scholarly journals Black Students’ Perception of Belonging: A Focus Group Approach with Black Students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monnique Johnson ◽  
Witzard Seide ◽  
Althea Green-Dixon ◽  
Virginia Randall
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Minority Students ◽  
Military Medicine ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Qualitative Thematic Analysis ◽  
Black Skin ◽  
The Individual

Background   Finding that enrollment of Underrepresented in Medicine students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences was considerably below the national average, researchers sought to understand the experiences of minority students. The goal is to develop an academic and social support structure that sustains and attracts students of diverse backgrounds and races. Method Individual interviews of eight matriculated Black medical students and a focus group were conducted, with Institutional Review Board approval, to obtain feasible methodologies and implement change. Student's perspectives and experiences regarding their institution were investigated using qualitative thematic analysis.  Results The analysis revealed six themes from the individual interviews: Experience as a minority; Admission process; Difference in backgrounds; Curriculum culture; Diversity at the school; Military medicine. The overarching message from the students was “If you don’t see yourself represented somewhere, it’s hard to believe that you belong.” The focus group made four recommendations: Add a minority viewpoint to curriculum; Add textbooks that portray black skin; Collaborate with Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Increase recruitment of Black students and faculty.  Conclusion It is hard for minority students to believe they belong in environments without the representation and infrastructure needed to support their unique needs. Implementing ideas, such as those described in this report, is an important step towards creating inclusion and equity.

scholarly journals The constructions of early childhood practitioners’ literacy needs on an in-service Bachelor of Education course

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Hackmack
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Academic Literacies ◽  
Assessment Task ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Bachelor Of Education ◽  
The Individual

Background: Academic literacy(ies) is a major determining qualifier for success in a university qualification. Academic literacy(ies), in this study, are seen as social practices or discourses that occur within specific academic disciplines. Students therefore needed to ‘learn’ the academic literacy(ies) discourse of the faculty.Aim: This study investigated the way lecturers and the course facilitators understood literacies and their students’ literacy demands.Setting: The early childhood practitioners were attempting to obtain a B.Ed degree on a piloted degree career path at a university.Methods: Data were collected from individual and focus group interviews, one assessment task, and one assessment report from each respective course. Two lecturers and two course facilitators participated in the individual interviews, and three lecturers and three course facilitators participated in the focus group interviews.Results: The study revealed that the course facilitators’ and lecturers’ understanding of literacies was not cognisant of literacy as a set of social practices, nor of the enormous changes students needed to make at the level of identity to progress in their academic careers.Conclusion: The findings from the study showed a disjuncture between the understanding of the meaning of academic literacies by course facilitators and lecturers. A focused and cohesive discussion on academic literacy needs to occur in order to facilitator the practitioners’ progress.

The Strengths and Challenges of Palliative Day-Care Centers

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
Bieke Vandaele ◽  
Kenneth Chambaere ◽  
Ignaas Devisch
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Cost Utility ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Advanced Illness ◽  
Multiprofessional Team ◽  
Day Care Centers ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Adequate Funding ◽  
The Individual

Background: Palliative day-care centers are a marginal service within the palliative care landscape. Relevant research on the potential and added value of this service model is lacking, and it may therefore be underappreciated. Aim: To examine how representatives of Belgian palliative day-care centers perceive their strengths and added value, as well as the biggest challenges to their survival. Design: Qualitative study of individual interviews and an overarching focus group. Data collection was performed from December 2014 to April 2015. Inductive coding was used to extract relevant themes from the verbatim transcripts. Setting/Participants: Participants were professional representatives of all 5 Flemish palliative day-care centers: 7 participants for the individual interviews and 6 participants for the focus group. Results: Five strengths were identified: (1) unique care model, (2) contact with peers in a nonclinical environment, (3) a reliable and competent multiprofessional team, (4) care tailored to the individual, and (5) respite for family caregivers. The most significant challenges were (1) optimizing government funding and (2) achieving sufficiently high occupancy and referral. According to interviewees, this latter challenge was due to the low visibility of the service to professionals and the public, unclear referral criteria, and the psychological threshold for referral among patients and professionals. Conclusions: Palliative day-care centers strive to provide unique services for patients with advanced illness. However, negotiating adequate funding and raising referral by changing current perceptions are paramount to unlocking their potential. Scientific analysis of cost utility and patient outcomes associated with their use is necessary.

scholarly journals Guidelines for Transferring Residential Courses into Web

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hakan Tüzün ◽  
Murat Çınar
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Design Model ◽  
Instructional Designers ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Design Integration ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Web

<p class="2">This study shared unique design experiences by examining the process of transferring residential courses to the Web, and proposed a design model for individuals who want to transfer their courses into this environment. The formative research method was used in the study, and two project teams’ processes of putting courses, which were being taught in classrooms at the time, on the Web were examined in depth to reveal and confirm the components of the design model. The participants were 13 instructional designers. In addition to the logbooks kept by the designers, individual and focus group interview techniques were employed in the data-gathering process. Two researchers analyzed the data concurrently using content analysis. The logbooks and the focus-group interviews were used for model formation, and the individual interviews to confirm the components of the model. Based on the findings from the two design cases, the experience-based e-course design model consisting of seven basic stages including forming design team, preliminary search, analysis, instructional and technical design, integration, tests, and improvements was proposed. It is considered that sustaining Web-based course design efforts within this model will enable both implementing the design process more effectively, and the Web-based course obtained at the end of the process to have higher quality.</p>

scholarly journals The primacy of trust in the social networks and livelihoods of women agro-entrepreneurs in nothern Tanzania

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (47) ◽  
pp. 5360-5372
Author(s):  
K Mehta ◽  
◽  
L Semali ◽  
A Maretzki
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Cell Phones ◽  
Personal Digital Assistant ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual

This paper describes the primacy of trust in the social networks and livelihoods of rural Tanzanian women engaged in agro-entrepreneurial activity. The importance of trust emerged from a study of the “who you know” social and economic network knowledge systems of these enterprising women in Moshi, Tanzania and the role cell phones play within their networks. The nature of the women’s agricultural businesses and their perceptions of the characteristics of women business leaders and cooperative group members were also studied. The objective of the study was to identify opportunities for developing innovative cellphone-based applications that link smallscale farmers and other entrepreneurs to markets, thus enabling these entrepreneurs to utilize, strengthen and expand their social and economic networks. A complementary goal was to identify the characteristics of women who are likely to successfully champion new entrepreneurial ventures. Three data collection techniques were employed: (1) a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) survey, (2) structured interviews; and (3) focus group interviews. There were 26 women participants in this network study - all living in multi-ethnic areas in, or near, the town of Moshi. Each participant was the proprietor of a stall selling agricultural products in one of the three town markets. A total of 92 relationships were described by these 26 women. The majority of the women primarily used cell phones in their business communication and considered cell phones crucial to their businesses. The women valued long-term relationships with over 70% of the business relationships described by the women having lasted for more than one year. The study revealed that these relationships were based very strongly on trust and respect. This primacy of trust in these networks was further validated by the individual interviews and focus group discussions. Loyalty and the maintenance of inter-personal relationships are more important than price in these women’s business-related decision-making. The findings suggest the importance of building trust while expanding “who you know” networks to create social and economic capital in rural African communities. The pervasiveness and importance of cell phones in these communities raises the possibility of employing this technology to create value by harnessing social capital and expanding social networks. An entrepreneurial venture called WishVast emerged from this study and is described in this paper. WishVast is a cellphone-based system that allows individuals to interact within an expanded, geographically dispersed social network – and as a result, it enables traditionally isolated individuals to connect, communicate and coordinate with a large number of potential clients.

scholarly journals Shaping professional identity: a descriptive qualitative study on Health and Rehabilitation final year students in higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amshuda Sonday
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
Rehabilitation Sciences ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Professional identity represents a person's philosophy of their profession. This identity defines what it means to be and act as a professional AIM: This paper will describe the factors that shaped the professional identity of students in Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Communication Sciences Disorders during their four years (2015 - 2018) of studies in the Faculty of Health Sciences in a higher education institution METHODOLOGY: A descriptive qualitative design was used to describe the factors that emerged. Seven participants were purposively selected from the Faculty of Health Sciences. Individual interviews and a focus group with participants were conducted. Data were analysed inductively FINDINGS: The results generated the theme 'The curriculum and experiences within practice and professional environments shape professional identity'. The findings highlighted how critical events in higher education may have influenced the participants to develop a professional identity CONCLUSION: The curriculum played an integral role in defining how the narrative for each participant was played out and how professional and practice environments greatly shaped the students' developing professional self Keywords: curriculum, professional and practice environments, health and rehabilitation sciences, undergraduate rehabilitation education

scholarly journals Context matters in understanding the vulnerability of women: perspectives from southwestern Uganda

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neema Murembe ◽  
Teddy Kyomuhangi ◽  
Kimberly Manalili ◽  
Florence Beinempaka ◽  
Primrose Nakazibwe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Workers ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Extreme Poverty ◽  
Economic Class ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
The People ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Southwestern Uganda

Abstract Background Vulnerability at the individual, family, community or organization level affects access and utilization of health services, and is a key consideration for health equity. Several frameworks have been used to explore the concept of vulnerability and identified demographics including ethnicity, economic class, level of education, and geographical location. While the magnitude of vulnerable populations is not clearly documented and understood, specific indicators, such as extreme poverty, show that vulnerability among women is pervasive. Women in low and middle-income countries often do not control economic resources and are culturally disadvantaged, which exacerbates other vulnerabilities they experience. In this commentary, we explore the different understandings of vulnerability and the importance of engaging communities in defining vulnerability for research, as well as for programming and provision of maternal newborn and child health (MNCH) services. Methodology In a recent community-based qualitative study, we examined the healthcare utilization experiences of vulnerable women with MNCH services in rural southwestern Uganda. Focus group discussions were conducted with community leaders and community health workers in two districts of Southwestern Uganda. In addition, we did individual interviews with women living in extreme poverty and having other conventional vulnerability characteristics. Findings and discussion We found that the traditional criteria of vulnerability were insufficient to identify categories of vulnerable women to target in the context of MNCH programming and service provision in resource-limited settings. Through our engagement with communities and through the narratives of the people we interviewed, we obtained insight into how nuanced vulnerability can be, and how important it is to ground definitions of vulnerability within the specific context. We identified additional aspects of vulnerability through this study, including: women who suffer from alcoholism or have husbands with alcoholism, women with a history of home births, women that have given birth only to girls, and those living on fishing sites. Conclusion Engaging communities in defining vulnerability is critical for the effective design, implementation and monitoring of MNCH programs, as it ensures these services are reaching those who are most in need.

scholarly journals 2019 Novel Coronavirus Vaccination among Post-graduate Residents and Fellows

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110229
Author(s):  
Mostafa Abohelwa ◽  
Mohamed Elmassry ◽  
John Abdelmalek ◽  
Drew Payne ◽  
Kenneth Nugent
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Institutional Review Board ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Texas Tech University ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
United States Healthcare

Background Coronavirus-2 (COVID-19) has caused a worldwide pandemic since December 2019. Since then, clinical trials with vaccines have been started and completed, and at present, 3 COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for use in the United States. Healthcare providers were among the first to get vaccinated, but the precise attitudes of healthcare workers toward vaccination are uncertain. Objective To understand residents and fellows’ attitudes toward vaccination and record any side effects after vaccination. Methods We conducted an anonymous survey that was open from 3-1-2021 to 3-12-2021 using distribution lists from the Graduate Medical Education office on the Lubbock campus of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center after getting approval from the Institutional Review Board (L21-088). Results Eighty-one residents and fellows (26.6% out of 304) responded to our survey. Among those who responded, 63 (77.8 %) were between 25 and 35 years old, and 41 (50.6%) were males. Seventy-seven (95.1%) received the vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech), 78 (96.3%) reported that they supported vaccination, and 3 (3.7%) reported that they did not want vaccination. Eight members (9.8%) had tested positive for COVID-19 infection before vaccination, but only 1 (1.23%) had tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. All residents and fellows reported side effects after the vaccination, including pain at the injection site (77; 100%), local redness (9; 11.6%), local swelling (13; 16.8%), fever (25; 32.5%), fatigue (25; 32.5%), chills (34; 44.1 %), headache (38; 49.4%). Conclusions Most medical trainees have a high interest in COVID-19 vaccination; however, a few reported that they did not want vaccination.

scholarly journals Physical Activity in First Generation South Asian Women Living in Canada: Barriers and Facilitators to Participation

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiruthika Rathanaswami ◽  
Enrique Garcia Bengoechea ◽  
Paula Louise Bush
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Barriers And Facilitators ◽  
Asian Women ◽  
South Asian Women ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Women Employees ◽  
The Individual

The aim of this study was to understand the physical activity (PA) experiences of South Asian women employees and their perceptions of new immigrant South Asian women in regards to barriers and facilitators to participation. This was examined using an interpretive description approach where similarities and differences between South Asian Women’s Centre employees and their perception of new South Asian immigrants were explored. Eight South Asian women employees (Mean age = 45.57 years) working at a South Asian Women’s Centre in Canada participated in this study. Five South Asian women employees participated in a focus group, three in an individual interview and one participant from the focus group took part in a follow-up interview to better understand their PA experiences. Barriers found included: family responsibilities, upbringing, feeling guilty, immediate living environment, clothing, cost, and location of activity. PA facilitators found included: help at home, cultural sports events, group support, female only programs, design of PA facilities, health and self-image benefits, providing PA for children at the same time as adults and collaborations. The main differences found between South Asian Women’s Centre employees and their clients concerned time, language and their partners. For this population of women, programs need to be affordable, close to home, female only and allow their own choice of clothing. The results suggest the importance for those working with South Asian women to take into consideration the many factors between the individual and the environment that may inhibit or facilitate PA behavior change in this population.

Disability and Social Exclusion

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina I. Tobias ◽  
Sourav Mukhopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Community Activities ◽  
Individual Interviews

This article explores the experiences of social exclusion of individuals with visual impairment (IWVI) as they negotiate their daily lives in their homes and societal settings in the Oshana and Oshikoto regions of Namibia. Employing qualitative research approach, this research tried to better understand the lived experiences of IWVI. Nine IWVI with ages ranging from 30 to 90 years were initially engaged in focus group discussions, followed by semi-structured in-depth individual interviews. The findings of this research indicated that IWVI experience exclusion from education, employment and social and community participation as well as relationships. Based on these findings, we suggest more inclusive policies to address social exclusion of IWVI. At the same time, this group of individuals should be empowered to participate in community activities to promote interaction with people without visual impairments.

scholarly journals A mixed methods approach to determine the climate of interprofessional education among medical and health sciences students

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabil Sulaiman ◽  
Youssef Rishmawy ◽  
Amal Hussein ◽  
Maha Saber-Ayad ◽  
Hamzah Alzubaidi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Interprofessional Education ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Study Cohort ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Health Sciences Students

Abstract Background High-quality patient care is a complex phenomenon that requires collaboration among healthcare professionals. Research has shown that Interprofessional Education (IPE) carries promise to improve collaborative work and patient care. So far, collaboration among various health professionals remains a challenge. Very few focus group discussions to determine the medical students’ readiness and positive attitudes towards IPE have been reported from the Arabian context. Methods A two-staged sequential mixed methods study was conducted among medical, dental, pharmacy, and health sciences students of the University of Sharjah United Arab Emirates. The perspectives of students toward IPE and collaborative practice were first gathered by administering a validated instrument, Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). This was followed by focused group discussions. A quantitative as well as a qualitative data analysis was performed. Results This study cohort included 282 students. All respondents showed readiness to adopt IPE as all statements of the RIPLS inventory scored high median scores. All participants showed positive attitudes and readiness towards IPE. Three main domains of themes were generated from focus group discussions; prior knowledge, need for IPE framework and its implementation. Information workload, lack of clarity and less focused teaching pedagogies of IPE were considered as perceived barriers. Conclusion This study demonstrated a substantial agreement of medical and health sciences students towards readiness and perceived effectiveness of IPE. Educators are urged to embed new IPE programs into existing curricular frameworks, which can potentially enhance collaborative learning and improve quality of patient care.

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