Development of a Self‐Management Theory‐Guided Discharge Intervention for Parents of Hospitalized Children

Background Parents of hospitalized children, especially parents of children with complex and chronic health conditions, report not being adequately prepared for self‐management of their child\u27s care at home after discharge. Problem No theory‐based discharge intervention exists to guide pediatric nurses\u27 preparation of parents for discharge. Purpose To develop a theory‐based conversation guide to optimize nurses\u27 preparation of parents for discharge and self‐management of their child at home following hospitalization. Methods Two frameworks and one method influenced the development of the intervention: the Individual and Family Self‐Management Theory, Tanner\u27s Model of Clinical Judgment, and the Teach‐Back method. A team of nurse scientists, nursing leaders, nurse administrators, and clinical nurses developed and field tested the electronic version of a nine‐domain conversation guide for use in acute care pediatric hospitals. Conclusions The theory‐based intervention operationalized self‐management concepts, added components of nursing clinical judgment, and integrated the Teach‐Back method. Clinical Relevance Development of a theory‐based intervention, the translation of theoretical knowledge to clinical innovation, is an important step toward testing the effectiveness of the theory in guiding clinical practice. Clinical nurses will establish the practice relevance through future use and refinement of the intervention

A blended approach in teaching an EAP course: Malaysian instructors’ perceptions of the new course materials

This paper reports on a study which examines instructors’ perceptions of the new commercial course materials that comprises a course book and online practice reinforcement activities. The materials were used to teach undergraduate English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course for Social Sciences at a Malaysian public university. This represents the main facet of the blended approach introduced when the course was redesigned. The sample comprises ten instructors who taught the course for one semester. Three qualitative instruments were utilized to elicit data namely, instructor-researcher reflective notes, focus group discussion and one-to-one interviews. The results of the study were generally positive, however, two main concerns were raised. The first was regarding the difficulty level of the reading comprehension activities in the course book which majority of the instructors felt were too simple and not challenging enough for their students. The second was on internet connectivity to the online practice website which the instructors felt was too slow and was unable to support the students efficiently. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings and provides suggestions for the next cycle of the researc

Teaching students to teach patients: A theory-guided approach

Nurses in every setting provide patient teaching on a routine basis, often several times a day. Patient teaching skills are essential competencies to be developed during pre-licensure nursing education. While students learn what to teach for specific conditions, they often lack competence in how to teach in ways that individualize and optimize patient learning. The ultimate goal of patient teaching is to arm patients with the knowledge and skills, and the desire and confidence in their ability to reach their targeted health outcomes. We describe the creation of a theoretical framework to guide development of patient teaching skills. The framework, rooted in the contemporary health care values of patient-centered care, is a synthesis of four evidence-based approaches to patient teaching: patient engagement, motivational interviewing, adult learning theory, and teach-back method. Specific patient teaching skills, derived from each of the approaches, are applied within the context of discharge teaching, an important nursing practice linked to patient outcomes. This exemplar emphasizes the use of critical teaching process skills and targeted informational content. An online student learning module based on the theoretical framework and combined with simulation experiences provides the nurse educator with one strategy for use with nursing students. The theoretical framework has applicability for skill development during pre-licensure education and skill refinement for nurses in clinical practice

‘It is empowering…’ Teachers’ voices on action research using Flanders' Interactional Analysis Categories (FIAC) for peer observation to improve teaching and learning of English language

Observing teachers especially experienced teachers can be a difficult task. Nevertheless, observation is an effective means to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and learning practice of any course or programme. Peer observation is one of the effective ways with relative ease. This paper discusses the findings of a study that involves three ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers at Changlon Secondary School in Kedah Malaysia. This study incorporates the use of Flanders' Interactional Analysis Category (FIAC) for Teacher Support Team (TST) programme between Universiti Utara Malaysia(UUM) and the school. The paper begins first by explaining the involvement of the teachers and their feelings about peer observation. This paper then highlights teachers’ feelings and perceptions towards FIAC as an alternative tool to observe and improve teaching effectiveness and how its use create an awareness of the kind of teaching that takes place in their classrooms. The dogma of learner-centred versus teacher-centred teaching was evidently discussed. The paper concludes by providing ways to make the classrooms more learner-centred as opposed to the current practice of the teachers which are more teacher-centred

Deep Residual Reinforcement Learning

We revisit residual algorithms in both model-free and model-based reinforcement learning settings. We propose the bidirectional target network technique to stabilize residual algorithms, yielding a residual version of DDPG that significantly outperforms vanilla DDPG in the DeepMind Control Suite benchmark. Moreover, we find the residual algorithm an effective approach to the distribution mismatch problem in model-based planning. Compared with the existing TD($k$) method, our residual-based method makes weaker assumptions about the model and yields a greater performance boost.Comment: AAMAS 202

Digitized Local Folklores in EFL Reading Classroom

This study aimed at reporting the implementation of the use of digitized local folklores to empower reading comprehension skills of junior high school students. This classroom action study was applied to a number of grade VII junior high school students. It engaged two stories about Palembang City - the Origin of Musi River and the History of Ikan Belido (Chitala Lopis). Both stories were “packaged” digitally by the use of video, and extended with guided ICT based post-reading activities. Video as one medium of the learning activities could confidently intensify students’ interest in learning due to the fact that most students tend to be more visualized. The result revealed that the use of this digitized media positively enhanced the students on the extent of the pleasure, imaginative visual learning aids, and the involvement and touched upon cultural aspects of the students