Evaluation of Road Safety Performance Based on Self-Reported Behaviour Data Set

Self-reported behavioural data, being often linguistic variables that represent a qualitative measure of respondents’ opinions/attitudes, are vague, uncertain, and fuzzy in nature. A road safety performance index, based on these fuzzy data, should consider this uncertainty. In this study, fuzzy numbers were used to describe self-reported behaviour on Montenegrin roads, which was further integrated into the data envelopment analysis (DEA), a technique for measuring the relative performance of decision-making units (DMUs). The vagueness of the performance scores obtained in this way was treated with grey relational analysis (GRA). GRA was applied to the cross-efficiency (CE) matrix constructed by the DEA to distinguish Montenegrin municipalities’ performance, with the main goal of describing road safety in the observed territories in the environment of uncertain/grey data. It is concluded that the proposed DEA–GRA model, based on fuzzy data, provides a more reasonable and encompassing measure of performance, and with which the overall ranking position of municipalities can be obtained.

How effective is group intervention in the treatment for unaccompanied and accompanied refugee minors with mental health difficulties: A systematic review

Background: Unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) are at significantly higher risk of trauma exposure and mental illness. Research examining the most effective treatments for this population is limited. Aims: To study the available research evidence on outcomes from various group interventions in this population. The objective is to investigate if these can be used clinically in future interventions. Methods: Systematic review was carried out for patient outcomes where group therapy was used as treatment in URM. Studies with ARM (Accompanied refugee minors) were included because of similarities between these groups and because many studies were mixed population. Results: Seventeen papers met eligibility criteria with a total of N = 1,119 participants. About 80% studies with a quantitative component reported improvements, and 69% of the studies that carried out statistical analyses reported statistically significant improvements in mental health symptoms. Every qualitative measure reported positive outcome for the participants. Studies with URM tended to show improved outcomes more often than studies exclusively with ARM. Conclusions: The evidence demonstrates the efficacy of group therapy in improving mental health outcomes, although the number of studies with robust methodology is small. Group intervention has potential to improve engagement and outcomes of URM with mental illness. Future direction for research is discussed.

An Initial Approach to Increase Job Satisfaction Through Workplace Spirituality

Job satisfaction is a widely discussed topic in work psychology, but what might be the contributions of recent discussions of workplace spirituality? This research allows a qualitative measure of workplace spirituality relevance by workforce perspective that can be reproduced in other organizations through a questionnaire application. The spiritual factors of the workplace were classified according to the Kano model that identifies the potential for actions and investments to be transformed into job satisfaction. In this application, it was identified that investments in the coherence and purpose of work factors can generate more than proportional satisfaction in the individuals of this organization. The identity, values, cohesion, meaning, and climate of work factors could generate a proportional satisfaction to the investments. The inner life and community factors cannot generate satisfaction, but when investment levels in these factors did not meet the expectations, it potentially generates dissatisfaction. Finally, investments in belonging, connection, and environmental factors were indifferent to the satisfaction level in this organization. The researchers also pointed out opportunities of investments to the organization.

The Need of the Virtual Principal Amid the Pandemic

This mixed-method study evaluates P–12 principals’ and district officials’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic amid the abrupt change to virtual leadership. Professional learning needs are identified in relation to the three domains of leadership as seen in literature: school management, instructional leadership, and program administration. The quantitative study instrument, which included an online survey given to 270 principals and district officials in South Carolina, allowed principals and superintendents to rank order their professional development needs to be better prepared for the virtual principalship. The top need expressed across all races, genders, and school settings was virtual instructional leadership. The qualitative measure includes interviews of 10 principals/district officials, and five major themes were identified as administrative struggles/priorities in the virtual principalship during the pandemic: increased presence and communication; projecting calm during uncertainty; displaying flexibility, empathy, and patience; knowledge of technological capabilities; and a systems approach to sustained instructional leadership. The study showed a heightened need for soft skills development.

Reading fluency as a measure of educational level

ABSTRACT Education exerts a powerful influence on the performance on neuropsychological tests. Recently, the number of years that a person attends school has been the preferred method to operationalize educational level (EL). However, reading fluency (RF) has emerged as an alternative method that can define the quality of education. Objective: To compare the influence of the number of years of education with RF on the cognitive performance in a control sample. Methods: Fifty-six control participants with varying ages (17–87 years) and levels of education (3–19 years of formal schooling) were administered a neuropsychological scale along with an RF task. This scale measured attention, memory, language, executive functions, and constructional praxis. The RF task consisted of a short text. The score was the number of words read correctly per minute. Pearson’s r was used to compute correlations. Results: Results showed that RF had a higher correlation (0.53) than the years of schooling (0.38) with the scores of the neuropsychological scale. Conclusions: Reading fluency is a short, practical task that is easy to use in different languages and is a promising tool for EL assessment. It is also an adequate alternative to the reading of irregular words as a qualitative measure of EL.

COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY ATTENUATION OF THE UPPER AND LOWER JAW BONE TISSUE IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS ASSESSED BY DENTAL COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

Type 1 and 2 diabetes are associated with deteriorated bone remodeling due to microangiopathy and acidosis, as well as non-fermentative glycosylation of bone proteins re-sulting in the apoptosis of osteocytes. Another complication of diabetes mellitus is diabetic arthropathy which is common among patients suffering from 1 type diabetes. Degenerative processes in periodontal tissue can be associated with diabetes mellitus and reduce the strength of the tooth joints. The result of insulin deficiency is a reduction in collagen synthesis and alkaline phosphatase, as well as hypocalcemia — these states also lead to bone resorption. Considering the effect of the combination of the processes which take place in the bone tissue, it should be taken into account that the alveolar processes of the upper and lower jaws are dif-ferent from the rest of the skeleton by accelerated metabolism. This specificity makes it nec-essary to investigate changes in the optical density of teeth and alveolar processes of the lower jaw among patients with diabetes mellitus. The purpose of research is to determine peculiarities of the optical density of bone tissue of the alveolar processes of the jaw using dental computed tomography in patients with diabetes mellitus. Article describes the analysis of the optical density of the bone tissue of the alveolar processes of the lower jaws. Dental computed tomography allows quantitative and qualitative measure-ment of bone tissue density of the jaw and is an effective method for assessing the state of bone tissue in diabetes mellitus. It was shown that the structure and density of bone tissue de-pends on the severity of diabetes, the presence of complications. Marked decrease in the opti-cal density of bone tissue in the neck of the teeth in individuals with diabetes was noted, less pronounced changes were observed in the middle third of the roots of the teeth. And slight changes or even an increase in optical density were observed in the region of the apices of the teeth. Diagnosis of bone destruction of the upper and lower jaws in diabetes mellitus is most in-formative using dental computed tomography.

Value analysis in measuring the impact of information technology and its success in developing information services

The research aims to measure the effect of using information technology in developing information service. And measuring the role of the relationship between the effectiveness of developing information services and efficiency in the success of using information technology, depending on the method of value analysis, and using the descriptive approach (the analytical method). The sample reached (70) individuals from the beneficiaries. The research adopted the qualitative measurement method of value analysis in a questionnaire dedicated to the information technology variable and to know the level of success in developing information services. To analyze the results, the research came out with a set of results, including: Information technology, using the method of value analysis, has an impact on increasing the efficiency of information services by a value of (49%), and increasing efficiency by an amount of (51%). The results also showed that the beneficiaries were satisfied and satisfied with the information services provided using information technology by (81%), in addition to the existence of a statistically significant moral correlation between the efficiency of using IT successfully and the effectiveness of developing information services. The value in information measurements as a qualitative measure of quality and with a qualitative trend in the discipline.

Operationalization of heart failure patients engagement with mHealth

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction The computing and communication features of mobile devices have been leveraged in mobile Health (mHealth) interventions to provide comprehensive and tailored support that may have positive outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF. However, the effects of the interventions have shown mixed evidence. Considering that patients’ engagement is a prerequisite for the effectiveness of the interventions, understanding how patients engage with the interventions, and the effects of patients’ engagement on HF outcomes may explain the mixed findings. Objective This study aimed to synthesize current evidence on measures of HF patients’ engagement with mHealth interventions, and the effects of the interventions on HF outcomes. Method In accordance with the Arksey and O’Malley framework for scoping review, a comprehensive search of the literature was conducted in 7 databases for relevant studies published in the English language from 2009 to Feb. 2021. The descriptive characteristics of the studies were reported. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes that described patients’ engagement in the qualitative studies included in the review. Results The review synthesized 29 studies that operationalized engagement with mHealth interventions in 3665 patients with HF, ranging from a sample of 7 to 1571, with a median of 80 patients. Patients’ engagement with mHealth interventions was measured quantitively based on system usage data (82.7%, 24/29), qualitatively by semi-structured interviews and focus groups (10.3%, 3/29), and by mixed methods or combination of qualitative and system usage data (17.2%, 5/29). System usage data were evaluated using 7 metrics: (1) number of physiological parameters measured (88.5%, 3/26); (2) duration of use or time spent (3.8%, 6/26); (3) features accessed/screen viewed (11.5%, 3/26); (4) number of HF educational videos viewed (7.7%, 2/26); (5) number of SMS response (3.8%, 1/26); (6) number of HF questionnaire completed (3.8%, 1/26; (7)numbers of logins (5%, 1/19). There is a lack of consistency in how system usage metrics were reported across the studies; 73.7 % of the studies reported only the descriptive statistics of the System usage data. Intervention usage was the most identified subtheme in the qualitative measure. The effect of patients’ engagement with mHealth interventions on HF-related outcomes was inconclusive. Conclusion The operational definitions of patients’ engagement with mHealth interventions are underreported and lack consistency. The application of inferential analytical methods to the engagement data is extremely limited, which indicates a gap in mHealth research in patients with HF. More research focusing on developing optimal and standardized measures of patients’ engagement that may be applied across different study designs is warranted

Sustaining implementation facilitation: a model for facilitator resilience

Background Implementation facilitators enable healthcare staff to effectively implement change, yet little is known about their affective (e.g., emotional, mental, physical) experiences of facilitation. We propose an expansion to the Integrated Promoting Action on Research in Health Services (i-PARIHS) framework that introduces facilitation intensity and facilitator resilience to better assess facilitators’ affective experiences. Methods We used an instrumental case study and facilitator data (logged reflections and debrief session notes) from the Coordination Toolkit and Coaching initiative to conceptualize facilitation intensity and facilitator resilience and to better understand the psychological impact of the facilitation process on facilitator effectiveness and implementation success. Results We define facilitation intensity as both the quantitative and/or qualitative measure of the volume of tasks and activities needed to engage and motivate recipients in implementation, and the psychological impact on the facilitator of conducting facilitation tasks and activities. We define facilitator resilience as the ability to cope with and adapt to the complexities of facilitation in order to effectively engage and motivate staff, while nurturing and sustaining hope, self-efficacy, and adaptive coping behaviors in oneself. Conclusions Facilitators’ affective experience may help to identify potential relationships between the facilitation factors we propose (facilitation intensity and facilitator resilience). Future studies should test ways of reliably measuring facilitation intensity and facilitator resilience and specify their relationships in greater detail. By supporting facilitator resilience, healthcare delivery systems may help sustain the skilled facilitator workforce necessary for continued practice improvement. Trial registration The project was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03063294) on February 24, 2017.