Online Information on Dysmenorrhea: An Evaluation of Readability, Credibility, Quality, and Usability

Aims and objectives To evaluate online information on dysmenorrhoea, including readability, credibility, quality and usability. Background Menstrual pain impacts 45%–95% of women of reproductive age globally and is the leading cause of school and work absences among women. Women often seek online information on dysmenorrhoea; however, little is known about the information quality. Design This was a descriptive study to evaluate online information on dysmenorrhoea. Methods We imitated search strategies of the general public. Specifically, we employed the three most popular search engines worldwide—Google, Yahoo and Bing—and used lay search terms, “period pain” and “menstrual cramps.” We screened 60 web pages. Following removal of duplicates and irrelevant web pages, 25 met the eligibility criteria. Two team members independently evaluated the included web pages using standardised tools. Readability was evaluated with the Flesch–Kincaid Reading Ease and Flesch–Kincaid Grade formulas; credibility, quality and usability were evaluated with established tools. We followed the STROBE checklist for reporting this study. Results For readability, the mean Flesch–Kincaid level was 10th grade. For credibility, 8% of web pages referenced scientific literature and 28% stated the author's name and qualifications. For quality, no web page employed user‐driven content production; 8% of web pages referenced evidence‐based guidelines, 32% of web pages had accurate content, and 4% of web pages recommended shared decision‐making. Most web pages were interactive and included nontextual information. Some nontextual information was inaccurate. Conclusion Online information on dysmenorrhoea has generally low readability, mixed credibility and variable quality. Relevance to clinical practice Strategies to improve health information on dysmenorrhoea include avoiding complex terms, incorporating visual aids, presenting evidence‐based information and developing a decision aid to support shared decision‐making. Healthcare providers should be aware of the problematic health information that individuals are exposed to and provide education about how to navigate online health information

Media images and the gendered representation of chefs

Images portrayed in online media may influence societal perceptions of chefs, with the potential to perpetuate gender segregation in the  professional kitchen. Little scholarly attention in previous research has been given to the examination of gender and images in hospitality media. This article aims to fill that gap through an exploration of how online hospitality media may socially construct the gendered nature of the chef  profession. The visual research method — the use of images to learn about the social world — was used to analyse 315 images collected from lifestyle magazines accessed online, food event websites, hospitality and restaurant industry-related websites, cookbooks and cooking equipment websites in New Zealand. Specifically, images depicting male and female chefs were sourced and analysed in relation to their gender  representation. The findings revealed a marked difference between the portrayed images of male and female chefs. Not only did female chefs feature less frequently in the images, they were also predominantly portrayed in more domestic settings, with feminine aspects emphasised. Thepotential implications of these results are discussed, including the reinforcement of gender stereotypes underpinning segregation in the chef profession. Keywords: female chefs, gender segregation, magazines, male chefs, metaphors, visual researc

The social mission of medical education: Ranking the schools

The study proposes a new method of ranking medical schools through the creation of a social mission score, reflecting that many believe that medical schools should be accountable to society and have a social mission to train physicians to care for the population as a whole, taking into account such issues as whether schools produce physicians who practice primary care, work in underserved areas, and represent the diversity of the population

Work in progress — Role of faculty in promoting lifelong learning: Initial findings

Calls for educational reform emphasize the need for student-centered learning approaches that foster lifelong learning. To be a lifelong learner includes characteristics consistent with those of self-directed learners, such as being curious, motivated, reflective, analytical, persistent, flexible, and independent. Instructor support of students’ self-directed learning (SDL) development relies on understanding and balancing these factors in the classroom. Engineering educators play a critical role in influencing outcomes related to SDL through their design of courses that support students’ transitions from controlled to autonomous learning behaviors. This study will examine a variety of engineering courses and pedagogical approaches. Each will be characterized using instructor course information, recorded observations of instructorstudent and student-student interactions, student and instructor responses to surveys, and focus groups. Finally, the students’ capacity for SDL will be measured using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. This approach should provide for rich, contextualized descriptions of what instructors and learners do, how instructors and students relate to each other, and how students view their classrooms. This work-in-progress paper will describe our initial work in this multiyear study

Competency-based medical education in two Sub-Saharan African medical schools.

Background Relatively little has been written on Medical Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, although there are over 170 medical schools in the region. A number of initiatives have been started to support medical education in the region to improve quality and quantity of medical graduates. These initiatives have led to curricular changes in the region, one of which is the introduction of Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME). Institutional reviews This paper presents two medical schools, Makerere University College of Health Sciences and College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, which successfully implemented CBME. The processes of curriculum revision are described and common themes are highlighted. Both schools used similar processes in developing their CBME curricula, with early and significant stakeholder involvement. Competencies were determined taking into consideration each country’s health and education systems. Final competency domains were similar between the two schools. Both schools established medical education departments to support their new curricula. New teaching methodologies and assessment methods were needed to support CBME, requiring investments in faculty training. Both schools received external funding to support CBME development and implementation. Conclusion CBME has emerged as an important change in medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa with schools adopting it as an approach to transformative medical education. Makerere University and the University of Ibadan have successfully adopted CBME and show that CBME can be implemented even for the low-resourced countries in Africa, supported by external investments to address the human resources gap