[Comparative report] Lifecycle of a hate crime

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Health problems and help-seeking activities of methadone maintenance clients at Auckland Methadone Service (AMS): potential for community pharmacy service expansion?

BACKGROUND: In general the health of methadone clients has been found to be poorer than that of the general population. In New Zealand specialist drug services are not funded to provide primary healthcare services. Many health conditions could potentially be managed by community pharmacists who have frequent contact with this client group. This study sought to explore the health problems suffered by methadone clients, who they sought help from, and the potential for greater involvement of pharmacists. METHODS: Self-completion questionnaire of methadone maintenance clients managed in specialist care in Auckland, New Zealand. RESULTS: The most common health problem experienced by these clients in the past three months was sweating (70.0%), and more than half of the respondents also reported experiencing headache, fatigue and depression. The least frequently experienced conditions were hay fever (12.9%) and abscesses (12.1%). Respondents indicated that the top three choices from whom they would seek help were GP (56.7%), the client's partner (31.6%) and community pharmacists (27.9%). Barriers to seeking help from pharmacists included issues around cost, perceptions of pharmacist knowledge and skills, privacy and confidentiality. CONCLUSION: Methadone clients in this study indicated that they suffered a number of general health problems, and in many cases were likely to seek help from a GP or their own partner, before seeking help from pharmacists. However, for over one quarter of respondents the pharmacist was in the top three from whom they would seek advice. Any barriers towards consulting pharmacists, in the main seem to be resolvable

Defining Active Learning: A Restricted Systematic Review

What is active learning? While active learning has been demonstrated to have positive impacts on student learning and performance, defining the concept has been elusive. Previous research examining active learning definitions in STEM fields found that the vast majority of published articles did not define active learning, and those that did defined active learning as interacting, engaging, or not lecturing. The current research extends this STEM-focused work by examining both social science and STEM science publications. A restricted systematic review of literature was conducted using the SCOPUS database, resulting in 547 relevant articles focused on active learning from 2017 to 2022. An examination of the articles indicated that 71% of the reviewed articles did not define active learning and that the instructional strategies most often cited as fostering active learning emphasized social interactive learning strategies (e.g., small groups, team-based learning, discussion, and cooperative learning), as well as critical thinking strategies (e.g., problem-based learning, case-based learning, and inquiry-based learning). In addition, an in-depth qualitative analysis of the 161 definitions provided within the articles yielded three main emergent themes: (a) active learning is defined as grounded in student-centered constructivist theory, (b) active learning is defined as promoting higher-order thinking and deep learning, and (c) active learning is defined as an instructional strategy involving activity, participation, and engagement. Given these main findings, a representative definition was created: Active learning is a student-centered approach to the construction of knowledge focused on activities and strategies that foster higher-order thinking. Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post

Reconceptualizing participant vulnerability in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research: exploring the perspectives of health faculty students in Aotearoa New Zealand

© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/While the need to protect vulnerable research participants is universal, conceptual challenges with the notion of vulnerability may result in the under or over-protection of participants. Ethics review bodies making assumptions about who is vulnerable and in what circumstance can be viewed as paternalistic if they do not consider participant viewpoints. Our study focuses on participant vulnerability in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research. We aim to illuminate students’ views on participant vulnerability to contribute to critical analysis of the role and processes of ethics review. Additionally, we aim to highlight the importance of seeking the views of participant communities, especially in research environments beyond ethics review’s medical origins. Thirty-four students from a health-related faculty at a university in Aotearoa New Zealand, participated in five focus groups. Participants discussed factors affecting their potential participation in research drawing upon a series of vignettes based on examples of published SoTL projects. Themes, generated using reflexive thematic analysis, built a participant-informed picture of vulnerability. Findings indicate that students do not generally consider themselves vulnerable and instead consider participation in SoTL research through an agentic lens. Students expect that participation will be voluntary, not negatively impact their grades, and not single them out so that others could judge them. Our study also highlights the value students place on relationships with one another and teaching staff and the implications these have for SoTL research participation and future professional practice. This research challenges research ethics committees to think further about vulnerability in the context of SoTL whilst highlighting the importance of providing opportunities for research participants more broadly to explore and vocalize their views as members of participant communities.Peer reviewe

Illuminating the Role of Reflexivity Within Qualitative Pilot Studies: Experiences From a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Project

© The Author(s) 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).Pilot studies within qualitative inquiry are crucial yet often hidden aspects of research design. In this article, we argue for pilots to have greater visibility. We explore the role of a pilot in providing a foundation for enhancing ethical reflexivity, drawing on a recent pilot study within a tertiary healthcare education setting. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) presents a unique environment with complex stakeholder relationships. There is a lack of consensus nationally and internationally on whether all SoTL projects require consideration by institutional ethics review bodies. A pilot study offers an opportunity for ethical steerage of a research project, reflecting ethics in practice whilst augmenting any procedural ethics review requirements. We propose that a qualitative pilot study, as a design strategy, can enhance ethical conduct by researchers. Within SoTL specifically, the pilot can provide an opportunity for researchers to demonstrate a commitment to a pedagogy of care spanning the project’s duration, signifying a commitment to enduring teacher-student relationships within the broader learning environment. Beyond tertiary settings, we believe the pilot study, as a space for ethical reflexivity, has applicability to research settings where caring for and being seen to care for the wider participant community is a critical ethical consideration.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Coding Criminal Justice Interactions with the MITI: Recommendations for Research and Practice

This article describes the coding portion of a study to test the effectiveness of a motivational interviewing (MI) training program for probation officers. We describe some of the challenges with using the Motivational Interview Treatment Integrity (MITI) instrument to code interactions between probation officers and clients. Our team of raters was able to obtain adequate inter-rater reliability on most MITI scales, though reliability ratings on some of the specific behavior counts such as Giving Information, MI Adherent, and MI Non-adherent fell considerably lower than the original MITI norming study. Our results suggest that the MITI is a mostly reliable instrument for coding criminal justice interactions, though there were exceptions to this rule. Based on our experiences, we discuss some of the ways that probation interactions might be different from traditional counseling interactions, and identify some rules of thumb that helped us to code interactions. We end with suggestions for how MITI feedback can be used effectively in training and supervision in criminal justice and other non-traditional settings

Components of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway compete for surfaces on Rad23 family proteins

Background: The delivery of ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome for degradation is a key step in the regulation of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, yet the mechanisms underlying this step are not understood in detail. The Rad23 family of proteins is known to bind ubiquitinated proteins through its two ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domains, and may participate in the delivery of ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome through docking via the Rad23 ubiquitin-like (UBL) domain. Results: In this study, we investigate how the interaction between the UBL and UBA domains may modulate ubiquitin recognition and the delivery of ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome by autoinhibition. We have explored a competitive binding model using specific mutations in the UBL domain. Disrupting the intramolecular UBL-UBA domain interactions in HHR23A indeed potentiates ubiquitin-binding. Additionally, the analogous surface on the Rad23 UBL domain overlaps with that required for interaction with both proteasomes and the ubiquitin ligase Ufd2. We have found that mutation of residues on this surface affects the ability of Rad23 to deliver ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome. Conclusions: We conclude that the competition of ubiquitin-proteasome pathway components for surfaces on Rad23 is important for the role of the Rad23 family proteins in proteasomal targeting