scholarly journals Perceptions towards the use of digital technology for enhancing family planning services: Focus group discussion with beneficiaries and key informative interview with midwives (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hind Yousef ◽  
Nihaya Al-Sheyab ◽  
Mohannad Al Nsour ◽  
Malika Al Kattan ◽  
Marco Bardus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Health System ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Side Effect ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Syrian Refugees

BACKGROUND Modern family planning (FP) methods allow married couples to discuss and determine the number of children and years of spacing between them. Despite many significant improvements in FP services in Jordan, there are still many issues related to the uptake of FP services for both host communities and Syrian refugees, due to limitations in the healthcare system based on public health facilities. Digital technologies (DT) can provide opportunities to address the challenges faced in health system, thus offering the potential to improve both the coverage and quality of FP services and practices. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of Jordanian women, Syrian refugees, and midwives in Jordan towards the use of digital health technology to support and enhance access to FP services. METHODS A qualitative explorative study design was followed including semi-structured face-to face- Key Informative Interviews (KIIs) with 17 midwives (providers) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with 32 married women of reproductive age (beneficiaries). Both Midwives and beneficiaries were recruited from nine health centers in two major governorates in Jordan, where seventeen in-depth interviews were conducted with midwives and four focus groups were conducted with the women. Each focus group included four Syrian refugee and four local Jordanian women. The transcribed narratives were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS Three major themes derived from the narratives analysis covering: the pros of using digital technology, concerns about digital technology use, and the ideal application or website characteristics. Ten subthemes emerged from these three main themes. Overall, midwives and women (Syrian refugees and host communities) agreed that digital technology can be feasible, cost-effective, well accepted, and potentially beneficial in increasing woman’s awareness and knowledge regarding the FP methods and their side effect. Furthermore, digital technology can assist in enabling women’s empowerment, which will allow them to make better decision regarding FP use. No harmful risks or consequences were perceived to be associated with using digital technology. However, several concerns regarding digital technology use were related to e-health literacy and the accuracy of the information provided. Midwives were mainly concerned about the patients who would rely mostly on the technology and choose to avoid consulting a healthcare professional. CONCLUSIONS As perceived by midwives and women, incorporating digital technology in FP services can be feasible, cost-effective, well accepted, and potentially beneficial in increasing woman’s awareness regarding the FP methods and their side effect. It may also empower the women into the shared decision-making process among Jordanian and Syrian refugee couples. Therefore, digital technologies are recommended to address the challenges faced in health system and to improve both the coverage and quality of FP services and practices.

scholarly journals “Let me know when I’m needed”: Exploring the gendered nature of digital technology use for health information seeking during the transition to parenting

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205520762110486
Author(s):  
Bradley Hiebert ◽  
Jodi Hall ◽  
Lorie Donelle ◽  
Danica Facca ◽  
Kim Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Health Information Seeking ◽  
Information Work ◽  
Transition To Parenting

This paper presents results of a qualitative descriptive study conducted to understand parents’ experiences with digital technologies during their transition to parenting (i.e. the period from pre-conception through postpartum). Individuals in southwest Ontario who had become a new parent within the previous 24 months were recruited to participate in a focus group or individual interview. Participants were asked to describe the type of technologies they/their partner used during their transition to parenthood, and how such technologies were used to support their own and their family's health. Focus group and interview transcripts were then subjected to thematic analysis using inductive coding. Ten focus groups and three individual interviews were conducted with 26 heterosexual female participants. Participants primarily used digital technologies to: (1) seek health information for a variety of reproductive health issues, and (2) establish social and emotional connections. The nature of such health information work was markedly gendered and was categorized by 2 dominant themes. First, “‘Let me know when I’m needed’”, characterizes fathers’ apparent avoidance of health information seeking and resultant creation of mothers as lay information mediaries. Second, “Information Curation”, captures participants’ belief that gender biases built-in to popular parenting apps and resources reified the gendered nature of health and health information work during the transition to parenting. Overall, findings indicate that digital technology tailored to new and expecting parents actively reinforced gender norms regarding health information seeking, which creates undue burden on new mothers to become the sole health information seeker and interpreter for their family.

Digital Literacy and Competence in Students Attending a Faculty of Humanities

2013 ◽  
pp. 55-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Cartelli ◽  
Angela Di Nuzzo
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
University Students ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Short Discussion ◽  
Compulsory School ◽  
The University

In this paper the behaviors and tendencies in the use of digital technologies by university students are analyzed. After a short discussion of former studies and the presentation of the model for digital literacy structure and assessment in students attending compulsory school, the investigation carried out by the authors is described and the results obtained from the analysis of the university students’ answers is reported. The survey was submitted to 331 students in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cassino, Italy, and the students’ answers show a contradictory reality: on one side, digital technologies are mainly used to communicate in social networks or to play music and movies, on another side it is evident the students’ interest for the most recent aspects of the application of digital technology and for the improvement in the quality of their use.

Becoming a Digital Citizen in a Technological World

2009 ◽  
pp. 250-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Ribble
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Digital Culture ◽  
Digital Citizenship ◽  
Global Society ◽  
The World ◽  
Technology Users ◽  
Technological World

In todays changing global society, digital technology users need to be prepared to interact and work with users from around the world. Digital technology is helping to define this new global society. Being part of a society provides opportunities to its citizens but also asks that its members behave in certain way. This new technological society is drawing users together to learn, share and interact with one another in the virtual world. But for all users to be productive there needs to be a defined level of acceptable activity by everyone, in other words a digital citizenship. The concept of digital citizenship provides a structure for this digital society, by conceptualizing and organizing appropriate technology use into a new digital culture. Anyone using these digital technologies needs to understand the parameters of appropriate use so that they can become more constructive digital citizens.

scholarly journals Clustering of services amid a growth in green consumption and digital technology use

2020 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 01028 ◽  
Author(s):  
N V Vasilenko ◽  
A J Linkov ◽  
O V Tokareva
Keyword(s):  
Service Provider ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Green Consumption ◽  
Service Support ◽  
The Third ◽  
Sustainability Problems

Clustering of services in the conditions of digital economy development is considered as a way of their integration with the purpose of increasing customer satisfaction, as well as that of strengthening the competitive position of service organizations based on the promotion of green consumption. Services are clustered with the aim of satisfying one main or several interconnected needs of individuals or businesses taking into account the degree with which the consumer influences the process of service delivery. This paper demonstrates how clustering of services can be used to solve sustainability problems. It is shown that digital technologies allow the service provider to customize a service to fit the needs and requirements of a particular consumer within the first type of clustering in the service sector, and they are also included in the service support of the main service within the second type of clustering. Moreover, these technologies have their own value for the consumer within the third type of clustering and provide tools for the fourth type of clustering. In general, digitalization promotes technologization and cooperation in service clusters. The authors suppose that further research can be done into how the types of clustering mentioned manifest themselves in different industries.

Digital Countercultures and the Struggle for Community

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessa Lingel
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Body Modification ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
College Dropouts ◽  
The Web

Whether by accidental keystroke or deliberate tinkering, technology is often used in ways that are unintended and unimagined by its designers and inventors. In this book, Jessa Lingel offers an account of digital technology use that looks beyond Silicon Valley and college dropouts-turned-entrepreneurs. Instead, Lingel tells stories from the margins of countercultural communities that have made the Internet meet their needs, subverting established norms of how digital technologies should be used. Lingel presents three case studies that contrast the imagined uses of the web to its lived and often messy practicalities. She examines a social media platform (developed long before Facebook) for body modification enthusiasts, with early web experiments in blogging, community, wikis, online dating, and podcasts; a network of communication technologies (both analog and digital) developed by a local community of punk rockers to manage information about underground shows; and the use of Facebook and Instagram for both promotional and community purposes by Brooklyn drag queens. Drawing on years of fieldwork, Lingel explores issues of alterity and community, inclusivity and exclusivity, secrecy and surveillance, and anonymity and self-promotion. By examining online life in terms of countercultural communities, Lingel argues that looking at outsider experiences helps us to imagine new uses and possibilities for the tools and platforms we use in everyday life.

scholarly journals Do pre-service teachers feel ready to teach with digital technologies? A study in two teacher training institutions in Costa Rica

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e11810111436
Author(s):  
Christiane Caneva
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Training Institutions ◽  
Academic Year

This study aims to identify both the level and frequency of digital technology use and perceived self-efficacy levels of pre-service teachers (n = 341). We collected data in Costa Rica through a survey during the 2016–2017 academic year; the survey includes closed-ended items on the use and frequency of digital technologies along with open-ended questions. Findings suggest that a majority of pre-service teachers frequently use digital technologies for both professional and private use and specifically the mobile phone and social media. Results further suggest they find themselves self-efficacious in the use of “traditional” digital technologies that are also used in teacher training by professors/teacher trainers such as laptop, email and video. They are less confident in using mobile phones and social media for teaching even though they use them extensively for their professional development.

scholarly journals A Review of Evidence on the Role of Digital Technology in Shaping Attention and Cognitive Control in Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Vedechkina ◽  
Francesca Borgonovi
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Future Research

The role of digital technology in shaping attention and cognitive development has been at the centre of public discourse for decades. The current review presents findings from three main bodies of literature on the implications of technology use for attention and cognitive control: television, video games, and digital multitasking. The aim is to identify key lessons from prior research that are relevant for the current generation of digital users. In particular, the lack of scientific consensus on whether digital technologies are good or bad for children reflects that effects depend on users’ characteristics, the form digital technologies take, the circumstances in which use occurs and the interaction between the three factors. Some features of digital media may be particularly problematic, but only for certain users and only in certain contexts. Similarly, individual differences mediate how, when and why individuals use technology, as well as how much benefit or harm can be derived from its use. The finding emerging from the review on the large degree of heterogeneity in associations is especially relevant due to the rapid development and diffusion of a large number of different digital technologies and contents, and the increasing variety of user experiences. We discuss the importance of leveraging existing knowledge and integrating past research findings into a broader organizing framework in order to guide emerging technology-based research and practice. We end with a discussion of some of the challenges and unaddressed issues in the literature and propose directions for future research.

scholarly journals The 'obvious' stuff: exploring the mundane realities of students' digital technology use in school

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Neil Selwyn ◽  
Selena Nemorin ◽  
Scott Bulfin ◽  
Nicola F Johnson
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Individual Study ◽  
School Work ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Work Scheduling

This paper explores the ways in which students perceive digital technology as being helpful and/or useful to their schooling. Drawing upon survey data from students (n=1174) across three Australian high schools, the paper highlights seventeen distinct digital ‘benefits’ in domains such as information seeking, writing and composition, accessing prescribed work, scheduling and managing study tasks. While these data confirm the centrality of such technologies to students’ experiences of school, they also suggest that digital technology is not substantially changing or ‘transforming’ the nature of schools and schooling per se. Instead, students were most likely to associate digital technologies with managing the logistics of individual study and engaging with school work in distinctly teacher-led linear and passive ways. As such, it is concluded that educationalists need to temper enthusiasms for what might be achieved through digital technologies, and instead develop better understandings of the realities of students’ instrumentally-driven uses of digital technology.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AS A METHOD OF FORMING STUDENTS ' INFORMATIONAL SKILLS IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

Globus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khorlan Nurzhanovna Ashimova
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Computer Technologies ◽  
Information And Communication

The article discusses the benefits of using digital technology in the process of forming students' information and communication skills during the educational process. The role of digital technologies in modern pedagogy is evaluated, its advantages used in pedagogical education are listed. The author emphasizes the importance of information and computer technologies in improving the quality of student learning.

Online and Offline Content Piracy Activities

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Troy J. Strader ◽  
J. Royce Fichtner ◽  
Geoffrey D. Bartlett ◽  
Lou Ann Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ethical Perceptions ◽  
It Impacts ◽  
Technology Experience ◽  
The Relationship

This study identifies several factors that influence an individual's ethical perceptions of other user's content piracy activities. It addresses the relationship between the characteristics of various online and offline content piracy activities and the extent to which individuals perceive these activities to be ethical. It also considers the knowledge and experience individuals have regarding digital technologies to see whether it impacts their ethical perceptions. This paper finds that the more time it takes to copy content, and the higher the value and quality of the copy, the less ethically acceptable these activities are viewed. It also finds that when users have higher levels of digital technology experience and understanding they view all of these activities as relatively more acceptable. Implications and conclusions are discussed for content companies and future research.

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