inherent limits to knowing, predicting, and controlling the world around us and showed the way that chaos can often be found at the heart of natural and social systems. Although we may not always recognize it, this new world view has had a profound effect not only on science, but on art, literature, philosophy, and societal relations. The twenty-first century now begins with a humble acceptance of uncertainty. From Certainty to Uncertainty traces the rise and fall of the deterministic universe and shows the evolving influences that such disparate disciplines now have on one another. Drawing on the lessons we can learn from history, Peat also speculates on how we will manage our lives into the future. %0 Book %A Institute of Medicine %E Goldsmith, S. K. %E Pellmar, T. C. %E Kleinman, A. M. %E Bunney, W. E. %T Reducing Suicide: A National Imperative %@ 978-0-309-08321-8 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10398/reducing-suicide-a-national-imperative %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10398/reducing-suicide-a-national-imperative %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Health and Medicine %P 512 %X Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people’s experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person’s risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners’ ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health. %0 Book %E Hoddeson, Lillian %E Daitch, Vicki %T True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen: The Only Winner of Two Nobel Prizes in Physics %@ 978-0-309-09511-2 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10372/true-genius-the-life-and-science-of-john-bardeen-the %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10372/true-genius-the-life-and-science-of-john-bardeen-the %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Explore Science %K Biography and Autobiography %P 488 %X What is genius? Define it. Now think of scientists who embody the concept of genius. Does the name John Bardeen spring to mind? Indeed, have you ever heard of him? Like so much in modern life, immediate name recognition often rests on a cult of personality. We know Einstein, for example, not just for his tremendous contributions to science, but also because he was a character, who loved to mug for the camera. And our continuing fascination with Richard Feynman is not exclusively based on his body of work; it is in large measure tied to his flamboyant nature and offbeat sense of humor. These men, and their outsize personalities, have come to erroneously symbolize the true nature of genius and creativity. We picture them born brilliant, instantly larger than life. But is that an accurate picture of genius? What of others who are equal in stature to these icons of science, but whom history has awarded only a nod because they did not readily engage the public? Could a person qualify as a bona fide genius if he was a regular Joe? The answer may rest in the story of John Bardeen. John Bardeen was the first person to have been awarded two Nobel Prizes in the same field. He shared one with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for the invention of the transistor. But it was the charismatic Shockley who garnered all the attention, primarily for his Hollywood ways and notorious views on race and intelligence. Bardeen's second Nobel Prize was awarded for the development of a theory of superconductivity, a feat that had eluded the best efforts of leading theorists -- including Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Richard Feynman. Arguably, Bardeen's work changed the world in more ways than that of any other scientific genius of his time. Yet while every school child knows of Einstein, few people have heard of John Bardeen. Why is this the case? Perhaps because Bardeen differs radically from the popular stereotype of genius. He was a modest, mumbling Midwesterner, an ordinary person who worked hard and had a knack for physics and mathematics. He liked to picnic with his family, collaborate quietly with colleagues, or play a round of golf. None of that was newsworthy, so the media, and consequently the public, ignored him. John Bardeen simply fits a new profile of genius. Through an exploration of his science as well as his life, a fresh and thoroughly engaging portrait of genius and the nature of creativity emerges. This perspective will have readers looking anew at what it truly means to be a genius. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Ploeg, Michele Ver %E Moffitt, Robert A. %E Citro, Constance F. %T Studies of Welfare Populations: Data Collection and Research Issues %@ 978-0-309-07623-4 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10206/studies-of-welfare-populations-data-collection-and-research-issues %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10206/studies-of-welfare-populations-data-collection-and-research-issues %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 537 %X This volume, a companion to Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition, is a collection of papers on data collection issues for welfare and low-income populations. The papers on survey issues cover methods for designing surveys taking into account nonresponse in advance, obtaining high response rates in telephone surveys, obtaining high response rates in in-person surveys, the effects of incentive payments, methods for adjusting for missing data in surveys of low-income populations, and measurement error issues in surveys, with a special focus on recall error. The papers on administrative data cover the issues of matching and cleaning, access and confidentiality, problems in measuring employment and income, and the availability of data on children. The papers on welfare leavers and welfare dynamics cover a comparison of existing welfare leaver studies, data from the state of Wisconsin on welfare leavers, and data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth used to construct measures of heterogeneity in the welfare population based on the recipient's own welfare experience. A final paper discusses qualitative data. %0 Book %A Institute of Medicine %E Cohn, Felicia %E Salmon, Marla E. %E Stobo, John D. %T Confronting Chronic Neglect: The Education and Training of Health Professionals on Family Violence %@ 978-0-309-07431-5 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10127/confronting-chronic-neglect-the-education-and-training-of-health-professionals %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10127/confronting-chronic-neglect-the-education-and-training-of-health-professionals %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 368 %X As many as 20 to 25 percent of American adults—or one in every four people—have been victimized by, witnesses of, or perpetrators of family violence in their lifetimes. Family violence affects more people than cancer, yet it's an issue that receives far less attention. Surprisingly, many assume that health professionals are deliberately turning a blind eye to this traumatic social problem. The fact is, very little is being done to educate health professionals about family violence. Health professionals are often the first to encounter victims of abuse and neglect, and therefore they play a critical role in ensuring that victims—as well as perpetrators—get the help they need. Yet, despite their critical role, studies continue to describe a lack of education for health professionals about how to identify and treat family violence. And those that have been trained often say that, despite their education, they feel ill-equipped or lack support from by their employers to deal with a family violence victim, sometimes resulting in a failure to screen for abuse during a clinical encounter. Equally problematic, the few curricula in existence often lack systematic and rigorous evaluation. This makes it difficult to say whether or not the existing curricula even works. Confronting Chronic Neglect offers recommendations, such as creating education and research centers, that would help raise awareness of the problem on all levels. In addition, it recommends ways to involve health care professionals in taking some responsibility for responding to this difficult and devastating issue. Perhaps even more importantly, Confronting Chronic Neglect encourages society as a whole to share responsibility. Health professionals alone cannot solve this complex problem. Responding to victims of family violence and ultimately preventing its occurrence is a societal responsibility %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Schultze, Charles L. %E Mackie, Christopher %T At What Price?: Conceptualizing and Measuring Cost-of-Living and Price Indexes %@ 978-0-309-07442-1 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10131/at-what-price-conceptualizing-and-measuring-cost-of-living-and %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10131/at-what-price-conceptualizing-and-measuring-cost-of-living-and %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Industry and Labor %P 348 %X How well does the consumer price index (CPI) reflect the changes that people actually face in living costs—from apples to computers to health care? Given how it is used, is it desirable to construct the CPI as a cost-of-living index (COLI)? With what level of accuracy is it possible to construct a single index that represents changes in the living costs of the nation's diverse population? At What Price? examines the foundations for consumer price indexes, comparing the conceptual and practical strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of traditional "fixed basket" and COLI approaches. The book delves into a range of complex issues, from how to deal with the changing quality of goods and services, including difficult-to-define medical services, to how to weight the expenditure patterns of different consumers. It sorts through the key attributes and underlying assumptions that define each index type in order to answer the question: Should a COLI framework be used in constructing the U.S. CPI? In answering this question, the book makes recommendations as to how the Bureau of Labor Statistics can continue to improve the accuracy and relevance of the CPI. With conclusions that could affect the amount of your next pay raise, At What Price? is important to everyone, and a must-read for policy makers, researchers, and employers. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Gollub, Jerry P. %E Bertenthal, Meryl W. %E Labov, Jay B. %E Curtis, Philip C. %T Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U.S. High Schools %@ 978-0-309-07440-7 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10129/learning-and-understanding-improving-advanced-study-of-mathematics-and-science %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10129/learning-and-understanding-improving-advanced-study-of-mathematics-and-science %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Education %P 588 %X This book takes a fresh look at programs for advanced studies for high school students in the United States, with a particular focus on the Advanced Placement and the International Baccalaureate programs, and asks how advanced studies can be significantly improved in general. It also examines two of the core issues surrounding these programs: they can have a profound impact on other components of the education system and participation in the programs has become key to admission at selective institutions of higher education. By looking at what could enhance the quality of high school advanced study programs as well as what precedes and comes after these programs, this report provides teachers, parents, curriculum developers, administrators, college science and mathematics faculty, and the educational research community with a detailed assessment that can be used to guide change within advanced study programs. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Ready, Timothy %E Edley, Christopher, Jr. %E Snow, Catherine E. %T Achieving High Educational Standards for All: Conference Summary %@ 978-0-309-08303-4 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10256/achieving-high-educational-standards-for-all-conference-summary %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10256/achieving-high-educational-standards-for-all-conference-summary %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Education %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %P 300 %X This volume summarizes a range of scientific perspectives on the important goal of achieving high educational standards for all students. Based on a conference held at the request of the U.S. Department of Education, it addresses three questions: What progress has been made in advancing the education of minority and disadvantaged students since the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision nearly 50 years ago? What does research say about the reasons of successes and failures? What are some of the strategies and practices that hold the promise of producing continued improvements? The volume draws on the conclusions of a number of important recent NRC reports, including How People Learn, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, Eager to Learn, and From Neurons to Neighborhoods, among others. It includes an overview of the conference presentations and discussions, the perspectives of the two co-moderators, and a set of background papers on more detailed issues. %0 Book %A Institute of Medicine %T Speaking of Health: Assessing Health Communication Strategies for Diverse Populations %@ 978-0-309-11061-7 %D 2002 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10018/speaking-of-health-assessing-health-communication-strategies-for-diverse-populations %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10018/speaking-of-health-assessing-health-communication-strategies-for-diverse-populations %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Health and Medicine %P 376 %X We are what we eat. That old expression seems particularly poignant every time we have our blood drawn for a routine physical to check our cholesterol levels. And, it's not just what we eat that affects our health. Whole ranges of behaviors ultimately make a difference in how we feel and how we maintain our health. Lifestyle choices have enormous impact on our health and well being. But, how do we communicate the language of good health so that it is uniformly received-and accepted-by people from different cultures and backgrounds? Take, for example, the case of a 66 year old Latina. She has been told by her doctor that she should have a mammogram. But her sense of fatalism tells her that it is better not to know if anything is wrong. To know that something is wrong will cause her distress and this may well lead to even more health problems. Before she leaves her doctor's office she has decided not to have a mammogram-that is until her doctor points out that having a mammogram is a way to take care of herself so that she can continue to take care of her family. In this way, the decision to have a mammogram feels like a positive step. Public health communicators and health professionals face dilemmas like this every day. Speaking of Health looks at the challenges of delivering important messages to different audiences. Using case studies in the areas of diabetes, mammography, and mass communication campaigns, it examines the ways in which messages must be adapted to the unique informational needs of their audiences if they are to have any real impact. Speaking of Health looks at basic theories of communication and behavior change and focuses on where they apply and where they don't. By suggesting creative strategies and guidelines for speaking to diverse audiences now and in the future, the Institute of Medicine seeks to take health communication into the 21st century. In an age where we are inundated by multiple messages every day, this book will be a critical tool for all who are interested in communicating with diverse communities about health issues.