Reflekterende team som metode i Trafikklærerutdanningen: et praktisk utviklingsprosjekt

Trafikklærerutdanningen ble et toårig høgskoletilbud ved Høgskolen i Nord-Trøndelag (HiNT) fra januar 2004. Trafikklærerutdanning er et viktig satsningsområde for myndighetene når det gjelder trafikksikkerhetsarbeid. Det blir stilt høye kvalitetskrav til utdanningen, der det er et overordnet mål å integrere teori - og praksisundervisning ved høgskolen. Som et ledd i dette blir praksis gjennomført i høgskolens egen integrerte trafikkskole. Som masterstudenter i kunnskapsledelse har vi fokus på kunnskap og læring, og vi ønsker gjennom vår avhandling å se nærmere på om trafikklærerutdanningen kan ta i bruk en ny metode for å imøtekomme kvalitetskravene på utdanningen. Vi har utviklet og prøvd ut en metode der et overordnet mål er å bedre trafikklærerstudentens evne til selv å reflektere over egen og andres handlinger; reflekterende team. Vi gjorde en kvalitativ tilnærming i praksisundervisningen ved HiNT våren 2008, gjennom et pilotforsøk og 6 praksistimer med studenter har vi utviklet og tilpasset reflekterende team til trafikklærerutdanningen. Vi har gjennom prosessen kommet frem til et teoretisk rammeverk for vår forskning som bygger på kunnskap og læring. Resultatene av vår empiri og tolkning av funn viser at studentene opplever det å bruke reflekterende team som et verdifullt tillegg i trafikklærerutdanningen. Vi har vurdert data opp imot teorirammeverket vårt og funnet noen barrierer for å gjennomføre metoden. Omsorg i gruppa er viktig. Tryggheten og evnen til aktiv empati, samt viljen til å reflektere over handlinger, følelse og tanker påvirker kvaliteten på det reflekterende teams arbeid. En utfordring videre vil være å implementere metoden ved HiNT’s avdeling for trafikklærerutdanning. Dette vil kreve støtte fra ledelsen, involvering av kolleger ved høgskolen samt å integrere metoden i teorifagene. / The driving teacher education became a two year university college programme in 2004, at Nord-Trøndelag University College. Educating driving teachers is an important issue for the authorities when it comes to road safety work. There are high quality demands concerning the education. One main issue is to integrate theoretical and practical subjects at the university college. To cover this aspect the university college has its own integrated driving school. As we are master-students in knowledge management our main focus is on knowledge and the process of learning, and we wish through our project to find out if the university college can use this method in educating driving teachers to comply with the quality demands of the education. The focus in our master project is to develop and try out an additional method to help driving teacher students to reflect on their own, and others actions; by using reflecting team. We have done a qualitative approach to the field at the university college during spring 2008. Through a pilot project and six driving lessons we have developed and adjusted reflecting team as a method. During this process we have come up with a theoretical framework which will support our focus on knowledge and the learning process. Results from our empirical research and interpretation of data and information shows that students have experienced the use of reflecting teams as a valuable addition to driving teacher education. We have found some hindrances that are important to consider if this method shall have the effect it is supposed to have. A caring atmosphere is quite important in the group. To feel safe and the ability to use active empathy, and the will to reflect on actions, emotions and thoughts will affect the quality of the work of the reflecting team. An additional challenge is to implement this method at the university college, this requires support from the management and other colleagues in addition to implementing it into the theoretical subjects of the education

Psychometric testing of the Norwegian version of the Simulation Design Scale, the Educational Practices Questionnaire and the Student Satisfaction and Self-confidence in Learning Scale in nursing education

Introduction Simulation-based learning is a well-established technique in nursing education. However, there is a need for reliable and validated evaluation tools across both national boundaries and cultural conditions. Such evaluation tools may contribute in identifying areas for improvement in simulation-based learning from the nursing students’ perspective. Objectives The aim of this study was to test three widely used American questionnaires – the Simulation Design Scale, the Educational Practices Questionnaire, and the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale, for psychometric properties among Norwegian undergraduate nursing students. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at a university simulation center in southern part of Norway. A total of 105 undergraduate nursing students participated, giving a response rate of 77%. An exploratory factor analysis was used to examine construct validity. Cronbach's alpha was applied in order to establish the questionnaires’ internal consistency. Results The exploratory factor analyses displayed the same number of extracted factors as the number of subscales in each of the original American questionnaires. However, the item-factor structure differed from the original item-subscales. The Cronbach's alpha was > 0.7 for all three questionnaires, indicating acceptable internal consistency. Conclusion Psychometric testing of the Norwegian versions of the three questionnaires, the Simulation Design Scale, the Educational Practices Questionnaire, and the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale, could be used as valid instruments for nursing students to evaluate important aspects of simulation-based learning. This also makes it easier to compare evaluation results of SBL across languages and cultural boundaries. However, to confirm the construct validity of the factors extracted in this study, further multi-site studies are needed to perform a confirmatory factor analysis in a new, large sample.publishedVersio

The Relationship Between Cow-Calf-Contact and Somatic Cell Count in Milk

I denne fordypningsoppgaven har vi sammenlignet det gjennomsnittlige celletallet i melk hos to grupper med melkekyr, én som har fått gå med kalven (MedKalv) og én som ikke har det (UtenKalv). Studien foregikk på Senter for husdyrforsøk (SHF) ved NMBU på Ås. MedKalv bestod av 8 kyr som fikk gå med kalven i ca. 9 uker som en del av et forskningsprosjekt som kalles SUCCEED, og UtenKalv bestod av 8 kyr fra samme besetning som ikke fikk gå med kalven. Celletallsgjennomsnitt ble beregnet med utgangspunkt i celletallsmålinger fra Kukontrollen og fra AMSen, og i begge tilfeller var gjennomsnittet høyest for MedKalv. For AMS-målingene var denne forskjellen statistisk signifikant, men det var den ikke for Kukontroll-målingene. Likevel kan vi ikke konkludere med at den observerte forskjellen faktisk skyldes kalvens tilstedeværelse, da det er mange andre faktorer som kan ha påvirkning på celletallet, samt at det foreligger en del mulige feilkilder i vår studie. I tillegg sammenlignet vi MedKalv og UtenKalv med hensyn til en del andre variabler som ble registrert av AMSen under melking. UtenKalv hadde signifikant høyere gjennomsnittlig melkemengde og melkestrømhastighet, mens MedKalv hadde signifikant høyere gjennomsnittlig konduktivitet og signifikant større andel melkinger med blod, avspark og MDI ≥ 2

Associations of Participation in Organized Sport and Self-Organized Physical Activity in Relation to Physical Activity Level Among Adolescents

Although physical activity level (PAL) is positively correlated with adolescents' health, many adolescents do not fulfill recommendations for physical activity. This study examines the associations of organized sport and self-organized physical activity, with PAL among adolescents. Participants were 301 adolescents (12–13 year-olds). The adolescents wore accelerometers for 1 week according to international standards, and reported their participation in organized sport and self-organized physical activity in a questionnaire. The results showed that the level of participation in organized sport was positively associated with the adolescents' total PAL, while there was no significant association between time spent in self-organized physical activity and adolescents' daily minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity. In addition, boys who participated <3 h per week (or not at all) in organized sport stood out with the lowest fulfillment of recommended PAL. Our findings underline the critical importance of getting adolescents, especially boys, to participate in organized sport and not to drop out from organized sport during adolescence

Can reflecting teams help driving teachers to be better at reflecting themselves? Paper, 2nd NORBIT Scientific Conference ... Reykjavík, Iceland, August 11th - 12th, 2008

Working with road safety in Norway conserns working with all areas, like the vehicle, roads, environment, and human beeings. Our focus is on the human beeing. Or more to the point: the focus is on those who will be educating drivers in Norway: driving teacher students. The education of driving teachers was extended from one to two years, and lifted from upper secondary level to two years at university college level from 2004. The aim is to develop different competences in these students, like professional competence, educational competence, social competence, professional ethics competence and change and development competence. What about the competense of critical self-evaluation and good self-awareness. This is the competense that we are looking at in our project

Gastro-oesophageal reflux - an important causative factor of severe tooth wear in Prader-Willi syndrome?

Abstract Background Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is the most common genetic human obesity syndrome and is characterized by hypotonia, endocrine disturbances, hyperphagia, obesity and mild mental retardation. Oral abnormalities, such as decreased salivary flow rates and extreme tooth wear, have also been described. Studies have shown a significant increase in reflux symptoms in individuals with obstuctive sleep apnoea syndrome and increased BMI, both of which are typical findings in PWS. Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) has been identified in some individuals with PWS and is a significant intrinsic factor in dental tooth wear. The aim of this study was therefore to estimate the prevalence of GORD in adults and children and to evaluate a possible correlation between GORD and tooth wear in adults with PWS. They were all registered at the TAKO-centre. Results Twenty-nine individuals, 17 adults with a mean age of 32.6 years (range 18–48) and 12 children with a mean age of 8.8 years (range 3–17), agreed to undergo 24-hour oesophageal pH monitoring, and 90% of those enrolled managed to complete the examination. Four children and eleven adults were diagnosed with pathological gastro-oesophageal reflux, which is defined as acid exposure (pH less than 4) more than 3.6 or 4.3 percent of the time, respectively. Manometry performed in the adult group showed a pathologically high lower oesophageal sphincter pressure in four of the five individuals who had normal oesophageal pH values (pH under 4 less than 4.3% of the time). The two groups (reflux and non-reflux) were well balanced according to BMI, genotype, tooth grinding and hyposalivation. However, twice as many individuals in the reflux group as in the non-reflux group reported high consumption of acidic foods and drinks. Increased tooth wear was significantly correlated with GORD in the two groups (reflux n=6 and non-reflux n=6). Conclusions The prevalence of gastro-oesophageal reflux is high in individuals with PWS. Tooth wear was strongly associated with GORD and acidic drinks, and both may be important aetiological factors underlying the extreme tooth wear in this group. Our data suggest a need for routine screening for GORD and dental wear in young individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome

Psychometric testing of the Norwegian version of the Simulation Design Scale, the Educational Practices Questionnaire and the Student Satisfaction and Self-confidence in Learning Scale in nursing education

Introduction Simulation-based learning is a well-established technique in nursing education. However, there is a need for reliable and validated evaluation tools across both national boundaries and cultural conditions. Such evaluation tools may contribute in identifying areas for improvement in simulation-based learning from the nursing students’ perspective. Objectives The aim of this study was to test three widely used American questionnaires – the Simulation Design Scale, the Educational Practices Questionnaire, and the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale, for psychometric properties among Norwegian undergraduate nursing students. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at a university simulation center in southern part of Norway. A total of 105 undergraduate nursing students participated, giving a response rate of 77%. An exploratory factor analysis was used to examine construct validity. Cronbach's alpha was applied in order to establish the questionnaires’ internal consistency. Results The exploratory factor analyses displayed the same number of extracted factors as the number of subscales in each of the original American questionnaires. However, the item-factor structure differed from the original item-subscales. The Cronbach's alpha was > 0.7 for all three questionnaires, indicating acceptable internal consistency. Conclusion Psychometric testing of the Norwegian versions of the three questionnaires, the Simulation Design Scale, the Educational Practices Questionnaire, and the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale, could be used as valid instruments for nursing students to evaluate important aspects of simulation-based learning. This also makes it easier to compare evaluation results of SBL across languages and cultural boundaries. However, to confirm the construct validity of the factors extracted in this study, further multi-site studies are needed to perform a confirmatory factor analysis in a new, large sample.publishedVersio

Sammenhengen mellom ku-kalv-kontakt og celletall i melk

I denne fordypningsoppgaven har vi sammenlignet det gjennomsnittlige celletallet i melk hos to grupper med melkekyr, én som har fått gå med kalven (MedKalv) og én som ikke har det (UtenKalv). Studien foregikk på Senter for husdyrforsøk (SHF) ved NMBU på Ås. MedKalv bestod av 8 kyr som fikk gå med kalven i ca. 9 uker som en del av et forskningsprosjekt som kalles SUCCEED, og UtenKalv bestod av 8 kyr fra samme besetning som ikke fikk gå med kalven. Celletallsgjennomsnitt ble beregnet med utgangspunkt i celletallsmålinger fra Kukontrollen og fra AMSen, og i begge tilfeller var gjennomsnittet høyest for MedKalv. For AMS-målingene var denne forskjellen statistisk signifikant, men det var den ikke for Kukontroll-målingene. Likevel kan vi ikke konkludere med at den observerte forskjellen faktisk skyldes kalvens tilstedeværelse, da det er mange andre faktorer som kan ha påvirkning på celletallet, samt at det foreligger en del mulige feilkilder i vår studie. I tillegg sammenlignet vi MedKalv og UtenKalv med hensyn til en del andre variabler som ble registrert av AMSen under melking. UtenKalv hadde signifikant høyere gjennomsnittlig melkemengde og melkestrømhastighet, mens MedKalv hadde signifikant høyere gjennomsnittlig konduktivitet og signifikant større andel melkinger med blod, avspark og MDI ≥ 2

Mortality and health-related quality of life in prevalent dialysis patients: Comparison between 12-items and 36-items short-form health survey

Background: To assess health- related quality of life (HRQOL) with SF-12 and SF-36 and compare their abilities to predict mortality in chronic dialysis patients, after adjusting for traditional risk factors. Methods: The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) with the embedded SF-12 was applied in 301 dialysis patients cross-sectionally. Physical and mental component summary (PCS-36, MCS-36, PCS-12, and MCS-12) scores were calculated. Clinical and demographic data were collected. Mortality (followed for up to 4.5 years) was analyzed with Kaplan Meier plots and Cox proportional hazards, after censoring for renal transplantation. Exclusion factors were observation time < 2 months (n = 21) and missing component summary scores (n = 10 for SF-36; n= 28 for SF-12), thus 252 patient were included in the analyses. Results: In 252 patients (60.2 ± 15.5 years, 65.9% males, dialysis vintage 9.0, IQR 5.0-23.0 months), mortality during follow-up was 33.7%.(85 deaths). Significant correlations were observed between PCS-36 and PCS-12 (ρ = 0.93, p < 0.001) and between MCS-36 and MCS-12 (ρ = 0.95, p < 0.001). Mortality rate was highest in patients in the lowest quartile of PCS-12 (χ2 = 15.3, p = 0.002) and PCS-36 (χ2 = 16.7, p = 0.001). MCS was not associated with mortality. Adjusted hazard ratios for mortality were 2.5 (95% CI 1.0-6.3, PCS-12) and 2.7 (1.1–6.4, PCS-36) for the lowest compared with the highest (“best perceived”) quartile of PCS. Conclusion: Compromised HRQOL is an independent predictor of poor outcome in dialysis patients. The SF-12 provided similar predictions of mortality as SF-36, and may serve as an applicable clinical tool because it requires less time to complete

Severe tooth wear in Prader-Willi syndrome. A case–control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare complex multsystemic genetic disorder characterized by severe neonatal hypotonia, endocrine disturbances, hyperphagia and obesity, mild mental retardation, learning disabilities, facial dysmorphology and oral abnormalities. The purpose of the present study was to explore the prevalence of tooth wear and possible risk factors in individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Forty-nine individuals (6-40 years) with PWS and an age- and sex-matched control group were included. Tooth wear was evaluated from dental casts and intraoral photographs and rated by four examiners using the Visual Erosion Dental Examination (VEDE) scoring system and the individual tooth wear index I_A. In accordance with the VEDE scoring system, tooth wear was also evaluated clinically. Whole saliva was collected.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean VEDE score was 1.70 ± 1.44 in the PWS group and 0.46 ± 0.36 in the control group (p < 0.001). Median I_A was 7.50 (2.60-30.70) in the PWS group and 2.60 (0.90-4.70) among controls (p < 0.001). In the PWS group tooth wear correlated significantly with age (VEDE; r = 0.79, p < 0.001, I_A; r = 0.82, p < 0.001) and saliva secretion (VEDE; r = 0.46, p = 0.001, I_A; r = 0.43, p = 0.002). Tooth grinding was also associated with tooth wear in the PWS group, as indicated by the mean VEDE 2.67 ± 1.62 in grinders and 1.14 ± 0.97 in non-grinders (p = 0.001) and median I_A values 25.70 (5.48-68.55) in grinders and 5.70 (1.60-9.10) in non-grinders (p = 0.003). Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed with tooth wear as the dependent variable and PWS (yes/no), age, tooth grinding and saliva secretion as independent variables. PWS (yes/no), age and tooth grinding retained a significant association with tooth wear, VEDE (p < 0.001) and log I_A (p < 0.001). The only factor significantly associated with tooth wear in the control group was age.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study provides evidence that tooth wear, in terms of both erosion and attrition, is a severe problem in Prader-Willi syndrome. There is therefore considerable need for prosthodontic rehabilitation in young adults with PWS.</p