Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Oral assessment'

This thesis examines the experience of oral assessment in post-compulsory education from the student's perspective. A considerable literature has developed over the past three decades describing and analysing how students experience various aspects of learning, including various forms of assessment. Until recently, none of this literature has addressed how students experience oral assessment, and recent studies that have done so are limited in their scope and methodology - it would be true to say that very little is known about oral assessment from the student's perspective. The starting point for the consideration of oral assessment is the existing literature on oral assessment, nearly all of which has been written from the teacher's perspective. A survey of this literature identified six dimensions of oral assessment - primary content types; interaction; authenticity; structure; examiners; and orality. It is suggested that these dimensions can lead to a clearer understanding of the nature of oral assessment, a clearer differentiation of the various forms within this type of assessment, a better capacity to describe and analyse these forms, and a better understanding of how the various dimensions of oral assessment may interact with other elements of teaching and learning. Students' experiences of oral assessment were then explored through interviews with fifteen students in a post-compulsory certificate in theology. The interviews and the analysis of the interview transcripts were strongly informed by the phenomenographic methods and conceptual framework developed by Marton and others for describing variations in how phenomena are experienced. Six aspects of students' experience of oral assessment were identified - the indirect object of learning; the direct object of learning; interaction; audience; affective responses; and comparisons with written assignments - and variations in how these aspects could be experienced are described. Relationships between these aspects suggested three contrasting conceptions of oral assessment. The conception of oral assessment as 'presentation' represents an approach to oral assessment that focuses on reproducing the ideas of others in a one-way presentation. This conception is associated with a limited sense of audience, a failure to perceive interaction as significant, and an absence of anxiety. In this case, oral assessment is seen as either similar to written assignments, or as being a more limited form of assessment than assignments. The conception of oral assessment as 'understanding' is associated with students actively seeking to develop their understanding of the subject, making the ideas they encounter their own, being challenged to understand these ideas because of the questioning involved in the assessment process, and seeing oral assessment as having some advantages over written assessment. The conception of oral assessment as 'a position to be argued' is associated with a seeing theology in terms of developing one's own point of view, having a strong sense of audience, seeing interaction with that audience as both challenging and demanding understanding, and experiencing a heightened self-awareness. In this case, oral assessment is seen as a significantly richer and more personally engaging form of assessment than written assignments. The study of oral assessment from the student's perspective extends the dimensions of oral assessment described earlier and challenges our understanding of these dimensions. The study has significant implications for teachers using oral assessment and for students who are being assessed orally, including the challenge of helping students develop more complex conceptions of oral assessment. The study also provides the basis for further research into specific aspect of oral assessment and its application in different contexts.

This thesis examines the experience of oral assessment in post-compulsory education from the student's perspective. A considerable literature has developed over the past three decades describing and analysing how students experience various aspects of learning, including various forms of assessment. Until recently, none of this literature has addressed how students experience oral assessment, and recent studies that have done so are limited in their scope and methodology - it would be true to say that very little is known about oral assessment from the student's perspective. The starting point for the consideration of oral assessment is the existing literature on oral assessment, nearly all of which has been written from the teacher's perspective. A survey of this literature identified six dimensions of oral assessment - primary content types; interaction; authenticity; structure; examiners; and orality. It is suggested that these dimensions can lead to a clearer understanding of the nature of oral assessment, a clearer differentiation of the various forms within this type of assessment, a better capacity to describe and analyse these forms, and a better understanding of how the various dimensions of oral assessment may interact with other elements of teaching and learning. Students' experiences of oral assessment were then explored through interviews with fifteen students in a post-compulsory certificate in theology. The interviews and the analysis of the interview transcripts were strongly informed by the phenomenographic methods and conceptual framework developed by Marton and others for describing variations in how phenomena are experienced. Six aspects of students' experience of oral assessment were identified - the indirect object of learning; the direct object of learning; interaction; audience; affective responses; and comparisons with written assignments - and variations in how these aspects could be experienced are described. Relationships between these aspects suggested three contrasting conceptions of oral assessment. The conception of oral assessment as 'presentation' represents an approach to oral assessment that focuses on reproducing the ideas of others in a one-way presentation. This conception is associated with a limited sense of audience, a failure to perceive interaction as significant, and an absence of anxiety. In this case, oral assessment is seen as either similar to written assignments, or as being a more limited form of assessment than assignments. The conception of oral assessment as 'understanding' is associated with students actively seeking to develop their understanding of the subject, making the ideas they encounter their own, being challenged to understand these ideas because of the questioning involved in the assessment process, and seeing oral assessment as having some advantages over written assessment. The conception of oral assessment as 'a position to be argued' is associated with a seeing theology in terms of developing one's own point of view, having a strong sense of audience, seeing interaction with that audience as both challenging and demanding understanding, and experiencing a heightened self-awareness. In this case, oral assessment is seen as a significantly richer and more personally engaging form of assessment than written assignments. The study of oral assessment from the student's perspective extends the dimensions of oral assessment described earlier and challenges our understanding of these dimensions. The study has significant implications for teachers using oral assessment and for students who are being assessed orally, including the challenge of helping students develop more complex conceptions of oral assessment. The study also provides the basis for further research into specific aspect of oral assessment and its application in different contexts.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Vocational, Technology and Arts Education
Full Text

This is a descriptive ethnographical study with the purpose of examining teachers’ and students’ experiences of oral examination at a State Pedagogical University in western Russia. The study also focused on finding the characteristics of oral examination and the contextual factors influencing its implementation. The research was done using participatory observations and interviews. The results show that interviewees experience oral assessment in general as positive. Their descriptions are summarised and analysed using a number of key concepts, of which flexibility, subjectivity, individualisation, and fairness are the most important. The study also shows that contextual factors such as culture, traditions, and organisational framework have large impact on how the examination is done. The conclusion is that oral examination has both gins and losses, since the teacher’s active participation creates possibilities for individualisation and deep probing of the students’ knowledge, but is also a source of bias because of its subjectivity.

Bakgrund: Munnen kan inte ses som separat från resten av kroppen eftersom munhälsan påverkar den generella hälsan. Syfte: Syftet var att belysa betydelsen av användandet av munbedömningsinstrument för vårdpersonalen. Metod: Allmän litteraturstudie. Resultat: Genom en innehållsanalys framkom de två subkategorierna; Ger möjlighet att upptäcka och Tydliggör fortsatt behov av munbedömning. Dessa ledde till kategorin; Munbedömningsinstrumentet ger struktur. Diskussion: Genom att göra en munbedömning på patienten kan vårdpersonalen lindra/förebygga lidande eftersom munhälsoproblem upptäcks och kan åtgärdas. All vårdpersonal måste förstå varför munvård och munbedömningar är viktigt och munbedömningsinstrument behöver vara tillförlitligt och lättanvänt. Rutiner måste finnas i varje vårdverksamhet, ett munbedömningsinstrument bör väljas ut med omsorg och anpassas till verksamheten.Konklusion: Användandet av ett munbedömningsinstrument kan leda till ökad struktur i vårdpersonalens munvårdsarbete.
Background: Since oral health has an influence on general health, the mouth can’t be viewed as separate from the rest of the body. Aim: To highlight the importance the use of an oral assessment tool has for the nursing staff. Method: A literature review. Result: Through analysis of the text content two subcategories emerged; Gives possibility to detect and Clarifies further need of oral assessment. They led to the category: The oral assessment tool gives structure. Discussion: By performing an oral assessment on the patient, through detection and correction of oral health problems suffering can be reduced/ prevented by the nursing staff. All of the nursing staff must understand why oral care and oral assessments are important and the oral assessment tool needs to be dependable and easy to use. In every type of health organization there needs to be routines for the use of the oral assessment tool, it should be selected with care and adjusted to the organization. Conclusion: The use of an oral assessment tool could lead to an increased structure in the oral care nursing provided by the nursing staff.

El càncer oral és considerat, globalment, un problema de salut pública. Aquest té una taxa de supervivència al cap de 5 anys del 50%, ja que el seu diagnòstic es realitza, en general, en estadis avançats. Pel que fa al seu tractament, normalment, hi participa un equip multidisciplinari per tal de proporcionar una atenció integral als individus que pateixen aquesta malaltia. Actualment, hi ha un nombre considerable de publicacions científiques que suggereixen l’ús de diferents opcions terapèutiques; però, la qualitat d’aquesta evidència es desconeix. Per tant, es requereix una avaluació crítica de l’evidència sobre el diagnòstic i el tractament del càncer oral. Es van realitzar tres estudis independents que utilitzaven diferents dissenys metodològics. Per descriure i avaluar la qualitat de l’evidència científica sobre el diagnòstic i els tractaments per al càncer oral, es va dissenyar i realitzar: i) un estudi de mapatge de l’evidència per tal de descriure l’evidència disponible sobre les principals intervencions terapèutiques per a càncer oral; ii) un estudi d’avaluació critica sistemàtica per determinar la qualitat de guies de pràctica clínica sobre tractaments de càncer oral, i iii) un estudi d’avaluació critica sistemàtica per determinar la qualitat de guies de pràctica clínica sobre diagnòstic de càncer oral, i descriure les seves recomanacions. L’estudi de mapatge de l’evidència va incloure 15 revisions sistemàtiques que incloïen 118 estudis primaris; d’aquests, el 55,1% van ser assaigs clínics controlats aleatoritzats. Deu revisions sistemàtiques van tenir una qualitat metodològica “summament baixa”. Es van extreure trenta preguntes PICOs, les quals es van enfocar en intervencions com ara cirurgia, radioteràpia, quimioteràpia, teràpia dirigida i immunoteràpia; 18 PICOs eren per càncer oral operable, de les quals vuit van ser reportades com a “beneficiosa”. Hi va haver 12 PICOs per càncer oral inoperable, de les quals només dos van ser reportades com a “beneficiosa”. En el segon estudi, es van incloure 12 guies de pràctica clínica. La mitjana de la puntuació per a cada domini de l’AGREE II van ser: “abast i propòsit”, 88,4% ± 12,4%; “Participació dels interessats”, 60,4% ± 25%; “Rigor de desenvolupament”, 60,9% ± 25,3%; “Claredat de presentació”, 76,5% ± 19,8%; “Aplicabilitat”, 32,2% ± 30,7%; i “independència editorial”, 61,6% ± 35,5%. Tres guies van ser classificades com a “recomanada”, sis com a “recomanada amb modificacions”; i tres com a “no recomanada”. En l’últim estudi, es van seleccionar vuit guies de pràctica clínica. La mitjana de la puntuació per als sis dominis de l’AGREE II van ser: “abast i propòsit”, 97,9% (RIC: 96,2-100,0%); “Participació dels interessats”, 86,1% (RIC: 69,8-93,1%); “Rigor de desenvolupament”, 75,3% (RIC: 64,2-94,3%); “Claredat de presentació”, 91,7% (RIC: 82,6-94,4%); “Aplicabilitat”, 53,1% (RIC: 19,3-74,2%); i “independència editorial”, 83,3% (RIC: 67,2-93,8%). Quatre guies van ser classificades com a “recomanada”, quatre com a “recomanada amb modificacions” i cap com a “no recomanada”. Es van identificar 23 recomanacions, majoritàriament basades en nivell d’evidència “baixa” o “molt baixa”. En general, l’evidència científica sobre els tractaments de càncer oral és limitada i la seva qualitat és summament baixa. Així mateix, la qualitat metodològica de guies de pràctica clínica sobre diagnòstic i tractaments per al càncer oral va ser considerada des de subòptima fins a moderada. A més, la majoria de les seves recomanacions es van basar en un nivell d’evidència “baixa”. Aquestes troballes ressalten la necessitat de realitzar futures investigacions sobre nous tractaments i buits del coneixement identificats en aquesta àrea; així mateix, són necessaris més esforços per permetre el desenvolupament de guies basades en evidència d’alta qualitat per al càncer oral.
El cáncer oral es considerado un problema de salud pública globalmente. Este tiene una tasa de supervivencia a los 5 años del 50%, debido a que su diagnóstico se realiza comúnmente en estadios avanzados. En su tratamiento usualmente participa un equipo multidisciplinario para proporcionar una atención integral a los individuos que padecen esta enfermedad. Actualmente, existe un número considerable de publicaciones científicas que sugieren el uso de diferentes opciones terapéuticas y recomendaciones para su diagnóstico; sin embargo, la calidad de esta evidencia se desconoce. Por lo tanto, se requiere una evaluación crítica de la evidencia sobre el diagnóstico y tratamiento de cáncer oral. Tres estudios independientes fueron realizados usando diferentes diseños metodológicos. Para describir y evaluar la calidad de la evidencia científica sobre el diagnóstico y tratamientos para el cáncer oral, se diseñó y realizó: i) un estudio de mapeo de la evidencia para describir la evidencia disponible sobre principales intervenciones terapéuticas para cáncer oral; ii) un estudio de evaluación crítica sistemática para determinar la calidad de guías de práctica clínica sobre tratamientos de cáncer oral, y iii) un estudio de evaluación critica sistemática para determinar la calidad de guías de práctica clínica sobre diagnóstico de cáncer oral, y describir sus recomendaciones. El estudio de mapeo de la evidencia incluyó 15 revisiones sistemáticas abarcando 118 estudios primarios; de estos 55,1% fueron ensayos clínicos controlados aleatorizados. Diez revisiones sistemáticas tuvieron una calidad metodológica “muy baja”. Treinta preguntas PICOs fueron extraídas, las cuales se enfocaron en intervenciones como cirugía, radioterapia, quimioterapia, terapia dirigida e inmunoterapia; 18 PICOs eran para cáncer oral operable, de las cuales ocho fueron reportadas como beneficiosa. Hubo 12 PICOs para cáncer oral inoperable, de las cuales solo dos fueron reportadas como beneficiosas. En el segundo estudio se incluyeron 12 guías de práctica clínica. Los puntajes promedio para cada dominio del AGREE II fueron: “alcance y propósito” 88,4%±12,4%; “participación de los interesados” 60,4%±25%; “rigor de desarrollo” 60,9%±25,3%; “claridad de presentación” 76,5%±19,8%; “aplicabilidad” 32,2%±30,7%; y “independencia editorial” 61,6%±35,5%. Tres guías fueron clasificadas como “recomendada”, seis como “recomendada con modificaciones”; y tres como “no recomendada”. En el último estudio ocho guías de práctica clínica fueron seleccionadas. Los puntajes en mediana para los seis dominios del AGREE II fueron: “alcance y propósito” 97,9% (RIC: 96,2-100%); “participación de los interesados” 86,1% (RIC: 69,8-93,1%); “rigor de desarrollo” 75,3% (RIC: 64,2-94,3%); “claridad de presentación” 91,7% (RIC: 82,6-94,4%); “aplicabilidad” 53,1% (RIC: 19,3-74,2%); y “independencia editorial” 83,3% (RIC: 67,2-93,8%). Cuatro guías fueron clasificadas como “recomendada”, cuatro como “recomendada con modificaciones” y ninguna como “no recomendada”. Se identificaron 23 recomendaciones, en su mayoría basadas en nivel de evidencia “baja” o “muy baja”. En general, la evidencia científica sobre los tratamientos de cáncer oral es limitada y su calidad es muy baja. Asimismo, la calidad metodológica de guías de práctica clínica sobre diagnóstico y tratamientos para el cáncer oral fue considerada desde subóptima hasta moderada. Además, la mayoría de sus recomendaciones fueron basadas en un nivel de evidencia “baja”. Estos hallazgos resaltan la necesidad de realizar futuras investigaciones sobre nuevos tratamientos y vacíos del conocimiento identificados en esta área; asimismo mayores esfuerzos son necesarios para permitir el desarrollo de guías basadas en evidencia de alta calidad para cáncer oral.
Oral cancer is considered a public health problem worldwide. It has a 5-year survival rate of 50% due to diagnosis are commonly performed at advanced stage of the disease. Its treatment usually involves a multidisciplinary team to provide comprehensive healthcare to people that suffer from this disease. Nowadays, there is a vast number of scientific publications suggesting the use of different therapeutic interventions and recommendations for its diagnosis, but their quality is unknown. Thus, a critical appraisal of evidence about diagnosis and treatments for oral cancer is needed. Three independent studies were carried out using different methodology designs. In order to describe and assess the quality of scientific evidence on diagnosis and treatments for oral cavity cancer, we designed and conducted: i) an evidence mapping study to describe the available evidence about the main therapeutic interventions for oral cancer; ii) a systematically critical assessment study to determine the quality of clinical practice guidelines on treatments for oral cavity cancer; and iii) a systematically critical assessment study to assess the quality of clinical practice guidelines on oral cancer diagnosis, and to describe their recommendations. The evidence mapping study included 15 systematic reviews involving 118 primary studies, of which 55.1% were randomized controlled clinical trials. Ten systematic reviews scored “critically low” methodological quality. We extracted 30 PICOs focusing on interventions such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy; 18 PICOs were for resectable oral cancer, of which 8 were reported as beneficial. There were 12 PICOs for unresectable oral cancer, of which only 2 interventions were reported as beneficial. In the second study, 12 clinical practice guidelines were included. The mean scores for each AGREE II domain were the following: “scope and purpose” 88.4%±12.4%; “stakeholder involvement” 60.4%±25%; “rigor of development” 60.9%±25.3%; “clarity of presentation” 76.5%±19.8%; “applicability” 32.2%±30.7%; and “editorial independence” 61.6%±35.5%. Three guidelines were rated as “recommended”; six as “recommended with modifications”; and three as “not recommended”. In the last study, eight clinical practice guidelines were selected. The median scores of the six AGREE II domains were as follows: “scope and purpose” 97.9% (IQR: 96.2-100.0%); “stakeholder involvement” 86.1% (IQR: 69.8-93.1%); “rigor of development” 75.3% (IQR: 64.2-94.3%); “clarity of presentation” 91.7% (IQR: 82.6-94.4%); “applicability” 53.1% (IQR: 19.3-74.2%); and “editorial independence” 83.3% (IQR: 67.2-93.8%). Four guidelines were assessed as “recommended”, four “recommended with modifications”, and none “not recommended”. Twenty-three recommendations were provided, mostly with a low or very low level of evidence. Overall, the scientific evidence about treatments for oral cancer is limited and its quality is critically low. Likewise, the methodological quality of clinical practice guidelines on diagnosis and treatments for oral cancer was rated from suboptimal to moderate. Moreover, most recommendations were based on a low level of evidence. These findings highlight the need to address future research focused on new treatments and knowledge gaps identified in this field, and increased efforts are required to enable the development of high-quality evidence-based guidelines for oral cancer.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education, 2009.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 14, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4650. Adviser: Larry Mikulecky.

The aim of this thesis was to improve the formulation processes of an existing oral vaccine delivery system, the bilosome, and to investigate its mechanism of action. There were three main areas of research; (1) refinement and adaptation of the existing homogenisation melt method, (2) development of a new formulation process, and (3) investigation of the mechanism of action. The results from (1) showed that lyophilisation has no detrimental effect on the bilosome, allowing improved storage characteristics; this was proven in a 9-month study which showed that the immunogenicity of the lyophilised formulation was retained after this time. With a view to developing a system which could be more easily mass produced,a new formulation process using a microwave reactor was developed in (2). This gave bilosomes with equal immunogenicity to those in (1), in fewer steps and 1/5th of the time; these also allowed incorporation of inexpensive surfactants, which was not possible with the original method. As the formulation process had been successfully streamlined, the mechanism of action was examined in (3). It was thought that further understanding of this could provide information which would allow enhancement of the bilosomes immunogenicity. Results showed that no enhancement of immunogenicity was possible using bilosomes incorporating squalene, or with suppression of gastric acid pre-administration. Investigation of uptake in the intestine showed uptake in both the villi and the Peyer’s patches of the small intestine,which may prove useful in the development of future vaccine delivery systems. The study in the lungs was less successful, and a number of issues meant that no significant conclusions could be made; however, the groundwork has been laid for future work in this area.

Bakgrund: Munnen kan inte ses som separat från resten av kroppen eftersom munhälsan påverkar den generella hälsan. Syfte: Syftet var att belysa betydelsen av användandet av munbedömningsinstrument för vårdpersonalen. Metod: Allmän litteraturstudie. Resultat: Genom en innehållsanalys framkom de två subkategorierna; Ger möjlighet att upptäcka och Tydliggör fortsatt behov av munbedömning. Dessa ledde till kategorin; Munbedömningsinstrumentet ger struktur. Diskussion: Genom att göra en munbedömning på patienten kan vårdpersonalen lindra/förebygga lidande eftersom munhälsoproblem upptäcks och kan åtgärdas. All vårdpersonal måste förstå varför munvård och munbedömningar är viktigt och munbedömningsinstrument behöver vara tillförlitligt och lättanvänt. Rutiner måste finnas i varje vårdverksamhet, ett munbedömningsinstrument bör väljas ut med omsorg och anpassas till verksamheten.Konklusion: Användandet av ett munbedömningsinstrument kan leda till ökad struktur i vårdpersonalens munvårdsarbete.
Background: Since oral health has an influence on general health, the mouth can’t be viewed as separate from the rest of the body. Aim: To highlight the importance the use of an oral assessment tool has for the nursing staff. Method: A literature review. Result: Through analysis of the text content two subcategories emerged; Gives possibility to detect and Clarifies further need of oral assessment. They led to the category: The oral assessment tool gives structure. Discussion: By performing an oral assessment on the patient, through detection and correction of oral health problems suffering can be reduced/ prevented by the nursing staff. All of the nursing staff must understand why oral care and oral assessments are important and the oral assessment tool needs to be dependable and easy to use. In every type of health organization there needs to be routines for the use of the oral assessment tool, it should be selected with care and adjusted to the organization. Conclusion: The use of an oral assessment tool could lead to an increased structure in the oral care nursing provided by the nursing staff.

There is little evidence that Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is much used in dentistry. Dental implant technology is an example of innovative oral health technology. The objectives of this research were to gather the evidence needed for the assessment of overdenture implant treatment so that both patients and dental practitioners can make informed decisions about this technology. These objectives included 1) investigating what types of dental clinicians adopt and provide dental implants 2) determining the effect of the clinicians' experience in the provision of implant supported prostheses and 3) measuring the patients' preference in provision of mandibular 2-implants overdenture technology.
For the first part, a cross-sectional survey was sent to all licensed Canadian Dentists to measure the adoption and provision of implant technology. For the second part, we used the data on the first 140 edentulous elders who were enrolled in a randomized controlled clinical trial to compare the effects of mandibular conventional (CD) and 2-implant overdentures (IOD) on nutrition. The change in patient ratings of satisfaction after treatment, laboratory costs and the number of unscheduled visits were compared. For the last part, edentulous elders (N=36) who were wearing maxillary dentures and either a mandibular conventional denture (CD, n=13) or a two-implant overdenture (IOD, n=23) participated in this study. Participants' preference was measured during a 20-minute interview.
Multivariate regression analysis on the data from the first part of the study shows that the Dentist's gender, province of practice, specialty, and whether they practice alone or in association with other practitioners, are significantly associated with the adoption of implant technology (p<0.05). It is also shown that there was no difference in satisfaction scores for either prosthesis between the groups treated by experienced specialists or new dentists. Furthermore, it is shown that IOD wearers were willing to pay three times more than the current cost of conventional dentures for implant prostheses (p<0.05).
Overall, the results of this study 1) inform decision makers on what types of clinicians provide implant technology and 2) suggest that, with minimal training, all dental clinicians irrespective of their specialty, can provide successful implant overdenture prostheses that edentulous patients are willing to pay for.

Oral care is essential in maintaining oral hygiene and oral health. When oral care is neglected individuals are at risk of oral and systemic complications affecting general health. Stroke patients are one group who are at risk of poor oral health due to their physical and cognitive dependency. Providing oral care is normally the responsibility of the nurses, and currently there is little evidence to support oral care provided. Through a series of studies this thesis aims to explore oral care in hospitalised stroke patients with the aim of developing an oral assessment to inform oral care. An integrative literature review examining oral assessments developed for use in a dependent population, identified that an oral assessment for use in stroke patients did not exist. The majority of oral assessments had been developed using the empirical literature and/or expert opinion, with a focus to assess oral health and cleanliness. Those assessments that were selected for review were found to be of a poor quality both in development and testing of psychometric properties. Where agreement had been tested, both within and between raters, agreement was variable across all items. The information gathered from the review was used to aid the design of a qualitative study to explore stakeholder’s views of oral care in stroke patients, and the development of a new oral assessment for use in stroke patients. An interpretive approach was utilised to explore the views and experiences of experts in oral health and stroke; health professionals’; patients’ and carers’. Two different methods were used to capture this data: one to one interviews for the experts in oral health and stroke, patients and carers; and focus groups for the health professionals. Eight experts were interviewed, five patients, five carers and the two focus groups with six/seven health professionals. The findings illustrated that oral care is complex, and assessment is only one component of this process. Five concepts relating to oral assessment were identified by all the groups: ability to attend to oral care; oral health and cleanliness of the oral cavity; comfort of the oral cavity; contributing factors; assessment format and layout. The findings from the qualitative interviews, focus groups, and the literature review, were presented to an expert panel that contained a representative from the oral health experts, stroke experts, health professionals, patients and carers. This group reviewed the data and, using a systematic approach, developed the new oral assessment; the Comprehensive Oral Assessment Tool for Stroke (COATS). Following development, the COATS was tested for within and between rater agreement, and diagnostic accuracy, in 82 stroke patients on an acute stroke unit. Agreement was tested, in registered and unregistered nurses, and ranged from fair to very good. The registered nurse showed better agreement than the unregistered nurse. The COATS also demonstrated in this initial testing that it could correctly identify a high proportion of patients either with or without a problem. This thesis has provided some novel findings that will contribute to the existing knowledge of oral care in a stroke and dependent population. It has provided an overview of the quality of oral assessments available to nurses looking after acutely ill patients as well as highlighting all the potential issues that need to be considered when implementing a new oral assessment into clinical practice.

Objectives: Tooth extraction initiates a cascade of biological events leading to the reduction of alveolar ridge volume. Alveolar ridge preservation (ARP) is a surgical treatment which aims at minimizing hard and soft tissue changes following tooth extraction. Several techniques and materials have been studied and used clinically in ARP. The selection of the biomaterials used for this technique is determined by several factors, such as features of the extraction site, inherent biomaterial properties and handling preferences by the surgeon, among others. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of alveolar ridge preservation via the application of Easy-graft CLASSIC® (Sunstar Americas Inc.), an alloplastic bone substitute with unique handling features, following flapless posterior single tooth extraction compared to a particulate freeze-dried bone allograft (FDBA) covered with a collagen wound dressing, which has been advocated as a predictable treatment modality. The primary outcome in this study was bone volumetric reduction of the alveolar ridge assessed using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans obtained at baseline and 16 weeks after tooth extraction and ARP. Methods: This study is part of a multicenter study in collaboration with the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. Seventeen healthy adults treatment planned for a single tooth implants in the area posterior to the canines, excluding third molars, were recruited on the basis of an eligibility criteria. Patients were randomly assigned to the control group or the experimental group. Minimally traumatic extraction of the tooth was completed and the presence of an intact buccal plate of bone was verified. The control group received FDBA and the site was stabilized with a collagen wound dressing and sutures. The experimental group received Easy-graft CLASSIC® with no attempt to approximate the marginal mucosa. Healing was assessed after 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 weeks. DICOM data was used to assess the alveolar ridge volume and linear changes from baseline to 16 weeks after ARP. Clinical measurements of the buccal gingival thickness, buccal alveolar bone thickness, keratinized gingiva, and socket dimensions were made at the time of the extraction and were subsequently analyzed for possible influences on the observed volumetric and linear outcomes. Results: The mean alveolar ridge volume reduction from baseline to 16 weeks post operatively for the control and the experimental group was 114.96 mm3 and 94.87 mm3, respectively. These values correspond to a reduction of 9.59% for the control group and 13.04% for the experimental group. This difference did not reach statistical significance. The average loss of ridge width was 1.10mm for the FDBA and 1.24mm for the Easy-graft CLASSIC® with no statically significant differences between the two groups. The average loss of buccal bone height and lingual bone height in the FDBA group was 1.12mm and 0.63mm, respectively. Similarly, the average loss of buccal bone height and lingual bone height in the Easy-graft CLASSIC® was 1.19mm and 0.67mm, respectively. There was a weak to moderate positive correlation between buccal tissue thickness and the thickness of the buccal bone and a weak negative correlation between buccal bone thickness and alveolar ridge width reduction. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, both treatment groups appear to be effective in alveolar ridge preservation and are associated with similar volumetric and linear bone reduction patterns.

In an examination dominated educational culture such as that in Hong Kong, university students’ experiences with multiple forms of assessment is somewhat limited. It is understandable, therefore, why not only students, but teachers as well, remain skeptical when confronted with new approaches to assessment. This study set out to challenge the ‘conservative’ nature of assessment that characterises Hong Kong and to engage students with assessment practices that involved them in not only being assessed, but in taking on the role of the assessor as well. The research study portrays how a sample of Hong Kong university students undertaking an English as a Second Language (ESL) course used oral presentations as a vehicle for peer assessment. This is an under-explored area for Hong Kong tertiary students’, but this study showed that students can learn and then improve their oral presentations at different stages of peer assessment by providing feedback, receiving feedback and revising oral presentations. Such findings challenge the stereotypical views of Hong Kong’s learning culture and contributes to a new dimension on peer assessment, especially in the context of the ESL classroom by focusing on the learning processes rather than the outcomes. Twenty-eight Engineering and Physiotherapy first-year undergraduate students participated in this research study. They were chosen as verbal communication is the main communication mode in their workplaces. At the beginning of the semester, being new to peer assessment, they attended training sessions, in which they were given opportunities to discuss assessment rubrics and evaluate two speakers’ performances before the actual peer assessment. A mixed methods approach was adopted. The instruments’ utilised were peer written feedback, semi-structured interviews and students’ reflections. The findings indicated that students, through different means, were able to evaluate, revise and reflect on their own learning processes during the three stages of peer assessment. Instead of the traditional top-down information transmission, they also found that different tasks, including conversations with the peer assessors, in peer assessment were helpful to improve their oral presentations throughout the semester. This research study has shown that when presented with new learning opportunities, Hong Kong students can not only engage with them, but become active learners who can improve their understanding, skills and values. This suggests that peer assessment as part of oral presentations is a promising alternative to more traditional modes of assessment. At the practical level, this research also provides ESL teachers with some useful pedagogies and techniques that can both positively engage students, and ultimately improve their learning.

Despite an ostensibly technology-driven society, the ability to communicate orally continues to feature as an essential ability for students at school and university, as it is for graduates in the workplace. Pedagogically, one rationale is that the need to develop effective oral communication skills is tied to life-long learning which includes successful participation in future work-related tasks. One tangible way that educators have assessed proficiency in the area of communication is through prepared oral presentations. While much of the literature uses the terms 'oral communication' and 'oral presentation' interchangeably, some writers question the role more formal presentations play in the overall development of oral communication skills. However, such formal speaking tasks continue to be a recognised assessment practice in both the secondary school and academy, and, therefore, worthy of further investigation. Adding to the discussion, this thesis explores the knowledge and skills students bring into the academy from previous educational experiences. It examines some of the teaching and assessment methods used in secondary schools to develop oral communication skills through the use of formal oral presentations. Specifically, it investigates criterion-referenced assessment sheets and how these tools are used as a form of instruction, as well as their role and effectiveness in the evaluation of student ability. The focus is on the student's perspective and includes 12 semi-structured interviews with school students. The purpose of this thesis is to explore key thematics underpinning oral communication and to identify tensions between expectations and practice. While acknowledging the breadth and depth of material available under the heading of 'communication theory', this study specifically draws on an expanded view of the rhetorical tradition to fully interrogate the assumptions supporting the practice of assessing oral presentations. Finally, this thesis recommends reconnecting with an updated understanding of rhetoric as a way of assisting in the development of expressive, articulate and discerning communicators.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2006.
"Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-111). Also available online.

Current foreign language pedagogy encourages a communicative approach to language learning. Instead of the reading and writing focus of the past, this communicative approach requires instruction in all skills, which include reading, writing, listening, speaking and having knowledge of associated cultures. A random sample of Florida foreign language teachers was surveyed to establish whether or not the goals and actual instructional practices were aligned. Respondents were asked to identify how much of a typical class period is dedicated to each of the five skills, and how much of a typical unit test is dedicated to the same five skills. The findings showed that only the instruction and assessment of writing were aligned. Instruction and assessment of the other skills were unequal. A comparison of the means revealed that listening was actually instructed much more than assessed. The other means were similar, including writing. Reading was found to be the only skill that was assessed more than instructed. The variables examined in this study included the level of fluency, level of education, and amount of experience of the teacher, available resources, amount of the target language used in the classroom, as well as demographic information. The interaction of the level of education and experience of the teacher was significant. Teacher gender was also significant, although the disparate gender groups made it difficult to compare means. The other variables revealed no statistical significance. Slightly less than half of the respondents stated that they do not believe that they include enough oral assessment as a part of instruction. They reported a lack of time, student resistance, class size and unreliable technology as reasons for not including what they perceived to be enough oral assessment.
ID: 030423347; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2010.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-145).
Ed.D.
Doctorate
Education

Many Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) such as the antiviral agent famciclovir (FCV) are required for paediatric treatment but are not commercially available in age-appropriate dosage forms. It is common practice to prepare oral liquid dosage forms using commercially available tablets, capsules or powdered API and then dispersing or dissolving the crushed and/or powdered materials in a vehicle that the patient can swallow. Vehicles that are commonly used for this purpose include methylcellulose, syrup or combinations of these carriers where possible or commercially available suspending agents such as Ora-Sweet®, if available, can be used. However, several critical factors are overlooked when manufacturing extemporaneous formulations including, but not limited to, physical and chemical properties of the API, excipients, compatibility, stability and bioavailability issues. A stability-indicating High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method for the analysis of FCV was developed and validated according to the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The method is sensitive, selective, precise, accurate and linear over the concentration range 2-120 μg/ml. The stability of 25 mg/ml FCV formulations was assessed in vehicles manufactured from syrup simplex, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), Ora-Sweet® and an aqueous buffer (pH 6) following storage at 25 °C/60% RH and 40 °C/75% RH over six (6) to eight (8) weeks. The shelf life of the products was calculated as the longest period of storage for approximately 90% of the added FCV to be recovered. Formulations were manufactured using syrup simplex or HPMC with methylparaben and propylparaben individually or in combination and with sodium metabisulphite, ascorbic acid or citric acid as antioxidants. The resultant products were subject to quality control analysis for API content, viscosity, pH and appearance and the resultant data were subject to statistical analysis. The degradation rates were calculated for each product and a degradation profile plotted. The degradation rates of FCV in extemporaneous formulations were compared to those of FCV manufactured using a commercially available suspending agent and a buffered vehicle. FCV undergoes major degradation in the presence of sucrose, as observed for formulations in which the vehicle was syrup and Ora-Sweet®. FCV was found to be most stable when dissolved/dispersed in an HPMC vehicle incorporating sodium metabisulphite and a combination of parabens. The formulation that exhibited the maximum stability was manufactured using an aqueous solution buffered to pH 6. Due to the enhanced stability of FCV when added to a buffered vehicle a formulation in which an HPMC vehicle buffered to pH 6 with sodium metabisulphite, methylparaben and propylparaben was selected for optimisation using a Central Composite Design approach (CCD). In this way it was possible to establish a relationship between input variables such as pH, % w/v HPMC, % w/v antioxidant and % w/v preservative and the responses selected for monitoring by means of response surface modelling. A quadratic model was found to be the most appropriate to describe the relationship between input and output variables. Thirty batches of product were randomly manufactured according to the CCD and analysed to establish the stability in respect of viscosity, pH and the amount of FCV remaining following storage and the data were fitted to models using Design-Expert® software. A correlation between input variables and the responses was best described by a quadratic polynomial model. Analysis of Variance indicated that the response surface models were significant (P-value < 0.0001). The pH to which a FCV formulation was buffered was the most significant factor to effect the % drug content and the ultimate pH of the formulation, while the % w/v HPMC had the most significant effect on the viscosity of the product. The optimum composition for the manufacture of an oral liquid FCV formulation was predicted using the optimisation function of the Design-Expert® software. A low % error of prediction was established, indicating that the model is robust and that RSM is an appropriate formulation optimisation tool as it has a high prognostic ability. A liquid FCV formulation was developed, optimised and found to be suitable for its intended purpose. However further optimisation is required in respect of colourants, sweeteners and/or flavourants. The approach followed is useful in ensuring the development of quality products and can be applied in future.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
Background: Standardized and evidence-based resource allocation frameworks for timely provision of primary dental services may support equitable distribution of comprehensive dental care. However, such frameworks, which can be applicable to primary care settings in Brazil, are not available. The purpose of this study was to explore the complex issue of equity allocation of dental staff for primary dental care services, by estimating time to dental disease progression in order to analyze costs when survival targets are set for patients waiting for primary dental care. The inclusion of wait time benchmarks for dental services in the design of the framework was an attempt to increase knowledge on the quality of access experienced by people living within catchment areas of the Family Health Strategy in Brazil. In view of ever scarce resources for public health services, ethical dilemmas arise in resource allocation when allocation choices require priority setting among individuals who face similar health needs. Since equity of access must be assured for all Brazilian citizens, the present study proposed a rational resource allocation model to help decision-makers in reconciling equity access and budgets. Aim: This study aimed to compare equity of access to dental services and costs of dental staff of two models for primary care settings. Additionally, staffing requirements and staff costs were projected over a three-year time period. Both models comprised three inter-related components: (i) universal access to oral health care, (ii) comprehensiveness of primary dental care and (iii) equity of access to primary dental services. Method: The present study was part empirical and part modeling in design. In the empirical phase, a set of maximum wait times for dental care determined by experts (Model 1) vs. wait times derived from survival analysis (Model 2) was compared. A one-year follow-up of a cohort of dental patients assigned to five primary health care clinics was conducted. The event of interest was clinical deterioration in the waiting time for dental visits. At each consultation with a dentist either for routine or emergency reasons, the oral quadrants of the patient were assessed and classified according to their urgency for dental care (from 1, less urgent to 5, more urgent). In the modeling phase, costs of dental staff were estimated on the basis of survival probabilities found in Model 1 and on survival targets simulated in Model 2. The amount of staff required as calculated by combining data on: dental service needs, activity standards for dental services, workload components in dental care, cost per working hour of dental staff, and probabilities of clinical deterioration in the wait for dental visits. Main Findings: In Model 1 (wait times determined by experts), survival probabilities were found to be unevenly distributed between diagnostic categories: category 4= 0.939 (SE 0.019); category 3= 0.829 (SE 0.035); category 2= 0.351 (SE 0.061) and category 1= 0.120 (SE 0.044). The cost of dental staff in Model 1 was estimated to be R$104 110.88 (BRL). In cost simulations of Model 2, where wait times were derived from the survival analysis study, a similar 0.900 survival probability target for all sampled quadrants (n=7 376) was found regardless of their final classification in the study year. The resulting cost of Model 2 was R$99 305.89 (BRL). Conclusions: From an equity-access perspective, the survival analysis concluded that wait times for dental visits determined by the experts may engender inequitable survival probabilities for oral quadrants classified in different diagnostic categories. From a dental-staff costs perspective, one concluded that less resources were required by setting an equitable 90% survival target for all oral quadrants studied.

Thesis (Ed. S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Psychology, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], v, 61 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-42).

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The assessment of oral proficiency forms an important part of learning a second language. However, the manual assessment of oral proficiency is a labour intensive task requiring specific expertise. An automatic assessment system can reduce the cost and workload associated with this task. Although such systems are available, they are typically aimed towards assessing students of American or British English, making them poorly suited for speakers of South African English. Additionally, most research in this field is focussed on the assessment of foreign language students, while we investigate the assessment of second language students. These students can be expected to have more advanced skills in the target language than foreign language speakers. This thesis presents a number of scoring algorithms for the automatic assessment of oral proficiency. Experiments were conducted on a corpus of responses recorded during an automated oral test. These responses were rated for proficiency by a panel of raters based on five different rating scales. Automatic scoring algorithms were subsequently applied to the same utterances and their correlations with the human ratings determined. In contrast to the findings of other researchers, posterior likelihood scores were found to be ineffective as an indicator of proficiency for the corpus used in this study. Four different segmentation based algorithms were shown to be moderately correlated with human ratings, while scores based on the accuracy of a repeated prompt were found to be well correlated with human assessments. Finally, multiple linear regression was used to combine different scoring algorithms to predict human assessments. The correlations between human ratings and these score combinations ranged between 0.52 and 0.90.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die assessering van spraakvaardigheid is ’n belangrike komponent van die aanleer van ’n tweede taal. Die praktiese uitvoer van sodanige assessering is egter ’n arbeids-intensiewe taak wat spesifieke kundigheid vereis. Die gebruik van ’n outomatiese stelsel kan die koste en werkslading verbonde aan die assessering van ’n groot aantal studente drasties verminder. Hoewel sulke stelsels beskikbaar is, is dit tipies gemik op die assessering van studente wat Amerikaanse of Britse Engels wil aanleer, en is dus nie geskik vir sprekers van Suid Afrikaanse Engels nie. Verder is die meerderheid navorsing op hierdie gebied gefokus op die assessering van vreemde-taal sprekers, terwyl hierdie tesis die assessering van tweede-taal sprekers ondersoek. Dit is te wagte dat hierdie sprekers se spraakvaardighede meer gevorderd sal wees as di´e van vreemde-taal sprekers. Hierdie tesis behandel ’n aantal evaluasie-algoritmes vir die outomatiese assessering van spraakvaardighede. Die eksperimente is uitgevoer op ’n stel opnames van studente se antwoorde op ’n outomatiese spraaktoets. ’n Paneel van menslike beoordelaars het hierdie opnames geassesseer deur gebruik te maak van vyf verskillende punteskale. Dieselfde opnames is deur die outomatiese evaluasie-algoritmes verwerk, en die korrelasies tussen die beoordelaars se punte en die outomatiese evaluerings is bepaal. In kontras met die bestaande navorsing, is daar gevind dat posterieure waarskynlikheidsalgoritmes nie ’n goeie aanduiding van spraakvaardighede gee vir ons datastel nie. Vier algoritmes wat van segmentasies gebruik maak, is ook ondersoek. Die evaluerings van hierdie algoritmes het redelike korrelasie getoon met die punte wat deur die beoordelaars toegeken is. Voorts is drie algoritmes ondersoek wat daarop gemik is om die akkuraatheid van herhaalde sinne te bepaal. Die evaluerings van hierdie algoritmes het goed gekorreleer met die punte wat deur die beoordelaars toegeken is. Laastens is liniˆere regressie gebruik om verskillende outomatiese evaluerings te kombineer en sodoende beoordelaars se punte te voorspel. Die korrelasies tussen hierdie kombinasies en die punte wat deur beoordelaars toegeken is, het gewissel tussen 0.52 en 0.90.

This thesis analyses the oral health of elderly people living in Arkhangelsk, Russia. Complex oral health assessment includes objective, standardized dental tests and indices recommended by WHO. The aim of the study was to determine the alterations in dental, periodontal, salivary, glossal and immune status of oral health in elderly persons, the influence of possible unhealthy habits on the health of oral cavity and to compare these indicators with literary sources. The research focuses on elderly people older than 60 years old, who reside in a home for the elderly in Arkhangelsk. Modern world social and health tendencies dictate the necessity of ongoing research of the aging population problem. Aging is a natural phenomenon and an inevitable process but when the number of old-aged people exceeds the number of working-age population it causes serious modifications in health care, economics, social support and so forth. The socio-demographic situation in the Arkhangelsk region is characterized by a considerable increase in the number of retirement age people who suffer from severe somatic disorders. Organs and tissues of the mouth do not represent an exception, so the elderly experience serious problems with their oral health as well. The hypothesis of the study has proved to be mostly true: our conclusion is that the young-old and the old demonstrate poor oral health. We have observed 100% prevalence of caries and decayed, missed, filled teeth index (DMFT) = 24,5 with predominance of missing teeth; the level of hygiene equals to 3,4; poor condition of dentures; high prevalence of periodontal diseases and oral mucosa lesions; low salivary flow rate (0,08 ml/min) and pH (6,0), high saliva viscosity and deterioration of the oral immunity indicators such as interleukin-8 (IL-8), immunoglobulin G (IgG), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) and cortisol. This study may be used to formulate recommendations for the elderly, social workers and health management bodies to improve the oral wellbeing of this group of people. The data received during this study can be also be of use for other countries of the Barents region in two similar respects: dental features of the aging population and the influence of living conditions in the North on oral health.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2004.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 108 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-67).

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent)
A good oral health self-perception can contribute to improved knowledge of oral health self-care and practice as well as increase the proper use of dental care services. This study evaluated how adolescents from urban and peri-urban Maputo City assess their oral health status, behaviour and oral health risk factors. This is an analytic cross-sectional study, conducted in the urban and peri-urban schools of Maputo City involving adolescents in the age groups of 12 and 15-19 years old. The study was carried out in five schools, three Complete Primary schools and two Secondary schools from urban and peri-urban areas in Maputo City selected by convenience due to their geographic location. The size of the sample was 500 comprising 236 twelve year olds and 264 15-19 year olds. Data was collected using a self-completion questionnaire designed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and translated into Portuguese. The questionnaire included variables such as socio-demographic data (age, gender, location and parent or guardian level of education), self-assessment of oral health status and quality of life; self reported oral health behaviour and lifestyles, oral health risk factor knowledge (alcohol, tobacco and dietary), dental visits and daily impact of oral health. Chi-square for associations and a Spearman correlation tests were used to determine relationships between categorical data. All tests were assumed statistically significant at p≤0.05. The results showed that most of the adolescents classified their teeth (49.7%) and gum (38.2%) health as normal. There was no statistical difference between adolescents from urban and peri-urban schools (Spearman rs (399) = 0,114, p =0,02). The majority (n=322; 65.2%) of the adolescents clean their teeth twice a day. There was no difference between school level (primary and secondary school) and frequency of teeth cleaning. Most of the adolescents use a toothbrush (97.8%) and toothpaste (93.5%) to clean their teeth and only 11.9% also use dental floss but 52.1% didn´t know if their toothpaste was fluoridated or not. Smoking was reported by less than 1% of the adolescents. The main reason for dental service utilization, (reported by 67.5%) was pain or problems with teeth, gums or mouth. There was an association between oral health status and problems experienced in daily life because of their teeth and mouth. There was no significant difference for oral health assessment, risk factors and behaviours, between adolescents from urban and peri-urban schools. Although some satisfactory results were found, the need to strengthen oral health promotion in schools is high, especially considering the causes for dental service utilization were mostly pain and trouble with teeth in this group.

Thesis (Specialist in Ed.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Psychology, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], v, 62 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-45).

This multifaceted study documents validates, and verifies the changes in oral surgery teaching in Dundee University Dental School, which have changed with time to accommodate the demands of an ever increasingly complex discipline. Availability of instructive teaching material in hard copy and as video and text on the internet combined with close clinical supervision and detailed assessment with feedback allows students to attain competency in exodontia with falling patient numbers. It has been demonstrated that the undergraduate training in the oral surgery clinics still attains competency or BDS standard of ‘safe beginner’ for simple extractions and minor oral surgery, despite fewer procedures being carried out. The criteria used for undergraduate assessment and marking of exodontia have been validated in house and nationally. These are appropriate, objective and reliable. Using Thiel cadavers is a valid and reliable method of teaching undergraduate students the technique of extraction with forceps prior to their clinical exposure. Further employment of the cadavers for continuing practice and the introduction of new skills has been mooted. The use of the ‘Blackboard’ was investigated and found not to be well used; the effort to produce the work was not well directed since it was not taken advantage of by the whole year nor very frequently by those who do use it. Alternative methods of engaging the student to investigate and research the discipline have been suggested. Encouragement of the students to interact more when the exodontia clinic time is available for this opportunity has been introduced and suggestions to increase this activity to enhance the teaching of core topics have been made. From apprehension to enjoyment our student assure us that they find this discipline worthwhile whilst acknowledging that it will not be a practice builder and that they are equipped to deal with simple oral surgery procedures.

The development of the speaking skill at the lower levels of proficiency is seldom assessed as a matter-of-fact in the foreign language classroom, for reasons of impracticality and difficulty of implementation. Although the practice of the speaking skill is an important part of current approaches to the teaching of foreign languages, issues of time and logistics often prohibit the direct evaluation of the skill in a manner consistent with best practices, which purport that practice and assessment must be closely aligned, and that students benefit from self-evaluation and teacher feedback. Classroom research has shown that a skill that is not assessed, although practiced in class, sends the implicit message that this skill is not as valued as others that are the object of evaluation. This project presents the rationale, background literature and methodology to use current computer technologies in an attempt to offset these preventative issues, and to offer foreign language students and teachers a flexible model to conduct evaluations of students’ oral development in a practical, authentic and valid manner, with opportunities for constructive feedback and tracking of students’ progress.

Literature substantiates that there is a relationship between poor oral health and cardiovascular risk, uncontrolled diabetes, aspiration pneumonia, poor nutritional status, and poor social life for the older adults, especially those residing in nursing homes. Recognizing the impact of poor oral health and putting protocols in place to improve oral health status is a safe and cost effective intervention. This Practice Improvement Project (PIP) introduces and pilots a regular oral health assessment system into the care of residents in the nursing home. Four study questions were posed. These questions were: 1) how does an education intervention on the "Importance of Oral Health" increase nursing staff's knowledge of oral health in the elderly; 2) what impact does the use of Oral Health Assessment Tool (OHAT) have on resident assessment, documentation, and referral; 3) what are nursing staff and nurse practitioners' (NP) views of OHAT in assessing a resident's oral health status; 4) How does the brochure "My Mouth is Part and Parcel of My Health" impact the willingness of families to seek dental services for their loved ones living in the nursing home? This project was conducted in four phases. These phases were; 1) introduction of (OHAT) to nurse practitioners, nurses, and resident assistants and educating family members and nursing staff about the importance of oral health; 2) use OHAT for three months to assess oral health status of residents; 3) chart reviews to answer question two; and 4) survey nursing staff about their perceptions of OHAT. A comparison of pre-test versus post-test indicated improved knowledge (p-value <0.0001). During the three-month implementation, there was noted to be more documentation in residents? charts in relation to oral health. Nursing staff viewed OHAT as an efficient tool to use. In addition, the NP was willing to prescribe OHAT in the nursing home for nursing staff to use. This project highlights that health care providers are willing to learn ways of improving care for residents in nursing homes. The findings support existing literature that increased knowledge about evidenced-based best practices is a factor in better oral health.

Thesis (D. Ed.)--University of Oregon, 2004.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-91). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Purpose: This study examined how well a dynamic assessment of narrative language accurately identified kindergarten through sixth grade students with and without language disorder. Method: The participants included 110 school-age children from Utah and Colorado who were administered a narrative-based dynamic assessment of language that entailed a pretest, a teaching phase, an examiner rating of the child's ability to learn language (modifiability), and a posttest. Results: The dynamic assessment investigated in this study demonstrated good to excellent levels of sensitivity and specificity. The results of this study also determined that, in concurrence with previous dynamic assessment research, posttest and modifiability scores were most predictive of language ability. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the Dynamic Measure of Oral Narrative Discourse (DYMOND) may be a valid and accurate tool when identifying language disorders in school-age populations.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of Oral Health Technology Assessment (OHTA) on Evidence-Based Decision Making (EBDM) in the undergraduate dental curriculum. Methods: This study was performed at two levels; 1) the literature review where electronic data bases including PUBMED, MEDLINE, EMBASE, COCHRANE LIBRARY, and CINHAL were searched, and 2) A need assessment by means of interviewing a few faculty members and graduating trainees for systematic evaluation of dental technologies was performed at the McGill University, faculty of Dentistry. Results: Our preliminary evaluation of assessing dental technologies in Canadian faculties reveals a random decision making pattern with no regards to adoption and utilisation of EBDM in undergraduate curriculum. There is also no evidence of either integrating EBDM or systematic evaluation of dental technologies in dental faculties. Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study our findings suggest that the systematic assessment of dental technologies may help faculties to integrate EBDM in their curriculum and that technology assessment committees could provide faculty members and students with the latest developments in dental technologies that are suitable for university dental clinics.
Objectifs: Pour étudier l'effet de Oral Health Technology Assessment (OHTA) sur Evidence-Based Decision Making (EBDM) dans le programme de premier cycle de médecine dentaire. Méthodes: Cette étude a été réalisée à deux niveaux: 1) la revue de la littérature où les bases de données électroniques, y compris PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, et CINHAL ont été fouillés, et 2) Une évaluation des besoins au moyen des entrevues avec des membres du corps professoral et diplômés stagiaires pour une évaluation systématique des technologies dentaires a été réalisée à l'Université McGill, faculté de médecine dentaire. Résultats: Notre évaluation préliminaire de l'évaluation des technologies dentaires dans les facultés canadiennes révèle un modèle de décisions prises au hasard, sans concerne envers l'adoption et l'utilisation de EBDM dans les programmes de premier cycle des facultés médecine dentaire. En plus, il n'y a aucune preuve de intégration de EBDM ou l'évaluation systématique des technologies dentaires dans les facultés dentaires. Conclusion: Dans la limite de cette étude, nos résultats suggèrent que l'évaluation systématique des technologies dentaires peuvent aider les facultés de médecine dentaire à intégrer EBDM dans leur curriculum et que les comités d'évaluation des technologies pourrait fournir aux membres du corps professoral et les étudiants les derniers développements dans les technologies dentaires qui peuvent être adaptés dans les curriculum dentaires.

Testing oral proficiency is an important, but often neglected part of the foreign language classroom. Currently accepted methods in testing oral proficiency are timely and expensive. Some work has been done to test and implement new assessment methods, but have focused primarily on English or Spanish (Graham et al. 2008). In this thesis, I demonstrate that the processes established for English and Spanish elicited imitation (EI) testing are relevant to French EI testing. First, I document the development, implementation and evaluation of an EI test to assess French oral proficiency. I also detail the incorporation of the use of automatic speech recognition to score French EI items. Last, I substantiate with statistical analyses that carefully engineered, automatically scored French EI items correlate to a high degree with French OPI scores.

The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines identify memorized words and phrases as a hallmark of novice-level speech. For this reason, research by Cox (2017) found rehearsed content to be a major hindrance to interviewees being rated at higher sublevels on the Oral Proficiency Interview-computer (OPIc). To further investigate, an analysis of these memorized segments to determine patterns of lexico-grammatical and discursive features was conducted. In this study, researchers utilized a Praat analysis to compare prosodic features (specifically, mean length of utterance, number of silent pauses, and articulation rate) of speech segments marked as memorized and those which were not. A qualitative analysis was also conducted by identifying via a grounded theory approach any notable patterns both within single interviews as well as between speakers. Articulation rates differed significantly between the spontaneous and rehearsed segments; however, the strongest evidence of memorization lay in the transcriptions and the patterns that emerged within and across interviews.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2002.
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A brief reading assessment and preference assessment were conducted with three participants with developmental and learning disabilities (i.e., two participants were diagnosed with Autism, the third participant was diagnosed with intellectual disability) who did not acquire fluent reading in previous individualized instruction. The results of the brief reading assessment were analyzed in an alternating treatment design and a preference assessment was conducted to determine the participants' preferred reading intervention. Following the results of the two assessments, a reading intervention that matched effectiveness with preference when possible or favored effectiveness when a match was not possible. The selected interventions (and later combined interventions) were implemented for each participant using an A-B-A-C or an A-B-A-C-D design. The results suggest that the four reading strategies are effective options for improving reading fluency. Also, a brief reading assessment can help identify an effective reading strategy. The results are discussed in the context of fluency gains, limitations, and implications for future research.

Against the background of a broad range of language features that are identified as characteristic of specific language impairment (SLI), some researchers have identified a narrower set of clinical markers considered the hallmark of SLI. However, comparisons with language impairments that fall outside the criteria for SLI are limited. This thesis is concerned with determining which language features, if any, are capable of differentiating children with SLI from children with non-specific language impairment (NLI). Conversation and oral narrative language samples were collected from seventy five children aged 2 ½ to 6 years comprising four research groups: 21 participants with SLI, 13 participants with NLI, 21 age-matched participants with normally developing language (AM) and 20 younger language-matched participants with normally developing language (LM). Matching for group comparisons required that the SLI and NLI groups had similar levels of language ability on a standardised assessment and mean length of utterance (MLU), which reduced the SLI group to 15 participants for these comparisons. The LM group was also matched to the SLI and NLI groups on MLU. A wide range of language variables from the conversation and narrative samples were analysed, covering the domains of general sample measures, morphosyntactic accuracy and complexity, narrative structure and cohesion. The SLI and NLI groups performed similarly in all domains and could not be differentiated diagnostically on the measures examined. The most consistent group effects were for comparisons between the AM and LM groups, which demonstrated the effects of maturation and development. The language impairment (LI) and LM groups could not be differentiated on the majority of general language sample or morphosyntactic measures but the SLI group produced narratives that were structurally more complex and cohesive than the LM group. Language tasks varied in their effectiveness in differentiating groups. More consistent group effects for the grammatical accuracy measures were obtained from the conversations than the narratives, and from composite measures compared to individual morpheme measures. Targeted elicitation tasks were more effective than the conversations or narratives in producing consistent group effects for accuracy of individual verb tense morphemes. More consistent group effects for the narrative features were obtained from a wordless picture book than a single scene picture. A set of discriminant function analyses showed that LI was most effectively identified using a combination of key morphosyntactic measures from the conversations and key narrative feature measures from the two narratives. The results have implications for diagnostic practices, intervention practices and theoretical constructs and explanations of SLI and NLI. In particular, a broad, holistic view of LI is supported, as an impairment that impacts on all domains of language which interact with each other and must be considered collectively, rather than as individual, splintered skills.