Older Adults’ Perspectives, Experiences, and Expectations of Ageing in England: A Grounded Theory Study Protocol

  Background: Pessimism about ageing can have negative impacts on older people’s health and wellbeing and foster negative societal views of ageing and older people. These negative views can impact how people age, with more negative views producing more negative outcomes. To reduce ageism in society, concepts such as ageing well have been developed. However, our understanding of what ageing and ageing well means to older adults is limited. In this study, we will explore the perceptions, experiences, and expectations of ageing of older adults in England and develop a theory of ageing and ageing well. Methods/Design: A constructivist grounded theory approach will be used to interview 30-60 older adults from diverse backgrounds and locations in England. We will include healthy adults, adults with physical illnesses, people with dementia, and carers of people with dementia. Discussion: The findings will help to provide much needed information about whether people can age well, and what is needed to achieve this for people from diverse backgrounds. This could help to develop and highlight interventions and services needed to effectively meet the needs of the diverse ageing population. This could highlight action points for providing adequate targeted services and care and support for people as they age

Social Networks and Support to Older People in Refugee Situation in Western Countries: A Scoping Review Protocol

Background: Forced migration of humans as a result of conflict continues to be a global problem. Many of the refugees displaced and made vulnerable by conflict induced forced migration are older adults. These older adults may lose their social networks and support as a result of the conflicts leading to migration and be unable to recreate them, making them more vulnerable. This review aims to describe the social network and support situation of older adults in refugee situation as presented in global literature. Methods/Design: The five steps of Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework to search multiple databases from inception till June 2021 will be followed. MeSH terms and keywords, e.g., “older refugees”, “refugees”, and “social network”, “social support”, will be adopted for the following databases: SocINDEX, PsychINFO, Social Work Abstracts, Sociology Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, Web of Science and/or Scopus, Canadian electronic library. Citations will be screened (title/abstract and full text) using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) will be used to describe the process of data inclusion and exclusion. Discussion: This review will reveal gaps in the provision of social support to older refugees and inform policy development for the improvement of support to older refugees

Study Protocol: Development and Validation of a Framework on the Personality Characteristics of High-Potential Employees (Hi-pots)

Background: Modern organizations recognize the importance of identifying, developing, and retaining high potential employees (hi-pots) who can contribute to effective functioning. They try different talent management strategies and frameworks to meet this purpose. Research shows that the involvement of a hi-pot in a team could increase the effectiveness, nearly 5-15%. The prevailing methodologies and models to identify hi-pots lack scientific evidence and are descriptive. Methods/Design: The study will follow an exploratory sequential research design with four phases: 1) Meta-analysis review; a systematic review of the literature using category checklist 2) Qualitative; semi-structured interviews to explore the personality of hi-pots 3) Quantitative; exploring the framework on the characteristics of hi-pots 4) Tool development; developing a measure to identify hi-pots Discussion: In this study protocol, we present the methodological approach to develop & validate a framework on the personality characteristics of hi-pots. The framework will help organizations to facilitate better talent management strategies

Resilient and Sustainable Energy Infrastructure: A Systematic Literature Review Protocol

Background: Critical infrastructure resilience and sustainability are key components of both the 2015 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, as well as the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (Panda & Ramos, 2020). The recent passing of the 2021 Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill in Australia, coupled with the lack of a governing document at the state level in Tasmania, necessitates a review to uncover the governance settings, which will aide in increasing the resilience and sustainability of energy infrastructures in Tasmania. Methods/Design: Following the 2015 PRISMA-P (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols), the review will focus on scholarly sources that address the governance of energy infrastructures. An initial deductive data extraction template has been created to help structure data extraction from included studies. In addition to governance settings, secondary evidence will be sought regarding interruptions to energy infrastructures; policy problems and solutions; and resilience and sustainability definitions. Should other themes emerge, the data extraction template will be updated. Discussion: Findings from this review will contribute to a more complete understanding of how the resilience and sustainability of energy infrastructures may be increased via deeper knowledge of their governance settings. Tasmanian policy-makers, practitioners, industry specialists, and researchers may use this research to inform and enhance their decision-making on this important topic

Rural Communities for Ageing-Well in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa: A Scoping Review Protocol

Background: A key action item of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing is to “Ensure that communities foster the abilities of older people” (WHO 2020, p. 9). The global focus on making communities age-friendly presumes community capacity to be supportive, although there has been little exploration of key features of rural communities that are central to their supportiveness. Knowledge gaps are especially evident in the global south and in rural and remote communities in these regions where a significant population of older people still lives and where communities themselves may be poorly resourced. Methods/Design: This scoping review is conducted to determine the state of knowledge of community capacity to foster wellbeing in older adults in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. It follows the PRISMA guidelines for scoping reviews.  To ensure a comprehensive review, searches are conducted across peer reviewed journals, published between 2010-2021, using databases such as Medline, CINHAIL, SOCIndex, PsychInfo and region-specific databases such as LILACS (Literature from Latina America and Caribbean on Health Sciences) and AJOL (African Journals OnLine). The search strategy allows for articles in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Afrikaans. Results of the review will inform the WHO age-friendly communities initiative in these regions. Discussion: This review will identify elements of rural and remote communities in SubSaharan Africa and Latin America that influence the health, social, material, and environmental wellbeing of older adults.  The findings will inform policy and development actions at the community level

Engagement of Parents in Child-focused Iinterventions: A systematised review protocol.

Background: Parent engagement in interventions for their children is considered necessary to the success of many allied health services. Currently, however, the concept of engagement is poorly defined and minimally understood. While literature on engagement is emerging, a coordinated overview of the topic from related disciplines is notably absent. Without this, it is difficult to translate insights of parent engagement into practical strategies for clinicians. The aim of this review is to systematically search the literature to identify factors relevant to parent engagement in child-focused interventions. Methods/Design: This review will follow a systematised literature review procedure, with a focus on comprehensive searching as well as application of quality appraisal and analysis steps. A search of five electronic databases will be undertaken, alongside citation tracking and hand searching of literature. Articles will be screened for relevance in a two-stage process (exclusion by title/abstract and exclusion at full text review), aligned with inclusion and exclusion criteria consistent with the review question. Included literature will be assessed for quality using a tool relevant to the study methods (quantitative or qualitative). Data analysis will include narrative synthesis for quantitative studies, and thematic synthesis for qualitative studies. Discussion: This review will explore literature on parent engagement across related child-focused interventions, to better define the concept of engagement and identify factors which contribute to parents being engaged in the treatment of their children. This information may guide further research on engagement of parents, and support practitioners working to develop interventions that maximally engage parents for optimal child outcomes

A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Relationships among Post-secondary Students’ Attitudes Toward Statistics and Statistics Achievement: A Protocol

Background: An understanding of statistics is essential in our data-driven world. Accordingly, successful completion of a statistics course is required for undergraduate and graduate students from many disciplines. Attitudes toward statistics is a multidimensional construct that expresses individuals’ positive or negative dispositions to statistics. A wide body of research indicates that there are statistically significant relationships among attitudes toward statistics and statistics achievement. However, the reported magnitudes of these relationships differ across studies.  Methods/Design: This review will examine the relationships among post-secondary students’ scores on the attitude components assessed by the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics (SATS) and their statistics achievement assessed using a variety of measures. As the data allow, this review then will explore the impact of possible moderating research characteristics including, for example, those associated with research sources, institutions, courses, subjects, and the SATS and statistics achievement measures. Discussion: In the resulting journal article, this section will focus on the results and the strengths and limitations of the synthesized literature. We expect that the study will contribute to the literature on the relationship between attitudes toward statistics and achievement by synthesizing the individual research results. The availability of the required information and the quality of primary studies will be potential limitations for the current study

Influenza Vaccination Rates, and Barriers to Influenza Vaccination, in People who are Homeless: A Systematic Review Protocol

Background: Influenza is a highly infectious virus which is endemic in most high-income countries. People experiencing homelessness are at an increased risk of contracting influenza, and often have poorer outcomes associated with hospitalisation and mortality. Annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all adults, and highly recommended for ‘at-risk’ groups, including people who are homeless. Despite this, the vaccination uptake within the homeless community is low. This systematic review will identify influenza vaccination rates, and barriers to influenza vaccination, in people who are homeless.   Methods: This review will consider primary studies about influenza vaccination in people who are homeless. Searches will be undertaken on five electronic databases and managed in EndNote X9. The literature will be screened by title/abstract, then by full-text, and citation chaining will be completed. Data about the influenza vaccination rates and barriers will be extracted. Each task, primarily the screening and extraction of data, will be completed by one researcher, and checked by at least one other.     Discussion: This review will identify influenza vaccination rates, and barriers to influenza vaccination, in people experiencing homelessness. This will inform vaccination delivery and funding, and may contribute to reducing the health disparities in this at-risk, hard-to-reach population.&nbsp

Acting as a Change Agent: Effects of a Customized Training Program to Develop the Skills of Health and Social Services Professionals

Background: Acting as a change agent (CA) is a key role for Health and Social Services (HSS) professionals. It involves working collaboratively with actors across and outside the HSS system and influencing decision-makers. However, this role requires specific skills that HSS professionals generally feel that they have not mastered. The overarching goal of this research partnership is to explore the development of CA skills by HSS professionals using a customized training program. Methods/Design: Through a research partnership, 128 HSS professionals will receive 7 hours of training using a professional co-development approach and a checklist. The immediate and medium-term effects of the training on their skills development will be evaluated with a self-administered questionnaire before and immediately following the training and again nine months later. The data will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Discussion: This study will shed light on the effects of a customized training program on CA skills development. It will also have three main benefits: (1) development of an easy-to-reuse CA training program and checklist; (2) partner’s ownership of these products through close involvement; and (3) development of a sustainable partnership between a team of researchers and a recognized organization with an extensive HSS network

Teaching Soft Skills in Healthcare and Higher Education: A Scoping Review Protocol

Background: Soft skills and the need for their development have been discussed across industries for many years, predominantly in engineering, hospitality, and IT sectors. The importance of soft skills to career success has been well-documented, but gaps exist on how to teach them. Inter-industry variability and a lack of consensus in identifying and defining important soft skills adds to the problem. New research in teaching soft skills needs to be formally incorporated into training curricula, especially within healthcare and education sectors. This scoping review will answer these research questions: How are soft skills conceptualised, taught and assessed in healthcare and higher education?   Methods/Design: A search of health, education, and social science databases will be conducted including peer-reviewed and grey literature. Data will be extracted using a combination of the PRISMA ScR and PAGER framework. Analysis will be carried out utilising the PAGER framework and will yield descriptive summaries. Discussion: The review will collate literature on teaching and assessing soft skills in healthcare and higher education. It will map evidence in relation to current practices and research, gaps, evidence for practice, and research recommendations. The findings will be discussed in the full Scoping Review along with implications for teaching. &nbsp