Postgraduate student-supervisor interface: issues and challenges

In this qualitative paper we discuss our face-to-face experience with 28 foreign (mainly from Iran) postgraduate students who registered with the Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science and 31 who registered with the Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM. The paper addresses itself to three principal areas of concern: firstly, the supervisor-student relationship; secondly, the students’ literacy and academic competency; thirdly, academic and social cultural interface. The discussions are predicated on our personal experiences with these students over a three-year period. The influx of postgraduate students, particularly from Iran and Middle Eastern countries made it necessary for us to pay due attention to our encounters with them. The locus of tensions largely dwelt on UPM’s educational system and values. Academic incompetence, language and cultural differences are major issues. Understanding of related issues will benefit both the students and UPM in its efforts to become a global player in higher education. We recommend that both qualitative and quantitative studies be conducted by supervisors to explore and determine the overseas students’ motivation and learning behavior. We postulate development of an intellectual community that can stimulate challenges beyond the academic encounters. For both faculties, various forms of learning media for the promotion of effective communication should be developed and made available for flexible learning to occur. To help students improve their academic literacy, it is important ‘to identify the epistemological and ontological dimension for a flexible approach to learning’ (Tavakol & Dennick 2009). Formal counselling sessions can allow students to know what type of learner they are

Mental trauma experienced by caregivers of patients with diffuse axonal injury or severe traumatic brain injury

Context: As with care giving and rehabilitation in chronic illnesses, the concern with traumatic brain injury (TBI), particularly with diffuse axonal injury (DAI), is that the caregivers are so overwhelmingly involved in caring and rehabilitation of the victim that in the process they become traumatized themselves. This review intends to shed light on the hidden and silent trauma sustained by the caregivers of severe brain injury survivors. Motor vehicle accident (MVA) is the highest contributor of TBI or DAI. The essence of trauma is the infliction of pain and suffering and having to bear the pain (i.e. by the TBI survivor) and the burden of having to take care and manage and rehabilitate the TBI survivor (i.e. by the TBI caregiver). Moreover many caregivers are not trained for their care giving task, thus compounding the stress of care giving and rehabilitating patients. Most research on TBI including DAI, focus on the survivors and not on the caregivers. TBI injury and its effects and impacts remain the core question of most studies, which are largely based on the quantitative approach. Evidence Acquisition: Qualitative research can better assess human sufferings such as in the case of DAI trauma. While quantitative research can measure many psychometric parameters to assess some aspects of trauma conditions, qualitative research is able to fully reveal the meaning, ramification and experience of TBI trauma. Both care giving and rehabilitation are overwhelmingly demanding; hence , they may complicate the caregivers’ stress. However, some positive outcomes also exist. Results: Caregivers involved in caring and rehabilitation of TBI victims may become mentally traumatized. Posttraumatic recovery of the TBI survivor can enhance the entire family’s closeness and bonding as well as improve the mental status of the caregiver. Conclusions: A long-term longitudinal study encompassing integrated research is needed to fully understand the traumatic experiences of caregivers. Unless research on TBI or DAI trauma is given its proper attention, the burden of trauma and injury on societies will continue to exacerbate globally

How Iranian families response to the conditions affecting elderly primary health care.

In response to the need for effective elderly primary health care programs in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the present study sought to determine the nature of family's caring behaviors related to the elderly primary health care in an urban area in Iran. A qualitative research was conducted through 24 in-depth interviews, 4 focus groups (8 participants in each group) and participants observation. The following 2 main categories emerged from the analysis to describe family's caring behaviors: internal responses and external responses. This qualitative study has gathered data that could be used by policy makers and health care providers and researchers concerned with elderly health and their quality of life. Based on these findings, it is recommended that providing primary health care for the elderly should be embedded in a comprehensive approach which aims to change the conditions affecting the elderly primary health care in urban areas

Social and behavioral determinants in public health: current perspectives

This paper highlights the importance of recognizing behavioral determinants in public health. Public health has evolved over the decades from those that focused on disease prevention to the all encompassing health promotion which places the interactive nature of participating components. Public health occurs within cultural contexts within which social and behavioral factors play important roles. Though it has long been recognized that people's socioeconomic status, attitude and behavior hinder them from using the health services, the challenge to bring forth greater equity and centrality of people in public health remains to be realized. In the meantime, health professionals have to increase their health literacy - knowing and learning more about the people's perspectives. Topics of past and current importance that require more concern and research in public health are compliance, stigma, gender, health education messages. Finally, a call for multidisciplinary approaches in public health is made