eHealth Patient Portal – Becoming an Indispensable Public Health Tool in the Time of Covid-19

Patient Portal represents a connecting service for the Slovenian eHealth solutions and enables patients with effective and secure access to their medical documentation. Ever since its national roll-out in 2017 the number of visits of the Patient Portal has been constantly growing, however, during the time of Covid-19, the number of visits has increased dramatically to reach almost 1.9 million visits in 2020. This article initially presents the functionalities of the Patient Portal and the dynamics of the visits to the Patient Portal in the time of Covid-19. In the second part, the article outlines the most significant benefits to healthcare stakeholders provided by the Patient Portal in the period of Covid-19. The study applies a focus group methodology. Structured focus group discussions were carried out with prominent experts, who are in charge of the Patient Portal and other national eHealth solutions in Slovenia. Research results indicate that the Patient Portal has attracted enormous interest and has become one of the essential public health tools empowering patients and supporting the enactment of public health policies and measures during the Covid-19 crisis.

A Qualitative Study of the Cognitive Rehabilitation Program GRADIOR for People with Cognitive Impairment: Outcomes of the Focus Group Methodology

In recent years, technology has been implemented in the field of interventions for older adults. GRADIOR 4.5 is a cognitive software within the wide variety of available multimedia programs that support healthcare professionals in cognitive assessment and neuropsychological rehabilitation. The study aimed to evaluate the new version of GRADIOR (v4.5) based on the experience of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), people with dementia (PWD), and healthcare professionals. A qualitative study using the focus group methodology was carried out involving 13 people with MCI, 13 PWD, and 11 healthcare professionals. An analysis of the content and the level of feedback was performed. The study showed that GRADIOR 4.5 might be sufficiently adapted to PWD and people with MCI. Participants were motivated to use GRADIOR 4.5, showed high acceptability of the software, and a positive attitude towards technology. However, healthcare professionals suggested significant improvements to the software. GRADIOR 4.5 appeared to be a promising intervention that, because of its positive experience and acceptability, could be systematically implemented to complement cognitive rehabilitation interventions for older adults with MCI and dementia. Finally, it is advisable to consider the suggestions gathered in this study for future developments.

In Pursuit of a Better Life?

Nowadays, people enjoy the sense of freedom by moving from one place to another, seeking personal and professional growth, and satisfaction with life. Borders have become fluid. In the global world, education and employment seem to be within easy reach. People are pursuing lifelong learning and training to adjust to a changing job environment and maximise career opportunities. However, migrating qualified individuals can face specific difficulties in their way. The present research aims to study high-skilled migration in Portugal. For this purpose, a qualitative approach, with a focus group methodology, was applied. Two focus groups were conducted with foreign-born individuals residing in Portugal. The chapter aims to add to the understanding of how highly qualified migrants make decisions on migration, and how they perceive the job market, professional development, and career growth opportunities in Portugal.

Transferring the UK experience of raising water awareness to the Saudi situation: perceptions of Saudi students in the UK

This paper presents the perceptions of 20 Saudi students in the UK investigating how to transfer experiences from the UK into the Saudi situation through a focus-group methodology. This method was made with such a focus group to get the general perceptions of the Saudis students who have lived in the UK. The research concluded that the UK water companies present a useful model that will encourage the Saudi public to see themselves as stakeholders in addition to being consumers. There are significant barriers regarding the level of public participation required by these UK models. A cultural change is required to make the Saudi public see water conservation as their responsibility. Moreover, the concept of children educating adults in a mildly humorous way may not be transferrable to Saudi society.

Unmoderated Focus Groups as a Tool for Inquiry

Focus groups are a commonly used methodology to explore ideas in a group setting with a researcher acting as moderator. However, in some contexts the presence of a moderator may unduly influence the responses of focus group participants. I report on the use of unmoderated focus groups, a modification of the traditional focus group methodology. Unmoderated focus groups are made up solely of participants in the research study and as such remove the direct influence of the researcher. I found that this methodology uncovered richer identity stories than interviews did alone. In this article, I present the methodology as well as potential constraints for its use in qualitative research.

Can partisans be pluralist? A comparative study of party member discourse in France and Hungary

Pluralist norms, which prescribe certain attitudes of openness and mutual respect for diverging views, have long been considered a central pillar of liberal democracy. While democratic theorists have championed these values, they have been conflicted as to the capacity of political parties to carry them. Partisanship is widely recognized as an essential institution of democratic regimes but it has also been traditionally associated with intransigence rather than tolerance. This paper investigates this theoretical debate from an empirical standpoint, asking whether partisans can be carriers of pluralist values. It relies on focus-group methodology and software-assisted textual analysis to evaluate the extent to which the discourse of 117 party members in two different national contexts, France and Hungary, resonates with the pluralist worldview. The results of this study provide key empirical insights into the nature of partisanship, demonstrating wide variations in the extent to which partisans uphold pluralist principles, but also their capacity to do so at a stringent level.

Social Justice Pre-Practicum: Enhancing Social Justice Identity Through Experiential Learning

The counseling profession calls counselors to engage in social justice advocacy and charges counselor education programs to prepare students for this work. While most counseling programs promote social justice knowledge through a single course and infusion model, there remains a standard practice in providing students with experiential opportunities in advocacy to improve their learning. A qualitative study used a focus group methodology to examine the effectiveness of a social justice pre-practicum in the development of a social justice identity with counseling students. The study examines whether participation in a social justice pre-practicum reinforces a personal connection to and a broader understanding of social inequalities and advocacy work, as well as encourages more engagement in systemic advocacy in current employment. The purpose of this article is to encourage counselor education programs to equip students with real-life experiential opportunities in advocacy work by adopting a similar social justice pre-practicum course in their curriculum.

Practitioner Experiences in Teacher Education Partnerships: Examining Practice in an Accredited Professional Development School

In this qualitative study, practitioner researchers used focus group methodology to collect clinical partnership stakeholders’ descriptions of their understanding of rich practitioner practice and the benefits of clinical partnerships as defined by CAEP Standard 2. These descriptions provided the data that was analyzed through a deductive and inductive coding process. It was found that stakeholders described clinical experiences as crucial to teacher candidates’ development of knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions, and identified clinical experiences as the space where theory and practice intersect. Findings also showed that stakeholders identified collaboration, mutually beneficial, sustaining and generative, shared accountability, and positive impact as the key components in a clinical partnership.