scholarly journals A Healthy Retirement Program for Thai government teachers: a quasi-experimental and comparison groups study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Numporn Insin ◽  
Chanuantong Tanasugarn ◽  
Sarunya Benjakul

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the Healthy Retirement Program's effectiveness toward skills improvement and evaluate changes in subjective health.Design/methodology/approachA quasi-experimental, pre and posttest of the comparison groups was conducted. Teachers who were going to retire within one year were recruited into the experimental (n = 47) and the comparison groups (n = 43). Questionnaires were administered at baseline, posttest and at the 6-months follow-up. An independent t-test and Mann–Whitney U test were applied to determine the differences in outcomes between groups.FindingsThe results revealed different effects regarding teachers' health status. In those who had no chronic disease, the experimental group had higher skills to understand health information at posttest and at follow-up (p = 0.036, 0.028). Skills to apply health information was also greater at follow-up (p = 0.042). Among those suffering from a chronic disease, skills to access and apply health information were significantly higher in the experimental group than that of the comparison at follow-up (p = 0.011, 0.046). Greater perceived health of the experimental group was also indicated (p = 0.032).Originality/valueWhile the health conditions of teachers at the preretirement period are inconsistent, healthy lifestyle management after retirement is a crucial skill for retirement adjustment. Supporting teachers to be health literate should be included in the retirement planning program which emphasizes preretiree's ability to understand and take control of their health.

Author(s):  
Vicente Gaspar ◽  
Alexander Gil-Arias ◽  
Fernando Del Villar ◽  
Alba Práxedes ◽  
Alberto Moreno

The purpose of this study was to implement a comprehensive teaching program based on the principles of Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) model and questioning, and to assess its consequences for students’ satisfaction of basic psychological needs, motivation, perceptions of ability and intention to be physically active during Physical Education lessons in primary education. A quasi-experimental design was utilized. Participants were 111 students from two different groups of fifth and sixth graders, all enrolled in one primary school. Participants were divided into experimental and control group. Experimental group experienced a TGfU unit, according to small side games and the questioning. Control group experienced a small side games unit, without questioning. Within-group results showed that experimental group students reported significantly higher mean scores in all dependents variables of the study, in both genders. Results showed that control group only reported significantly higher mean scores in intention to be physically active variable, also in both genders. The results demonstrate the need to implement didactic units under comprehensive pedagogical approaches to improve motivation and the intention to develop healthy lifestyle habits in female and male students. More researches are needed to support this evidence.


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Furtado Volcov ◽  
Eliana Moreira Pinheiro ◽  
Miriam Harumi Tsunemi ◽  
Fernanda Gaspar do Amaral ◽  
Ariane Ferreira Machado Avelar ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objectives: to compare the parameters of the activity/rest cycle of early postpartum breastfeeding women under a controlled and uncontrolled long wavelength ray light regimen. Methods: quasi-experimental study with breastfeeding women and their babies during postnatal rooming-in, São Paulo, Brazil. Participants were allocated to either an experimental (intervention) or a comparison group. The intervention involved exposure of the woman in a controlled room with artificial long wavelength ray light at night. Each woman’s level of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin at 24 hours and activity/rest times was analyzed. Results: the mean activity/rest times of women in the experimental and comparison groups were similar. The mean percentages of total load of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin during the day and night were similar (p=0.09). At 24 hours, the experimental group presented a significantly lower mean percentage of total load compared to the comparison group (p=0.04). Conclusions: women who stayed in the room with long-wavelength artificial light showed no difference in activity/rest and 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels in the early postpartum period.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Sugahara ◽  
Hisayo Sugao ◽  
Steven Dellaportas ◽  
Takahiro Masaoka

Purpose This research applies a quasi-experimental research method to investigate the impact of an innovative resource titled “Accounting Exercise” (teaching intervention using physical movement and lyrics) on learning motivation and performance on a group of students enrolled in a first-year undergraduate accounting course in Japan. Design/methodology/approach Five classes were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (two classes) or a control group (three classes). In the experimental group, 90 students participated in a 15-min “Accounting Exercise” at the commencement of lectures over three consecutive weeks. The remaining 133 students assigned to the control group did not participate in the Accounting Exercise. Findings The findings indicate that the Accounting Exercise provided stimuli in maintaining students’ learning motivation. This finding is important for entry-level students where learning motivation has the potential to influence students’ future decisions on major areas of study and career choices. Originality/value This finding is important for entry-level students where future career options are decided. This effect is also believed to contribute to reducing the declining numbers of students in accounting majors.


2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Biehal ◽  
Sarah Ellison ◽  
Ian Sinclair

Nina Biehal, Sarah Ellison and Ian Sinclair present the results of an independent evaluation of the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) programme for young offenders in England, where it is known as Intensive Fostering (IF). A quasi-experimental, mixed-methods study was carried out at the three pilot sites, with a total sample of 47 at follow-up. Young people sentenced to IF were compared to a similar group, matched on the eligibility criteria for IF, the majority of whom were sentenced to custody. The groups were well matched in terms of their characteristics and criminal histories. Official data on reconviction were collected at baseline and one year after entry to the IF placement or release from custody (Stage 1), and further data on programme completion and secondary outcomes were collected via interviews with young people and parents, and questionnaires to professionals at baseline and follow-up. Official data on reconviction were also collected one year after exit from the IF placements (Stage 2). At Stage 1 the IF group were less likely to be reconvicted, had committed fewer and less-serious recorded offences, on average, and took longer to commit their first recorded offence. At this point the IF group were more likely to be living with their families and less likely to be in custody than the comparison group. However, by Stage 2 no significant differences in patterns of reconviction remained. IF successfully contained a high-risk group in the community, but the effects of the intervention diminished once they left their foster placements. Environmental effects on entry to and exit from the IF placements may help to explain the results at both stages.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Graciela C. Alatorre-Cruz ◽  
Thalía Fernández ◽  
Susana A. Castro-Chavira ◽  
Mauricio González-López ◽  
Sergio M. Sánchez-Moguel ◽  
...  

Background: In healthy older adults, excess theta activity is an electroencephalographic (EEG) predictor of cognitive impairment. In a previous study, neurofeedback (NFB) treatment reinforcing reductions theta activity resulted in EEG reorganization and cognitive improvement. Objective: To explore the clinical applicability of this NFB treatment, the present study performed a 1-year follow-up to determine its lasting effects. Methods: Twenty seniors with excessive theta activity in their EEG were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. The experimental group received an auditory reward when the theta absolute power (AP) was reduced. The control group received the reward randomly. Results: Both groups showed a significant decrease in theta activity at the training electrode. However, the EEG results showed that only the experimental group underwent global changes after treatment. These changes consisted of delta and theta decreases and beta increases. Although no changes were found in any group during the period between the posttreatment evaluation and follow-up, more pronounced theta decreases and beta increases were observed in the experimental group when the follow-up and pretreatment measures were compared. Executive functions showed a tendency to improve two months after treatment which became significant one year later. Conclusion: These results suggest that the EEG and behavioral benefits of this NFB treatment persist for at least one year, which adds up to the available evidence contributing to identifying factors that increase its efficacy level. The relevance of this study lies in its prophylactic features of addressing a clinically healthy population with EEG risk of cognitive decline.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 775-777
Author(s):  
Paula L. Stillman ◽  
Jane S. Ruggill ◽  
Darrell Sabers

All physicians who care for children require a knowledge of normal growth and development in order to detect and interpret abnormalities. Yet traditional instruction tends to focus on the ill child and rarely provides students the opportunity to follow up the cases of healthy children over a prolonged period of time. A new course was developed that enabled students to observe the longitudinal development of a normal infant from birth to age 16 months. At the completion of the course, a multiple-choice examination covering developmental concepts from birth to age 6 years was administered to the students who participated in this course (experimental group) and to two comparison Groups. The experimental group scored substantially higher than both comparison groups on items covering birth to age 18 months. The program offers an opportunity for medical students to observe the longitudinal development of a normal infant and appears complementary to other instructional methods.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-133
Author(s):  
Sara Quach ◽  
Scott Weaven ◽  
Park Thaichon ◽  
Debra Grace ◽  
Lorelle Frazer

Purpose Drawing on an outside-in marketing perspective, this paper aims to outline the development, implementation, evaluation and reflection of a real-world entrepreneurship education (EE) intervention with cognitive, affective and ultimately behavioural objectives. Design/methodology/approach A specific and uniform EE program specifically targeted to current “would be” entrepreneurs who were investigating the franchising business model was developed, focusing on the behavioural outcomes. The effectiveness of the EE intervention was evaluated using a quasi-experimental research design, which involved franchisees who had not participated in the EE intervention (control group) and franchisees who had participated in the EE intervention (experimental group). The administration of the national on-line survey yielded a total of 520 responses (194 in the experimental group and 326 in the control group). Findings The planning process in the pre-intervention stage included situation analysis, objective setting and decisions in relation to the communication strategy, i.e. content and mode. The effectiveness of the EE intervention was evaluated in the post-intervention stage. The findings indicate that EE intervention resulted in participants’ positive cognitive, affective and behavioural outcomes such as performance and relationship management. Finally, following a reflection process, additional elements covering topics related to work-life balance were incorporated into the module pertaining to an individual’s suitability to become a franchisee. Originality/value This paper proposes a conceptual framework that represents an outside-in EE approach whereby problems, audiences, objectives and communication strategies (content and method) are strategically intertwined to produce relevant, measurable and diagnostic behavioural outcomes. The EE intervention can also improve the B2B relationship between actors in a business network.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
Caroline E.W. Glackin ◽  
Steven E. Phelan

PurposeA recent paper by Morris et al. (2013b) presented evidence that students can develop entrepreneurial competencies through international fieldwork. This paper explores whether the same results can be developed in a traditional classroom setting.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a systematic replication of the Morris study with the addition of a matched pair, quasi-experimental design, with a self-replication. Data were collected on 13 self-reported competencies at the start of a semester from two groups using the Morris instrument. The treatment group was exposed to a curriculum designed to teach entrepreneurial competencies, and both groups were re-surveyed at the end of the semester. The process was then repeated with a different cohort, one year later, to replicate the initial study.FindingsFive competencies saw significant increases in the first treatment group. However, only three of these competencies increased more in the treatment group than the control group. In the replication study, only one competency was significantly higher in the treatment group, and that competency was not one of the original three.Practical implicationsEducators and policymakers should select a curriculum that is valid and reliable. Entrepreneurship educators and policymaker should devote more time to evaluating the effectiveness of different pedagogical techniques for improving entrepreneurial competencies.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies in entrepreneurship education to undertake a matched pair, quasi-experimental design with an in-study replication. The results indicate that serious inferential errors arise if simpler designs are used, even though such designs are the norm in entrepreneurship research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-568
Author(s):  
Anneli Frelin ◽  
Göran Fransson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand, from principals’ points of view, how a teacher registration reform is enacted by examining the potential changes in the relationships between principals and newly qualified teachers (NQTs). The reform entailed principals performing an aptitude assessment of new teachers in their probationary year. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five principals from two Swedish municipalities on three occasions in one academic year. A third follow-up interview was conducted one year later with four of the principals, the fifth no longer being in post. Findings The assessment appears to be downplayed by the principals, whereas the supportive dimension and the facilitation of NQTs’ professional development seem to be acknowledged and made explicit. For some of the principals, their creative translation of the reform’s intentions transformed these relations and strengthened their leadership. Research limitations/implications The study is small-scale and was carried out in a specific period of policy implementation from the principals’ perspectives. Future studies would benefit from involving both principals’ and teachers’ perspectives. Practical implications Policymakers appear to have underestimated the structural aspects of the reform, even though in general the reform enactments had some kind of positive effect on these relations. Social implications For some principals, their creative translation of the reform’s intentions transformed relations and strengthened their leadership. Originality/value The data are from a unique period when a reform was implemented and later partly withdrawn. The study deepens the understanding on how principals tries to enact and balance their roles as evaluators of NQTs and pedagogical and instructional leaders.


1993 ◽  
Vol 163 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. Morgan ◽  
E. M. Jones ◽  
J. H. Owen

In an attempt to address the low compliance with offers of treatment shown by patients after episodes of non-fatal deliberate self-harm (DSH), patients who had harmed themselves for the first time were offered rapid, easy access to on-call trainee psychiatrists in the event of further difficulties, and they were encouraged to seek help at an early stage should such problems arise. The follow-up data obtained after one year showed a significant reduction of actual or seriously threatened DSH in the experimental group, who also made considerably less demands on medical and psychiatric services, when compared with controls.British Journal of Psychiatry (1993), 163, 111–112


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