Scholarship of teaching and learning in the context of a University of Technology : a case of the central university of technology, Free State

Published ArticleThis article describes the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) to improve teaching and learning. Its focus is the genesis of the project, perceptions and perspectives of staff on SoTL, challenges facing SoTL, and the perceived significance and impact of the project. It is argued that SoTL has the potential of advancing teaching and learning generally and within one's disciplinary home. Thus, engagement in SoTL does not undermine one's disciplinary work, but rather enhances reflective practice and sharing practices with peers nationally and internationally. Quantitative data were collected by means of a questionnaire. The chi-squared test was applied and a p-value calculated for quantitative data of the survey. Only one area indicated significant frequency differences at the level of alpha (0.05). The qualitative data was elicited from written accounts by the participants and analysed in terms of emerging themes and issues. The article concludes that: engaging in SoTL encompasses scholarly teaching and meaningful learning; enhances scholars' contributions to their disciplines; involves a scholarly work not separated from everyday classroom practices; and that the teaching continuum, and perceived involvement, are critical aspects of improving one's practice at CUT and in specific disciplines

Moving towards a personalized approach in the management of vascular malformations

Vascular malformations are complex congenital lesions of the vascular or lymphatic system consisting of dilated and dysfunctional vessels that generally have a tortuous structure. The lesions portray a wide clinical spectrum with heterogeneity in involved vessel type, anatomical location, tissue extension, and lesion size. Dependent on these clinical aspects, vascular malformations may cause a variety of symptoms, including functional problems, pain, disfigurement of appearance, and psychosocial problems. These disparities between patients call for an individualized approach to their management. This thesis addressed several aspects of a personalized approach to the management of vascular malformations. Recent discoveries have pointed out that vascular malformations are caused by somatic and germline mutations in various genes regulating growth. In this thesis we investigated on how these underlying mutations lead to clinical differences and how the genetic base should be incorporated into the management of vascular malformations. Secondly, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) reflect the self-reported health state of the patient directly and are able to measure the effect of treatment at the individual level. We developed measurement instruments to evaluate the condition-specific core outcome domains. Finally, we investigated how the specific lesion characteristics lead to certain symptoms and how this subsequently affects the health-related quality of life in the individual patient

Health status as a measure of outcome of disease and treatment

This thesis addresses a number of related topics in health status measurement in the evaluation of the effects of disease and of medical care. Its main objectives are: I. To provide a general overview of the field of descriptive health status measurement. 2. To compare the contents and the relative performance of a number of currently available measures for descriptive health status measurement, to demonstrate applications of descriptive health status measurement and to discuss the importance of standardization of research methods in health status measurement. 3. To provide an overview of the current state of affairs in evaluative health status measurement, and to demonstrate empirical studies addressing the feasibility of collecting valuation data by self-assessment questionnaire

A Formação Em Saúde à Luz Do Projeto Pedagógico E Das Diretrizes Curriculares Da Educação Física

Traditionally, Physical Education has been based on a limited concept of health. Through document research, this work analyzes, in the Pedagogical Project of the Physical Education Course and the National Curriculum Guidelines for the area, the training process linked to working in health and at Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS). The hegemonic theoretical assumptions of the course and the area are detached from SUS principles, underscoring the distance between educational policies in Physical Education and those in the public health field. © 2016, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. All rights reserved.22244345

Individual differences in the use of the response scale determine valuations of hypothetical health states: an empirical study

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The literature remains inconclusive about the effects of socio-demographic characteristics of the respondent, including age, on valuation scores of hypothetical health states. We analyzed data from a study designed to discriminate between the effects of respondents age and time preference on valuations of health states to get insight in the contribution of individual response patterns to the variance in valuation scores. METHODS: 212 respondents from different age groups valued six hypothetical health states with three methods: a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and two variants of the Time trade-off (TTO). Analyses included a generalizability study, principal components analysis and cluster analysis. RESULTS: Valuation scores differed significantly but not systematically between valuation methods. A total of 36.8% of variance was explained by health states, 1.6% by elicitation method and 0.2% by age group. Individual differences in the use of the response scales, e.g. a tendency to give either high or low TTO-scores, or a high or low scoring tendency on the VAS were the main source of remaining variance. These response patterns were not related to age or other identifiable respondent characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that individual response patterns were more important determinants of TTO or VAS valuations of health states than age or other measured respondent characteristics. Further valuation research should focus on explaining individual response patterns as a possible key to understanding the determinants of health state valuations

How distressing is referral to colposcopy in cervical cancer screening?

Objective Referral for colposcopy because of abnormal Pap test results is likely to be distressing, but the extent and duration of these effects are unknown. We aimed to fill this gap. Methods We conducted a prospective observational study at two departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology (an academic and a non-academic setting). Women referred for colposcopy completed questionnaires before colposcopy, and at 1, 3, and 6 months afterwards. A reference group of 706 screen participants, aged 29-60 years old, was included and completed questionnaires once. Main outcome measures were generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL), assessed through the EQ-5D and the SF-12 physical and mental scores (PCS-12 and MCS-12); anxiety as assessed by STAI-6, and screen-specific anxiety as assessed by the psychological consequences questionnaire (PCQ). Results 154 women responded to the questionnaire, of whom 132 were included in the analyses. Histological results were CIN 1 in 17/115 women (15%) and CIN 2 + in 62 (54%). In 36 women (31%) there was no histologically confirmed neoplasia. Before colposcopy physical HRQoL scores were similar or slightly better than in the reference group, while mental HRQoL (MSC-12) and (screen-specific) anxiety were worse (p < 0.001). Irrespective of CIN-grades, anxiety washed out during follow-up (p < 0.001), with changes being clinically relevant. Conclusions Referral for gynecological evaluation because of abnormal PAP-test results was distressing. Anxiety - and not the physical burden of management - seemed to be the most bothersome to women. For all CIN-grades, distress disappeared over six months following colposcopy, suggesting a reassuring effect of gynecological mana

Timing measurements with a 3D silicon sensor on Timepix3 in a 180 GeV/<i>c</i> hadron beam

Test beam measurements have been carried out with a 3D sensor on a Timepix3 ASIC and the time measurements are presented. The measurements are compared to those of a thin planar sensor on Timepix3. It is shown that for a perpendicularly incident beam the time resolution of both detectors is dominated by the Timepix3 front-end. The 3D detector is dominated by the time-to-digital conversion whereas the analog front-end jitter also gives a significant contribution for the thin planar detector. The 3D detector reaches an overall time resolution of 567 ± 6 ps compared to 683 ± 8 ps for the thin planar detector. For a grazing angle beam, however, the thin planar detector achieves a better time resolution because it has a lower pixel capacitance, and therefore suffers less from jitter in the analog front-end for the low charge signals that mainly occur in this type of measurement. Finally, it is also shown that the 3D and thin planar detector can achieve time resolutions for large clusters of about 100 ps and 250 ps, respectively, by combining many single hit measurements

Health-Related Quality of Life in Cervical Cancer Survivors: A Population-Based Survey

PURPOSE: In a population-based sample of cervical cancer survivors, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed 2-10 years postdiagnosis. METHODS AND MATERIALS: All patients given a diagnosis of cervical cancer in 1995-2003 in the Eindhoven region, The Netherlands, and alive after Jan 2006 were identified through the cancer registry. Generic HRQoL (36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, EQ-5D), cervical cancer-specific HRQoL (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life questionnaire cervical cancer module), and anxiety (6-item State Trait Anxiety Inventory) were assessed and compared with a reference population (n = 349). Data for tumor characteristics at diagnosis and disease progression were available. RESULTS: A total of 291 women responded (69%), with a mean age of 53 +/- 13 (SD) years (range, 31-88 years). Treatment had consisted of surgery (n = 195) or a combination of therapies (n = 75); one woman had not been treated. Of all women, 85% were clinically disease free, 2% had a recurrence/metastasis, and in 13%, this was unknown. After controlling for background characteristics (age, education, job and marital status, having children, and country of birth), generic HRQoL scale scores were similar to the reference population, except for worse mental health in survivors. The most frequent symptoms were crampy pain in the abdomen or belly (17%), urinary leakage (15%), menopausal symptoms (18%), and problems with sexual activity. Compared with the 6-10-year survivors, more sexual worry and worse body image were reported by the 2-5-year survivors. Compared with surgery only, especially primary radiotherapy was associated with an increased frequency of treatment-related side effects, also after controlling for age and disease stage a