The Pathfinder Journey - Embedding ePortfolio at level 1

Higher Education Academ

Best practice guide for the design of ePDP tasks

Higher Education Academ

Best practice guide for the retreat model of staff development to design ePDP tasks

Higher Education Academ

What if something goes wrong? A grounded theory study of parents’ decision-making processes around mode of breech birth at term gestation

Objective. To explore factors that influence parents' decision-making for mode of breech birth at term gestation. Design. A grounded theory study conducted using a constructivist approach. Semi-structured telephone interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and analysed using the software NVivo for Mac version 11.4.0. Setting. England, UK. Participants. Twelve parents with breech presentation confirmed by ultrasound at ≥36+0 weeks gestation were recruited from several UK social media forums. Findings. Two core themes impacting on a parent's decision-making process for term breech birth were identified. Firstly, a framework of potential influences including partner and relationship, family and friends, health professionals, own birth culture, self, shared experiences and the time available for decision-making. Secondly, mortality salience, or parental focus on risk of potential injury or death associated with birth, was found to be central to every participant's narrative. Key conclusions. This study highlights the individuality and wider framework of parent's decision-making influences for term breech birth, and demonstrates to care providers the conflicted emotions that may be experienced. The findings of this study may guide midwives and other professionals in providing person-centered, non-judgmental, balanced and evidence-based mode of term breech birth counselling. Implications for practice. Health professionals should adopt a parentcentred approach to counselling for mode of term breech birth, considering parents' wider influences in their decision-making and the fear of injury or death surrounding both vaginal breech birth and caesarean section. They can also facilitate parents to understand the influences that might be guiding their own decision-making

Creative Circuits with Deaf Students

This paper presents an outreach program, designed and delivered by undergraduate engineering students, to introduce deaf middle and high school students to engineering through creative circuits. Over the course of four weekly two-hour long Creative Circuits workshops, students aged 10 to 14 years old worked on projects exploring basic circuitry and programing concepts. Instruction was given through American Sign Language and written communication. E-textiles, Squishy Circuits, Scratch, and MaKey MaKey were used. We will present the content of these workshops, reflections by the undergraduate students on the experience of leading these workshops, and suggestions for running similar program

An analysis of a large-scale liquid air energy storage system

Liquid air energy storage (LAES) is a class of thermo-electric energy storage that utilises cryogenic or liquid air as the storage medium. The system is charged using an air liquefier and energy is recovered through a Rankine cycle using the stored liquid air as the working fluid. The recovery, storage and recycling of cold thermal energy released during discharge more than double the overall energy efficiency of the cycle. The demand on a storage plant in a grid support application is expected to be irregular and intermittent in response to fluctuating supply from intermittent renewable generators. This will complicate the storage of thermal energy and will mean the energy flow rates in the thermal store will vary from cycle to cycle and the state of charge of the store will also vary. This paper presents an analysis of the LAES cycle. The material and configuration of the cold thermal store is discussed in particular with reference to scale and measures to mitigate losses due to the irregular and intermittent duty cycle. The paper concludes with capital and levelised cost analysis of a reference 20 MW/80 MWh LAES plant and a comparison of the levelised cost with other storage technologies. </jats:p

Crossing boundaries: the perceived impact of disabled fitness instructors in the gym

Objectives For disabled individuals, the gym is perceived to be an inaccessible space to exercise due to the deeply embedded ableism within this environment. This study uniquely explored how disabled gym instructors perceived they impacted the gym environment and the possibilities of making the gym a more inclusive space for disabled people to exercise. Design We used an inductive, qualitative design whereby ten disabled gym instructors were purposefully sampled. Methods Data were rigorously collected through semi-structured interviews totalling 35 h, transcribed verbatim, and subject to thematic analysis. Results Participants perceived they made three key impacts in the gym. First, they believed they promoted the gym as a more inclusive environment through helping construct a more accessible physical space, embodying an alternate way of being and providing a relatable narrative. Second, instructors believed their own unique understanding of disability improved their capacity to relate to disabled gym clients by instilling a sense of camaraderie and acting as an aspirational future self. Third, participants felt they enhanced applied practice for training disabled clients through creativity in training and supporting non-disabled instructors. Conclusion This article makes a significant contribution to knowledge by highlighting that disabled gym instructors can play a vital role in promoting a more inclusive space to exercise. It also highlights that to increase gym use amongst disabled populations, efforts should consider the potential beneficial impacts of disabled gym instructors in relation to promoting health and well-being

Disability and the gym: experiences, barriers and facilitators of gym use for individuals with physical disabilities

Purpose: Individuals with physical disabilities are among the most inactive population in society, arguably due to the lack of suitable environments to exercise. The gym is a space dedicated to improving physical fitness in a controlled environment with specialized equipment and qualified instructors. The feasibility of using this space to promote health to this population, however, is yet to be established. Method: Over an 18-month period, 21 people with physical disabilities were interviewed regarding their experiences in the gym. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, transcribed verbatim, and subject to thematic analysis. Results: Four broad themes were identified: (1) experiencing enhanced well-ness, (2) perceived conflict between gym values and disability, (3) influence of a previous gym identity, and (4) experiences of psycho-emotional disablism. Conclusions: Participants were perceived to experience a variety of health benefits; however, they also experienced many barriers such as not aligning to the cultural norms of the gym, limited interpretations of health, oppressive messages from the built environment, and negative relational interactions. While there is potential for the gym to be used as a place to promote health, more must be done to foster an inclusive atmosphere in this space

I am your trans patient

For the first time we are publishing a What Your Patient is Thinking article by a group of people. These transgender authors share their experiences of healthcare and the important messages they would like doctors to know