250,878 research outputs found
Designing a physical activity parenting course : parental views on recruitment, content and delivery
Background
Many children do not engage in sufficient levels of physical activity (PA) and spend too much time screen-viewing (SV). High levels of SV (e.g. watching TV, playing video games and surfing the internet) and low levels of PA have been associated with adverse health outcomes. Parenting courses may hold promise as an intervention medium to change childrenâs PA and SV. The current study was formative work conducted to design a new parenting programme to increase childrenâs PA and reduce their SV. Specifically, we focussed on interest in a course, desired content and delivery style, barriers and facilitators to participation and opinions on control group provision.
Methods
In-depth telephone interviews were conducted with thirty two parents (29 female) of 6â8âyear olds. Data were analysed thematically. An anonymous online survey was also completed by 750 parents of 6â8âyear old children and descriptive statistics calculated.
Results
Interview participants were interested in a parenting course because they wanted general parenting advice and ideas to help their children be physically active. Parents indicated that they would benefit from knowing how to quantify their childâs PA and SV levels. Parents wanted practical ideas of alternatives to SV. Most parents would be unable to attend unless childcare was provided. Schools were perceived to be a trusted source of information about parenting courses and the optimal recruitment location. In terms of delivery style, the majority of parents stated they would prefer a group-based approach that provided opportunities for peer learning and support with professional input. Survey participants reported the timing of classes and the provision of childcare were essential factors that would affect participation. In terms of designing an intervention, the most preferred control group option was the opportunity to attend the same course at a later date.
Conclusions
Parents are interested in PA/SV parenting courses but the provision of child care is essential for attendance. Recruitment is likely to be facilitated via trusted sources. Parents want practical advice on how to overcome barriers and suggest advice is provided in a mutually supportive group experience with expert input
Peripatetic electronic teachers in higher education
This paper explores the idea of information and communications technology providing a medium enabling higher education teachers to act as freelance agents. The notion of a âPeripatetic Electronic Teacherâ (PET) is introduced to encapsulate this idea. PETs would exist as multiple telepresences (pedagogical, professional, managerial and commercial) in PETâworlds; global networked environments which support advanced multimedia features. The central defining rationale of a pedagogical presence is described in detail and some implications for the adoption of the PETâworld paradigm are discussed. The ideas described in this paper were developed by the author during a recently completed ShortâTerm British Telecom Research Fellowship, based at the BT Adastral Park
Reducing the health risks of severe winter weather among older people in the United Kingdom: an evidence-based intervention
Excess winter morbidity and mortality among older people remain significant public health issues in those European countries which experience relatively mild winter temperatures, particularly the United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, Portugal and Spain. In the UK, episodes of severe winter weather, when ambient temperatures fall below 5x C, are associated with peaks in general practitioner consultations,hospital admissions, and cardiovascular deaths among those aged over 65. While research indicates that such health risks could be substantially reduced
by the adoption of appropriate behavioural strategies, accessible and credible advice on how older people can reduce risk during âcold snapsâ is lacking. This paper describes a programme of research that aimed: (a) to translate the relevant scientific literature into practical advice for older people in order to reduce health risk during episodes of severe winter weather ; and (b) to integrate this advice with a severe winter weather âEarly Warning Systemâ developed by the UK Met Office. An advice booklet was generated through a sequential process of systematic review, consensus development, and focus group discussions with older people. In a subsequent field trial, a combination of the Met Office âEarly Warning Systemâ and the advice booklet produced behavioural change among
older people consistent with risk reduction. The results also show that long-held convictions about âhealthy environments â and anxieties about fuel costs are barriers
to risk reduction
Knowledge Acquisition for Content Selection
An important part of building a natural-language generation (NLG) system is
knowledge acquisition, that is deciding on the specific schemas, plans, grammar
rules, and so forth that should be used in the NLG system. We discuss some
experiments we have performed with KA for content-selection rules, in the
context of building an NLG system which generates health-related material.
These experiments suggest that it is useful to supplement corpus analysis with
KA techniques developed for building expert systems, such as structured group
discussions and think-aloud protocols. They also raise the point that KA issues
may influence architectural design issues, in particular the decision on
whether a planning approach is used for content selection. We suspect that in
some cases, KA may be easier if other constructive expert-system techniques
(such as production rules, or case-based reasoning) are used to determine the
content of a generated text.Comment: To appear in the 1997 European NLG workshop. 10 pages, postscrip
How patients contribute to an online psychoeducation forum for bipolar disorder: a virtual participant observation study
Background: In a recent exploratory randomized controlled trial, an online psychoeducation intervention for bipolar disorder
has been found to be feasible and acceptable to patients and may positively impact on their self-management behaviors and quality
of life.
Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate how these patients contribute to an online forum for bipolar disorder
and the issues relevant for them.
Methods: Participants in the intervention arm of the Bipolar Interactive PsychoEDucation (âBIPEDâ) trial were invited to
contribute to the Beating Bipolar forum alongside receiving interactive online psychoeducation modules. Within this virtual
participant observation study, forum posts were analyzed using thematic analysis, incorporating aspects of discourse analysis.
Results: The key themes which arose from the forum posts included: medication, employment, stigma, social support, coping
strategies, insight and acceptance, the life chart, and negative experiences of health care. Participants frequently provided personal
narratives relating to their history of bipolar disorder, life experiences, and backgrounds, which often contained emotive language
and humor. They regularly sought and offered advice, and expressed encouragement and empathy. The forum would have
benefitted from more users to offer a greater support network with more diverse views and experiences.
Conclusions: Online forums are inexpensive to provide and may offer peer support and the opportunity for patients to share
their experiences and explore issues related to their illness anonymously. Future research should focus on how to enhance patient
engagement with online health care forums
Developing a community-based intervention to improve quality of life in people with colorectal cancer: a complex intervention development study
Objectives: To develop and pilot a theory and evidence-based intervention to improve quality of life (QoL) in people with colorectal cancer.
Design: A complex intervention development study.
Setting: North East Scotland and Glasgow.
Participants: Semistructured interviews with people with colorectal cancer (n=28), cancer specialists (n=16) and primary care health professionals (n=14) and pilot testing with patients (n=12).
Interventions: A single, 1â
h nurse home visit 6â12â
weeks after diagnosis, and telephone follow-up 1â
week later (with a view to ongoing follow-up in future).
Primary and secondary outcome measures: Qualitative assessment of intervention feasibility and acceptability.
Results: Modifiable predictors of QoL identified previously were symptoms (fatigue, pain, diarrhoea, shortness of breath, insomnia, anorexia/cachexia, poor psychological well-being, sexual problems) and impaired activities. To modify these symptoms and activities, an intervention based on Control Theory was developed to help participants identify personally important symptoms and activities; set appropriate goals; use action planning to progress towards goals; self-monitor progress and identify (and tackle) barriers limiting progress. Interview responses were generally favourable and included recommendations about timing and style of delivery that were incorporated into the intervention. The pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of intervention delivery.
Conclusions: Through multidisciplinary collaboration, a theory-based, acceptable and feasible intervention to improve QoL in colorectal cancer patients was developed, and can now be evaluated
The dialogic aspects of Mantle of the Expert pedagogy used to teach devising at NCEA Level 2 in a Year 12 classroom "I don't think it's about credits- definitely not about credits"
This inquiry sets out to gather and consider student and teacher perceptions about the affordances and constraints of using Mantle of the Expert pedagogy, to support teaching and learning, through the process of devising drama at NCEA Level in a Year 12 classroom.
Questions about the role of the teacher in a senior secondary drama classroom, and the epistemological frames used in the exploration of creative drama making formed the basis of the inquiry. The notion of a âlearning communityâ (Ministry of Education, 2007, p.34) in which everyone âincluding the teacher, is a learnerâ is identified and the idea of âshared learningâ is explored in contrast to traditional transmission models of teaching.
The case study was conducted in a North Island secondary school where teachers and students were positioned together as members of THEATRON, a fictional professional theatre company. THEATRON, commissioned by an artistic director of a national arts festival, were to develop original, devised drama for festival audiences which captured the essence of âWhat it means to be humanâ.
This qualitative study generated data from interviews with the class teacher and the students, observations of the lessons throughout the devising process and student documentation developed in both electronic and hard copy formats.
Findings from the study, considered in the light of Bakhtinâs theory of dialogism, indicated that the dialogic aspects of the core elements of the Mantle of the Expert pedagogy could provide rich opportunities for purposeful creative collaboration, through student autonomy, to develop more effectively in the performance groups
Is the responsibilization of the cyber security risk reasonable and judicious?
Cyber criminals appear to be plying their trade without much hindrance. Home computer users are particularly vulnerable to attack by an increasingly sophisticated and globally dispersed hacker group. The smartphone era has exacerbated the situation, offering hackers even more attack surfaces to exploit. It might not be entirely coincidental that cyber crime has mushroomed in parallel with governments pursuing a neoliberalist agenda. This agenda has a strong drive towards individualizing risk i.e. advising citizens how to take care of themselves, and then leaving them to face the consequences if they choose not to follow the advice. In effect, citizens are âresponsibilized .â Whereas responsibilization is effective for some risks, the responsibilization of cyber security is, we believe, contributing to the global success of cyber attacks. There is, consequently, a case to be made for governments taking a more active role than the mere provision of advice, which is the case in many countries. We conclude with a concrete proposal for a risk regulation regime that would more effectively mitigate and ameliorate cyber risk
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