scholarly journals Reducing Anxiety and Increasing Self-efficacy within an Advanced Graduate Psychology Statistics Course

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
April L McGrath ◽  
Alyssa Ferns ◽  
Leigh Greiner ◽  
Kayla Wanamaker ◽  
Shelley Brown
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Nous Avons ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Statistics Anxiety ◽  
Course Performance ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Statistics Course ◽  
Focus Group Data

In this study we assessed the usefulness of a multifaceted teaching framework in an advanced statistics course. We sought to expand on past findings by using this framework to assess changes in anxiety and self-efficacy, and we collected focus group data to ascertain whether students attribute such changes to a multifaceted teaching approach. Statistics anxiety significantly decreased and students’ current statistics self-efficacy increased. Further, course performance was positively correlated with self-efficacy and a strong negative relationship between statistics anxiety and self-efficacy was documented. Focus group data suggested students appreciated aspects of this teaching framework and that they thought it served to reduce anxiety. In addition to this teaching framework, two instructional techniques were used to teach two specific statistical concepts. These techniques did not result in significant performance differences; however, students reported enjoying the activities and encouraged their use in future classes. Overall, this study suggests a multifaceted teaching framework may be useful in helping graduate students overcome anxiety and increase self-efficacy when completing an advanced statistics course. The research presented here adds to the growing literature concerning the importance of non-cognitive factors when teaching statistics. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed. Dans cette étude, nous avons évalué l’utilité d’un cadre pédagogique à plusieurs facettes dans un cours de statistiques de niveau avancé. Nous avons cherché à accroître les résultats de nos recherches passées en utilisant ce cadre pour évaluer les changements en matière d’anxiété et d’auto-efficacité et nous avons recueilli des données de la part de groupes cibles pour vérifier si les étudiants attribuaient de tels changements à une approche pédagogique à plusieurs facettes. L’anxiété vis à vis des statistiques avait beaucoup diminué et l’auto efficacité actuelle des étudiants en matière de statistiques avait augmenté. De plus, le rendement des cours était lié de façon positive à l’auto efficacité et une forte relation négative a été documentée entre l’anxiété vis à vis des statistiques et l’auto efficacité. Les données recueillies des groupes cibles suggèrent que les étudiants ont apprécié les divers aspects de ce cadre pédagogique et qu’ils ont pensé que celui-ci permettait de réduire l’anxiété. Outre ce cadre pédagogique, deux techniques d’instruction ont été utilisées pour enseigner deux concepts de statistiques spécifiques. Ces techniques n’ont pas donné lieu à des différences significatives, toutefois les étudiants ont rapporté qu’ils avaient aimé les activités et qu’ils encourageaient leur emploi dans d’autres cours à l’avenir. En général, cette étude suggère qu’un cadre pédagogique à plusieurs facettes peut être utile pour aider les étudiants des cycles supérieurs à surmonter l’anxiété et à augmenter l’auto efficacité dans les cours de statistiques de niveau avancé. La recherche présentée ici s’ajoute à la documentation de plus en plus vaste qui existe déjà sur l’importance des facteurs non cognitifs dans l’enseignement des statistiques. L’article présente également une discussion sur les limites et les directions à suivre pour des recherches futures.

scholarly journals Quantified Nostalgia: Social Media, Metrics, and Memory

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110088
Author(s):  
Benjamin N. Jacobsen ◽  
David Beer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The Past ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Memory Practices ◽  
The Relationship

As social media platforms have developed over the past decade, they are no longer simply sites for interactions and networked sociality; they also now facilitate backwards glances to previous times, moments, and events. Users’ past content is turned into definable objects that can be scored, rated, and resurfaced as “memories.” There is, then, a need to understand how metrics have come to shape digital and social media memory practices, and how the relationship between memory, data, and metrics can be further understood. This article seeks to outline some of the relations between social media, metrics, and memory. It examines how metrics shape remembrance of the past within social media. Drawing on qualitative interviews as well as focus group data, the article examines the ways in which metrics are implicated in memory making and memory practices. This article explores the effect of social media “likes” on people’s memory attachments and emotional associations with the past. The article then examines how memory features incentivize users to keep remembering through accumulation. It also examines how numerating engagements leads to a sense of competition in how the digital past is approached and experienced. Finally, the article explores the tensions that arise in quantifying people’s engagements with their memories. This article proposes the notion of quantified nostalgia in order to examine how metrics are variously performative in memory making, and how regimes of ordinary measures can figure in the engagement and reconstruction of the digital past in multiple ways.

User-centered Requirements for Patient Fluid Intake Monitoring Support

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 736-740
Author(s):  
Ellen J. Bass ◽  
Andrew J. Abbate ◽  
Yaman Noaiseh ◽  
Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Fluid Intake ◽  
Fluid Consumption ◽  
Registered Dietitians ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data

There is a need to support patients with monitoring liquid intake. This work addresses development of requirements for real-time and historical displays and reports with respect to fluid consumption as well as alerts based on critical clinical thresholds. We conducted focus groups with registered nurses and registered dietitians in order to identify the information needs and alerting criteria to support fluid consumption measurement. This paper presents results of the focus group data analysis and the related requirements resulting from the analysis.

scholarly journals Determinants of Long Immunization Clinic Wait Times in a Sub-Saharan African Country

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 2333794X2110282
Author(s):  
Osayame Austine Ekhaguere ◽  
Rosena Olubanke Oluwafemi ◽  
Angela Oyo-Ita ◽  
Burke Mamlin ◽  
Paul Bondich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Wait Time ◽  
Wait Times ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Sub Saharan

The wait time clients spend during immunization clinic visits in low- and middle-income countries is a not well-understood reported barrier to vaccine completion. We used a prospective, observational design to document the total time from client arrival-to-discharge and all sequential provider-client activities in 1 urban, semi-urban, and rural immunization clinic in Nigeria. We also conducted caregiver and provider focus group discussions to identify perceived determinants of long clinic wait times. Our findings show that the time from arrival-to-discharge varied significantly by the clinic and ranged between 57 and 235 minutes, as did arrival-to-all providers-client activities. Focus group data attributed workflow delays to clinic staff waiting for a critical mass of clients to arrive for their immunization appointment before starting the essential health education talk or opening specific vaccine vials. Additionally, respondents indicated that complex documentation processes caused system delays. Research on clinic workflow transformation and simplification of immunization documentation is needed.

scholarly journals Development of a theory-based HPV vaccine promotion comic book for East African adolescents in the US

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Celentano ◽  
Rachel L. Winer ◽  
Sou Hyun Jang ◽  
Anisa Ibrahim ◽  
Farah Bille Mohamed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Hpv Vaccine ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Comic Book ◽  
East African ◽  
Step Process ◽  
Group Data ◽  
The Us ◽  
Focus Group Data

Abstract Background Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake is low among East African adolescents in the US. Adolescents’ preferences influence HPV vaccine decisions, yet few interventions exist that address East African adolescents’ beliefs about HPV vaccines. We describe a multi-step process on how to create a theory-based comic book by integrating empirical findings, theory and focus group data from East African parents in the US. Methods Our multi-methods process included conducting focus groups with Somali, Ethiopian, and Eritrean mothers (n = 30) to understand mothers and adolescents socio-cultural beliefs and information needs about the HPV vaccine, creating comic book messages integrating the focus group findings, and assessing the acceptability of the finalized comic book among Somali, Ethiopian, and Eritrean adolescents (n = 134). Results We identified categories around socio-cultural beliefs (such ethnic representation and concerns about pork gelatin in vaccines), HPV vaccine information needs, and diffusion of information. We then mapped the categories to theoretical constructs and operationalized them into the comic book. Finally, we describe the overall acceptability of the comic book and specifics on comic book structure, appeal of characters, and message relevance. Conclusions A rigorous multi-step process that integrates theory and focus group data can help create culturally appropriate health messages that can educate and appeal to the community.

scholarly journals If You Don’t Eat Meat… You’ll Die. A Mixed-Method Survey of Health-Professionals’ Beliefs

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3028
Author(s):  
Patrick McHugh ◽  
Morgen Smith ◽  
Nicholas Wright ◽  
Sarah Bush ◽  
Sue Pullon
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Common Chronic Disease ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Good Nutrition ◽  
Spreadsheet Software

Despite an ever-increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and overwhelming evidence that good nutrition improves outcomes it is difficult to know whether this evidence is reaching the general population. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether health professionals in Tairāwhiti have sufficient nutrition education for their roles in health education and promotion and whether nutrition beliefs held by health professionals were consistent with current literature. A particular interest was to enlist views on the harms, benefits, and possible barriers to following plant-based diets. A mixed-methods study involving health professionals completing a questionnaire and a subsequent focus group to collect data was used. Survey data were analysed using spreadsheet software, and thematic content analysis of focus group data was undertaken. Participants provided nutrition advice 2.4 times per day. Almost half of practitioners considered their nutrition knowledge to be inadequate, and most made poor use of references for provision of information. Plant-based diets were generally viewed as beneficial to health, improve quality of life, be filling, but were perceived as not as easy to follow. This study is in keeping with previous research that the health workforce would benefit from more formalised nutrition education and competencies to address common chronic disease.

Who Cares? Motivations for Unregulated Child Care Use

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (17) ◽  
pp. 4066-4088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhonda Breitkreuz ◽  
Kerryn Colen
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Care Environment ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Key Drivers

This article explores the motivations for unregulated child care use within Canada. Using focus group data from 109 mothers, we analyze unregulated child care use within a policy context in which regulated child care is only available for 20% of preschool children. The key drivers for unregulated care were framed by participants as benefits: trust in a known caregiver with similar values, offered in a home-like environment. Importantly, one driver that was not seen as beneficial was the lack of affordable and accessible, regulated child care. Sometimes used as a last resort amid regulated child care shortages, unregulated care became the driver of how mothers organized their time. Within the constraints of a limited regulatory child care environment, we argue that Mathieu’s (2016) concept of demotherization is beyond the grasp of the majority of Canadian mothers.

scholarly journals Assessment of students’ satisfaction with a student-led team-based learning course

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin W. Bouw ◽  
Vasudha Gupta ◽  
Ana L. Hincapie
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Barriers To Success ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Team Based Learning ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Students Satisfaction

Purpose: To date, no studies in the literature have examined student delivery of team-based learning (TBL) modules in the classroom. We aimed to assess student perceptions of a student-led TBL elective. Methods: Third-year pharmacy students were assigned topics in teams and developed learning objectives, a 15-minute mini-lecture, and a TBL application exercise and presented them to student colleagues. Students completed a survey upon completion of the course and participated in a focus group discussion to share their views on learning. Results: The majority of students (n=23/30) agreed that creating TBL modules enhanced their understanding of concepts, improved their self-directed learning skills (n=26/30), and improved their comprehension of TBL pedagogy (n=27/30). However, 60% disagreed with incorporating student-generated TBL modules into core curricular classes. Focus group data identified student-perceived barriers to success in the elective, in particular the development of TBL application exercises. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that students positively perceived student-led TBL as encouraging proactive learning from peer-to-peer teaching.

scholarly journals Promoting a Healthy Post-Collegiate Lifestyle: An Evaluation of the Moving On! Transition Program for Student-Athletes

2018 ◽  
pp. 54-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin J Reifsteck ◽  
DeAnne D Brooks ◽  
Jamian D Newton ◽  
Lenka H Shriver
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Student Athletes ◽  
Eating Behaviors ◽  
Autonomous Motivation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Self Perceptions

Former student-athletes may face challenges in maintaining physical activity and engaging in healthy eating after transitioning out of collegiate athletics. Maladaptive adjustments following athletic transitions can result in detrimental outcomes for former student-athletes, ranging from physical health concerns to negative psychosocial consequences. In contrast, positive transitions can promote optimal health and wellbeing. The Moving On! program was developed in recognition of the unique challenges faced by student-athletes and the importance of making healthy transitions out of college sports. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Moving On! program’s influence on several relevant theoretical constructs that influence health behaviors, including student-athletes’ self-perceptions and self-determined motivation for maintaining physical activity and healthy eating, along with their self-efficacy and intentions for engaging in these health-related behaviors after college. NCAA student-athletes in their final year of competition were recruited from two institutions. Participants (N = 20) completed the Moving On! program along with pre- and post-test surveys and focus group interviews. Survey results revealed positive changes in nutrition-related self-perceptions (t(19) = 2.406; p = 0.026; g = 0.38) and self-efficacy for healthy eating behaviors (t(19) = 3.022; p = 0.007; g = 0.70). No significant changes were observed for exercise identity (p = 0.845), physical activity self-efficacy (p = 0.114), or autonomous motivation for exercise (p = 0.108) and health eating (p = 0.264). Focus group responses indicated that student-athletes’ experiences in the program fostered positive shifts in their self-perceptions, enhanced their self-determined motivation, and reinforced their intentions for engaging in physical activity and healthy eating in the future. Implications for future research and program implementation are discussed.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Framework for Collecting and Analyzing Data in Focus Group Research

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie ◽  
Wendy B. Dickinson ◽  
Nancy L. Leech ◽  
Annmarie G. Zoran
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Focus Group Research ◽  
Response Characteristics ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data

Despite the abundance of published material on conducting focus groups, scant specific information exists on how to analyze focus group data in social science research. Thus, the authors provide a new qualitative framework for collecting and analyzing focus group data. First, they identify types of data that can be collected during focus groups. Second, they identify the qualitative data analysis techniques best suited for analyzing these data. Third, they introduce what they term as a micro-interlocutor analysis, wherein meticulous information about which participant responds to each question, the order in which each participant responds, response characteristics, the nonverbal communication used, and the like is collected, analyzed, and interpreted. They conceptualize how conversation analysis offers great potential for analyzing focus group data. They believe that their framework goes far beyond analyzing only the verbal communication of focus group participants, thereby increasing the rigor of focus group analyses in social science research.

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