Does mentoring frequency matter? Effects on dropout rates and average grades among university students.

Aims: Approximately 2% of students in higher education are diagnosed with autism, a figure likely underreported due to non-disclosure and diagnostic challenges. Autistic students in higher education face unique challenges that impact their academic persistence and success. These students experience higher dropout rates compared with their neurotypical peers. Identifying the factors leading to high dropout rates is essential for developing interventions that promote a more supportive academic environment for autistic students.This review systematically investigates and analyses the factors that influence dropout rates among autistic students in higher education, focusing on firsthand accounts of autistic students. It draws on qualitative and mixed-method studies to address the question: What are the key factors influencing dropout rates among autistic university students across various degree programmes and institutions worldwide? The aim is to identify insights that can inform interventions to improve educational outcomes for autistic adults.Methods: This meta-synthesis, adhering to PRISMA guidelines, utilised the PICOS framework for a systematic review conducted in July 2024. Searches across Scopus, PsychINFO, Medline via OVID, and ERIC yielded 2,303 initial articles. Thirteen studies were selected based on relevance and peer review, involving 521 participants aged 18–54, primarily diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and based in the UK, USA, and Australia. All participants had either considered dropping out, actually dropped out, or deferred a year. These studies examined dropout rates and potential contributory factors, with findings appraised for quality using the CASP checklist and determined to be of moderate to good quality.Results: Analysis of the thirteen studies found significant challenges faced by autistic students in higher education, revealing an overarching theme of 'Environmental Discord’ – systemic mismatches between educational structures and autistic students’ needs that exacerbate academic and mental health challenges. Mental health emerged as a critical factor influencing dropout rates with exacerbated conditions such as higher burnouts, anxiety and depression due to academic pressures and social isolation. Additionally, the studies highlighted academic challenges that hinder effective learning and engagement. The analysis also identified gaps in support strategies, indicating that existing services often fail to meet the specific needs of autistic students, necessitating tailored interventions.Conclusion: This review proposes proactive restructuring of educational environments to better accommodate diverse student needs, enhance success and reduce dropout rates. Further, the review calls for future research to develop and evaluate personalised interventions aimed at the specific challenges faced by autistic students.

Montelukast might improve compliance with subcutaneous immunotherapy treatments in patients with allergic asthma

This research aims to determine the effectiveness of the Regional Education Grant in reducing dropout rates in the City of Yogyakarta. The author explored the effectiveness of the Regional Education Grant on its role in reducing dropout rates, so the author explores Regional Education Grant rights in their role in reducing dropout rates for the last 5 years (2015-2019). This research adopted a descriptive quantitative research, this research described the situation that occurred, without testing the hypothesis with secondary data analysis methods which were complemented by the interview method. The population in this research were dropout rates in the city of Yogyakarta during the last 5 years. The data analyses used the regression coefficient analysis and the determination coefficient analysis. The result of this research is that the education security program can not be said to be effective, especially in reducing the dropout rates. The tendency causes were the problems of achievement program that were not maximized yet, especially due to the external factors such as the achievement of Regional Education Grant goals unsupport by public. For example, there was a missunderstanding information, which lead to the highest reason for dropping out rates in the City of Yogyakarta. It was actually triggered by a lack of motivation to learn so that the students were reluctant to go to school, with a percentage of 29.70%.

Quantification and prediction of engagement: Applied to personalized course recommendation to reduce dropout in MOOCs

To investigate the effectiveness of psychosocial services provided by social workers in reducing dropout rate and increasing treatment dosage in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) users. From May in 2009 to April in 2010, 300 MMT users were recruited from three MMT clinics in Guangzhou, and were randomly allocated into the intervention group and the control groups. The control group (152 cases) received standard MMT services while the intervention group (148 cases) received additional services provided by social workers. Methadone dosage, dropout rate, perceptions toward MMT etc. were compared between the two groups. The 1-month dropout rate of the control and intervention groups were 19.7% (30/152) and 6.8% (10/148) (P < 0.05) respectively; the 6-month dropout rate of the control and intervention groups were 75.5% (115/152) and 50.7% (75/148) (P < 0.05) respectively. The intervention group had higher average treatment dosage than the control group ((56.0 ± 21.2) vs (64.4 ± 23.1) ml/d, (58.0 ± 24.0) vs (66.1 ± 26.6) ml/d, P < 0.05). At 1-month and 6-month, the intervention group had higher scores of MMT-related perception ((1.26 ± 0.68) vs (1.84 ± 0.95), (1.55 ± 0.83) vs (2.44 ± 1.23), P < 0.05), self-efficacy of maintenance ((3.68 ± 1.33) vs (4.20 ± 1.05), (3.80 ± 1.38) vs (4.43 ± 0.79), P < 0.05) and satisfaction toward MMT((4.08 ± 0.54) vs (4.15 ± 0.60), (4.01 ± 0.67) vs (4.31 ± 0.64), P < 0.05) as compared to the control group. The reverse was true for the score of negative experiences ((1.05 ± 0.86) vs (0.96 ± 0.92), (1.46 ± 0.87) vs (1.11 ± 1.07), P < 0.05). The psychosocial interventions provided by social workers were effective in reducing dropout rate, increasing treatment dosage and improving cognitions of MMT users.

Making Youth Violence Prevention a National Priority

The Ponseti method for clubfoot treatment is a non-surgical treatment with a successful outcome. However, many children are not able to complete Ponseti treatment due to various barriers and are termed dropout children. This study aimed to find out the factors responsible for dropout from clubfoot treatment in Peshawar, Pakistan. The study was conducted in the Clubfoot Department of a tertiary care hospital. Clinical and demographic information like age, casting phase, bracing phase, and clubfoot types, i.e., idiopathic, syndromic, or neurogenic, were extracted from the hospital database, while for dropout factors, a semi-structured questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics were applied to demographic data, assessments, and semi-structured questionnaires for parents. The association of dropout rates with age, gender, and unilaterally/bilaterally clubfoot was analyzed through chi-square tests. Between December 2017 and December 2022, a total of 1,150 babies were treated with the Ponseti method in the Clubfoot Department. Of 1,150 patients, 197 (17.1%) patients dropped out of the treatment. Twenty-four (12.1%) patients of this dropout were from the casting phase, and 173 (87.9%) patients were from the bracing phase. Age was found to be a significant factor affecting dropout from the Ponseti method. No significant association was found between the patient's dropout and gender or between dropout and unilaterally/bilaterally clubfoot. The Ponseti method improves clubfoot treatment but faces high dropout rates due to barriers like lack of family support and transport issues. Clinics addressed this by offering family support, transportation aid, telemedicine, community outreach, financial aid, peer support, and extended hours, reducing dropout rates and enhancing outcomes.

To address the educational gap, many Latin American countries are focusing on extension of the school day and enrichment of the curriculum. In Brazil, a nationwide policy -- Mais Educacao -- was implemented in 2008 with this objective. This paper explores the nationwide rollout of the program across the country and compares the performance of schools before and after implementation of the program. The paper quantifies the impacts of the program on student learning and dropout rates in urban areas, and investigates the heterogeneity of impacts by several characteristics of the program's implementation. Participating schools are compared with nonparticipating schools after controlling for school selection into the program based on observable characteristics using propensity score matching. The analysis finds that participation in Mais Educacao has on average no impacts on school dropout rates and average negative impacts on mathematics test scores. The negative impacts on student achievement are stronger in the short term, which suggests that the negative effects may be reduced as the program improves its implementation. In addition, especially for fifth-grade schools, the level of student spending is associated with reduced dropout rates. Interestingly, in schools choosing the fields of Portuguese and/or sports in the added hours, the program is associated with lower test scores in Portuguese and mathematics. Finally, for the sample of fifth-grade schools, heterogeneous impacts are seen in the program according to the GDP per capita of the city where the school is located. The higher the GDP per capita, the greater the positive impact of the program on mathematics test scores and on dropout rates.

A growing number of educators and other social scientists have become aware that many of today's adolescents suffer from a low level of self control, which often results in lowered academic performance. A number of programs have been designed to alleviate this problem through teaching self control techniques. This study adapted several of these methods and organized them into a program of 14 one-period lessons in self control. The lessons were aimed at reducing the high dropout rate in Boston's public secondary schools.The lessons were administered in two Boston middle schools to 12 classes of 151 eighth graders. Nine of the classes were selected because the students in them were known to have serious problems controlling their behavior. The other three were ordinary classrooms. Two years after the completion of these lessons, the dropout rate of participants was found to be 14% which is nearly 40% less than the average rate of 23% for Boston's tenth graders.

IntroductionPeritoneal dialysis (PD) is an essential home-based treatment for end-stage kidney disease, known for enhancing patients' quality of life and being more cost-effective compared to hemodialysis. However, in Singapore, PD education lacks of standardization, with each unit adopting varied methods based on their own experiences and resources. To address this, our hospital developed a tailored four-day PD training program guided by the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis guidelines, adapted to meet local needs and resource availability.MethodologyThis study employed a retrospective cohort design, including all incident adult patients aged 18 years and above who initiated PD at our hospital from September 2018 to July 2023. Data on PD dropout rates and PD-related infection rates, such as PD peritonitis and exit site infection rates, were obtained from electronic medical records.ResultsThis study comprised 99 patients who began PD and completed their PD training program at our hospital between September 2018 and July 2023. Our tailored PD training program successfully reduced dropout rates and maintained infection rates within the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis guidelines. Specifically, exit site infection rates fluctuated between 0.18 and 0.29 episodes per year, PD peritonitis rates ranged from 0.2 to 0.26 episodes per patient-year, and dropout rates significantly improved from 40% in 2019 to 7% in 2023 (OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.49 to 0.84, p = 0.010).ConclusionsThe tailored PD training program at our hospital effectively reduced PD-related infections and dropout rates among end-stage kidney disease patients. These findings suggest that structured, locally adapted training programs can substantially improve patient outcomes in PD.

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to examine output in terms of the repetition rate, dropout rate and transition rate among Other Backward Classes (OBCs) students at various levels of school education in North-Kashmir, UT of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a descriptive survey method intended to understand the broad trends of academic progression in terms of GER, NER, dropout rate, transition rate etc among OBC students in India. In order to study the academic capabilities among OBCs the data was collected from secondary sources. In India there are various official departments who maintain the records pertinent to the school education like NIEPA, NCERT &amp; MHRD etc. We have used the data available at U-DISE by exercising the internet survey technique from academic years between 2014 to 2017. Findings – The authors find that output in terms of Dropout rate is significantly very high among the OBCs from grade I to the grade XI, shows drastic increase immediately after VIII grade in the three studied areas of north-Kashmir during the three studied years 2014 to 210. The results in overall revealed that there is an increasing trend in the dropout rate after grade VIII among the OBC students. Implications – The evidence provided in this paper underscores the importance of social interactions and necessary interventions in analysing individual outcomes and is improving the educational pursuits of OBC students. Originality/value - The findings may have significantly shown the overall picture of output at different levels of school education and bearings in reducing dropout rates in India.

Kenya government has initiated a number of education investment fundings such as Free Tuition Secondary Education, Constituency Development Fund and District Education Board Bursary in secondary schools in an attempt to promote retention and reduce dropout rate among the students. However,the national dropout rate of students in secondary schools in Kenya was 42,272 (7.8 percent) and retention rate was 419,608 (76.7 percent). In Seme Sub-County, the proportion of 16 and 17 year old without access to education was 2,257 (9.1 percent) of the total number of secondary school going age 5,883 (26.1 percent) dropped out without completing secondary school. The purpose of this study was determine retention and drop-out rate of students in public secondary schools in Seme Sub County. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. All the thirty (30) public secondary schools in the Seme Sub-County were included in the study. The study found that there was high retention rate among the students and low dropout rate because of the availability of various government education educational funding’s. Similarly, the number of students who dropped out of school due to lack of school fees between 2009 to 2013 had dropped, with most of the school principals registering less than 25% of dropout rate. Keywords: Bursary; Funding’s: Dropouts rates; Retention Rates DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-12-12 Publication date : April 30 th 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess stakeholder’s perceptions on the influence of school feeding programmes on pupil’s attendance and dropout rates in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted a mixed methods approach. The target population for this study was Tharaka Nithi County Education Officials, Headteachers, teachers, and parents of Grade three pupils in public schools. The data collection instruments included: questionnaires, interview guide, observation checklist and focus group discussion guide. Data were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) Version 27. Quantitative data were analysed and presented in the form of frequencies and percentages. The qualitative data were presented in a narrative form in themes. Findings: The study established that stakeholders perceived that: school feeding programs significantly boosted pupils' class attendance; reduced absenteeism; and improved concentration and academic performance, while encouraging consistent school attendance. The schools’ feeding programs significantly reduced pupils dropout rates, and also enhanced academic performance. It was concluded that school feeding programs was perceived to significantly improve pupil attendance and reduced dropout rates. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study was anchored on Abrahams Maslow's Hierarchy Theory of Human Motivation. There is need for the County Government and National Governments and NGOS to increase the school feeding programmes in ASAL schools. Vulnerable children in ASAL areas should be given special attention in school feeding programmes. School stakeholders should support the availability of feeding programmes in all the ASAL schools.

This study investigated the high dropout rates among girls in secondary schools in Mariani Ward, a critical issue observed in many developing regions. The specific objectives of the study were to assess how household income, parental education, and family structure influence girls’ dropout rates. The study was grounded in the Relative Deprivation theory and utilized a descriptive survey design, involving a sample of 385 respondents selected from a larger population of 10,202 through cluster sampling method to ensure representation of various groups within the population. Within the target population, five clusters or sub-locations were identified based on their diverse characteristics. The sample included female dropouts as well as key informants such as head teachers, household heads, and local leaders. Data collection was achieved through questionnaires and interviews, and quantitative analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. The study employed inferential statistical methods, including correlation analysis, chi-square tests, and binomial logistic regression, to assess the impact of socio-economic factors on dropout rates. The results revealed significant positive correlations between dropout rates and household income (0.684), parental education status (0.547), and family structure (0.761). Binomial logistic regression analysis further confirmed the substantial influence of these factors on dropout rates. In addition to these factors, the study also indicated the presence of other unidentified variables affecting dropout rates. This highlights the necessity for further research to explore these additional influences. Based on these findings, the study recommends implementing targeted interventions to address the identified socio-economic challenges. These recommendations include developing financial support programs for low-income families, enhancing parental education and involvement, and fostering supportive family environments. Such measures are essential for reducing dropout rates and promoting sustained educational participation among girls in Mariani Ward. The study provides actionable insights for educators, policymakers, and stakeholders to effectively improve girls' access to education and support their academic persistence.

The main objective of this study is to estimate the association between financial aid and college dropout rates of postsecondary students in Colombia. We use a unique dataset from the Colombian Ministry of Education that includes all enrolled college students in the country between 1998 and 2008. Logistic regression is used to identify the correlation between receiving different forms of financial aid on the dropout rates of the students. The main results of the study suggest that the probability of dropping out decrease between 25 and 29% according to the type of financial aid received. There is also evidence that the financial aid is more effective in reducing dropout rates at the beginning of the student’s college careers. This result holds after controlling by type of postsecondary institution attended. These findings suggest that financial aid is an effective tool to reduce dropout rates, and therefore increase persistence and expand access in Colombia.