Narrative Gerontology in Practice: Students’ Experiences With Conducting Autoethnography

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-434
Author(s):  
Othelia E. Lee ◽  
Laneshia Conner ◽  
Boyd Davis
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Online Discussion Forum ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
The Life Course

This study examines the benefits of introducing autoethnographic writing as part of an ageism intervention to familiarize students with the life course. In this mixed-methods study, 186 graduate and undergraduate students conducted interviews with a grandparent or older adult and subsequently assumed the identity of the grandparent to write introductions of themselves as if they were that grandparent, using “I” statements in an online discussion forum. Most assumed grandparents were women (78.0%), and White (63.8%) with an average age of 77.3 ( SD = 12.3). Emerging themes were categorized into three levels: structural, familial, and individual. The number of times a certain theme was mentioned was counted and major themes were analyzed. Findings indicated how autoethnographic reflections can promote student examination of self-awareness, cultural heritages, and personal growth. This technique is encouraging as an educational ageism intervention and warrants further adaptation and testing.

Development of an online transdisciplinary student wellbeing bundle: a thematic analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jena Buchan ◽  
Bonnie Clough ◽  
Jonathan Munro ◽  
Tatjana Ewais ◽  
Jaime Wallis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Professional Staff ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Online Student ◽  
Student Wellbeing ◽  
Community Connectedness ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
Further Development

BACKGROUND The consequences of burnout for tertiary students across the health professions are well documented and include higher rates of mental health challenges, suicide, alcoholism, and relationship problems. As a key stakeholder in University-offered wellbeing services and support, it is desirable for students to hold a central role in development of such resources, particularly given effectiveness relies on student uptake. Hence there is a compelling need to develop a student-driven approach to promote wellbeing in the tertiary setting at individual, curricula, and systems levels. OBJECTIVE Based on this need, an online student-focused platform was developed using a bottom-up approach to support participant-driven enhancement of wellbeing and resilience to counteract burnout. This study reports on the development of the initial online “Student Bundle”, providing a foundation to inform the design of more locally based approaches to improve wellness and prevent burnout. METHODS Students and academic and professional staff from Griffith University Health groups were invited to participate in a series of focus groups. Sessions sought to collect information on desired structure, resources and overall content of the Student Bundle, with a thematic analysis undertaken to identify emerging themes. RESULTS Focus groups were conducted separately with staff (n=17) and students (n=7). Six main themes in relation to the development of the bundle emerged: Communication/Engagement; Accessibility/Flexibility; Professional practice; Community; Awareness; and Opportunity for personal growth. Stakeholders emphasized a bundle should be engaging and proactive to address wellbeing issues, incorporate aspects linked to professional identity and foster community, connectedness and self-awareness, providing an opportunity for growth. CONCLUSIONS Our research has revealed significant needs in relation to how an online student-focused wellbeing bundle could be delivered and what it could provide. Findings from this study will be used to guide further development and implementation of a multimodal, interactive student wellbeing bundle.

scholarly journals Women’s Usage Behavior and Perceived Usefulness with Using a Mobile Health Application for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Mixed-Methods Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6670
Author(s):  
Shilpa Surendran ◽  
Chang Siang Lim ◽  
Gerald Choon Huat Koh ◽  
Tong Wei Yew ◽  
E Shyong Tai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Gestational Diabetes ◽  
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Usage Behavior

The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing, and only a few mobile health (mHealth) applications are specifically designed to manage GDM. In this mixed-methods study, a follow-up study of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) analyzed a largely automated mHealth application-based lifestyle coaching program to (a) measure the application’s usage behavior and (b) explore users’ perceptions of its usefulness in GDM management. Quantitative data were collected from the 170 application users who had participated in the intervention arm of the RCT. Semi-structured interviews (n = 14) captured users’ experiences when using the application. Data were collected from June 2019 to January 2020. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, and interviews were analyzed thematically. Only 57/170 users (34%) logged at least one meal, and only 35 meals on average were logged for eight weeks because of the incorrectly worded food items and limited food database. On the contrary, an average of 1.85 (SD = 1.60) weight values were logged per week since the weight tracking component was easy to use. Many users (6/14 (43%)) mentioned that the automatic coach messages created an immediate sense of self-awareness in food choices and motivated behavior. The findings suggest that for GDM management, a largely automated mHealth application has the potential to promote self-awareness of healthy lifestyle choices, reducing the need for intensive human resources. Additionally, several gaps in the application’s design were identified which need to be addressed in future works.

scholarly journals Nurses’ educational needs when dealing with aggression from patients and their families: a mixed-methods study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e041711
Author(s):  
Kana Sato ◽  
Yoshimi Kodama
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Phase I ◽  
Phase Ii ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Sequential Mixed Methods ◽  
Nursing Professionals ◽  
Educational Contents

ObjectivesTo explore the type of education needed for nurses when dealing with aggression from patients and their families.DesignA two-phase sequential mixed-methods study.SettingThis study was conducted in Japan, with phase I from March to November 2016 and phase II in November 2018.Main outcome measuresThe challenges faced by nurses when dealing with incidents of aggression from the neutral perspective of neither nurse nor patient/family and perceptions of the educational contents developed in this study. Descriptive analyses were used to examine the data retrieved from both phases.ParticipantsPhase I entailed semistructured interviews among 11 neutral-party participants who observed aggressive incidents between nurses and patients/families. Phase II consisted of a web survey conducted among 102 nursing students and 308 nursing professionals.ResultsPhase I resulted in the identification of the following five main educational components: understanding the mechanisms of anger and aggression, maintaining self-awareness, observant listening, managing the self-impression, and communicating based on specific disease characteristics. Each component was related to improved communication through self-awareness. The results of phase II indicated that participants positively perceived these educational contents as likely to be effective for dealing with aggression from patients/families.ConclusionsThis study clarified the type of education needed for nurses when dealing with aggression based on multiple viewpoints. Specifically, neutral-party interviews revealed that communication should be improved through self-awareness. A subsequent survey among nurses and nursing students showed that the identified educational contents were positively received.

scholarly journals ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP DOMAINS AND STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE LEADERSHIP SKILLS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS: A MIXED METHODS STUDY

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1791-96
Author(s):  
Syed Muslim Abbas ◽  
Abid Ashar
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
National Level ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Undergraduate Medical Students ◽  
Medical Undergraduate

Objective: To explore medical undergraduate students’ perceptions pertaining to the key domains of leadership and highlight strategies to enhance leadership skills in undergraduate studies. Study Design: Mixed methods study. Place and Duration of Study: Fatima Memorial Hospital College of Medicine & Dentistry, Lahore, from Sep to Oct 2019. Methodology: A total of 207 medical students were recruited from the first and final year by purposive sampling to fill out a structured questionnaire. Three focus group discussions were conducted comprising of twelve students in each group. All focus groups were audio-recorded, anonymized and transcribed verbatim before the analysis by framework analysis technique. Results: Total fifty percent of the first-year students were of the view that ensuring patient safety was an important component of the leadership domain of improving services whereas only 11% responded as critically evaluating as a component of this domain. The themes that emerged pertaining to the strategies to enhance leadership skills included increasing awareness, role models depicting change, cultural challenges, and supplementing existing practices. Conclusions: The validated essential domains of leadership and its associated competencies should be streamlined strategically and prioritized in accordance with the level of training of the undergraduate medical students. A multicentre study is suggested to gather data at the national level which could inform further development of inclusion of leadership domains within undergraduate MBBS curriculum.

Do Sociology Courses Make More Empathetic Students? A Mixed-Methods Study of Empathy Change in Undergraduates

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 284-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Rockwell ◽  
Chris M. Vidmar ◽  
Penny Harvey ◽  
Leanna Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Student Surveys ◽  
Introductory Sociology ◽  
Empathy Development

Assessing course goals is often challenging; assessing an abstract goal, like empathy, can be especially so. For many instructors, empathy is central to sociological thinking. As such, fostering empathy in students is a common course goal. In this article, we report the initial findings of a semester-long assessment of empathy change in undergraduate students ( N = 619). We employ a mixed-methods research design that utilizes qualitative instructor data to determine independent instructor-level variables and student surveys to measure student empathy change. We compare empathy change between students enrolled in introductory sociology classes to students not enrolled in sociology classes and test which student and instructor variables predict empathy change. We find that students taking sociology classes have positive empathy change compared to those who do not. We interpret these findings as evidence that study of sociology promotes empathy development and discuss implications for the classroom and further research.

scholarly journals The Dispositions, Abilities and Behaviours (Dab) Framework for Profiling Learners’ Sustainability Competencies in Higher Education

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frida Besong ◽  
Charlotte Holland
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Higher Education Institution ◽  
Limited Availability ◽  
Good Potential

Abstract The concepts of sustainability and sustainability competence are controversial, complex, difficult to define and measure, and have varied meanings for different people and practices. Given the complex nature of sustainability, there is limited availability of paradigmatic frameworks to guide educators in assessing sustainability competencies. This paper introduces the Dispositions, Abilities and Behaviours (DAB) framework, which influenced the design of an intervention in 2013-2014 that profiled sustainability competencies among final year undergraduate students in a higher education institution. The results of the mixed methods study indicate that the DAB framework has good potential as a guide to educators or researchers in understanding and profiling sustainability- related abilities, attitudes and actions (areas of performance) of cohorts of students within higher education settings.

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