Search results for: intervention discussion

Authors: Ihuarulam A. Ikenna

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In the past few decades, the field of chemistry education has grown tremendously and researches indicated that after traditional chemistry instruction students often lacked deep conceptual understanding and failed to integrate their ideas into coherent conceptual framework. For several concepts in chemistry, students at all levels have demonstrated difficulty in changing their initial perceptions. Their perceptions are most often wrong and do not agree with correct scientific concepts. This study explored the effectiveness of intervention discussion sections for a college general chemistry course designed to apply research on students preconceptions, knowledge integration and student explanation. Three interventions discussions lasting three hours on bond energy and spontaneity were done tested and intervention (treatment) students’ performances were compared with that of control group which did not use the experimental pedagogy. Results indicated that this instruction which was capable of identifying students' misconceptions, initial conceptions and integrating those ideas into class discussion led to enhanced conceptual understanding and better achievement for the experimental group.

Keywords: remedying, students’ misconceptions, learning, intervention discussion, learning model

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Authors: Mitra Savabi-Esfahani, Fariba Taleghani, Mahnaz Noroozi, Maryam Tabatabaeian, Elsebeth Lynge

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Breast cancer is a health concern in worldwide. All women have not adequate information about breast cancer, resulting in undetected some tumors until advanced stages. Therefore awareness of people was recommended as a strategy to control that. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of an educational intervention on women's knowledge and attitude about breast cancer and screening. This study was conducted in 2016 on 191 women. All women living in one of big cities were invited to enroll in training classes. Inclusion criteria consisted women who were 20 - 69 years and not participated in any educational intervention. The lecture with group discussion was used as educational methods. Data collection tool was a structured questionnaire which filled out before and after intervention. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by Cronbach's alpha. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. The average age was 44/4 ± 11.5 and 42.6% of the women had obtained high school. Of the 191 women, 70(36.6%) and 76(39.8%) had low and medium level of knowledge respectively and half of them, 95(50%) had medium level of attitude in before intervention. There was significant difference between mean scores of knowledge and attitude before and after the intervention by Paired T test (p < 0/001). It seems applying effective educational interventions can increase knowledge and attitude women about breast cancer particularly in community that they have insufficient levels. Moreover, the lecture method along with group discussion can be proposed as effective and conventional methods for this purpose.

Keywords: attitude, breast cancer, educational intervention, knowledge

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Authors: Najia Zulfiqar

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Imparting moral education is the need of time, considering the obvious moral decline in society. Recent research shows the downfall of moral competence among university students. The main objective of the present study was to develop moral development intervention strategies for undergraduate students of Sports and Physical Education. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, insight into field-specific moral issues was gained through interviews with 7 subject experts and a focus-group discussion session with 8 students. Two research assistants who were trained in qualitative interviewing collected, transcribed and analyzed data into the MAXQDA software using content and discourse analyses. The identified moral issues in Sports and Physical Education were sports gambling and betting, pay-for-play, doping, coach misconduct, tampering, cultural bias, gender equity/nepotism, bullying/discrimination, and harassment. Next, intervention modules were developed for each moral issue based on hypothetical situations, and followed by guided reflection and dilemma discussion questions. The third moral development strategy was community services that included posture screening, diet plan for different age groups, open fitness ground training, exercise camps for physical fitness, balanced diet awareness camp, gymnastic camp, shoe assessment as per health standards, and volunteering for public awareness at the playground, gymnasium, stadium, park, etc. The intervention modules were given to four subject specialists for expert validation who were from different backgrounds within Sport Sciences. Upon refinement and finalization, four students were presented with these intervention modules and questioned about accuracy, relevance, comprehension, and content organization. Iterative changes were made in the content of the intervention modules to tailor them to the moral development needs of undergraduate students. This intervention will strengthen positive moral values and foster mature decision-making about right and wrong acts. As this intervention is easy to apply as a remedial tool, academicians and policymakers can use this to promote students’ moral development.

Keywords: community service, dilemma discussion, morality, physical education, university students.

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Authors: Avigail Moor

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Sexual violence against women occurs at alarmingly high rates, which have remained steady irrespective of the increased societal awareness of this problem, affecting an upward of 20% of women. It appears that all the public discourse on this topic, including research, prevention programs, and public campaigns have not made a noticeable dent in this prevalence. This calls for new course of action. Raising awareness regarding the preventive role of bystanders might be it. To that end, the present study sought to establish what promotes bystander intervention and what hinders it. Three hundred and twenty-four men and women, ranging in age from 20-40, participated in this study, completing self-report questionnaires on the topics under investigation. Results indicated that the proclivity to intervene as a bystander is impacted by various factors. The most consequential among them is gender, with twice as many women as men, 70% vs 38% respectively, being positively inclined to take action in such cases. Other significant factors included belief in rape myths and having empathy towards perpetrators, which reduced the likelihood of bystander intervention. Holding the attitude that it is possible to freely consent to sex while intoxicated had a similar impact. The discussion addresses various preventive implications.

Keywords: bystander intervention, sexual assault, rape prevention, rape myths

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Authors: Shavindrie Cooray

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It is vital that students are supported in having balanced conversations about topics that might be controversial. This process is crucial to the development of critical thinking skills. This can be difficult to attain in e-learning environments, with some research finding students report a perceived loss in the quality of knowledge exchange and performance. This research investigated if Systems Theory could be applied to structure the discussion, improve information sharing, and reduce conflicts when students are working in online environments. This research involved 160 participants across four categories of student groups at a college in the Northeastern US. Each group was provided with a shared problem, and each group was expected to make a proposal for a solution. Two groups worked face-to-face; the first face to face group engaged with the problem and each other with no intervention from a facilitator; a second face to face group worked on the problem using Systems tools to facilitate problem structuring, group discussion, and decision-making. There were two types of virtual teams. The first virtual group also used Systems tools to facilitate problem structuring and group discussion. However, all interactions were conducted in a synchronous virtual environment. The second type of virtual team also met in real time but worked with no intervention. Findings from the study demonstrated that the teams (both virtual and face-to-face) using Systems tools shared more information with each other than the other teams; additionally, these teams reported an increased level of disagreement amongst their members, but also expressed more confidence and satisfaction with the experience and resulting decision compared to the other groups.

Keywords: e-learning, virtual teams, systems approach, conflicts

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Authors: Jhemson C. Elis, Alvin S. Magadia

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Our world is full of numbers, shapes, and figures that illustrate the wholeness of a thing. Indeed, this statement signifies that mathematics is everywhere. Mathematics in its broadest sense helps people in their everyday life that is why in education it is a must to be taken by the students as a subject. The study aims to determine the profile of the respondents in terms of gender and age, performance of the control and experimental groups in the pretest and posttest, impact of the instructional game used as instructional intervention in teaching algebra for high school students, significant difference between the level of performance of the two groups of respondents in their pre–test and post–test results, and the instructional intervention can be proposed. The descriptive method was also utilized in this study. The use of the certain approach was to that it corresponds to the main objective of this research that is to determine the effectiveness of the instructional game used as an instructional intervention in teaching algebra for high school students. There were 30 students served as respondents, having an equal size of the sample of 15 each while a greater number of female teacher respondents which totaled 7 or 70 percent and male were 3 or 30 percent. The study recommended that mathematics teacher should conceptualize instructional games for the students to learn mathematics with fun and enjoyment while learning. Mathematics education program supervisor should give training for teachers on how to conceptualize mathematics intervention for the students learning. Meaningful activities must be provided to sustain the student’s interest in learning. Students must be given time to have fun at the classroom through playing while learning since mathematics for them was considered as difficult. Future researcher must continue conceptualizing some mathematics intervention to suffice the needs of the students, and teachers should inculcate more educational games so that the discussion will be successful and joyful.

Keywords: instructional game in algebra, mathematical intervention, joyful, successful

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Authors: Mark Linden, Rachel Leonard, Trisha Forbes, Michael Brown, Lynne Marsh, Stuart Todd, Nathan Hughes, Maria Truesdale

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Background: Current interventions which aim to improve the mental health of family carers are often face to face, which can create barriers to full participation. Online interventions can offer flexibility in delivery compared to face to face approaches. The primary objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of delivering the Carers-ID online intervention, while the secondary outcome is to improve the mental health of family carers of people with intellectual disabilities. Methods: Family carers (n = 120) will be randomised to receive the intervention (n=60) or assigned to a wait-list control (n=60) group. The intervention (www.Carers-ID.com) consists of fourteen modules which cover topics including promoting resilience, providing peer support, reducing anxiety, managing stress, accessing local supports, managing family conflict and information for siblings who are carers. Primary outcomes for this study include acceptability and feasibility of the outcome measures, recruitment, participation and retention rates and effect sizes. Secondary outcomes will be completed at three time points (baseline, following intervention completion and three months after completion). Secondary outcomes include, depression, anxiety, stress, well-being , resilience and social connectedness. Participants (n=12) who have taken part in the intervention arm of the research will be invited to participate in semi-structured interviews as part of the process evaluation. Discussion: To determine whether a full-scale randomised controlled effectiveness trial is warranted, feasibility testing of the intervention and trial procedures is a necessary first step. The Carers-ID intervention provides an accessible resource for family carers to support their mental health and well-being.

Keywords: intellectual disability, family carer, feasibility trial, online intervention

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Authors: Bok Yae Chung, Eun Hee Oh

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Breast cancer patients require more nutritional interventions than others. However, a few studies have attempted to assess the overall nutritional status, to reduce body weight and BMI by improving diet, and to improve the prognosis of cancer for breast cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of diet intervention in the breast cancer patients through meta-analysis. For the study purpose, 16 studies were selected by using PubMed, ScienceDirect, ProQuest and CINAHL. Meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model, and the effect size on outcome variables in breast cancer was calculated. The effect size for outcome variables of diet intervention was a large effect size. For heterogeneity, moderator analysis was performed using intervention type and intervention duration. All moderators did not significant difference. Diet intervention has significant positive effects on outcome variables in breast cancer. As a result, it is suggested that the timing of the intervention should be no more than six months, but a strategy for sustaining long-term intervention effects should be added if nutritional intervention is to be administered for breast cancer patients in the future.

Keywords: breast cancer, diet, mete-analysis, intervention

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Authors: Valerie Isaak

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This study examines the effectiveness of an intervention program aimed at enhancing a unit-level safety climate as a way to minimize the risk of employees being injured by patient violence. The intervention program conducted in maximum security units in one of the psychiatric hospitals in Israel included a three day workshop. Safety climate was examined before and after the implementation of the intervention. We also collected data regarding incidents involving patient violence. Six months after the intervention a significant improvement in employees’ perceptions regarding management’s commitment to safety were found as well as a marginally significant improvement in communication concerning safety issues. Our research shows that an intervention program aimed at enhancing a safety climate is associated with a decrease in the number of aggressive incidents. We conclude that such an intervention program is likely to return the sense of safety and reduce the scope of violence.

Keywords: violence, intervention, safety climate, performance, public sector

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Authors: Kartini Ilias, Nabilah Md Ahir, Nor Zafirah Ab Rahman, Safiah Md Yusof, Nuri Naqieyah Radzuan, Siti Sabariah Buhari

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This study aim to develop and assess the effectiveness of an intervention in improving eating habits and physical activity level of university students of UiTM Puncak Alam. The intervention consists of weekly dietary counselling by registered dietitian and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for three times per week for the duration of 8 weeks. A total of 25 students from the intervention group and 25 students from control group who had BMI equal to or greater than 25kg/m² participated in the study. The results showed a significant reduction in body weight (3.0 kg), body fat percentage (7.9 %), waist circumference (7.3 cm) and BMI (2.9 kg/m²) between pre and post intervention. Besides, there was a significant increase in the level of physical activity among subjects in intervention group. In conclusion, the intervention made an impact on eating habit, physical activity level and improves weight status of the students. It is expected that the intervention could be adopted and implemented by the government and private sector as well as policy-makers in formulating obesity intervention.

Keywords: obesity, diet, obesity intervention, physical activity

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Authors: Saeid Doaei

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Background: Obesity in adolescence is a primary risk factor for obesity in adulthood. The objective of this study was the assessment of the effect of a comprehensive lifestyle intervention on different anthropometric indices in 12 to 16 years old boy adolescents. Methods: 96 adolescent boys of two schools of District 5 of Tehran have participated in this study. The schools were randomly assigned as intervention school (n=53) and control school (n=43). The height and weight of students were measured with a calibrated tape line and digital scale respectively and their BMI were calculated. The amounts of body fat percent (BF) and body muscle (BM) percent were determined by Bio Impedance Analyzer (BIA) considering the age, gender and height of students at baseline and after intervention. The intervention was implemented in the intervention school, according to the Ottawa charter principles. Results: 12 weeks of intervention decreased body fat percent in the intervention group in comparison with the control group (decreased by 1.81 % in the intervention group and increased by .39 % in the control group, P < .01). However, weight, BMI and BM did not change significantly. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that the implementation of comprehensive intervention in obese adolescents may improve the body composition, although these changes may not be reflected in BMI. It is possible that BMI is not a good indicator in assessment of the success of obesity management intervention.

Keywords: obesity, childhood, BMI, nutrition

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Authors: Siti Sabariah Buhari, Ruzita Abdul Talib, Poh Bee Koon

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This study aims to develop and evaluate an intervention to improve eating habits, active lifestyle and weight status of overweight and obese children in Negeri Sembilan. The H.E.B.A.T! Program involved children, parents, and school and focused on behaviour and environment modification to achieve its goal. The intervention consists of H.E.B.A.T! Camp, parent’s workshop and school-based activities. A total of 21 children from intervention school and 22 children from control school who had BMI for age Z-score ≥ +1SD participated in the study. Mean age of subjects was 10.8 ± 0.3 years old. Four phases were included in the development of the intervention. Evaluation of intervention was conducted through process, impact and outcome evaluation. Process evaluation found that intervention program was implemented successfully with minimal modification and without having any technical problems. Impact and outcome evaluation was assessed based on dietary intake, average step counts, BMI for age z-score, body fat percentage and waist circumference at pre-intervention (T0), post-intervention 1 (T1) and post-intervention 2 (T2). There was significant reduction in energy (14.8%) and fat (21.9%) intakes (at p < 0.05) at post-intervention 1 (T1) in intervention group. By controlling for sex as covariate, there was significant intervention effect for average step counts, BMI for age z-score and waist circumference (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the intervention made an impact on positive behavioural intentions and improves weight status of the children. It is expected that the HEBAT! Program could be adopted and implemented by the government and private sector as well as policy-makers in formulating childhood obesity intervention.

Keywords: childhood obesity, diet, obesity intervention, physical activity

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Authors: Claire Baudry, Jessica Pearson, Laura-Emilie Savage, George Tarbulsy

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Over the last fifty years, maternal sensitivity and child development among vulnerable families have been a priority for researchers. For this reason, attachment-based interventions have been implemented and been shown to be effective in enhancing child development. Most of the time, child outcomes are measured shortly after the intervention. Objectives: The goal of the study was to investigate the effects of an attachment-based intervention on child development shortly after the intervention ended and one-year post-intervention. Methods: Over the seventy-two mother-child dyads referred by Child Protective Services in the province of Québec, Canada, forty-two were included in this study: 24 dyads who received 6 to 8 intervention sessions and 18 dyads who did not. Intervention and none intervention dyads were matched for the following variables: duration of child protective services, the reason for involvement with child protection, age, sex, and family status. Internalizing and externalizing behaviors were measured 3 and 12 months after the end of the intervention when the average age of children were respectively 45 and 54 months old. Findings: Independent-sample t-tests were conducted to compare scores between the two groups and the two data collection times. In general, on differences observed between the two groups three months after the intervention ended, just a few of them were still present nine months later. Conclusions: This first set of analyses suggests that the effects of attachment-based intervention observed three months following the intervention are not lasting for most of them. Those results inform us of the importance of considering the possibility to offer more attachment-based intervention sessions for those highly vulnerable families.

Keywords: attachment-based intervention, child behaviors, child protective services, highly vulnerable families

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Authors: Phomid Techi, L. N. Padmasini, Mohan Mathew

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Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of co-parent support on the duration of exclusive breastfeeding by a randomized control trial. Introduction: The current rates of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months in India is 46% (NFHS3 2008.). The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of co-parenting support on duration of exclusive breastfeeding in primi mothers. Design: RCT: Willing parents of healthy TAGA babies born in our hospital were explained about the study purpose and randomly assigned to either trial or control group. The control group was given the usual care. The intervention group received usual care and in addition the trial intervention. Follow-up data was collected at the end of 6 mon. Intervention: Face to face 30-minute discussion in post partum unit on breast feeding benefits, techniques, and problem-solving information followed up by phone calls to mother every 4 weeks to answer questions/concerns. Outcome measures: Duration of exclusive breastfeeding Baseline demographic variables were measured. Results: After obtaining IEC approval a total of 100 couples were recruited, 100 is each group. In the intervention group, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding was 97.2% while in the control group it was 64% (p-value 0.00). Conclusion: Co-parenting support has an important role in promoting exclusive breastfeeding.

Keywords: co-parenting, exclusive breastfeeding, developing nation, randomised control trial

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Authors: Jamunarani Appalasamy, Tha Kyi Kyi, Quek Kia Fatt, Joyce Pauline Joseph, Anuar Zaini M. Zain

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Background: The Health Belief Theory had always been associated with chronic disease management. Various health behaviour concepts and perception branching from this Health Belief Theory had involved with medication understanding, use, and self-efficacy which directly link to medication adherence. In a previous quantitative and qualitative study, stroke patients in Malaysia were found to be strongly believing information obtained by various sources such as the internet and social communication. This action leads to lower perception of their stroke preventative medication benefit which in long-term creates non-adherence. Hence, this study intends to pilot an intervention which uses audio-visual concept incorporated with mHealth service to enhance learning and self-reflection among stroke patients to manage their disease. Methods/Design: Twenty patients will be allocated to a proposed intervention whereas another twenty patients are allocated to the usual treatment. The intervention involves a series of developed audio-visual videos sent via mobile phone which later await for responses and feedback from the receiver (patient) via SMS or recorded calls. The primary outcome would be the medication understanding, use and self-efficacy measured over two months pre and post intervention. Secondary outcome is measured from changes of blood parameters and other self-reported questionnaires. Discussion: This study shall also assess uptake/attrition, feasibility, and acceptability of this intervention. Trial Registration: NMRR-15-851-24737 (IIR)

Keywords: health belief, medication understanding, medication use, self-efficacy

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Authors: Regan Harper, Song Yang, Douglas Adams

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During the historically unprecedent time of Covid-19 pandemic, we survey college students with social issue generators to measure their core discussion groups. For the total 191 students, we elicit 847 conversation partners (alters) with our five social issue generators such as school closing, facemasks, collegiate sports, race and policing, and social inequality, producing an average of 4.43 alters per respondent. The core discussion groups of our sample are very gender balanced, with female alters slightly outnumbering male alters. However, the core discussion groups are racially homogenous, consisting of mostly white students (around or above 80 percent). Explanatory analyses reveal that gender and race of respondents significantly impact the size, gender composition, and racial composition of their core discussion networks. We discuss those major findings and implications of future studies in our conclusion section.

Keywords: core discussion groups, social issue generators, ego-centric network, Covid-19 pandemic

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Authors: Tina Abrefa-Gyan

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Background: In Ghana and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS is a public health threat and also causes medical crises for many who are infected with the virus. Objective: This study tested a social care intervention developed to help improve the quality of life of those living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Method: Adult respondents (N = 248) were assigned to receive the intervention or usual care for six weeks. Results: Results of the study revealed significant differences between the treatment and control groups in their reports of quality of life. Respondents reported better quality of life upon receiving the intervention. Implication: This study sheds light on the positive relationship between the intervention and quality of life among those living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Conclusion: The intervention is innovative and novel in the setting. It will, therefore, help to reduce the risks such as depression, low cognitive functioning, and low physical functioning associated with low quality of life among people living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana in specific, and in sub-Saharan Africa in general.

Keywords: social care intervention, HIV/AIDS, Ghana, quality of life

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Authors: Steffira Anjani, Agnes Dessyana, Luciyana Lesmana

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Employee well-being has been a major factor for an employee to deliver optimal performance in the workplace. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a major concern for organizations to develop Employee Assistance Program as an approach to maintain employees’ well-being. However, there is little published evidence assessing the effectiveness of Employee Assistance Program for the employee’s well-being. The purpose of this paper is to advance theory and practice by understanding how the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) impacts to new hire well-being and turnover, especially in private organization. This paper provides an intervention framework used for new employees. The intervention program (onboarding and support group) is carried out to improve new hire well-being and to make them stay at the organization. The intervention is delivered to 36 new hire employees that were recruited from January 2021 to still ongoing 2022. The result of level 1 evaluation shows that new hire employees give a good rating to the intervention program. Next, the result of level 2 evaluation shows that the intervention has a significant difference in new hire well-being before and after the intervention program (Z=-2,11, p<0.05) and increases the percentage of recruitment quality index (RQI = 10%).

Keywords: Employee Assistance Program, well-being, turnover, intervention program

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Authors: Fairuz Fadzilah Rahim

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Introduction: Indigenous adolescents are at higher risk of dog associated zoonotic infections (DAZI) as they live closely with free-roaming dogs and have limited access to veterinary care. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of health education interventions towards knowledge, attitudes, and preventive practices (KAP) of adolescents on DAZI. Methods: This one-group pre-and post-intervention study in 5 months period was conducted among Jahai adolescents aged 12 years and above. Jahai is one of the three major tribes of indigenous people in Peninsular Malaysia. Health education intervention programs using posters, slide presentations, comics, video clips, and discussion on DAZI were employed. Repeated measures of within-subjects analysis were used to identify the pre- and post- KAP of the adolescents. Results: There were 54 adolescents participated in this study with a mean age of 15.72 (SD: 2.49) and equal proportions of males (50%) and females (50%). Among the adolescents, 22.2% were married, 5.6% were illiterate, and 44.4% not continuing education at the time of data collection. The majority of them keep dogs as pets (64.8%), and few used dogs for hunting (11.1%). There was significant increase in mean scores of knowledge (F = 40.92, p < 0.001) and attitudes (F = 6.43, p = 0.014) of the adolescents. However, the preventive practices towards DAZI showed non-significant improvement on the intervention. Conclusions: The health education intervention programs showed to be effective in improving the attitudes and practices related to dog associated zoonotic infections. Emphasis on sustained health education programs is important to foster good health and wellbeing of the indigenous community.

Keywords: adolescent health, dog associated infection, zoonotic, KAP, indigenous

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Authors: Jason Ceavers, Travis Thompson, Juan Torres, Ramanakumar Anam, Alan Wong, Andrei Carvalho, Shane Quo, Shawn Alonso, Moises Cintron, Ricardo C. Carrero, German Lopez, Vamsi Garimella, German Giese

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Introduction: Advance directives (AD) are essential for patients to communicate their wishes when they are not able to. Ideally, these discussions should not occur for the first time when a patient is hospitalized with an acute life-threatening illness. There is a large number of patients who do not have clearly documented ADs, resulting in the misutilization of resources and additional patient harm. This is a nationwide issue, and the Joint Commission has it as one of its national quality metrics. Presented here is a proposed protocol to increase the number of documented AD discussions in a community-based, internal medicine residency primary care clinic in South Florida. Methods: The SMART Aim for this quality improvement project is to increase documentation of AD discussions in the outpatient setting by 25% within three months in medicare patients. A survey was sent to stakeholders (clinic attendings, residents, medical assistants, front desk staff, and clinic managers), asking them for three factors they believed contributed most to the low documentation rate of AD discussions. The two most important factors were time constraints and systems issues (such as lack of a standard method to document ADs and ADs not being uploaded to the chart) which were brought up by 25% and 21.2% of the 32 survey responders, respectively. Pre-intervention data from clinic patients in 2020-2021 revealed 17.05% of patients had clear, actionable ADs documented. To address these issues, an AD pocket card was created to give to patients. One side of the card has a brief explanation of what ADs are. The other side has a column of interventions (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, dialysis, tracheostomy, feeding tube) with boxes patients check off if they want the intervention done, do not want the intervention, do not want to discuss the topic, or need more information. These cards are to be filled out and scanned into their electronic chart to be reviewed by the resident before their appointment. The interventions that patients want more information on will be discussed by the provider. If any changes are made, the card will be re-scanned into their chart. After three months, we will chart review the patients seen in the clinic to determine how many medicare patients have a pocket card uploaded and how many have advance directives discussions documented in a progress note or annual wellness note. If there is not enough time for an AD discussion, a follow-up appointment can be scheduled for that discussion. Discussion: ADs are a crucial part of patient care, and failure to understand a patient’s wishes leads to improper utilization of resources, avoidable litigation, and patient harm. Time constraints and systems issues were identified as two major factors contributing to the lack of advance directive discussion in our community-based resident primary care clinic. Our project aims at increasing the documentation rate for ADs through a simple pocket card intervention. These are self-explanatory, easy to read and allow the patients to clearly express what interventions they desire or what they want to discuss further with their physician.

Keywords: advance directives, community-based, pocket card, primary care clinic

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Authors: Saimir Heta, Kastriot Haxhirexha, Virtut Velmishi, Nevila Alliu, Ilma Robo

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Background: Testicular rotation can occur at any age. The possibility to save the testicle is the fastest possible surgical intervention which is indicated by the presence of acute pain even at rest. The time element is more important to diagnose and proceed further with surgical intervention. Testicular damage is a consequence which mainly depends on the moment of onset of symptoms, at the time when the symptoms are diagnosed, the earliest action to be performed is surgical intervention. Sometimes medical tests are needed to confirm a diagnosis, or to help identify another cause for symptoms; for example, the urine test, that is used to check for infection, associated with the scrotal ultrasound test. Control of blood flow to the longitudinal supply vessels of the testicles is indicated. The sign that indicates testicular rotation is a reduction in blood flow. This is the element which is distinguished from ultrasound examination. Surgery may be needed to determine if the patient’s symptoms are caused by the rotation of the testis or any other condition. Discussion: As a surgical intervention of the emergency, the torsion of the test depends very much on the duration of the torsion, as the success in the life of the testicle depends on the fastest surgical intervention. From the previous clinic, it is noted that in any case presented to the pediatric patient diagnosed with testicular rotation, there is always a link with personal history that the patient refers to the presence of a previous episode of testicular trauma. Literature supports this fact very logically. Conclusions: Salvation without testicular atrophy depends closely on establishing the diagnosis of testicular rotation as soon as possible. Following the logic above, it can be said that the diagnosis for rotation should be performed as soon as possible, to avoid consequences that will not be favorable for the patient.

Keywords: acute scrotum, test torsion, newborns, clinical presentation

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Authors: Ashwaq Alsulami, Jianhua Shao

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Various organisations often need to understand discussions on social media, such as what trending topics are and characteristics of the people engaged in the discussion. A number of approaches have been proposed to extract attributes that would characterise a discussion group. However, these approaches are largely based on supervised learning, and as such they require a large amount of labelled data. We propose an approach in this paper that does not require labelled data, but rely on lexical sources to detect meaningful attributes for online discussion groups. Our findings show an acceptable level of accuracy in detecting attributes for Twitter discussion groups.

Keywords: attributed community, attribute detection, community, social network

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Authors: Joel C. Navarez

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The current study investigated the Filipino school counselor’s knowledge, attitudes, and competencies in suicide intervention as well as their experiences and practices in suicide intervention. The study also aimed to develop and standardize suicide intervention guidelines. The study has two (2) phases. Phase 1 utilized the descriptive and generic qualitative inquiry methods of research. Purposive and convenience sampling was applied, and participants were college counselors from the National Capital Region (NCR), Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Results revealed that counselors do not have high level of knowledge on suicidal behaviors, have some negative attitudes toward suicidal behavior, and need to acquire better intervention skills. The findings also showed that the trainings received by counselors are not enough to advance their suicide intervention skills, which would help enhance positive attitudes towards suicide risk assessment and management. Some common experiences of the counselors in suicide intervention were focused on the areas of accountability, stigmatizing attitudes of parents, and confidentiality issues. Phase 2 of the study was the development of suicide intervention practice guidelines using the Delphi process. The tentative guideline was based on the content analysis of interventions taken from literature and from the actual intervention practices of counselors, as seen from the findings of the qualitative study of Phase 1. After three (3) Delphi rounds and the consensus from sixteen (16) mental health experts, 145 recommended actions can be implemented by school counselors in suicide.

Keywords: counselor competencies, counselor development, suicide, suicide intervention

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Authors: Katrina Angeline Santos, Francis Mark Fernandez, Francheska Esmao

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Intervention is defined as a forcible interference by a state or states with power in the affairs of another state using force or the threat of force. On the other hand, a military intervention is an intervention, specifically used to define an intervention which uses force. With these, the authors realized a lack in the concept of intervention wherein it is an invited one.The authors wrote this paper to introduce a concept of intervention wherein the intervening state is offering assistance to the state in crisis which asked for one. The authors decided to make a contextual description of this phenomenon because of the lack of concepts regarding intervention between the idea of a single state performing a ‘heroic’ role of intervening in the crisis of another state. The problem that the authors would like to address is regarding the lack of availability in the concept of intervention wherein the state in crisis is seeking the assistance of another state. The authors utilized a contextual description approach to the study through the descriptive presentation of the series of events, by utilizing the news articles and news reports published, which happened in Ukraine and Crimea. This concept is further demonstrated through the utilization of a conceptual framework which shows the mutual relationship between the states. From the analysis of the behavior of Russia and its role in the Crimean Crisis 2014, the authors are able to coin the term, 'Caped Intervention' to describe an intervention of a state as a response to the invitation of assistance of a state in crisis in order for them to achieve their goals. This concept entails a mutual relationship between an intervening state and a sate in crisis. The concept of Caped Intervention describes the role of Russia as a Caped State or an intervening state observed through its action towards Crimea. This concept will help in the observation of the behavior of actors or states in events such as this. It will further help in analyzing the actors’ role in intervention by making it possible to classify the intervening acts into another concept.

Keywords: assistance, caped intervention, crisis, heroic

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Authors: Gemma Reynolds, Deborah Bailey Rodriguez, Maria Paula Valdivieso Rueda

Abstract:

In recent years, the mental health of Higher Education (HE) students has been a growing concern. This has been further exacerbated by the stresses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, placing students at even greater risk of developing mental health issues. Support available to students in HE tends to follow an established and traditional route. The demands for counselling services have grown, not only with the increase in student numbers but with the number of students seeking support for mental health issues. One way of improving well-being and mental health in HE students is through the use of brief interventions, such as expressive writing (EW). This intervention involves encouraging individuals to write continuously for at least 15-20 minutes for three to five sessions (often on consecutive days) about their deepest thoughts and feelings to explore significant personal experiences in a meaningful way. Given the brevity, simplicity and cost-effectiveness of EW, this intervention has considerable potential as an intervention for HE populations. The current study, therefore, employed a mixed-methods design to explore the effectiveness of EW in reducing anxiety, general stress, academic stress and depression in HE students while improving well-being. HE students at MDX were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) The UniExp-EW group were required to write about their emotions and thoughts about any stressors they have faced that are directly relevant to their university experience (2) The NonUniExp-EW group were required to write about their emotions and thoughts about any stressors that are NOT directly relevant to their university experience, and (3) The Control group were required to write about how they spent their weekend, with no reference to thoughts or emotions, and without thinking about university. Participants were required to carry out the EW intervention for 15minutes per day for four consecutive days. Baseline mental health and wellbeing measures were taken before the intervention via a battery of standardised questionnaires. Following completion of the intervention on day four, participants were required to complete the questionnaires a second time and again one week later. Participants were also invited to attend focus groups to discuss their experience of the intervention. This will allow an in-depth investigation into students’ perceptions of EW as an effective intervention to determine whether they would choose to use this intervention in the future. The quantitative findings will be discussed at the conference as well as a discussion of the important implications of the findings. The study is fundamental because if EW is an effective intervention for improving mental health and well-being in HE students, its brevity and simplicity means it can be easily implemented and can be freely-available to students. Improving the mental health and well-being of HE students can have knock-on implications for improving academic skills and career development.

Keywords: mental health, wellbeing, higher education students, expressive writing

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Authors: Waqar Ahmad Bajwa

Abstract:

In the land market, there are two kinds of government intervention. First one is the control of development and second is the supply of land. In the both intervention Government has a lot of benefits. In development control the government designation of conservation areas and the effects of growth controls which may increase the price of land. On other hand Government also apply charge fee on land. The second type of intervention is to increase the supply of land, either by direct action or indirect action, as in the Pakistan, by obligatory purchase or important domain.

Keywords: supply of control, control of development, charge fee, land control

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Authors: Mei Xuan Tan, Eng Ying Bong

Abstract:

Academic discussion during and after instructional teaching is an integral part of learning. Such discussion between the instructor and student or peer-to-peer discussion can be in several different forms. It could be face-to-face discussion, via email and use of online discussion forum. In this study, the effectiveness of using WhatsApp for academic discussion for a first year half-credit Chemistry course was examined. This study was run over two years with two different batches of students. Participation in the study was voluntary and student volunteers were recruited within the first week of the term. The activity in the WhatsApp group was monitored by two instructors teaching the course. At the end of the course, the students participated in an online survey to evaluate their experience of using WhatsApp for academic discussion. There were a total of 26 questions. The survey had a total of 4 sections with regards to the use of WhatsApp for academic discussion: 1) Familiarity with WhatsApp, 2) Effectiveness of using WhatsApp for discussion, 3) Challenges and 4) Overall experience. The main purpose of using an IM platform for academic discussion was to encourage after-class discussion amongst the students. 32% of the participants had used other online platform, such as Piazza and forums in Learning Management System (LMS), for after-class academic discussion with their instructors and peers. This was a low percentage considering that some courses use such online platform as their main forum amongst instructors and students. At the end of our study, over 83% of the participants felt that WhatsApp was a more effective platform compared to other online forum. One interesting finding was the effect of WhatsApp discussion on face-to-face interaction with instructors. 28% of the students agreed that the use of WhatsApp as a discussion forum had encouraged them to approach their instructors during or after class. 51% of students answered neutral. This could be interpreted that the use of WhatsApp had not affected the frequent (or lack of) face-to-face interaction with their instructors. A second survey question, similar but phrased differently from the first, was also asked to evaluate the aspect of face-to-face interaction with instructors. 34% disagreed that the use of WhatsApp had reduced the frequency of face-to-face interaction. This could imply that the frequency remained the same or might have increased. The 38% who agreed to a decrease in face-to-face interaction have either asked the questions in WhatsApp or had their questions answered by a query from another student in the group chat. These outcomes suggested that the use of technology aided and complemented face-to-face interaction between instructors and students. The study also looked at the challenges of using WhatsApp for academic discussion. Some challenges included difficulty in referring back to previous discussion and students finding some discussions irrelevant to them. In conclusion, the use of IM platform for academic discussion was desirable for the students, but it should not be the only channel as face-to-face consultation and online forum for lengthy discussion are still important for after-class learning of students.

Keywords: chemistry, pedogogy, technological tools, undergraduate

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Authors: Annie Devault

Abstract:

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) can be beneficial for the well-being of children. MBIs offered for children in contexts of vulnerability (poverty, neglect) report positive results in terms of emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility. Anxiety is a common issue for children living in a vulnerable context. It has a negative impact on children’s attention span, emotional regulation and self-esteem. The MBI (12 weeks) associated with this research has been developed for a total of 30 children suffering from anxiety (7 to 9 years old) and receiving services from a community center over the last seven years. The first objective is to describe in details the content of the mindfulness-based intervention. The second purpose is to document what helps and what hinders the practice of mindfulness for children living in a context of vulnerability. A special attention will be given to the importance of the way that the intervention is offered and the principles that are followed by the practitioners. Perceived effects of the intervention on children were collected through an individual semi-structured interview with each child at the end of the program. Parents were also interviewed to have their point of view on the effect of their children’s participation in the group. Anxiety was measure with the Beck youth pre-post and at follow up (2 months). Qualitative analysis of the interviews with children showed that most of them mentioned that the program helped them become calmer, more confident, less scared and more able to deal with difficult emotions. Almost all of them reported having used the material provided to them to practice at home. This result has been confirmed by parents. They reported that their child had gained confidence and were better at verbalizing emotions. Children also grew calmer, even though all anxiety was not gone. They would have liked more material to practice at home. The quantitative instrument used to measure anxiety did not corroborate the qualitative interviews about anxiety. Discussion will question the use of this questionnaire for children who have important cognitive limitations. Discussion will also report the importance of the personalized contact with children, along with other consideration, to enhance the adherence of children and parents. The MBI seems to have benefited children in different ways, which is corroborated by most parents. Since the sample was limited, we will need to continue documenting its effects with more children and parents. The major strength of this research is to have reported the subjective perspectives of children on their experience of mindfulness.

Keywords: anxiety, mindfulness, children, best practices

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Authors: Valerie Isaak

Abstract:

Background: This study explores the effectiveness of refresher training sessions of an intervention program at reducing the employees’ risk of injury due to patient violence in a forensic psychiatric hospital. Methods: The original safety intervention program that consisted of a 3 days’ workshop was conducted in the maximum-security ward of a psychiatric hospital in Israel. Ever since the original intervention, annual refreshers were conducted, highlighting one of the safety elements covered in the original intervention. The study examines the effect of the intervention program along with the refreshers over a period of 10 years in four wards. Results: Analysis of the data demonstrates that beyond the initial reduction following the original intervention, refreshers seem to have an additional positive long-term effect, reducing both the number of violent incidents and the number of actual employee injuries in a forensic psychiatric hospital. Conclusions: We conclude that such an intervention program followed by refresher training would promote employees’ wellbeing. A healthy work environment is part of management’s commitment to improving employee wellbeing at the workplace.

Keywords: wellbeing, violence at work, intervention program refreshers, public sector mental healthcare

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Authors: Deborah Bailey-Rodriguez, Maria Paula Valdivieso Rueda, Gemma Reynolds

Abstract:

In recent years, the mental health of Higher Education (HE) students has been a growing concern. This has been further exacerbated by the stresses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, placing students at even greater risk of developing mental health issues. Support available to students in HE tends to follow an established and traditional route. The demands for counseling services have grown, not only with the increase in student numbers but with the number of students seeking support for mental health issues, with 94% of HE institutions recently reporting an increase in the need for counseling services. One way of improving the well-being and mental health of HE students is through the use of brief interventions, such as expressive writing (EW). This intervention involves encouraging individuals to write continuously for at least 15-20 minutes for three to five sessions (often on consecutive days) about their deepest thoughts and feelings to explore significant personal experiences in a meaningful way. Given the brevity, simplicity and cost-effectiveness of EW, this intervention has considerable potential as an intervention for HE populations. The current study, therefore, employed a mixed-methods design to explore the effectiveness of EW in reducing anxiety, general stress, academic stress and depression in HE students while improving well-being. HE students at MDX were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) The UniExp-EW group was required to write about their emotions and thoughts about any stressors they have faced that are directly relevant to their university experience (2) The NonUniExp-EW group was required to write about their emotions and thoughts about any stressors that are NOT directly relevant to their university experience, and (3) The Control group were required to write about how they spent their weekend, with no reference to thoughts or emotions, and without thinking about university. Participants were required to carry out the EW intervention for 15 minutes per day for four consecutive days. Baseline mental health and well-being measures were taken before the intervention via a battery of standardized questionnaires. Following completion of the intervention on day four, participants were required to complete the questionnaires a second time and again one week later. Participants were also invited to attend focus groups to discuss their experience of the intervention. This will allow an in-depth investigation into students’ perceptions of EW as an effective intervention to determine whether they would choose to use this intervention in the future. Preliminary findings will be discussed at the conference as well as a discussion of the important implications of the findings. The study is fundamental because if EW is an effective intervention for improving mental health and well-being in HE students, its brevity and simplicity mean it can be easily implemented and can be freely available to students. Improving the mental health and well-being of HE students can have knock-on implications for improving academic skills and career development.

Keywords: expressive writing, higher education, psychology in education, mixed-methods, mental health, academic stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 44