Open Minds

Author(s):  
Jing Li

Study abroad can be life-changing, but the effect of such experience is hard to measure. This research examines the causal link between study abroad and global perspectives. With data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)'s basic survey and the global perspectives module, this study uses factor analysis to create a comprehensive index and then estimates causal effects by matching students who studied abroad during college to those who did not, based on their propensity to study abroad. Key findings are 1) institution type and student's major make difference in participation rate; 2) study abroad induces a positive, statistically significant but small impact on student global perspectives; 3) such positive impact is consistent across ethnic groups. Yet, there is no clear indication of the mechanism through which these effects may operate. Future research could employ qualitative research methods to understand the mechanism and complement the findings of this research.

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Rexeisen

A growing body of evidence indicates that study abroad has a positive impact on a student’s cross-cultural development.  This study extends the findings of previous research by exploring the durability of changes to cross-cultural development four months after returning home.  Results indicate that overall gains achieved while abroad decline significantly after returning home and specifically decline with regard to viewing other cultures as superior to the student’s native culture (reversal tendencies). The research also finds significant gender differences.  Implications for educators and future research are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Richardson ◽  
Deborah Anne O'Neil ◽  
Kaye Thorn

PurposeIn this paper, the authors investigate and celebrate the contributions that qualitative research has made to Career Development International (CDI) and careers scholarship over the past 25 years. The authors highlight the positive impact of understanding the “lived/emic experiences” of individual career actors using qualitative research designs and identify areas for future research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ multiple approaches in their investigation. The authors’ enquiry is part conceptual, part critical analysis and part bibliometric visualisation of qualitative papers published in CDI.FindingsThe authors identify the underlying ontological and epistemological assumptions of qualitative research, and the key tenets and contributions of qualitative research published in CDI. Their bibliometric analysis shows the interrelatedness and frequency of topics addressed by qualitative research and published in CDI, revealing areas for further research. While identifying some of the key criteria for rigor in qualitative research, the authors also engage with emerging calls to avoid rigid templates in how qualitative research is designed and implemented. In this regard, authors echo calls for “methodological bricolage” as an approach to qualitative research in the study of careers.Originality/valueThis is the first bibliographic and visual analysis of qualitative research published in a single journal. The authors offer this investigation as a way of looking back and as an invitation looking forward, encouraging further qualitative research in anticipation of future theoretical developments in career scholarship.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viren Swami ◽  
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic ◽  
Khairul Mastor ◽  
Fatin Hazwani Siran ◽  
Mohammad Mohsein Mohammad Said ◽  
...  

The present study examined conceptual issues surrounding celebrity worship in a Malay-speaking population. In total, 512 Malay and 269 Chinese participants from Malaysia indicated who their favorite celebrity was and completed the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) as well as a range of demographic items. Results showed that the majority of Malay and Chinese participants selected pop stars and movie stars as their favourite celebrities, mirroring findings in Western settings. In addition, exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor solution of the CAS that was consistent with previous studies conducted in the West. Structural equation modeling further revealed that participant’s age was negatively associated with celebrity worship and that self-rated attractiveness was positively associated with celebrity worship. Overall, the present results suggest that celebrity worship in Malaysia may be driven by market and media forces, and future research may well be guided by use of the CAS.


Author(s):  
Jarrett R. Bachman ◽  
John S. Hull ◽  
Byron Marlowe

The number of craft breweries in British Columbia has grown significantly in recent years,numbering over 140 in 2017. Very little is known about the effects of the craft brewery industryin British Columbia, specifically as it relates to impacts not related to brewery revenue and jobcreation. Beyond British Columbia, the craft beer industry has not empirically examined non-revenue impacts in a manner that reflects the global growth of the sector. Tourism experiences,such as those offered by craft breweries, are becoming increasingly important for resilience and sustainable growth and success of destinations. The goal of this research was to determine whovisitors to craft breweries are, how tourist and resident patrons differ, and what effects craftbreweries have on tourists who visit breweries. A 55 item survey was distributed at 11 craftbreweries in three regions in British Columbia during the summer of 2017. Results founddifferences between tourist and resident patrons in self-image congruency, age and travel partysize, but no difference in gender, education, or household income. From a tourism standpoint, itwas found that memories have a significant, positive impact on loyalty regarding the breweryand the destination. For tourists, strong connections were found between social involvement andboth authenticity and place attachment for those who were more socially involved in craft beer.Comparisons to previous research in the wine industry provide additional commentary.Implications for craft breweries, destinations, and future research in this area are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 016264342198997
Author(s):  
Sojung Jung ◽  
Ciara Ousley ◽  
David McNaughton ◽  
Pamela Wolfe

In this meta-analytic review, we investigated the effects of technology supports on the acquisition of shopping skills for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) between the ages of 5 and 24. Nineteen single-case experimental research studies, presented in 15 research articles, met the current study’s inclusion criteria and the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards. An analysis of potential moderators was conducted, and we calculated effect sizes using Tau-U to examine the impact of age, diagnosis, and type of technology on the reported outcomes for the 56 participants. The results from the included studies provide evidence that a wide range of technology interventions had a positive impact on shopping performance. These positive effects were seen for individuals across a wide range of ages and disability types, and for a wide variety of shopping skills. The strongest effect sizes were observed for technologies that provided visual supports rather than just auditory support. We provide an interpretation of the findings, implications of the results, and recommended areas for future research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Austad ◽  
Michel Juarez ◽  
Hannah Shryer ◽  
Patricia L. Hibberd ◽  
Mari-Lynn Drainoni ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Global disparities in maternal mortality could be reduced by universal facility delivery. Yet, deficiencies in the quality of care prevent some mothers from seeking facility-based obstetric care. Obstetric care navigators (OCNs) are a new form of lay health workers that combine elements of continuous labor support and care navigation to promote obstetric referrals. Here we report qualitative results from the pilot OCN project implemented in Indigenous villages in the Guatemalan central highlands. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 mothers who received OCN accompaniment and 13 staff—namely physicians, nurses, and social workers—of the main public hospital in the pilot’s catchment area (Chimaltenango). Interviews queried OCN’s impact on patient and hospital staff experience and understanding of intended OCN roles. Audiorecorded interviews were transcribed, coded, and underwent content analysis. Results Maternal fear of surgical intervention, disrespectful and abusive treatment, and linguistic barriers were principal deterrents of care seeking. Physicians and nurses reported cultural barriers, opposition from family, and inadequate hospital resources as challenges to providing care to Indigenous mothers. Patient and hospital staff identified four valuable services offered by OCNs: emotional support, patient advocacy, facilitation of patient-provider communication, and care coordination. While patients and most physicians felt that OCNs had an overwhelmingly positive impact, nurses felt their effort would be better directed toward traditional nursing tasks. Conclusions Many barriers to maternity care exist for Indigenous mothers in Guatemala. OCNs can improve mothers’ experiences in public hospitals and reduce limitations faced by providers. However, broader buy-in from hospital staff—especially nurses—appears critical to program success. Future research should focus on measuring the impact of obstetric care navigation on key clinical outcomes (cesarean delivery) and mothers’ future care seeking behavior.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-113
Author(s):  
Farrah Neumann ◽  
Matthew Kanwit

AbstractSince many linguistic structures are variable (i. e. conveyed by multiple forms), building a second-language grammar critically involves developing sociolinguistic competence (Canale and Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1(1). 1–47), including knowledge of contexts in which to use one form over another (Bayley and Langman. 2004. Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 42(4). 303–318). Consequently, researchers interested in such competence have increasingly analyzed the study-abroad context to gauge learners’ ability to approximate local norms following a stay abroad, due to the quality and quantity of input to which learners may gain access (Lafford. 2006. The effects of study abroad vs. classroom contexts on Spanish SLA: Old assumptions, new insights and future research directions. In Carol Klee & Timothy Face (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages, 1–25. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project). Nevertheless, the present study is the first to examine native or learner variation between imperative (e. g. ven ‘come’) and optative Spanish commands (e. g. que vengas ‘come’). We first performed a corpus analysis to determine the linguistic factors to manipulate in a contextualized task, which elicited commands from learners before and after four weeks abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Their overall rates of selection and predictive factors were compared to local native speakers (NSs) and a control group of at-home learners.Results revealed that the abroad learners more closely approached NS rates of selection following the stay abroad. Nonetheless, for both learner groups conditioning by independent variables only partially approximated the NS system, which was more complex than previously suggested.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 887
Author(s):  
Matthew Brooks ◽  
Brad M. Beauvais ◽  
Clemens Scott Kruse ◽  
Lawrence Fulton ◽  
Michael Mileski ◽  
...  

The relationship between healthcare organizational accreditation and their leaders’ professional certification in healthcare management is of specific interest to institutions of higher education and individuals in the healthcare management field. Since academic program accreditation is one piece of evidence of high-quality education, and since professional certification is an attestation to the knowledge, skills, and abilities of those who are certified, we expect alumni who graduated from accredited programs and obtained professional certification to have a positive impact on the organizations that they lead, compared with alumni who did not graduate from accredited programs and who did not obtain professional certification. The authors’ analysis examined the impact of hiring graduates from higher education programs that held external accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). Graduates’ affiliation with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) professional healthcare leadership organization was also assessed as an independent variable. Study outcomes focused on these graduates’ respective healthcare organization’s performance measures (cost, quality, and access) to assess the researchers’ inquiry into the perceived value of a CAHME-accredited graduate degree in healthcare administration and a professional ACHE affiliation. The results from this study found no effect of CAHME accreditation or ACHE affiliation on healthcare organization performance outcomes. The study findings support the need for future research surrounding healthcare administration professional graduate degree program characteristics and leader development affiliations, as perceived by various industry stakeholders.


Author(s):  
Marlies Gunst ◽  
Isabelle De Meyere ◽  
Hannah Willems ◽  
Birgitte Schoenmakers

Abstract Introduction To improve the quality of life in nursing homes, meaningful activities and social contact are indispensable. Exergames can play a role addressing these needs. Methods In a randomized single blinded controlled intervention study, we investigated the effect of playing exergames on general wellbeing, fun and on social interaction. Results Thirty-five residents participated: 18 residents took part in the intervention group and 17 in the control group. The median mental wellbeing score of the intervention group increased from 42/50 to 45. The median sleep score of the intervention increased from 23/30 to 28. The median pain score of the intervention group improved from 18/20 to 20. The median score on subjective cognition increased from 24/30 to 26 while the mean scores on the objective assessment decreased from 1.8/2 to 1.7. Coaches gave an average fun score of 8.9/10 and an average intensity of exercise score of 11.6/20. Residents and coaches appreciated the social contact. Coaches reported a high feasibility (average of 4.1/5) but a low accessibility and a high intensity of supervision. Conclusions Exergaming is a feasible and pleasant complement to the usual activities with a positive impact on wellbeing, sleep, pain, and perceived cognition. Future research should focus on vulnerable groups and aim to develop a study in an implementation design.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Trilas M. Leeman ◽  
Bob G. Knight ◽  
Erich C. Fein ◽  
Sonya Winterbotham ◽  
Jeffrey Dean Webster

ABSTRACT Objectives: Although wisdom is a desirable life span developmental goal, researchers have often lacked brief and reliable construct measures. We examined whether an abbreviated set of items could be empirically derived from the popular 40-item five-factor Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale (SAWS). Design: Survey data from 709 respondents were randomly split into two and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Setting: The survey was conducted online in Australia. Participants: The total sample consisted of 709 participants (M age = 35.67 years; age range = 15–92 years) of whom 22% were male, and 78% female. Measurement: The study analyzed the 40-item SAWS. Results: Sample 1 showed the traditional five-factor structure for the 40-item SAWS did not fit the data. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on Sample 2 offered an alternative model based on a 15-item, five-factor solution with the latent variables Reminiscence/Reflection, Humor, Emotional Regulation, Experience, and Openness. This model, which replicates the factor structure of the original 40-item SAWS with a short form of 15 items, was then confirmed on Sample 1 using a CFA that produced acceptable fit and measurement invariance across age groups. Conclusions: We suggest the abbreviated SAWS-15 can be useful as a measure of individual differences in wisdom, and we highlight areas for future research.


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