scholarly journals An Exploratory Study of the Community Impacts of Service-Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-128
Author(s):  
Ka Hing Lau ◽  
Maureen Yin Lee Chan ◽  
Cynthia Lok Sum Yeung ◽  
Robin Stanley Snell
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Community Partner ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Community Impacts ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Learning Interventions

Research on community impacts from service-learning has been scarce, yet this area is worth exploring in order to understand how and why service-learning can make a difference. The current research sought to validate a conceptual framework (Lau & Snell, 2020), which categorizes the impacts of service-learning on community partner organizations (CPOs) and on end-beneficiaries. Under the framework, impacts on end-beneficiaries can arise directly from service-learning interventions, but can also arise indirectly as a result of impacts on CPOs. For the research, semi-structured, one-to-one or focus group interviews were conducted with 13 CPO representatives, seeking their perceptions of positive and negative impacts of service-learning. Most described impacts were positive, including, for CPOs: achieving project goals to further the CPO’s mission; augmenting resources of the CPO; and gaining knowledge, insights, ideas and techniques. These positive impacts for CPOs appear to reflect three factors: alignment between service-learning project goals and the CPO’s mission; mutual recognition of students’ potential for transferring knowledge from universities to CPOs; and mutual understanding of students’ status as semi-outsiders, free to challenge existing practices or systems. Further studies can explore impacts from the end-beneficiary's perspective, and adopt longitudinal and action research approaches.

Catching feelings: Exploring commitment (un)readiness in emerging adulthood

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah E. LeFebvre ◽  
Heather J. Carmack
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Stages Of Change ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Change Model ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
And Behavior

This exploratory study investigates how emerging adults (EAs) experience catching feelings. Applying the Stages of Change Model and Relational Receptivity Theory, this study investigates how EAs understand the cognitive and behavior changes leading up to commitment and how they process precontemplation surrounding catching feelings. Using focus group interviews, collegiate EAs ( N = 17) define catching feelings as the unintentional, unexpected, and surprisingly desirable development of romantic feelings for another person (commonly beginning face-to-face). When confronted with catching feelings, EAs must delineate their preconditions for catching feelings and work through decision-making processes. Implications for relationship readiness, communication, and commitment are discussed.

scholarly journals Bridge over Troubled Water: Patients’ Opportunities for Collective Participation in Substance Use Institutions through Research Circles

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (21) ◽  
pp. 11060
Author(s):  
Brit-Marie Follevåg ◽  
Sissel Seim
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Milieu Therapy ◽  
Institutional Practices ◽  
Treatment Practice ◽  
Sunday Afternoon ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Patients Experience

This study explores patients’ opportunities for collective participation in an institution for people with substance use disorder. Patients and staff from the treatment institution cooperated with researchers to make changes in the treatment practice, using a research circle as a model for the project. In the article, we discuss the following research questions: How and in what areas did patients have the opportunity to participate collectively in the treatment institution? How did the patients experience participation in the research circle? Data consist of minutes from meetings, seminars, and focus-group interviews. The participants analysed the material together, and the authors carried out a thematic analysis after the project. The participants chose to explore how milieu therapy could build a bridge from treatment in the institution to life after treatment, a “Bridge over troubled waters”, to quote Simon and Garfunkel. Findings show that activities in the research circle led to changes at the institution, e.g., regular Sunday afternoon meetings, a weekly quiz, and less controlling procedures of substance use, and that the institutional culture in general became based more on participation and equality. Patients, staff, and researchers participated in a partnership; mutual recognition promoted cooperation and fellowship in the research circle. We conclude that the project provided the participants with opportunities for collective participation in the institution. In addition, the patients experienced partnership and empowerment in the research circle. Our attempts to change institutional practices yielded some improvements but also met with structural and cultural barriers. Thus, the project experienced challenges and obstacles mostly related to limitations in the institutional system and culture.

Nonverbal Narratives: Listening to People with Severe Intellectual Disability

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rea Dennis
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Narrative Research ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
Severe Intellectual Disability ◽  
Severe Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Working Day ◽  
Group Interviews

This article describes an exploratory study that examined the perspectives of practitioners who spend much of their working day listening to and in some ways “interpreting” for people with severe intellectual disabilities. On the basis of focus group interviews with 23 professional disability-sector workers, including speech therapists, psychologists, and human service workers, the article reports on the importance of a practitioner's values and experience in successful interactions with individuals who rely on self-developed nonsymbolic communication repertoires. The article includes a discussion of the likelihood of including individuals with severe intellectual disabilities in narrative research.

scholarly journals Unprofessional behaviour of GP residents and its remediation: a qualitative study among supervisors and faculty

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter C. Barnhoorn ◽  
Vera Nierkens ◽  
Marianne C. Mak-van der Vossen ◽  
Mattijs E. Numans ◽  
Walther N. K. A. van Mook ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Unprofessional Behaviour ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Gp Training

Abstract Background Lapses in professionalism have profound negative effects on patients, health professionals, and society. The connection between unprofessional behaviour during training and later practice requires timely identification and remediation. However, appropriate language to describe unprofessional behaviour and its remediation during residency is lacking. Therefore, this exploratory study aims to investigate which behaviours of GP residents are considered unprofessional according to supervisors and faculty, and how remediation is applied. Methods We conducted eight semi-structured focus group interviews with 55 broadly selected supervisors from four Dutch GP training institutes. In addition, we conducted individual semi-structured interviews with eight designated professionalism faculty members. Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim. Data were coded in two consecutive steps: preliminary inductive coding was followed by secondary deductive coding using the descriptors from the recently developed ‘Four I’s’ model for describing unprofessional behaviours as sensitising concepts. Results Despite the differences in participants’ professional positions, we identified a shared conceptualisation in pinpointing and assessing unprofessional behaviour. Both groups described multiple unprofessional behaviours, which could be successfully mapped to the descriptors and categories of the Four I’s model. Behaviours in the categories ‘Involvement’ and ‘Interaction’ were assessed as mild and received informal, pedagogical feedback. Behaviours in the categories ‘Introspection’ and ‘Integrity’, were seen as very alarming and received strict remediation. We identified two new groups of behaviours; ‘Nervous exhaustion complaints’ and ‘Nine-to-five mentality’, needing to be added to the Four I’s model. The diagnostic phase of unprofessional behaviour usually started with the supervisor getting a ‘sense of alarm’, which was described as either a ‘gut feeling’, ‘a loss of enthusiasm for teaching’ or ‘fuss surrounding the resident’. This sense of alarm triggered the remediation phase. However, the diagnostic and remediation phases did not appear consecutive or distinct, but rather intertwined. Conclusions The processes of identification and remediation of unprofessional behaviour in residents appeared to be intertwined. Identification of behaviours related to lack of introspection or integrity were perceived as the most important to remediate. The results of this research provide supervisors and faculty with an appropriate language to describe unprofessional behaviours among residents, which can facilitate timely identification and remediation.

Service-learning from the views of university teachers: a qualitative study based on focus groups

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T.L. Shek ◽  
Stephen C.F. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Group Interviews

Abstract Under the New Undergraduate Curriculum at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), students are required to take a 3-credit subject to fulfill service-learning requirements. To understand the views of teachers regarding service-learning, five focus group interviews (n=33) are conducted to examine the perceived characteristics and myths of service-learning as well as colleagues’ views on the policy at PolyU. Results showed that most informants are aware of service-learning and have seen its benefits to both students and teachers. Most informants also possess positive views about service-learning. Nevertheless, in terms of service-learning at PolyU, three different groups of views on service-learning are observed, namely, positive, negative, and mixed views. This paper also discusses teachers’ views on the anticipated difficulties of service-learning implementation and the ways, by which to promote the subject in the PolyU context.

Influence of Service-Learning on Kinesiology Students’ Attitudes Toward P–12 Students With Disabilities

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily A. Roper ◽  
José A. Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Adapted Physical Education ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Physical Education Class ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Grounded Theory Approach ◽  
Selection Of

Employing a grounded theory approach, the purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine the influence of service-learning (SL) on undergraduate kinesiology students’ attitudes toward and experiences working with P–12 students with disabilities. Fourteen (9 female, 5 male) kinesiology students enrolled in an adapted physical education class participated in one of three focus group interviews regarding their experiences of working with P–12 students with disabilities. All interview data were analyzed following procedures outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The following five themes represent the participants’ experiences and attitudes toward P–12 students with disabilities after their involvement in a SL project: (a) initial reactions, (b) selection of P–12 students, (c) preconceived attitudes, (d) the benefits of SL, and (e) positive experience. All 14 of the participants who volunteered to share their experiences indicated that the SL experience positively affected their attitudes toward individuals with disabilities.

scholarly journals Community impact feedback questionnaire (CIFQ) : the user manual

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ka Hing LAU ◽  
Robin Stanley SNELL
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Community Partner ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Community Impact ◽  
Feedback Questionnaire ◽  
Community Impacts

Service-learning is an experiential pedagogy designed to benefit all stakeholders, comprising students, educational institutions, instructors, and perhaps more importantly, community partner organizations (CPOs) and the community as a whole. Through serving the community via the CPO, students consolidate their knowledge and skills while applying these in real-life situations. Effective service-learning, therefore, should demonstrate community impact as a result. However, the community impacts arising from service-learning have not been well demonstrated in past research. One reason for this has been the lack of an effective, standardized tool for measuring the impacts. To address this problem, Lingnan University, in collaboration with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Baptist University, and The Education University of Hong Kong, consolidated relevant research findings into a conceptual framework about the community impact of service-learning, from which the Community Impact Feedback Questionnaire (CIFQ) has been developed. The primary objective of the CIFQ is to serve as a standardized and reliable assessment tool for measuring the extent to which a service-learning project is perceived to have various kinds of community impact. The CIFQ is also designed to capture community impacts from the service recipients’ perspective, via the CPO as the service recipients' proxy. This manual explains the process of how the CIFQ was developed and validated. It also explains how the CIFQ should be administered and scored, and how its results can be interpreted. We envisage that if the CIFQ can be widely adopted, a more complete and reliable data set regarding community impacts arising from service-learning can be obtained. A fuller picture of the community impacts arising from service-learning can help inform how to further advance this experiential learning methodology, and how to derive further benefits for CPOs and the wider community.

scholarly journals Exploring the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Education Divide in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
pp. 32-39
Author(s):  
Naseem Hyder Rajput ◽  
Narmeen Noonari ◽  
Syed Muhammad Ahsan Bukhari ◽  
Mehboob Ali Dehraj ◽  
Jabbar Abbas Rajput
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Focus Group Discussion ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Conference Calls ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Online Learning Resources

Background: The education sector is badly shaken in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic as nationwide closures have impacted 89% of the world’s student population. Aims and Methodology: This qualitative, exploratory study investigated the impacts of COVID-19 on the prevailing education divide through focus group discussion. Focus group included purposefully selected two teachers (one male & one female), two senior headteachers (one male & one female), two Taluka Education Officers (one male & one female), two Assistant District Education Officers (One male & one female) and two Assistant professors of Education (one male one female). The focus group interviews were conducted from the participants through conference calls. Results: Focus group discussion results showed that there could be variable impacts of COVID-19 across society, parents, input that students could receive from families during this pandemic, assessment, gender, and schools. These variable impacts could result in further widening of the existing education divide in Pakistan. The major reasons, as highlighted by the participants, are the weak education system and the prevalent digital divide in Pakistan due to the use of online learning resources. It is recommended that the authorities should engage economically sound local elders, Non-Government Organizations and volunteer educated persons to meet the technology-based needs.

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