Healthy universities: mapping health-promotion interventions

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Sarmiento
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Stakeholder Analysis ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Promotion Strategy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Health Promotion Interventions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to map out and characterize existing health-promotion initiatives at Florida International University (FIU) in the USA in order to inform decision makers involved in the development of a comprehensive and a long-term healthy university strategy. Design/methodology/approach This study encompasses a narrative literature review on health promotion in higher education institutions and the identification and characterization of the various health-promotion initiatives associated with the subject of healthy universities at FIU. The characterization of health-promoting initiatives relied on the stakeholder analysis approach. Using the information obtained from this study, a map for promoting health initiatives with their location, capacities, leadership, and resources was established. Findings Most publications on health-promoting universities are limited to partial experiences’ reproduction. Self-financing health-promoting initiatives foster competition and work in silos. Gains of health-promotion interventions require governance, participation, and academic considerations. This study highlights the need for standards and minimum requirements for the mapping and characterization of health-promoting initiatives within institutions of higher education. The health-promotion strategy should fall within the university’s social responsibility policy. Originality/value This study helps identify organizational strengths and weaknesses and can inform decision makers seeking to establish policies and strategies as well as defining priorities and courses of action for healthy universities.

The Grow parenting program: demonstrating proof of concept

2018 ◽  
Vol 118 (5) ◽  
pp. 413-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Chesnut ◽  
Jennifer M. DiNallo ◽  
Melina T. Czymoniewicz-Klippel ◽  
Daniel F. Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
Stress Management ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Internalizing Behavior ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Universal Health

Purpose Parent-focused interventions (PFIs) are a promising method for supporting parents and promoting children’s well-being. Few PFIs in the USA, however, include physical health promotion content and are universal programs. The purpose of this paper is to describe a universal health-promoting PFI for parents of elementary school-aged children and demonstrate proof of concept. Design/methodology/approach The program emphasizes positive parenting practices, stress management skills and physical health promotion strategies and recommendations, and is part of a larger initiative that includes a continuum of universal, developmentally appropriate, health-promoting PFIs for civilian and military parents. The program was implemented at two community sites in rural Pennsylvania with 20 civilian parents completing pretests and posttests. Study measures assessed parenting, stress and stress management and physical health promotion related outcomes. Findings Parents reported decreases in suboptimal discipline and feeding practices, stress and child internalizing behavior. They also reported increases in their sense of control in managing child behavior, coping socialization, child’s outdoor playtime and health recommendations met. Research limitations/implications While these preliminary findings may not be generalizable, they serve as proof of concept, which suggests that more rigorous research on the program is warranted. Practical implications Implementing a universal, health-promoting PFI within the USA is viable and has the potential to impact multiple short-term outcomes. Originality/value Parents are among their child’s earliest and most influential educators, and this study lends further support to their role as health educators. Given the significant public health benefits of holistically promoting child health, the time has come for universal PFIs to begin including physical health promotion content.

Quality of learning experience, student satisfaction and perceived overall experience in the COVID-19 context

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Venugopal Prabhakar Gantasala ◽  
Swapna Bhargavi Gantasala ◽  
Tareq Na'el Al Tawil ◽  
Prerana Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Medical Programs

PurposeThe intention for this study was to explore any relationship that might exist between quality of learning experience (QLE), the second construct student satisfaction (SS) and the third construct perceived overall experience (POE) among undergraduate students within the higher education context. This study also attempts to explain the path direction between QLE, SS and POE.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers utilized structural equation modeling to analyze the variables considered for this study – QLE, SS and POE and for hypotheses testing. Respondents for this study were medical students' coordinators of the undergraduate level of medical colleges in the 28 states of India. Data collected for the study were possible by utilizing a questionnaire that was emailed to these student coordinators. The emailing effort returned 198 (n) filled questionnaires (complete) representing 198 institutions offering undergraduate-level medical programs out of a total of 542 institutions that offer undergraduate medical programs.FindingsFindings from this study confirm the relationship between QLE with SS, and PLE. Interestingly, the findings established a significant relationship between SS and POE.Practical implicationsDecision-makers and administrators of higher education institutions (HEIs) can utilize the findings from this study to focus on strengthening important elements of QLE in ways that positively impact SS and POE of students taking online courses and program offerings. The study reiterates the importance of course content, course structure, lecture-delivery quality, instructor mentoring and student-instructor interactions on SS and POE. The role of SS in reinforcing confirmation, perceived usefulness, perceived openness of the online courses and the perceived reputation was established. This relationship is key to administrators while they focus on improving SS and building on the institutions' reputation in addition to their efforts to support marketing and enrollments during the pandemic.Originality/valueResearchers in the past have examined the relationships between QLE and another construct of this study – SS. Past research has also examined the relationship between QLE and POE. However, there is not enough research exploring the relationship between SS and POE. This study establishes the relationship between SS and POE that benefits decision-makers in higher education.

Wooing the new Chinese businesses: five short-term policies to attract direct investment

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bala Ramasamy ◽  
Matthew Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Direct Investment ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Location Factors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
Chinese Companies ◽  
The Usa

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify location factors that Chinese managers look for when making internationalization decisions and how the factors stack up in perceived importance. Over the past ten years, Chinese enterprises have become more multi-national in nature. China’s outward foreign direct investment (FDI) has been growing at a phenomenal rate. In 2012, China became the third largest investor, after the USA and Japan; and the largest investor among developing countries. How can host governments attract more of this Chinese capital? What are some short- to medium-term policies that host governments can initiate to make their respective nations attractive to Chinese companies? Design/methodology/approach The authors consider these questions by using a best-worst choice exercise among 114 senior corporate decision makers of Chinese companies who have or are planning to globalize. We rank 16 most common determinants that influence FDI location choice and evaluate their degree of importance. Findings The authors propose five “low hanging fruits” that policy makers should consider that could ensure their countries come within the radar of Chinese multi-nationals. These include promoting a clean and efficient business environment and strengthening/establishing political and economic relationships with China. Originality/value The originality of this study lies in the methodology of the study that forces respondents to make a trade-off in their decisions, which in a way is closer to reality. The respondents are also actual decision makers in their companies with regards to international investment decisions.

Exploring the relationship between dispositions to think critically and sustainability concern in HESD

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Shephard ◽  
Qudsia Kalsoom ◽  
Ritika Gupta ◽  
Lorenz Probst ◽  
Paul Gannon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Higher education is uncertain which sustainability-related education targets should be sought and monitored. Accepting that something needs to be measurable to be systematically improved, the authors explored how measures relate to potential targets. This paper aims to focus on dispositions to think critically (active open-minded thinking and fair-minded thinking in appraising reasoning) as measures and explored how they related to sustainability concern as an indicative educational target. Design/methodology/approach This research included the development and testing of research instruments (scales) that explored dispositions to critical thinking and sustainability concern. Authors researched these instruments within their own correspondence groups and tested them with university students and staff in Pakistan, the USA, Austria, India and New Zealand. The authors also asked a range of contextualising questions. Findings Respondents’ disposition to aspects of active, open-minded thinking and fair-minded thinking do predict their concern about facets of sustainability but their strength of religious belief was an important factor in these relationships and in their measurement. Practical implications This research demonstrates the complexity of monitoring dispositions to think critically and sustainability concern in educational systems, particularly in circumstances where the roles of religious beliefs are of interest; and suggests ways to address this complexity. Originality/value This research integrates and expands discourses on ESD and on critical thinking in diverse disciplines and cultures. It investigates measurement approaches and targets that could help higher education institutions to educate for sustainable development and to monitor their progress, in ways that are compatible with their culture and values.

Do learning organizations learn? Higher education institutions and pandemic response strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Leadership ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Usa

Purpose This study was designed to address the problem of how higher education institutions, as organizations designed to promote learning, responded to the COVID pandemic and the suspension of in-person instruction. The purpose of this paper was specifically to explore how institutions go about learning from the pandemic to better prepare themselves for the future that they will face. Design/methodology/approach A researcher-developed survey instrument was distributed electronically to 300 faculty leaders at randomly selected universities in the USA. With three follow-up e-mail requests, the survey had a 31% usable response rate. Findings Survey results indicated that institutional leadership did not make strong use of shared governance in responding to the COVID pandemic in creating operational response strategies. Further, institutions did not alter their policies or make structural changes to be more adept in facing the challenges of a global pandemic and its impact on the financial well-being of the institutions. Although institutions did make changes to their attitudes about students, these were not developmental changes but rather behavioral modification expectations. Originality/value This study drew upon data collected after the first three months of the global COVID pandemic, providing an important first-look at organizational behavior in response to a largely unplanned global event.

Exploring mentoring across gender, race, and generation in higher education

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydney Freeman Jr ◽  
Frances Kochan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Mentoring Relationships ◽  
White Female ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mentoring Relationship ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Extensive Body ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine a long-term mentoring relationship between a White female from the Traditional Generation and an African American male from the Xennial Generation, as engaged in a mentoring relationship within higher education institutions in the USA. The study investigated if, how and to what degree the differences and similarities between them influenced their mentoring relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors used an autoethnographic approach involving extensive questioning, dialoguing, note keeping and analysis over eight months. Findings The analysis suggested that race had the greatest influence on the relationship. The primary reasons for mentoring success were similarities in family backgrounds and commonly held values. Research limitations/implications This study may not be generalizable to mentoring relationships that do not involve cultural differences in race, age or gender. Practical implications The paper offers a model for the types of strategies individuals can use in cross-racial mentoring endeavors to help build and sustain these relationships. It also includes suggestions for individuals engaged in mentoring relationships, which include gender, race or age differences, and organizations seeking to enhance diversity within their institutions. Originality/value There is not an extensive body of research on individual cross-racial, gender and generational mentoring that provides an analysis of the experience of those involved. Additionally, the model presented for examining cross-racial mentoring relationships is unique.

Educating researchers in the metadiscipline of foresight

foresight ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 703-715
Author(s):  
James P. Kahan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Educational Innovations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Logical Type ◽  
The Usa

Purpose The science of Foresight differs from the commonplace notion of what a science is because it is a metadiscipline – a logical type of science higher than the logical type of disciplinary sciences. It is practical, uses transdisciplinary processes that combine scientific disciplines and often examines counterfactuals in a scientific manner. This study aims to demonstrate that Foresight is a science, by presenting a number of best practices and potential innovations in higher education that could facilitate obtaining skills for Foresight science. Design/methodology/approach The methods of scientific education that have served us well in the past are inadequate for metadisciplinary sciences such as Foresight. The paper discusses what metadisciplinarity is, using a variety of examples, and distinguishes it from disciplines and ways of crossing disciplinary boundaries. Understanding the essential characteristics of Foresight as a metadisciplinary science leads to identifying current best practices and possible educational innovations in undergraduate education that will facilitate obtaining Foresight skills. Throughout the paper, examples are drawn from the education and professional experience of the author in the USA and Europe. Findings This paper demonstrates that Foresight is a science and presents a number of best practices and potential innovations in higher education that could facilitate obtaining skills for Foresight science. It identifies barriers to those innovations and approaches to overcome them. Originality/value This viewpoint paper clarifies the meaning of the terms interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and metadisciplinarity to identify the essential characteristics of Foresight as a science. Then, it identifies and advocates needed changes in North American higher education to provide earlier and more efficient opportunities for Foresight researchers and users to obtain the skills they need.

scholarly journals Health-promoting factors in higher education for a sustainable working life – protocol for a multicenter longitudinal study

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Lindmark ◽  
◽  
I. Ahlstrand ◽  
A. Ekman ◽  
L. Berg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Working Life ◽  
World Health ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Health Promoting

Abstract Background The World Health Organization has highlighted the importance of health promotion for health service providers in order to ensure sustainable working life for individuals involved in providing health services. Such sustainability begins when students are preparing to manage their own future health and welfare in working life. It has been suggested that universities, employees and trainee health professionals should adopt or follow a salutogenic approach that not only complements the providing of information on known health risks but also favors health promotion strategies. This paper describes the study design and data collection methods in a planned study aiming to explore health-promoting factors for a sustainable working life among students in higher education within healthcare and social work. Methods This protocol describes a multicenter longitudinal study involving Swedish students on higher education programs in the healthcare and social work sectors. In 2018, the study invited students on seven education programs at six universities to participate. These programs were for qualification as: biomedical laboratory scientists (n = 121); dental hygienists (n = 87); nurses (n = 1411); occupational therapists (n = 111); physiotherapists (n = 48); radiographers (n = 60); and, social workers (n = 443). In total, 2283 students were invited to participate. Participants completed a baseline, a self-reported questionnaire including six validated instruments measuring health-promoting factors and processes. There are to be five follow-up questionnaires. Three while the students are studying, one a year after graduating, and one three years after graduating. Each questionnaire captures different health-promoting dimensions, namely: health-promoting resources (i.e. sense of coherence); occupational balance; emotional intelligence; health and welfare; social interaction; and work and workplace experiences/perceptions. Discussion This study focuses on the vastly important aspect of promoting a sustainable working life for healthcare and social work employees. In contrast to previous studies in this area, the present study uses different, validated instruments in health promotion, taking a salutogenic approach. It is hoped that, by stimulating the implementation of new strategies, the study’s findings will lead to education programs that prepare students better for a sustainable working life in healthcare and social work.

scholarly journals Building health promoting sports clubs: A participative concept mapping approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Johnson ◽  
A Van Hoye ◽  
A Donaldson ◽  
F Lemonnier ◽  
F Rostan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Concept Mapping ◽  
Sports Clubs ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Sports Club ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Participative Approach ◽  
Training Courses ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Health Promotion Interventions

Abstract Background Sports clubs offer a unique position to increase performance and physical activity but may also provide additional health promoting opportunities. Research is limited on support clubs need to increase health promotion efforts. This study took a participative approach to gather French stakeholder ideas on perceived assistance sports clubs need to increase health promotion efforts and prioritized them based on ratings of importance and feasibility. Methods This concept mapping study had 4-steps: 1) drafting a focus prompt to a key issue, 2) brainstorming ideas in response to the focus prompt, 3) sorting ideas into themed piles and 4) rating ideas (1-6) based on two indicators. French stakeholders (45) in sports and health organizations were invited to respond using the groupwisdom™ platform. Researchers produced visual cluster maps of themed piles and Go-Zone graphs displaying ideas perceived as important and feasible. Results Participants generated 62 ideas responding to the focus prompt: 'What assistance would benefit sports clubs to become health-promoting settings?'. Once researchers edited ideas, 78 were available to sort. Final sorting formed 9 clusters: Tools for health promotion, Communication tools, Stakeholder training courses, Diagnostic & Financing, Awareness & Mobilization, Advocacy, Policies & Methods, Sharing & Networking, Communication & Dissemination. Importance and feasibility ratings produced Go-Zones with 34 ideas above the mean for both indicators. Top focus areas include: increasing awareness of health promotion benefits, mobilizing actors, advocating for support and educating club actors. Conclusions Understanding support stakeholders need to increase health promotion efforts in sports clubs is a crucial step to plan and implement policies. Including stakeholders' perceptions helps establish effective interventions by increasing the possibility of integration into current or emerging policies and acceptance from those working in clubs. Key messages Generating and organizing stakeholder ideas gives insight into perceptions of what support is needed to develop and implement health promotion interventions in the sports club context. Based on importance and feasibility, sports clubs can increase health promotion efforts by focusing on: increasing awareness of health promotion benefits, mobilizing actors, advocacy and education.

Factors affecting strategic change in higher education

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjørn Stensaker ◽  
Nicoline Frølich ◽  
Jeroen Huisman ◽  
Erica Waagene ◽  
Lisa Scordato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Strategic Change ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Organizational Fields ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
European Universities ◽  
Change In Higher Education ◽  
Analytical Tools

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify those factors that key actors in university governance hold as to be important in realizing strategic change within their institutions. Design/methodology/approach – Key decision-makers in 26 European universities were surveyed on their views on which factors bring about strategic change. The results were interpreted using a theoretical framework emphasizing organizational archetypes and their development. Findings – The findings indicated that strategic changes in universities were perceived as highly dependent on leadership, decision-making procedures, communication and evaluation. However, some differences between the universities in the sample can be identified, supporting indicating the relevance of using organizational archetypes as an analytical tools for observing change within the higher education sector. Originality/value – The study links organizational level developments on strategic management to macro-level change within the European higher education landscape, and provides new insights intoon the debate on convergence and differentiation in organizational fields.

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