Interprofessional education—situations of a university in Hong Kong and major hurdles to teachers and students

Studies have provided evidence that Interprofessional Education (IPE) can improve learners’ attitudes, knowledge, skills, behaviors, and competency. Traditionally, IPE is commonly seen in the healthcare professional training in tertiary education. Aging is a global issue that requires more than just a single healthcare sector. It requires interdisciplinary collaboration and understanding to tackle the issues. Therefore, IPE is essential for nurturing university students to tackle the ever-changing global challenges. In addition, different hurdles can hinder IPE development. To have a better understanding of the feasibility, acceptance, and educational value of IPE in Hong Kong, we conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study. We invited teachers and students from a Hong Kong university to fill in an online survey that evaluated their understanding and participation in IPE, their attitude toward IPE, and the barriers to developing IPE from March to June 2020. Among the 37 academic staff and 572 students who completed the survey, 20 (54.1%) teachers and 422 (73.8%) students had never heard of IPE before, and 26 (70.3%) teachers and 510 (89.2%) students had never participated in any IPE activities. Major barriers reported by teachers included an increase in teaching load (72.9%), lack of administrative support (72.9%), lack of financial support and limited budget (67.5%), difficulty to make logistic arrangements (64.8%), and problems with academic schedules and calendars (62.1%). The survey findings revealed that despite the positive attitude of university teachers and students toward IPE, barriers that could hinder the development of IPE included heavy teaching and administrative load and logistic arrangement for classroom arrangement and academic scheduling involving multiple faculties

Establishing the validity and reliability of the state self-esteem scale

Introduction Self-esteem is a feeling of self worth. Positive self-esteem can buffer stress by enhancing the implementation of efficacious coping strategies; poor self-esteem can result in diminishing self-appreciation and creating self-defeating attitudes. While self-esteem could be regarded as a stable trait that predicts future behavior, it could be argued that situational and environmental factors will change it. Self-esteem is a major factor determining recovery, rehabilitation and integration for stroke patients, with longitudinal studies showing it to be a significant predictor of physical, social and psychological functioning. Thus, there is a need for a valid and reliable measure of self-esteem. Although the Chinese version of the State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) has been used in this population, no study has examined its construct validity and reliability. Methods Data from 265 Chinese stroke patients before discharge from two rehabilitation hospitals were factor analysed using principal-components analysis (PCA) with oblique rotation. The Kaiser rule and scree test were used to decide the number of components to be retained. An internal consistency analysis of the SSES was also conducted. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated between the SSES and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) to determine convergent validity. Results The final factor solution comprised a three-factor model with correlated constructs, and accounted for 49.5% of the total variance. The eigenvalue of the three factors were 5.07 (performance self-esteem), 2.34 (appearance self-esteem), and 1.99 (social self-esteem) respectively. The factor loadings for the items showed that they were adequate indicators of their respective factors (all >0.3). All items except for Item 7 (“I am dissatisfied with my weight”) loaded primarily on one of the factors. Cronbach alphas for the SSES subscales ranged from 0.73– 0.81. Significant negative correlations were found between the GDS and the SSES subscale scores (r-0.31 to -0.55,

Association between participation self-efficacy and participation in stroke survivors

BACKGROUND: Most stroke survivors face restrictions in functional disability and social participation, which can impede their recovery and community reintegration. Participation self-efficacy refers to survivors’ confidence in using strategies to manage participation in areas including community living and work engagement. This study aimed to assess the association between participation self-efficacy and participation among stroke survivors. METHODS: This study adopted a cross-sectional correlational design with a convenience sample of 336 stroke survivors recruited from five hospitals in China. Participation self-efficacy was measured using the Chinese version of the Participation Strategies Self-Efficacy Scale (PS-SES-C) and participation measured using the Chinese version of the Reintegration to Normal Living Index (RNLI-C). The association between participation self-efficacy and participation was examined using multiple regression analysis with adjustment for potential confounders. RESULTS: Participants had a mean age of 69.9 ± 11.5 years, with most (81.6%) having an ischaemic stroke, and more than half (61.6%) a first-ever stroke. After adjustment for potential confounders, every 10-point increase in the PS-SES-C total score was significantly associated with an average 1.3-point increase in the RNLI-C total score (B = 1.313, SE = 0.196, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that participation self-efficacy is significantly associated with participation among Chinese community-dwelling survivors of a mild or moderate stroke. This suggests that rehabilitation programmes for stroke survivors may be more effective if they incorporate participation-focused strategies designed to enhance self-efficacy. (229 words). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12883-022-02883-z