Perspectives on the Post-Degree Supervision Needs of Ontario Social Workers

The dominant contemporary post-degree supervision literature reflects a long held belief that social workers employed in various practice settings need a combination of further education, support, and administrative guidance from someone more expert than themselves. In spite of these claims, a noticeable gap in knowledge is learning what, if anything, social workers need from supervision to help them provide effective services. My particular interest is post-degree supervision within the social work landscape of Canada. I chose to focus this research project on the supervision needs of social workers in Ontario, the province where I have spent many years working as a practitioner and supervisor. My mixed model research project was designed to discern, analyse, and interpret what social work research participants identify as the post-degree supervision needs of Ontario social workers. There were four sources of information that helped to focus my research questions and design: (1) evidence from research which demonstrates post-degree supervision can benefit social workers and their clients; (2) evidence from research that the domination of administrative needs of organizations are crippling the potential effectiveness of post-degree supervision; (3) information from accumulating literature that offers conceptualizations of social work knowledge and practices that appear to encourage social justice and social change; and (4) the significant reduction of available post-degree social work supervision throughout Canada. For my research, 636 social workers throughout Ontario submitted their responses to my original web-survey. The focus of the quantitative and qualitative questions inquired about social worker’s needs concerning the purpose and process of supervision, as well as the place in supervision for the social work mission of social justice and social change. The results of this investigation clearly indicate that supervision is a needed and valued relationship for social workers, but current or recent quantity is slim and quality is thin. Participants identified a considerable number of supervision needs; needs that reiterate many previously raised concerns about social work supervision in Canada. For example, respondents need supervision to intentionally promote professional development and the social work mission of social justice and change. From these needs, I created a portrait of preferred supervision according to the participants. This integration of the quantitative data along with the thick qualitative descriptions informed my subsequent reflections, as well as my proposed implications for Ontario supervision practices and future research. Transferability of the results suggest that information from this research could be used by (a) Ontario social workers to promote effective practice in the workplace, and (b) social work organizations and university social work programs to develop supervision knowledge and practice. Importantly, the successful emergence and establishment of effective, available post-degree supervision cannot rely on these findings alone. Social work practitioners and academics are strongly encouraged to actively advocate for, and creatively engage in, the development of education, training, and research opportunities concerning post-degree social work supervision

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The CM-Path Biobanking Sample Quality Improvement Tool : A Guide for Improving the Quality of Tissue Collections for Biomedical Research and Clinical Trials in Cancer

Funding: The NCRI's CM-Path initiative was established in 2016 with the aim of re-invigorating academic pathology. It is funded as a collaborative venture between ten of the NCRI partner organisations: Bloodwise, Breast Cancer Now, Cancer Research UK, the Chief Scientist Office (Scotland), the Department of Health and Social Care (England), Health and Care Research Wales, Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland), the Medical Research Council, Prostate Cancer UK and Tenovus Cancer Care. These organisations did not participate in study design; collection, analysis and interpretation of data; writing the report or the decision to submit the paper for publication. Acknowledgments Thanks to the following for assisting in the scoping exercise: Joanna Baxter, Cambridge Blood and Stem Cell Bank; Chris Birkett, Human Tissue Authority; Tim Brend, Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank, University of Leeds; Brian Clark, Novo Nordisk; Emma Lawrence, UKCRC Tissue Directory and Coordination Centre; Alex MacLellan, CRUK Tissue Group, Edinburgh; Balwir Matharoo-Ball, Nottingham Health Sciences Biobank; Bill Mathieson, NHS Grampian Biorepository; Gita Mistry Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group Tissue Bank; Will Navaie, Health Research Authority; Rob Oliver, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust; Kathleen Potter, Cancer Sciences Tissue Bank, University of Southampton; Doris Rassl, Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Jane Steele, Human Biomaterials Resource Centre, University of Birmingham; Sarah Yeats, WISH Lab, University of Southampton. Special thanks Anne Carter for her tireless work with CCB and to staff at the following biobanks who piloted the Sample Quality Improvement Tool: Greater Glasgow & Clyde Biorepository, Leeds Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank, Leeds Multidisciplinary Research Tissue Bank and Southampton Tissue Bank.Peer reviewedPostprin

Assessing direct contributions of morphological awareness and prosodic sensitivity to children’s word reading and reading comprehension

We examined the independent contributions of prosodic sensitivity and morphological awareness to word reading, text reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. We did so in a longitudinal study of English-speaking children (N = 70). At 5 to 7 years of age, children completed the metalinguistic measures along with control measures of phonological awareness and vocabulary. Children completed the reading measures two years later. Morphological awareness, but not prosodic sensitivity made a significant independent contribution to word reading, text reading accuracy and reading comprehension. The effects of morphological awareness on reading comprehension remained after controls for word reading. These results suggest that morphological awareness needs to be considered seriously in models of reading development and that prosodic sensitivity might have primarily indirect relations to reading outcomes. Keywords: Morphological Awareness; Prosody; Word Reading; Reading Comprehension

Waste Scavenging and Its Contribution for Survival and Urban Recycling in Kota Kinabalu City, Sabah, Malaysia

High generation of solid waste has been identified as one factor contributing to the world’s environmental problems. The decrease in suitable landfill sites and scarcity of natural resources is creating greater demand for remanufacturing and reuse. This study aims to examine the contribution and issues embedded in scavengers’ group to achieved high rate of recycling in waste management program. In order to answer the research objective, this research utilized in-depth interviews conducted with scavengers’ group. This study revealed scavenging activity is an important element in waste management with positive impact on the economic and environment. Therefore, to support this, the scavengers group need to be part of the government’s attempt to realise its recycling objectives

A preliminary comparison study of burnout and engagement in performance students in Australia, Poland and the UK

While there is a growing body of research concerning the well-being of music students, burnout and engagement remain largely unexplored. Likewise, cross-national variations in approaches to music education, and different educational experiences of men and women may influence burnout and engagement. This preliminary study aimed to inform further research by establishing the levels of, and exploring cross-national and sex differences in burnout and engagement in music performance students at conservatoires in Australia, Poland and the UK (n = 331). Self-reported levels of burnout were, typically, low to moderate. Nevertheless, one in ten students reported symptoms such that they could be classified as burned out. Australian and UK students displayed more burnout than students in Poland, although Australian students reported lower levels of reduced sense of accomplishment than Polish and UK students. Self-reported engagement was, typically, moderate to high. Students in Poland reported higher levels of engagement than those in the UK. Women displayed higher levels of global burnout and emotional/physical exhaustion, while men reported lower levels of reduced sense of accomplishment. Further research on burnout and engagement could build on this investigation to gain a better understanding of their impact and the influence of the educational experience on students’ music-related well-being

Application of pharmacogenomics and bioinformatics to exemplify the utility of human <i>ex vivo</i> organoculture models in the field of precision medicine

Here we describe a collaboration between industry, the National Health Service (NHS) and academia that sought to demonstrate how early understanding of both pharmacology and genomics can improve strategies for the development of precision medicines. Diseased tissue ethically acquired from patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was used to investigate inter-patient variability in drug efficacy using ex vivo organocultures of fresh lung tissue as the test system. The reduction in inflammatory cytokines in the presence of various test drugs was used as the measure of drug efficacy and the individual patient responses were then matched against genotype and microRNA profiles in an attempt to identify unique predictors of drug responsiveness. Our findings suggest that genetic variation in CYP2E1 and SMAD3 genes may partly explain the observed variation in drug response

Team-taught versus individually taught undergraduate education: A qualitative study of student experiences and preferences

Team teaching is becoming more common in undergraduate programmes of study although the relative merits to the more traditional individually taught courses have not been determined for best practice. For this study, 15 final year undergraduate students were interviewed to gain insight into their learning experiences. A thematic analysis of the interview data identified the perceived advantages and disadvantages of each mode of teaching. The advantages of individually taught courses included: Consistency of content delivery and advice, Familiarity with the lecturer’s teaching style and better Continuity of the subject content. The disadvantage of individually taught modules included Missing knowledge, compared to a team approach. Advantages of team taught modules included: Greater insight into a topic delivered by multiple team members. Disadvantages included: Content overlap, Conflicting messages relating to assessment, team members not taking Ownership of their roles and responsibilities and a belief that overall Team failure is worse than individual failure to deliver a module well. The results revealed that individually taught modules were generally preferred to team taught modules. A set of best practice recommendations are proposed to address the challenges when delivering team-taught teaching and become more student focused

Technology-Mediated Communication in Familial Relationships: Moderated-Mediation Models of Isolation and Loneliness

Background and ObjectivesWe examined whether technology-mediated communication has functional or emotional equivalence to face-to-face (FtF) contact in familial relationships, by scrutinizing the effects of phone, text/e-mail, and video contact on isolation and loneliness.Research Design and MethodsWe tested whether FtF contact with a relative would mediate the pathway between proximity to family and (i) isolation and (ii) loneliness. We then tested hypotheses that telephone, text/e-mails, and video contact would moderate this mediated pathway. We compared models for younger (<75) and older (≥75) cohorts, expecting to observe moderation effects for text/e-mail and video contact in the younger cohort only. Data were drawn from Wave 2 of CFAS Wales (United Kingdom) study (N = 2,099).ResultsProximity to a relative had a significant indirect effect on isolation and loneliness through the mediating variable FtF contact. Phone and text/e-mail contact moderated the effect of FtF contact on isolation for all samples. None of the technologies moderated the impact of FtF contact on loneliness for the full sample. Telephone contact had a moderating influence on loneliness for the younger cohort only. Video calls had no significant moderation effect.Discussion and ImplicationsTelephone and text/e-mail contact have functional equivalence to FtF contact in familial relationships. None of the forms of technological communication have emotional equivalence to the “gold standard” of embodied presence. The study demonstrates the importance of theorizing about the pathways to isolation and loneliness to better understand the likelihood of implementing successful interventions using technology-mediated communication within families

Adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptom profiles and concurrent problems with alcohol and cannabis: Sex differences in a representative, population survey

Background: Adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) shows a robust association with alcohol and cannabis misuse, and these relationships are expressed differently in males and females. Manifestation of specific ADHD symptom profiles, even in the absence of the full disorder, may also be related to problems with alcohol and cannabis, although these relationships have not been investigated in epidemiological studies. To address this question, we studied the sex-specific associations of ADHD symptomatology with problematic alcohol and cannabis use in a representative sample of adults aged 18 years and older residing in Ontario, Canada. Methods: Data were obtained from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Monitor, an ongoing cross-sectional telephone survey, between January 2011 and December 2013. Respondents (n = 5080) reported on current ADHD symptomatology, measured using the Adult ADHD Self-Report Version 1.1 Screener (ASRS-V1.1) and four additional items, and alcohol and cannabis use, which were measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), respectively. Logistic regression analyses were conducted in men and women to test the association of each ADHD symptom cluster (hyperactivity, inattentiveness, impulsivity) with problematic alcohol and cannabis use. Results: After controlling for age, education, and comorbid internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, hyperactive symptoms were associated with problematic alcohol use in both men and women and with problematic cannabis use in men. Impulsive symptoms were independently associated with problematic cannabis use in men. By contrast, inattentive symptomatology predicted problems with alcohol and cannabis only in women. In all models, age was negatively associated with substance misuse and externalizing behavior was positively correlated and the strongest predictor of hazardous alcohol and cannabis use. Conclusions: ADHD symptom expression in adulthood is related to concurrent hazardous use of alcohol and cannabis. Distinctive ADHD symptom profiles may confer increased risk for substance misuse in a sex-specific manner