Emergency Preparedness Competencies Among Nurses in Northwest Arkansas

Existing literature suggests that nurses lack basic knowledge and skills related to emergency and disaster preparedness. Nurses nationwide have reported low levels of understanding related to numerous facets of emergency and disaster knowledge and planning. The purpose of this research was to determine the self-reported level of emergency preparedness competencies of nurses in the Northwest Arkansas area and whether those competencies varied by level of nursing education. The Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ) was utilized to measure knowledge. The results suggest that nurses across the board are unprepared in the event of an emergency or disaster situation. No statistically significant differences were found by educational type, as the clear majority of participants self-reported that they lacked emergency preparedness knowledge and training. The results of this study correlate to existing research, which is troubling to say the least. Nurses are vastly under-prepared for emergency and disaster situations and lack the basic knowledge and training to respond to such events. In the event of a disaster, the impact of nurse responders would be severely lacking and could possibly cause more harm to affected communities rather than help. These results, as well as previous research, prove that there is a great need for improvement of nursing education for future and existing nurses related to emergency and disaster preparedness

Attitudes towards a programme of risk assessment and stratified management for ovarian cancer: a focus group study of UK South Asians' perspectives

A crucial first step to enable implementation of population-based genetic risk assessment and management in OC is to raise awareness of OC within SA communities. It will be important to engage with the SA community early on in programme implementation to address their specific concerns and to ensure culturally tailored decision support. Population-based risk assessment, using genetic testing and the provision of appropriate risk management, could lead to prevention, early detection and improved clinical management of ovarian cancer (OC). Previous research with mostly white British participants found positive attitudes towards such a programme. The current study aimed to explore the attitudes of South Asian (SA) women and men in the UK with the aim of identifying how best to implement such a programme to minimise distress and maximise uptake. Semistructured qualitative focus group discussions. Community centres across North London and Luton. 49 women and 13 men who identified as SA (Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi), which constitutes the largest non-European ethnic minority group in the UK. Seven community-based focus groups were held. Group discussions were transcribed verbatim, coded and analysed thematically. Awareness and knowledge of OC symptoms and specific risk factors was low. The programme was acceptable to most participants and attitudes to it were generally positive. Participants' main concerns related to receiving a high-risk result following the genetic test. Younger women may be more cautious of genetic testing, screening or risk-reducing surgery due to the importance of marriage and childbearing in their SA cultures. CONCLUSIONS OBJECTIVE DESIGN SETTING PARTICIPANTS METHODS RESULT

Research report for supporting practice research works (P1623, 2.2)

Documents best practice in supporting practice research works at other HE institutions including; policy, definitions, vocabulary options, metadata, workflows, repository advice and features, digitisation offers, case studies and advocacy. Report collated through visits to Goldsmiths and University of Creative Arts, conference calls to University of Westminster and Glasgow School of Arts and desk research of other UK and Australian HE Institutions

Capturing the student user experience (UX) in York and Loughborough University Library buildings

This is the accepted for publication version of the article. The final published version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/PMM-04-2016-0021Purpose – In higher education libraries, the concept of the user experience has increased in profile and importance. The concept of the “student as customer” has generated much debate but there is general agreement that universities need to be more successful in meeting student expectations. A key strategic area for university libraries has been to adapt and improve their physical spaces to ensure that they are still relevant for today’s students. York and Loughborough University Libraries have both undergone building refurbishments and both are committed to monitoring and reviewing services and spaces. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – There were various constraints which very much influenced the methodology. These included: avoiding survey overload no resource allocation an acknowledgement that the methodology employed needed to combine rigour and validity with a pragmatic approach to data collection. A joint project team was established of representatives from each university. A questionnaire created on Google Forms was administered by staff with individuals in the library and entering the data onto a iPad. Findings – Findings provide evidence of use across a range of users along with valuable information on who is using our library spaces and for what purpose. Originality/value – This research is a rich contribution to the evidence based around student’s learning in universities. It benefits from the expertise and knowledge of two university libraries. As university’s continue to develop learning spaces, this work will enable further investigation around what makes a successful learning space and what makes the library a destination of choice

The MATISSE study: a randomised trial of group art therapy for people with schizophrenia.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: Art Therapy has been promoted as a means of helping people who may find it difficult to express themselves verbally engage in psychological treatment. Group Art Therapy has been widely used as an adjunctive treatment for people with schizophrenia but there have been few attempts to examine its effects and cost effectiveness has not been examined. The MATISSE study aims to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of group Art Therapy for people with schizophrenia. METHOD/DESIGN: The MATISSE study is a three-arm, parallel group, pragmatic, randomised, controlled trial of referral to group Art Therapy plus standard care, referral to an attention control 'activity' group plus standard care, or standard care alone. Study participants were recruited from inpatient and community-based mental health and social care services at four centres in England and Northern Ireland. Participants were aged over 18 years with a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia, confirmed by an examination of case notes using operationalised criteria. Participants were then randomised via an independent and remote telephone randomisation service using permuted stacked blocks, stratified by site. Art Therapy and activity groups were made available to participants once a week for up to 12 months. Outcome measures were assessed by researchers masked to allocation status at 12 and 24 months after randomisation. Participants and care givers were aware which arm of the trial participants were allocated to. The primary outcomes for the study are global functioning (measured using the Global Assessment of Functioning scale) and mental health symptoms (measured using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) assessed at 24 months. Secondary outcomes were assessed at 12 and 24 months and comprise levels of group attendance, social function, satisfaction with care, mental wellbeing, and costs. DISCUSSION: We believe that this is the first large scale pragmatic trial of Art Therapy for people with schizophrenia. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN46150447.Published versio

Open Educational Resources and their Implementation at Miami University

A white paper submitted on 9/8/2015 by the members of the 2014 –2015 Faculty Learning Community Exploring Open Educational Resources at Miami University. Covers OER definition, best practices, benefits and evidence, OER as a strategy to meet 2020 goals, implementing an OER culture at Miami University, and a preliminary plan.Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) at Miami University Miami University Librarie

Group art therapy as an adjunctive treatment for people with schizophrenia: multicentre pragmatic randomised trial

Objectives To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of group art therapy for people with schizophrenia and to test whether any benefits exceed those of an active control treatment

Changing Politics: Towards a New Democracy

In October 2014 the PSA joint-funded a Consultation event ‘Changing Politics – Towards a New Democracy’ with St. George’s House. The Chair of the PSA, Professor Matthew Flinders, chaired the event which brought together participants from a range of fields (including academics, think tankers and practitioners in several policy areas). Today, St. George’s House has published a report which highlights the main themes emerging from the discussion as well as some conclusions and recommendations. It identifies several areas where changes are urgently needed to reinvigorate democracy. The report concludes that to fully succeed in addressing the growth of political apathy and disengagement, parties and leaders must forget their differences and join citizens, academics, charities and others to address this problem with all available energy and resources

Exorcising Grice’s ghost : an empirical approach to studying intentional communication in animals

Language’s intentional nature has been highlighted as a crucial feature distinguishing it from other communication systems. Specifically, language is often thought to depend on highly structured intentional action and mutual mindreading by a communicator and recipient. Whilst similar abilities in animals can shed light on the evolution of intentionality, they remain challenging to detect unambiguously. We revisit animal intentional communication and suggest that progress in identifying analogous capacities has been complicated by (i) the assumption that intentional (that is, voluntary) production of communicative acts requires mental-state attribution, and (ii) variation in approaches investigating communication across sensory modalities. To move forward, we argue that a framework fusing research across modalities and species is required. We structure intentional communication into a series of requirements, each of which can be operationalised, investigated empirically, and must be met for purposive, intentionally communicative acts to be demonstrated. Our unified approach helps elucidate the distribution of animal intentional communication and subsequently serves to clarify what is meant by attributions of intentional communication in animals and humans