Implementation of Return to Learn Protocols for Student Athletes with Sport and Recreation Related Concussion: An Integrative Review of Perceptions, Challenges and Successes

Concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a common phenomenon in the United States, with up to 3.6 million sport-related mTBIs diagnosed annually. Return to learn protocols have been developed to facilitate the reintegration of students into school after mTBI, however, the implementation of return to learn protocols varies significantly across geographic regions and school districts. An integrative review of the literature was performed using Whittemore and Knalf's methodology. A search of published literature was conducted using the PRISMA checklist. Database searches were conducted from March 2,019 to October 2,021 using the terms “mild traumatic brain injury” and “return to learn.” Twenty-eight publications were included. Three themes were derived from this review: lack of policy, poor staff education on concussion symptoms and stakeholder communication breakdown. The development of communication patterns and use of a return to learn protocol could facilitate a gradual return to full academic workload after concussion.

Systematic Review of Stress and Coping Strategies during Pandemic COVID-19 Among Students in Higher Learning Institutions

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that strike Malaysia and the rest of the world has given a huge variety of implications especially in the aspect of mental health. Students are no exception in dealing with it. It requires every student to adapt to the new norms that exist in teaching and learning (T&L) system. Thus, this study aims to examine the coping strategies and stress management that can be applied by students in dealing with stress during the pandemic. To achieve this goal a systematic search was conducted, and a simple thematic analysis approach was used to identify the coping strategies among students at higher learning institutions as discussed by previous researchers on similar topics from three search engines on (1) Scopus, (2) Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and (3) Science Direct from 2015 to 2021 to determine the latest evidence and observations. A literature review of 10 relevant studies was rigorously analysed to get understanding of coping strategies and stress management amongst students at higher learning institutions. The findings show that there are four critical factors in stress management including (1) time management, (2) internet access issues, (2) academic workload and (4) adaptation to new norms. In addition, there are three types of coping strategies that students can do in coping with stress. Research pertaining to these issues are still lacking. This study is seen to be a new platform and guidelines especially for educational institutions to ensure that every student is equipped with stress management skills that can lead to personal well -being.

Organizational Culture in Tracked Changes

Tracked changes, usually thought of as preliminaries to the work documents do in organizations, are themselves an important digital residue of work, a site at which workplace culture and politics can be articulated and identified. In this chapter, I address tracked marginalia on a consequential workplace document, a draft academic workload model, as naturally occurring qualitative data. Institutional ethnography and ethnomethodology are brought to bear, respectively: to conceptualize and describe the workplace and the central role documents play in its administration; and to build up a close analysis of the strategies and positions taken by collaborators on the document, as evidenced in tracked comments. I argue that combining these analytical perspectives permits critical insights, into the local organization of work through documents and documentary processes, and the affordances of tracked changes as a communicative backchannel.

STRESSORS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STUDENT NURSES IN AMBROSE ALLI UNIVERSITY NIGERIA

Stress reduces productivity and increase pressure that can influence student nurses learning and academic performance negatively. The stressors faced by student nurses are enormous and their impact is huge. It is important to enhance positive and adaptive behavior in student nurses as it might affect their coping method in practice. Aim: To examine the different stressors and stress management strategies adopted by student nurses of the Department of Nursing Science, at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. Methodology: This study used a cross-sectional survey, using structured questionnaires. Using the census approach, the 314 undergraduate students of the department of nursing, at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma were used. Results: Out of 314 of the respondents, 301 (95.9%) agreed that academic work was their main source of stress. When faced with stress, majority of the respondents (73.6%) reported to always become religious; they pray for guidance and strength. Some also reported that they always rest when they experience stressful situations (70.4%), 45.5% reported to always seek support from healthcare workers, friends, family and their lecturers, while 51.6% respondents claimed they occasionally go for recreational activities. Conclusion: There should be a continuous effort to counsel student nurses; create some diversional therapies and revision of the academic workload. These are essential in creating an enabling and motivating environment for learning and practice.

Gender differences in the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on socio-economic and psychological wellbeing of students in Russia

Background Pandemic of COVID-19 had strong impact on young people in high education whose life plans, education prospects and personal networks were threatened. Based on theoretical framework of differential consequences of catastrophic events for less privileged groups, we explore the impact of pandemic (IP) on genders in student communities. Methods The C19 ISWS survey was conducted in spring 2020 by web-survey method among students of Russian universities (2738 cases). IP was measured in five domains: 1) socio-economic: subjective evaluation of economic wellbeing before and during the pandemic; 2) psychological (Depression Scale CES D8); 3) social ties: change in frequency of contact with family and friends, intensity of contacts in hours per day; 4) physical health (experience of COVID symptoms); 5) academic workload in hours before and during pandemic. ANOVA analysis was used to investigate strength of impact on gender groups after controlling for other factors (age, city, grade). Results Change of financial wellbeing experienced 39% of students with 4% significant difference between male and female students. Male and females had different mental reaction to COVID on few aspects - anxiousness (13 points difference), apathy (12 points), restlessness (9 points) and general depression (7 points), but not on social aspects as loneliness and isolation. IP was not differential for health (22% in average experienced the symptoms of COVID), academic workload (decreased hours per day on 5% for both genders) and social ties (strong decrease in contacts with friends, small decrease in contacts with family but similar by genders). Conclusions IP is strong and differential by gender for socio-economic and socio-psychological wellbeing, but similar for social communication and social ties, health and academic workload. These results may serve as a basis for forming more effective communication strategies and social support to mitigate IP for male and female students.

Psychological Factors as Predictor of Sport Participation among Japanese and Foreign Students in Sendai, Japan

Sports play a functional role in human development. Regular sport participation has beneficial effects on physical, psychological and social wellbeing. It has positive effects on prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases, physical appearance, enhance self-concept and external prestige, lower rates of suicidal ideation, reduce use of fossil fuels, and substantially increase life expectancy. The advent and excessive use of technology, academic workload coupled with the incidence of COVID-19, students become content with engaging more in sedentary activities. This chapter examined the psychological factors predicting sport participation among Japanese and foreign students in Sendai, Japan. The common choice of recreational sports are sedentary activities with a high level of performance in terms of frequency, intensity, duration and long period of participation. Psychological factors of self-confidence, value, task familiarity, perceived success significantly predicts sport participation among university students. Therefore, there is need for increased awareness on benefit of sport participation within the university. Improved reconciliation between academic and physical education programs, and development of attractive recreational sports considering the psychological process that leads to participation. To allay concerns during pandemic, self-organized, non-contact and outdoor sports should be encouraged with adequate preventive measures in place.

Assessing the student academic workload in the learning process of a technical university

The article deals with an assessment of the students' workload influence on the academic progress in a technical university. This study was carried out at Tyumen Industrial University, the Branch of IUT in Surgut. The research participants were the first-year students of full-time and part-time departments of the "Oil and Gas Business" direction. The research was done in 2017-2018. Much attention is given to some of the consequences that first-year students have: neuropsychic stress, declining academic progress, and the quality of education. There are reasons for such a state: lack of time, a large amount of information, many classroom hours, irregular distribution of the students' workload intensity of academic disciplines in the first semester, etc. The research gives valuable information on the necessity to improve the system of students' organizational and educational activities, depending on the specific features of a technical university. This study contributes to the existing research on the impact of academic workload on the students' emotional, mental state in higher education. Specifically, it studies the volume of the freshmen's academic workload in accordance with the curriculum, which is one of the main negative factors affecting the level of mental students' performance.

The balancing act of combining school and football in the transition from a non-professional club into junior-elite academy football

Football players in the transition from junior-to-senior are usually involved in dual careers, combining school and football – a process that makes them dependent on a holistic talent-development journey. The aim of the current study was to describe how male junior elite football players (N=10; 5=living at home, 5=living away from home) perceived stressors in the transition from a non-professional club into a junior elite academy. Furthermore, the school transition (between lower- and upper-secondary school) and social transition (based on the school and football transitions) as a consequence of the football transition into academy football. Based on Wylleman and Lavallee’s (2004) and Stambulova’s (2003) models, the data were analysed based on the following three levels in the transitions: athletic, academic - and psycho-social. The main perceived stressors in the football transition (athletic level) were new performance demands, which impacted them both physically (e.g., quality of training) and psychologically (e.g., self-esteem and well-being). Perceived stressors in the school transition (academic level) were related to increased academic workload and expectations, and academic achievement. Perceived stressors related to the social transition (psycho-social level) among the players that have chosen to live away from home were new roommates and doing more housework, even though they adapted quickly to the new requirements. Both groups highlighted the importance of having a social network (friends, leisure activity) outside of football, so they got to relax and not always think about football or school. The study findings suggest that maintaining dual careers introduces stressors for most players – independent of living at home or away from home.

Accountability Measures in Higher Education and Academic Workload: A Ten-year Comparison

At the core of New Public Management (NPM) reforms sit the concept of accountability of publicly funded organizations. In Canada, it is suggested that provinces have increased the number of accountability procedures imposed to universities and those measures would have had an impact on professors' academic workload. This study relies on the Canadian faculty's perspectives collected through the 2007 Changing Academic Profession (CAP) study (n = 1151) and the 2017 Academic Profession in the Knowledge Society (APIKS) study (n = 2968). Descriptive statistics and a MANOVA comparing the scores of five variables in 2007 and 2017 suggest that academic workload increased significantly in ten years, academic acvities are significantly more evaluated, although less by academics themselves, female academics report dedicating more time to administrative tasks and being more frequently evaluated, and senior administrative staff and external reviewers are perceived as being more involved in the evaluation of academic activities in 2017 than in 2007. Our interpretation is that accountability measures could increase professors' admministrative burden and grant more authority to non-academic staff. Key words: accountability; academic workload; academic profession; new public management; Canadian universities.