Nursing students' self-assessed level of nursing skills at the time of graduation in a Japanese University: A retrospective observational study

Objective

This study aimed to clarify nursing students' self-assessed levels of nursing skills at a nursing university at graduation and discuss how education and clinical experiences for students and post-licensure nurses should be improved, especially focusing on oncology nursing.

Methods

The study population comprised fourth-year students from 2017 to 2019 at the Faculty of Health Science and Nursing, Juntendo University, who had completed all stipulated clinical placements. The Japanese government determined 141 nursing skills and their target levels. Students subjectively evaluated their achieved levels for the 141 nursing skills after the final clinical placement.

Results

Of the 141 nursing skills, 81 (57%) were rated as "skills with easy-to-achieve targets" and five were rated as "skills with difficult-to-achieve targets." All nursing skills in the two subcategories of environmental adjustment skills and comfort management skills were rated as "skills with easy-to-achieve targets." Nursing skills with low target achievement rates were for patients with oral intake difficulties, unstable respiratory status, and those requiring glycemic control. These skills are also important in oncology nursing.

Conclusions

It cannot be concluded that the nursing university students fully achieved the target levels of nursing skills, as determined by the Japanese government. These findings may facilitate discussions on teaching nursing skills and their target levels at the time of graduation from nursing universities or post-employment.

Sample

INTRODUCTION

Children that are small-for-gestational-age (SGA) at birth are at an increased risk for cognitive impairment, even if born at term (37-41 weeks). This study examined associations between sex-specific SGA and vocabulary and achievement tests in 9 year old children born at term using a contemporary population-based US sample.

METHODS

A secondary data analysis was conducted on a sample of 2144 children born at term in 1998-2000 who participated in a US birth cohort study that oversampled non-marital births, which in the U.S. are associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and racial minority status. Vocabulary and achievement tests were administered to participants at age 9. Unadjusted and adjusted Ordinary Least Squares and logistic regression models of associations between SGA and test scores were estimated.

RESULTS

Sex-specific SGA was associated with 2-5 point lower test scores and 1-2 times the odds of scores less than 85 (> 1 SD below the national mean) across most outcomes. In adjusted models, measures of SGA were associated with low scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Applied Problems test (OR 2.257; 95% CI 1.434, 3.551) and the Woodcock-Johnson Passage Comprehension test (OR 1.554; 95% CI 1.132, 2.134).

CONCLUSION

The findings validate previous studies of SGA at term and cognitive outcomes and provide further evidence using a contemporary high-risk population-based US sample. The findings suggest that SGA children born at term should be recruited for early interventions to promote improved cognitive functioning in school.

Eco-civilization: A complementary pathway rooted in theory and practice for global sustainable development

Eco-civilization, as a civilizational discourse led by China, implies the next stage of civilization after industrial civilization, the essence of which is to respect, conform to, and protect nature. Although the international community is paying more attention to eco-civilization, the existing literature still lacks a systematic discussion of which theories and practices underpin the construction of eco-civilization. Due to the ambiguity of eco-civilization, some even criticize it as being a form of purely partisan politics in China. By systematically reviewing its theoretical pillars, practical actions, and major achievements, this perspective paper argues that China's eco-civilization is not a partisan politics, but rather a legitimate, imperative pathway to global sustainable development rooted in complementary theory and practice, i.e., theories guide practices, and practices enrich theories. We highlight that the theoretical basis and practical actions of eco-civilization constitute a continual improvement process that permits diverse viewpoints and understanding, and any action exploring how to achieve a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature is consistent with the values of eco-civilization.

Relationships Among English Language Proficiency, Self-efficacy, Motivation, Motivational Intensity, and Achievement in an ESP/EAP Context

This study, the first of the kind in the field of English for specific purposes, examined direct and indirect relationships among English language proficiency, English public speaking (EPS) motivation, motivational intensity, self-efficacy, and EPS achievement. The sample consisted of 189 non-English-major students. The final structural equation model yielded an acceptable fit to the data and explained 23.4% of the variance in EPS achievement. English language proficiency and EPS self-efficacy had both direct and indirect (via, respectively, self-efficacy and motivational intensity) impacts on EPS performance. Ought-to self emerged as the strongest contributor to explaining motivation (R2 = .90), followed by learning experience (R2 = .57), and ideal self (R2 = .32). Implications are discussed.

A longitudinal person-centered representation of elementary students' motivation: Do perceptions of parent and teacher achievement goals matter?

This study utilized a longitudinal person-centered approach to investigate how children's achievement goals combine with the goals held for them by their parents and teachers to form unique achievement goal profiles among a sample of 619 elementary school students (Mage = 9.782; 52.5% female; 79.2% first- and second-generation immigrants) from low SES ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Our results revealed four distinct profiles that proved to be identical from one school year to the next: (a) Low on all Goals, (b) High on all Goals, (c) Mastery-Oriented, and (d) Low Mastery Goals. Students' membership in these profiles was moderate to highly stable over time. Moreover, all profiles were marked by a correspondence between student, parent, and teacher goals, suggesting that elementary students may come to develop a global understanding of the various goal-related messages present in their environment. Higher perceived competence in core academic subjects was associated with membership into profiles characterized by high levels of mastery goals. The Mastery-Oriented profile fared best in terms of academic achievement and anxiety, whereas the Low Mastery Goals profile fared the worst. This Low Mastery Goals profile was unique to our study and represented the largest profile, which could be related to the socioeconomic status of our sample. Our findings provide information regarding the nature and stability of achievement goal profiles among elementary school students and offer new insights into how children interpret goal-related messages in their environment.

My child and I: self- and child-reference effects among parents with self-worth contingent on children's performance

Research shows that parents' self-worth may be contingent on their children's performance, with implications for their interactions with children. This study examined whether such child-based worth is manifested in parents' recognition memory. Parents of school-age children in China (N = 527) reported on their child-based worth and completed a recognition memory task involving evaluative trait adjectives encoded in three conditions: self-reference, child-reference, and semantic processing. The more parents had child-based worth, the more they exhibited a child-reference effect - superior recognition memory of evaluative trait adjectives encoded with reference to the child rather than semantically. Parents exhibited the classic self-reference effect in comparisons of recognition memory between the self-reference and semantic processing conditions, but this effect was not evidenced among parents high in child-based worth. Only parents low in child-based worth exhibited the self-reference effect in comparisons between the self-reference and child-reference conditions. Findings suggest that when parents hinge their self-worth on children's performance, evaluative information related to children may be an elaborate structure in memory.

Dietary patterns and cognitive achievement among school children in socio-cultural context, a case of Montevideo, Uruguay

PURPOSE

The benefits of a healthy diet on children´s cognition have been described in several studies. However, many previous studies have analyzed the effect on general cognitive domains (e.g. intelligence), used measures based almost exclusively on local examinations, and rarely consider social context.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the present study was to examine the relationship between two diet patterns and contextualized cognitive performance measures of children aged 6-8 years from low-average income neighborhoods in Montevideo, Uruguay.

METHODS

270 first-grade children with complete data participated in the study. Consumption of foods was determined via two averaged 24-h dietary recalls with the mother. Two dietary patterns were identified via principal component analysis: "processed (high calorie) foods" and "nutrient dense". Children´s cognitive performance, including general cognitive abilities, achievement in mathematics and reading, and discrepancy scores between predicted and actual achievement was assessed with the Woodcock-Muñoz Cognitive and Achievement scales. The association of dietary patterns and cognitive endpoints was analyzed in multilevel models, clustered by children´s school. Sociodemographic and biological variables were used as covariates.

RESULTS

The nutrient dense foods pattern, characterized by higher consumption of dark leafy and red-orange vegetables, eggs, beans & peas, potatoes, was associated with better performance in reading, with beta coefficient 3.28 (95% CI 0.02, 6.54). There was also an association between the nutrient dense foods factor and the Discrepancy in reading, 2.52 (0.17, 4.87). Processed (high calorie) foods pattern, characterized by higher consumption of breads, processed meats, fats and oils, sweetened beverages, and sweetened yogurt/dairy products; reduced intake of milk, pastries and pizza dinners was not associated with cognitive performance.

CONCLUSIONS

Nutrient dense food pattern was positively associated with children's reading achievement. A nutrient-rich diet may benefit written language acquisition at the beginning of schooling.

Educational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: Inequities by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status

The COVID-19 pandemic caused reverberations throughout the educational system that disproportionately impacted students of color and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. In this review, we examine recent research documenting the disparate educational impacts of the pandemic across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic status groups that deepened existing educational inequities in the United States. Numerous systemic barriers underlie these disparities, including disproportionate access to in-person learning and technology alongside the intensification of racial discrimination. Amidst these disparities, we also highlight emerging evidence of similarities in the educational impacts. Finally, recent evidence reveals a more multifaceted view of how some students of color leveraged supplemental educational supports and their academic confidence to confront educational challenges during the pandemic despite experiencing more pandemic-related stressors.

Survey on digital dependency, writing by hand, and group learning as learning styles among Japanese medical students: Assessing correlations between various accomplishments

BACKGROUND

Although digital learning devices have become increasingly more common in medical education settings, it remains unclear how they influence medical student learning styles and various outcome measures. This study aimed to assess student learning styles, specifically as they relate to digital dependency, writing habits, and group learning practices among current medical students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This questionnaire study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 109 medical students who were 5th year students during the 2021 school year. Medical students were asked about their level of digital dependency, writing by hand, and group learning practices. We also analyzed the correlation between student learning styles and their respective outcomes on several summative evaluations.

RESULTS

Of the 109 students targeted, we received responses from 62 (response rate, 56.8%). Among the respondents, digital dependency was 83.4 ± 18.6%, while hand writing ratio 39.8 ± 29.9% and group learning ratio 33.5 ± 30.5%. We also assessed correlations between these learning styles and scores on the CBT, OSCE, CC, and CC Integrative Test. Only writing by hand showed a small positive correlation with CC Integrative Test scores.

CONCLUSION

Our questionnaire survey assessed the rates of digital dependency, writing by hand, and group learning practices, and analyzed the correlations between these learning styles and respective outcomes. Current medical students exhibited high digital dependency which was not correlated with performance outcomes.

Do Language-Related Cognitive Capacities Help Predict Adjustment in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder?

The goal of this paper was to examine the role that language-related cognitive capacities (LRCC) might play in explaining adjustment of 7 to 12 year-old children (M_age = 9.24; SD_age = 0.91) with and without ADHD. The sample was comprised of 178 children with ADHD and 86 typically-developing children (77.3% male; 81.4% White; 9.5% Black; 1.9% Hispanic; 0.8% Asian; 5.7% multiracial; 0.8% did not report race/ethnicity). Using simultaneous regression, we examined whether LRCC accounted for unique variance in achievement, attention problems, oppositional problems, conduct problems, and internalizing, over and above what standard covariates and ADHD diagnostic status could explain. Finally, we examined LRCC as a mediator of the relation between ADHD diagnostic status and these adjustment measures. Results indicated that LRCC significantly predicted 6 of 7 and partially mediated 5 of 7 measures, suggesting that language-related constructs warrant greater attention in diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.

Letter-sound knowledge in Icelandic children at the age 6 years-old

The aim of this study was to examine letter-sound knowledge when children start at school in Iceland. 392 children aged 5-6 years completed assessments of letter-sound knowledge, i.e., the names and sounds of uppercase and lowercase letters of the Icelandic alphabet (uppercase letter-name; uppercase letter-sound; lowercase letter-name; lowercase letter-sound). Whether the child had broken the reading code (could read words) was also recorded. The results revealed no significant difference between girls and boys in the four factors (letter name, letter sound). The results indicated that 56.9 % of the children had broken the reading code when they started school. 58.2 % of the girls and 55.6 % of the boys, not significant difference between the genders. There was a significant difference between the group which had broken the reading code and the group which have not in all the four factors. There was also a high significant correlation between all 4 variables from 0.915 between uppercase letter and lowercase sound to 0.963 between uppercase sounds and uppercase letter. Based on these data, it seems reasonable to advocate learning letter-sound correspondences early in the first year of school to form the best possible basis for breaking the reading code and further reading development.

[A summary on surveillance system of occupational disease under the framework of National Health Insurance Informatization Project]

The surveillance of occupational disease has entered a new stage ofdevelopment, with the implementation of the national health informatization project. To improve the efficiency and quality of occupational disease monitoring information reporting in this paper, the system architecture and related management regulations, as long as the major changes and achievement of "surveillance system of occupational disease and health hazards information" under the framework of National Health Insurance Informatization Project were elaborated. The deficiencies existing in the system were analyzed, and expectation for the construction of the occupational disease surveillance system was addressed.

Quantitative Indices of Student Social Media Engagement in Tertiary Education: A Systematic Review and a Taxonomy

Recent studies have evaluated the use of social media as learning aids in tertiary education. Emerging research in this area has focused primarily on non-quantitative approaches to student social media engagement. However, quantitative engagement outcomes may be extracted from student posts, comments, likes, and views. The goal of the present review was to provide a research-informed taxonomy of quantitative and behavior-based metrics of student social media engagement. We selected 75 empirical studies comprising a pooled sample of 11,605 tertiary education students. Included studies used social media for educational purposes and reported student social media engagement outcomes (source databases: PsycInfo and ERIC). We used independent raters and stringent interrater agreement and data extraction processes to mitigate bias during the screening of references. Over half of the studies (52%, n = 39) utilized ad hoc interviews and surveys to estimate student social media engagement, whereas thirty-three studies (44%) used some form of quantitative analysis of engagement. Based on this literature, we present a selection of count-based, time-based, and text-analysis metrics. The proposed taxonomy of engagement metrics resulting provides the methodological basis for the analysis of social media behavior in educational settings, particularly, for human operant and behavioral education studies. Implications for future research are discussed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10864-023-09516-6.

An Evaluation of Research Publications for General Surgery Residents And its Influence on the Future Pursuit of Fellowship or Academic Career

INTRODUCTION

Traditionally, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires residency programs to implement research and other scholarly activities into their training curriculum. Encouraging residents to publish during residency is believed to promote research throughout their careers; however, the rate of research outcomes among general surgery residents remains unknown. Our study aims to determine associated factors that influence publication rates before, during, and after general surgery residency.

METHODS

This observational study employed a cross-sectional design. We examined whether research outcomes during general surgery residency was associated with academic advancement or continued research involvement after residency. We identified 321 general surgery residency programs on the Doximity website and randomly selected 50 to include in our sample. Of these programs, graduate rosters for 31 programs were located and subsequently included. Of the 405 residency graduates identified, we recorded the number of peer-reviewed publications, H-indices, fellowships, and whether the graduate pursued a career in private practice or academia.

RESULTS

Among the 405 physicians analyzed, 3815 total publications were identified with a mean of 9.4 (SD 11.8) per person. The most reported study design was observational studies (46.5%; 1775/3815) and the least reported was systematic reviews/meta-analyses (1.4%; 52/3815). The number of publications before residency positively correlated with having a higher h-index (r = 0.4). We also found that physicians who completed a fellowship had more publications during residency (mean = 4.7, SD = 6.5) than those not pursuing a fellowship (mean = 1.5, SD = 2.7; t= -4.3. p ≤ 0.001). We observed a statistically significant increase in the likelihood a physician pursued a career in academic medicine if they pursued a fellowship (OR: 3.77, 95% CI: 2.0-7.2) and if they had published research as a primary author (OR 1.25, 95% CI: 1.0-1.5).

CONCLUSION

Increased research productivity was associated with continued academic pursuits and an increased likelihood of pursuing fellowship training after residency.

The Association Between Perceived Discriminatory Climate in School and Student Performance in Math and Reading: A Cross-National Analysis Using PISA 2018

The negative consequences of perceived ethnic discrimination on adolescent adjustment are well documented. Less is known, however, about the consequences of discriminatory climates in school, beyond the individual experiences of discrimination. This study investigated whether a perceived discriminatory climate in school is associated with lower academic performance across adolescents from ethnic minority and majority groups, and which psychological mechanisms may account for this link. Using the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, the participants were 445,534 adolescents (aged 15-16, 50% girls) in 16,002 schools across 60 countries. In almost all countries, a discriminatory climate-i.e., student perceptions of teachers' discriminatory beliefs and behaviors in school-was associated with lower math and reading scores across all pupils, although minorities perceived a more discriminatory climate. Lower school belonging and lower values attributed to learning partially mediated these associations. The findings demonstrate that schools' ethnic and racial climates predict standardized academic performance across schools and countries among pupils from both ethnic majority and minority groups.

COVID-19 and inequalities in educational achievement in Italy

We use longitudinal data from over 1.5 million Italian students to examine differences in the mathematics and reading achievement of students who completed primary and lower secondary school in 2020-21 (COVID cohort) and those who completed it in 2018-19 (non-COVID cohort). We also examine the evolution of inequalities by gender, socio-economic condition, and prior academic achievement during the pandemic. On average, the primary school COVID cohort experienced a small increase in reading achievement and a drop in mathematics achievement compared to the non-COVID cohort. The lower secondary school COVID cohort experienced a large reduction in mathematics achievement and a smaller reduction in reading achievement compared to the non-COVID cohort. Previously middle-achieving students suffered the most from the pandemic, while high achievers gained. Socio-economic inequalities in achievement remained stable for secondary school students and somewhat decreased for primary school students between the non-COVID and COVID cohorts. Gender disparities were broadly reduced across domains and school levels, except for primary school math.

Academic functioning in children with and without sluggish cognitive tempo

Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is increasingly conceptualized as a transdiagnostic set of symptoms associated with poorer functional outcomes, although the extent to which SCT is associated with academic functioning remains unclear. This study recruited children based on the presence or absence of clinically elevated SCT symptoms, using a multi-informant and multi-method design to provide a comprehensive examination of academic functioning in children with and without clinically elevated SCT symptoms. Participants were 207 children in Grades 2-5 (ages 7-11 years; 63.3% male), including 103 with clinically elevated teacher-reported SCT symptoms and 104 without elevated SCT, closely matched on grade and sex. A multi-informant, multi-method design that included standardized achievement testing, curriculum-based measurement (CBM), grades, classroom and laboratory observations, and parent and teacher rating scales was used. Children with elevated SCT symptoms had poorer academic functioning than their peers across most domains examined. Specifically, compared to children without SCT, children with elevated SCT had significantly lower grade point average (d = 0.42) and standardized achievement scores (ds = 0.40-0.77), poorer CBM performance including lower productivity (ds = 0.39-0.51), poorer homework performance and organizational skills (ds = 0.58-0.85), and lower teacher-reported academic skills (ds = 0.63-0.74) and academic enablers (ds = 0.66-0.74). The groups did not significantly differ on percentage of time on task during classroom observations or academic enabler interpersonal skills. Most effects were robust to control of family income, medication use, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder inattentive symptoms, although effects for motivation and study skills academic enablers were reduced. This study demonstrates that children with clinically elevated SCT symptoms have wide-ranging academic difficulties compared to their peers without SCT. Findings point to the potential importance of assessing and treating SCT to improve academic outcomes.

Relationship of self-determined motivation with time-related academic behavior in Korean primary school students: A person-centered approach

This study aimed to determine the relationship between self-determined motivation and time-related academic behavior (T-AB) of Korean primary school students, using a person-centered approach, and identified differences in the fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and level of achievement to explore the characteristics of each profile. This study is unique, as previous studies on this topic have used a variable-centered approach. To this end, the current study involved a latent profile analysis of 451 fifth and sixth graders (male: 48.3%, female: 51.7%) in three primary schools located in medium- and small-sized cities in the G province of Korea. First, the analysis resulted in four profiles of self-determined motivation: “low motivation” (3.3%), “controlled regulation” (43.5%), “external regulation dependent” (12.4%), and “autonomous” (40.9%). Second, three profiles were derived for T-AB: “low approach” (6.9%), “timely engagement-approach” (55.2%), and “procrastination-approach” (37.9%). Third, this study examined the relationship between the profiles of self-determined motivation and T-AB through a chi-squared test. “Low approach” represented the largest proportion in the “low motivation” profile of self-determined motivation; “procrastination-approach” represented the largest proportion in the “controlled regulation” and “external regulation dependent” profiles; and “timely engagement-approach” represented the largest proportion in the “autonomous” profile. Fourth, analysis of variance was performed (ANOVA) to understand the differences in the FNE and level of achievement of each derived type. Among the self-determined motivation profiles, “low motivation” was associated with the highest level of FNE, and “autonomous” had the highest level of achievement. Furthermore, among profiles of T-AB, “low approach” was associated with the highest level of FNE, and “timely engagement-approach” had the highest level of achievement. However, the interaction effect between self-determined motivation and T-AB profiles showed significant differences only for FNE that were highest in the “low motivation” profile of self-determined motivation and in the “low approach” profile of T-AB, and lowest in the “autonomous” and “timely engagement-approach” profiles. Lastly, the positive types of motivation and academic behavior in primary school students and some important educational implications are presented.

Early child maltreatment and reading processes, abilities, and achievement: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Children with maltreatment histories demonstrate weaker reading abilities compared to their peers. However, the differential processes driving this effect remain unclear. Prior studies focused on social and behavioral factors explaining this effect, yet reading research has shown that one's ability to comprehend written text is driven by a set of underlying dynamic and interactive cognitive abilities.

OBJECTIVE

This systematic review sought to understand what theoretical or conceptual frameworks researchers cited as guiding their studies, what reading processes and abilities were studied as outcomes, how reading processes or abilities were measured, and what constructs were included to help understand the relationship between maltreatment and reading.

METHOD

Three databases were searched for empirical peer-reviewed journal articles. Articles retained using inclusion and exclusion criteria were coded based on their sample characteristics, reference to theoretical or conceptual frameworks, reading processes and abilities measured, and included predictors of reading. Procedures were documented using the reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement (Moher et al., 2009).

RESULTS

Twenty-seven studies were included in the final systematic review. Those that discussed theoretical or conceptual frameworks focused on the social and behavioral predictors of reading. Many studies (51.9 %) examined effects of maltreatment on reading achievement, rather than specific reading processes or abilities. Most studies (92.6 %) used at least one standardized reading measure. However, only four studies included cognitive abilities as potential predictor variables.

CONCLUSIONS

Future research could benefit from investigating specific cognitive and reading-related processes, using measures to examine specific reading processes leading to breakdowns in reading achievement, and incorporation of reading theories to drive research questions and methods.

College-for-some or college-for-all?: Inequality in the relationship between educational expectations and educational attainment across academic achievement

The predominant college-for-all ethos in the US education system proposes that all students should attend college regardless of academic achievement. An underlying assumption is that higher adolescent educational expectations will result in increased educational attainment, net of academic achievement. This study evaluates this assumption using data from the Education Longitudinal Study and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Results from educational attainment models reveal interactions between expectations and achievement. Respondents with high levels of achievement have a stronger association between expectations and educational attainment than their peers with lower achievement levels. Thus, adolescents with lower achievement levels may receive fewer long-term benefits from ambitious college expectations than previously believed. Such findings suggest that interventions which jointly increase educational expectations and academic achievement may have the most positive impact on reducing education inequity.

Effects of a gamified learning environment on students' achievement, motivations, and satisfaction

This paper aims to investigate the effects of a gamified e-learning environment on computer science learning for middle school students. An e-learning gamification environment was developed and implemented in 8th grade to examine its effects on improving learners' achievement, motivation, and satisfaction to learn computer science online. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, where physical distancing was required, which made the conditions very suitable for achieving the goal of this study because teaching was conducted online through an e-learning platform. The effects of the online learning gamification environment were analyzed and interpreted. The pre-test-post-test control group design of the quasi-experiment was used. One hundred thirty-three students in 8th grade were involved in the study. Results indicated that the e-learning gamification environment increased students' motivation to learn computer science (α < 0.05) and their satisfaction with the online course (α < 0.05) but had no significant effect on their achievement. The study included several recommendations and suggestions for further studies.

The effect of repetition- and scenario-based repetition strategies on anatomy course achievement, classroom engagement and online learning attitude

Anatomy is known to be the oldest and most fundamental branch among medical sciences. That is the reason why it is given at the beginning of medical education to form the basis for other medical sciences. Students who newly begin medical education need to spare plenty of time outside the course hours to study Anatomy which involves different and a lot of terminology. In this study, online repetitions were done outside the class using the repetition (classical presentation) and scenario-based repetition methods and the knowledge levels, course engagement statuses and online learning attitudes of the students were compared quantitatively and qualitatively between the groups.The study was conducted with 162 medical school year 2 students. These 162 students were randomized to experimental and control groups. The data were obtained with "Anatomy Achievement Test (AAT)", "Classroom Engagement Inventory (CEI)" and "Medical School Students' Attitudes Towards Online Learning Scale (MSSATOLS)". After administering the experimental procedure to the students who were randomized to the experimental and control groups, focus group interviews were held with 16 students from the experimental group, 8 who received the highest scores and 8 who received the lowest scores from the data collecting instruments. The collected research data determined that the affective engagement (AE) and the anatomy achievement test (AAT) performed pre- and post-study were higher in the group in which the scenario-based repetition strategy was applied. AAT pre-test (mean = 27.16) and post-test (mean = 27.15) scores of the repetition group were very close to each other. However, the AAT post-test (mean = 32.33) average of the scenario-based repetition group was above the mean pre-test scores (mean = 26.79) (p < .05). Similarly, the mean AE pre-test (mean = 17.79) and post-test (mean = 17.91) scores of only the repetition group were very close to one another. However, the AE post-test (mean = 19.46) mean score of the scenario-based repetition group was above the mean pre-test score (mean = 17.82) (p < .05). In summary, pre-test and post-test scores changed the anatomy achievement and affective engagement scores, and this change was in favour of experimental group and increasing the post-test scores.The responses given to the questions in the scales and the impressions obtained from qualitative interviews indicated that the students did not find adequate the lectures given in the form of presentations alone and thought that various methods and primarily scenario-based education should be used as part of anatomy education to be able to establish a good connection with clinical sciences and Anatomy education should be provided not only at the beginning of the medical education but also in the following years.

[Influence of Learning Presence of Non-Face-to-Face Class Experience in Nursing Students on Academic Achievement: Mediating Effect of Learning Flow and Moderated Mediation of Digital Literacy]

PURPOSE

This study aimed to identify the mediating effect of learning flow and the moderated mediation effect of digital literacy on the effect of the learning presence of non-face-to-face class experience in nursing students on academic achievement.

METHODS

Participants were 272 nursing students from six universities in two different cities. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure learning presence, learning flow, digital literacy, and academic achievement. Analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 and SPSS PROCESS Macro (4.0).

RESULTS

The mediating effect of learning flow on the effect of learning presence on academic achievement was 0.42, and the moderated mediation index of digital literacy was 0.17. Learning flow showed a mediating effect on the relationship between learning presence and academic achievement. Digital literacy had a moderated mediation effect on the relationship between learning presence and academic achievement that was mediated by learning flow.

CONCLUSION

The intensity of the mediating effect of nursing students' learning presence on academic achievement through learning flow increases as the level of digital literacy increases. These results suggest that educational programs considering the level of learning presence, learning flow, and digital literacy are required to promote the academic achievement of nursing college students.

Evolution of Self-Awareness and the Cultural Emergence of Academic and Non-academic Self-Concepts

Schooling is ubiquitous in the modern world and academic development is now a critical aspect of preparation for adulthood. A step back in time to pre-modern societies and an examination of life in remaining traditional societies today reveals that universal formal schooling is an historically recent phenomenon. This evolutionary and historical recency has profound implications for understanding academic development, including how instructional practices modify evolved or biological primary abilities (e.g., spoken language) to create evolutionarily novel or biologically secondary academic competencies (e.g., reading). We propose the development of secondary abilities promotes the emergence of academic self-concepts that in turn are supported by evolved systems for self-awareness and self-knowledge. Unlike some forms of self-knowledge (e.g., relative physical abilities) that appear to be universal and central to many people's overall self-concept, the relative importance of academic self-concepts are expected to be dependent on explicit social and cultural supports for their valuation. These culturally contingent self-concepts are contrasted with universal social and physical self-concepts, with implications for understanding variation students' relative valuation of academic competencies and their motivations to engage in academic learning.

Contribution of a positive psychology-based conceptual framework in reducing physician burnout and improving well-being: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

The PERMA Model, as a positive psychology conceptual framework, has increased our understanding of the role of Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievements in enhancing human potentials, performance and wellbeing. We aimed to assess the utility of PERMA as a multidimensional model of positive psychology in reducing physician burnout and improving their well-being.

METHODS

Eligible studies include peer-reviewed English language studies of randomized control trials and non-randomized design. Attending physicians, residents, and fellows of any specialty in the primary, secondary, or intensive care setting comprised the study population. Eligible studies also involved positive psychology interventions designed to enhance physician well-being or reduce physician burnout. Using free text and the medical subject headings we searched CINAHL, Ovid PsychINFO, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar (GS) electronic bibliographic databases from 2000 until March 2020. We use keywords for a combination of three general or block of terms (Health Personnel OR Health Professionals OR Physician OR Internship and Residency OR Medical Staff Or Fellow) AND (Burnout) AND (Positive Psychology OR PERMA OR Wellbeing Intervention OR Well-being Model OR Wellbeing Theory).

RESULTS

Our search retrieved 1886 results (1804 through CINAHL, Ovid PsychINFO, MEDLINE, and 82 through GS) before duplicates were removed and 1723 after duplicates were removed. The final review included 21 studies. Studies represented eight countries, with the majority conducted in Spain (n = 3), followed by the US (n = 8), and Australia (n = 3). Except for one study that used a bio-psychosocial approach to guide the intervention, none of the other interventions in this review were based on a conceptual model, including PERMA. However, retrospectively, ten studies used strategies that resonate with the PERMA components.

CONCLUSION

Consideration of the utility of PERMA as a multidimensional model of positive psychology to guide interventions to reduce burnout and enhance well-being among physicians is missing in the literature. Nevertheless, the majority of the studies reported some level of positive outcome regarding reducing burnout or improving well-being by using a physician or a system-directed intervention. Albeit, we found more favorable outcomes in the system-directed intervention. Future studies are needed to evaluate if PERMA as a framework can be used to guide system-directed interventions in reducing physician burnout and improving their well-being.

The relationship of non-cognitive factors to academic and clinical performance in graduate rehabilitation science students in the United States: a systematic review

PURPOSE

Rehabilitation science programs utilize cognitive and non-cognitive factors to select students who can complete the didactic and clinical portions of the program and pass the licensure exam. Cognitive factors such a prior grade point average and standardized test scores are known to be predictive of academic performance, but the relationship of non-cognitive factors and performance is less clear. The purpose of this systematic review was to explore the relationship of non-cognitive factors to academic and clinical performance in rehabilitation science programs.

METHODS

A search of 7 databases was conducted using the following eligibility criteria: graduate programs in physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, United States-based programs, measurement of at least 1 non-cognitive factor, measurement of academic and/or clinical performance, and quantitative reporting of results. Articles were screened by title, abstract, and full text, and data were extracted.

RESULTS

After the comprehensive screening, 21 articles were included in the review. Seventy-six percent of studies occurred in PT students. Grit, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and stress were the most commonly studied factors. Only self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and personality traits were examined in clinical and academic contexts. The results were mixed for all non-cognitive factors. Higher grit and self-efficacy tended to be associated with better performance, while stress was generally associated with worse outcomes.

CONCLUSION

No single non-cognitive factor was consistently related to clinical or academic performance in rehabilitation science students. There is insufficient evidence currently to recommend the evaluation of a specific non-cognitive factor for admissions decisions.

Longitudinal relations among school context, school-based parent involvement, and academic achievement of Chinese American children in immigrant families

Immigrant families face multiple barriers to engaging with children's schools. Yet, school-based parent involvement has been associated with academic and behavioral benefits for children of immigrant families. Although past research has examined links between family contextual factors and parent involvement, less is known about the links between school contextual factors and parent involvement in immigrant families. Identifying socio-cultural barriers to parent involvement across home and school contexts can inform culturally competent family engagement interventions serving immigrant families. In a two-wave (1.5 years apart) longitudinal study of a community-based sample of Chinese American children (N = 210, beginning age = 5.8-9.1 years) attending over 80 schools in a metropolitan area, we assessed school-based parent involvement behaviors and parent involvement-related psychological processes (i.e., parent-teacher relationship quality, parents' endorsement of schools, teachers' perceptions of parents) using parent and teacher report. First, results indicated that significant positive associations were found between school-based parent involvement behaviors and parent involvement-related psychological processes (rs = 0.36-0.53). Next, multi-level modeling was conducted to test concurrent relations of Wave 1 school contextual factors to all four parent involvement constructs (controlling for family-level factors), as well as testing the prospective relations of parent involvement at Wave 1 to children's academic achievement at Wave 2. Student body diversity of schools was negatively associated with school-based parent involvement (rs = -0.18, -0.17), parent-rated parent-teacher relationship quality (r = -0.18), and parents' endorsement of schools (r = -0.36). The concentration of Asian students at schools and schoolwide achievement were negatively associated with teachers' perceptions of parents (rs = -0.18, -0.20). However, neither school contextual factors nor school-based parent involvement at Wave 1 uniquely predicted children's academic achievement at Wave 2. Implications of findings for understanding and addressing barriers to engaging Chinese American immigrant families in their children's schools are discussed.

An Overview of Vietnamese Society of Interventional Radiology

Introduction

The Vietnamese Society of Interventional Radiology (VSIR) is one of the world's youngest interventional radiology (IR) societies, with more than 150 members. During the first decade of the development phase, in addition to a number of achievements, the VSIR has continued to address problematic circumstances.

Aim

This article aims to describe the current status of VSIR, to introduce VSIR to other IR societies.

Methods

We investigated VSIR, using internet sources and related academic and clinical papers.

Results

VSIR was founded in 2010 and has succeeded in advancing education and scientific research during the last 10 years.

Conclusion

VSIR is widely involved and accepted in Vietnamese medicine. We recommend the launch of an IR training program and support a unified global IR platform, for the benefit of both clinicians and patients in the near future.

Exploring the mediating effect of academic engagement on math and reading achievement for students who have experienced maltreatment

BACKGROUND

Students who experience maltreatment tend to underperform academically relative to their peers, requiring an understanding of academically-related mechanisms that are potential intervention targets. Academic engagement, a multidimensional construct that is influential in students' investment in learning and the school context, is one such mechanism that has been associated with positive academic outcomes and develops through interactions between students and their environment.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to examine how maltreatment experiences and trauma symptoms were indirectly associated with academic achievement in adolescence through academic engagement.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The study was conducting on a subsample of 583 youths from the National Study of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing II (NSCAW II) cohort.

METHODS

Structural equation modeling was used to examine the indirect effect engagement on the relationship between maltreatment and trauma symptomology and academic achievement.

RESULTS

Academic engagement significantly mediated trauma symptoms and later standardized reading (β = -0.02; 95 % CI [-0.04, -0.0004]) and math (β = -0.02; 95 % CI [-0.05, -0.0003]) achievement test scores. However, similar mediating effects were not found for engagement on maltreatment and later standardized reading (β = -0.01; 95 % CI [-0.03, 0.01]) and math (β = -0.01; 95 % CI [-0.03, 0.01]) achievement test scores.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that variability in academic outcomes was indirectly associated with engagement but only for students who exhibited trauma symptoms rather than experiencing maltreatment alone. The findings suggest future researchers should consider engagement should as an academically-related mechanism to help students who were maltreated succeed academically.

Effects of using mobile augmented reality for simple interest computation in a financial mathematics course

Understanding the concept of simple interest is essential in financial mathematics because it establishes the basis to comprehend complex conceptualizations. Nevertheless, students often have problems learning about simple interest. This paper aims to introduce a prototype called "simple interest computation with mobile augmented reality" (SICMAR) and evaluate its effects on students in a financial mathematics course. The research design comprises four stages: (i) planning; (ii) hypotheses development; (iii) software development; and (iv) design of data collection instruments. The planning stage explains the problems that students confront to learn about simple interest. In the second stage, we present the twelve hypotheses tested in the study. The stage of software development discusses the logic implemented for SICMAR functionality. In the last stage, we design two surveys and two practice tests to assess students. The pre-test survey uses the attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) model to assess students' motivation in a traditional learning setting. The post-test survey assesses motivation, technology usage with the technology acceptance model (TAM), and prototype quality when students use SICMAR. Also, students solve practice exercises to assess their achievement. One hundred three undergraduates participated in both sessions of the study. The findings revealed the direct positive impact of SICMAR on students' achievement and motivation. Moreover, students expressed their interest in using the prototype because of its quality. In summary, students consider SICMAR as a valuable complementary tool to learn simple interest topics.

Beliefs, affordances, and adolescent development: Lessons from a decade of growth mindset interventions

Beliefs play a central role in human development. For instance, a growth mindset-a belief about the malleability of intelligence-can shape how adolescents interpret and respond to academic difficulties and how they subsequently navigate the educational system. But do usually-adaptive beliefs have the same effects for adolescents regardless of the contexts they are in? Answering this question can reveal new insights into classic developmental questions about continuity and change. Here we present the Mindset×Context framework and we apply this model to the instructive case of growth mindset interventions. We show that teaching students a growth mindset is most effective in educational contexts that provide affordances for a growth mindset; that is, contexts that permit and encourage students to view ability as developable and to act on that belief. This evidence contradicts the "beliefs alone" hypothesis, which holds that teaching adolescents a growth mindset is enough and that students can profit from these beliefs in almost any context, even unsupportive ones. The Mindset×Context framework leads to the realization that in order to produce more widespread and lasting change, we must complement the belief-changing interventions that have been aimed at students with new interventions that guide teachers toward classroom policies and practices that allow students' growth mindset beliefs to take root and yield benefits.

When pursuing bad goals for good reasons makes it even worse: a social value approach to performance-avoidance goal pursuit

Consistently in achievement goal research, pursuing performance-avoidance goals has been associated with a decrease in achievement. Less is known to what extent this effect depends on the reasons underlying these goals' endorsement. The present research uses a social value approach to assess how do performance-avoidance goals' effects on achievement depend on the reasons anchored in social utility (goal endorsed in order to succeed) and in social desirability (goal endorsed in order to please one's teachers). Based on five correlational samples meta-analyzed in Study 1, results showed that perceiving performance-avoidance goals as socially useful increased the negative effect of these goals on achievement. This moderating effect was replicated experimentally in Study 2. These findings support the relevance of studying achievement goal complexes and illustrate that performance-avoidance goals may lead to deleterious consequences even when endorsed for seemingly good reasons.

The role of personality traits and online academic self-efficacy in acceptance, actual use and achievement in Moodle

Informed by the educational conditions shaped by the novel coronavirus pandemic and an increased reliance upon online learning solutions and technologies, this article examines the role of personality traits and online academic self-efficacy in acceptance, actual use and achievement in Moodle on a socially distanced asynchronous university course in Japan. With a sample of 149 students the study adopts SEM path-analysis model testing procedures and shows that agreeableness and conscientious have positive direct effects on online academic self-efficacy in addition to positive indirect effects on the acceptance of Moodle. Moreover agreeableness and conscientious had an indirect effect on course achievement while none of the five-factor model personality traits had an influence on actual Moodle use. An improved respecified model further affirmed the importance of agreeableness and conscientious and their role in online academic self-efficacy, the acceptance and actual use of Moodle and course achievement outcomes. Fourteen percent of the observed variance in course achievement was explainable through the respecified model. The discussion highlights the implications to be drawn from the data in relation to the current educational landscape from the perspective of the educator.

Relationship between admission criteria and academic performance in basic science courses in health science colleges in KAU

BACKGROUND

At King Abdulaziz University, medical and health science schools depend on admission exams (aptitude and achievement) and preparatory year scores in their students' selection. However, with the growing number of applicants and the drastic changes in teaching and assessment in these colleges, continuous assessment and development of admission criteria are needed. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the correlation of admission exam scores, in addition to the preparatory year Grade Point Average (GPA), with academic performance in the basic science subjects such as Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Pharmacology in health science colleges.

METHODS

The study was conducted on four cohort studies, two faculty of nursing cohorts; nursing students (2017-2018, n=146) nursing students (2018-2019, n=81), and two faculty of applied medical sciences cohorts, clinical nutrition students (2017-2018, n=33), and clinical nutrition students (2018-2019, n=28). The students' scores of General Aptitude Test (GAT), Scholastic Achievement Admission Test (SAAT), and preparatory year GPA were all recorded at the beginning of each semester before the beginning of courses. Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Pharmacology exam results were recorded at the end of the semester. Correlation was done for each cohort and all cohorts pooled.

RESULTS

Results showed only a weak correlation detected between SAAT and the overall achievement in Clinical Biochemistry (r= 0.192, P= 0.042) in nursing students (2017-2018), but no correlation was seen with SAAT or preparatory year scores. There was also no significant correlation between admission exams scores and the students' academic achievement in Clinical Biochemistry or Clinical Pharmacology. On the other hand Clinical Pharmacology exam results showed a significant positive correlation with Clinical Biochemistry results (r=0.688, P=0.000).

CONCLUSION

Our results could indicate the need to revisit the admission criteria for these colleges. Furthermore, specific preparatory year tracks for health science colleges can ensure that students improve the specific skills and knowledge required for their future college years3.

Family achievements in struggling with schizophrenia: life experiences in a qualitative content analysis study in Iran

BACKGROUND

The challenges of living with and taking care of a patient with schizophrenia can lead to positive changes depending on the experiences and reactions of family caregivers. Such changes may directly affect the family performance and the patient's recovery stage. Present study aimed to explain the positive experiences reported by family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia.

METHODS

The present study is a qualitative study of content analysis. Data were collected using semi-structured and in-depth interviews with 15 family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia referring to one of the psychiatric hospitals in Zahedan, Southeast part of Iran. Purposive sampling method was applied and data analysis was conducted using conventional content analysis proposed by Graneheim and Lundman.

RESULTS

Data analysis created a theme entitled "family achievements in struggling with schizophrenia". This theme included four categories including Developing positive personality traits in family members, Strengthening family ties, developing insight into the life, and social mobility.

CONCLUSIONS

The results provided insights that the experience of taking care of patients with schizophrenia led to positive consequences for family caregivers. Thus, it is recommended that psychiatrists or consultants help families rely on positive experiences and share these experiences with families with a newly-suffered patient.

Health Needs and College Readiness in Autistic Students: The Freshman Survey Results

With an increase in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in the United States, many of whom have higher intellectual ability, there is a predicted increase in the number of college-bound students. Affected young adults face a "Services Cliff" as they transition into adulthood. Our study examined a nationally represented sample of freshman students and found that academic achievements in autistic students are comparable to their peers when they first enter college. The students however have more mental health and physical health problems compared to their non-autistic peers. Poor health maybe a major contributing factor to the lower graduation rates among autistic students. College-bound autistic students may continue to require services through college for them to be successful and graduate.

The role of academic electronic books in undergraduate students' achievement in higher education

The study objective was to seek the role of utilizing academic electronic books on Ajman University undergraduate students' achievement and faculty members viewpoints about their use. The study participants were 91 students, split into two groups the first group was empirical (46) and the other group was control (45) plus 220 members of the faculty. A performance test and a questionnaire were designed and implemented as tools of study. The results detected significant differences among both the empirical groups and the control groups, for the benefit of the empirical group; and faculty members exhibited highly favorable perspectives on the use of academic electronic books at their university. Faculty members' perceptions varied according to gender, college, and experience teaching, but the academic rank showed no influence.

The Cascading Effects of Externalizing Behaviors and Academic Achievement Across Developmental Transitions: Implications for Prevention and Intervention

Children's behavior and achievement problems are interrelated causes of distress for individuals, schools, and families, and generate long-term individual and societal costs. Yet, little is known about how the timing and direction of relationships involving achievement and problem behaviors (1) varies by standardized versus teacher ratings of achievement and (2) changes as students enter adolescence and begin secondary school. Using data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1048, 50.05% female), we employed longitudinal structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between externalizing behaviors and two forms of achievement from third through ninth grade. Results revealed that externalizing behaviors in grades three, five, and six directly and indirectly influenced teacher ratings of school achievement in grades 5, 6, and 9, and indirectly influenced standardized assessments of achievement over time. The reciprocal relationships involving externalizing behaviors and school achievement were especially strong from grade 6 to grade 9with their contemporaneous association peaking in grade 9. Demographic and maturational factors influenced the average levels of externalizing behaviors and achievement scores over development, but none altered the timing and direction of these relationships. Our findings highlight early adolescence as an important period for implementing evidence-based interventions related to the reduction of externalizing behaviors and improvements in achievement. Implications for prevention research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Putting the Goal Back into Grit: Academic Goal Commitment, Grit, and Academic Achievement

Grit has recently been challenged for its weak predictive power and the incompleteness of its measurement. This study addressed these issues by taking a developmental, person-oriented approach to study academic-related goal commitment and grit and their effects on academic achievement. Using longitudinal data among Finnish eighth and ninth graders (n = 549, 59.4% female, age = 14-16), the longitudinal changes in grit and academic goal commitment profiles were investigated through latent profile and latent transition analyses. Four profiles were identified across two grades: High committed-persistent and moderate consistency (~17%), Moderate (~60%), Low committed-persistent and moderate-low consistency (~8%) and Extremely low committed-persistent and moderate-low consistency (~12%). The students in the High committed-persistent and moderate consistency profile had the highest academic achievement of all the profiles when controlled for gender, socioeconomic status, conscientiousness, and academic persistence. The results revealed that students' profiles changed between the eighth and ninth grades, with more than one-third of the High committed-persistent and moderate consistency adolescents dropping from this group. Further analysis showed that the profiles varied by educational aspiration, gender, and socioeconomic status. These findings imply that the combination of grit and academic goal commitment influences academic achievement; however, this combination is less common, unstable, and affected by internal and external factors. The study provided important implications on the weak grit effect and the ways to improve it.

Changes of ego identity and psychosocial maturity in nursing students: A longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Nursing students who have achieved ego identity are able to develop their careers to become professional nurses. To care for patients in a clinical context, nursing students need to be psychologically and socially mature. Attainment of ego identity and maturity is a key developmental task during students' time at university as they prepare to become professional nurses.

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted to examine changes of ego identity and psychosocial maturity in nursing students.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A longitudinal study design was employed between June 2016 and June 2019 at a university in a metropolis in South Korea.

PARTICIPANTS

The participants were 102 nursing students who responded to surveys on at least two occasions. Seventy-six nursing students completed questionnaires on four occasions (in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019).

METHODS

Data were collected through self-report questionnaires composed of items assessing ego identity, psychosocial maturity, and demographic characteristics. Participants returned questionnaires every June from 2016 to 2019. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the kappa statistic, repeated-measures analysis of variance, and one-way analysis of variance.

RESULTS

In terms of ego identity status, 17.1% of nursing students progressed to a more advanced status, 5.3% of them regressed to a less developed status, 57.9% of students had a fluctuating status, and 19.7% of them had a status that remained stable. Overall, psychosocial maturity in nursing students increased over time. Psychosocial maturity was higher among students in the achievement and moratorium statuses than among those in other statuses.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that ego identity status fluctuated during students' time at nursing school, while psychosocial maturity simultaneously improved. Nursing students who explored their options also became psychologically and socially mature.

Meaning of Success: perception of medical students, and faculty-A Qualitative Study from a medical school in Mauritius

Background

The objective of this study was to find what undergraduate medical students and teaching faculty perceive success to be.

Methods

A descriptive phenomenological qualitative study was designed and conducted on faculty and medical students in Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Medical College, Mauritius. NVivo 12 (Windows) Plus software was implemented for data analysis and thematic analysis was performed.

Results

The codes/nodes namely being: Satisfaction, Accomplishment, Actions, Motivations, Extrinsic Factors and Intrinsic Factors were identified in the transcribed data. Satisfaction was described as the positive emotions and notions intimately related as well as synonymously associated with success. Accomplishment as the attainment and fulfilment of any physical, mental, emotional, social, occupational, personal goal or desire by an individual. Actions was the arsenal of physical processes, acts of planning, goal setting or forethinking exercised by the individual. Motivations was the drive to attain the preset goal or notion be it positive or negative. This applies to factors that enable a subject to strive forwards. Extrinsic Factors were the external determinants and definition of success perceived by the subject. Intrinsic Factors were the subject's internal organic, comprehension and definition of success. The themes generated were: Products of Success, Mechanisms of Success and Concepts of success.

Conclusion

A tangible demarcation is noticeable between the preconceived general impression of success and the vast multifactorial cohort of intrinsic and extrinsic factors coupled to the highly emotional aspects which were brought forth.

A comparison of the academic outcome of chiropractic students on full-time and full-time equivalent chiropractic education routes

OBJECTIVE

To compare the academic equivalence of full-time (FT) and full-time equivalent (FTE) delivery routes for chiropractic training and to assess nontraditional education delivery as a viable method for training chiropractors.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of student summative assessment data was undertaken on a total of 196 FT and FTE students studying for the master's in chiropractic degree at a UK chiropractic college between 2009 and graduating by 2017. The analysis consisted of within-group comparison and between-group comparisons using the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS

The demographics of the 2 student groups varied in terms of gender and age distribution. The analysis of summative data indicated no differences between the 2 routes of delivery. There was also no difference in the distribution of final degree classification outcome between the 2 routes.

CONCLUSIONS

While it is possible that demographic differences influence the outcomes in each training route, this preliminary study indicates that, based only on analysis of overall achievement, there is no difference in either FT or FTE programs in training chiropractors, allowing them to register with the UK regulatory body. It suggests that a nontraditional mode of delivery is an achievable route to qualification as a chiropractor, enabling a greater number of students to consider chiropractic as a career choice while managing other life commitments.

The role of cost in adolescent students' maladaptive academic outcomes

Motivation wields a tangible impact on students' academic functioning. Among the theoretical frameworks used to explain students' motivation to learn, Eccles et al.'s expectancy-value theory (1983) is one of the most influential. It has been used to investigate students' competence- and value-related beliefs and how they are associated with academic-related choices, learning behaviors, and achievement. In the learning context, cost has mostly been discussed under the expectancy-value framework as a sub-dimension of task value and conceptualized as reflecting the negative aspects of task engagement. The issue of cost has recently attracted growing interest among scholars, providing a way to explain the dynamics of student motivation. However, cost is still underexplored in the empirical literature. In the present study, we assessed adolescent students' perceived cost (i.e., effort cost, opportunity cost, ego cost, and emotional cost) of studying math and examined its unique relations with academic motivation and achievement. Across a series of three studies, we found that cost is empirically distinct from the utility, attainment, and interest components of task value and is closely related to students' maladaptive academic outcomes. In particular, cost showed unique associations with adolescent students' test anxiety, disorganization, adoption of avoidance goals, avoidance intentions, and academic achievement. The present study's findings highlight the importance of including cost as a unique construct alongside value to more fully capture students' motivational dynamics in school.

Greater learning transfer effect for avoidance of loss than for achievement of gain in Finnish and Russian schoolchildren

Classification of behavior into principal categories of approach and avoidance is grounded in evolutionary considerations and multiple results of behavioral, self-report, and brain-activity analyses. Contrasted via measures of cognitive processes, avoidance is accompanied by greater cognitive engagement than approach. Considering outcome as a key constituent of behavioral underpinnings, we interpret approach/avoidance distinction in terms of structure of experience: avoidance domain provides more detailed interaction with the environment, than approach domain. Learning outwardly similar behaviors aimed at gain or loss outcomes manifests formation of different structures that underlie further learning. Therefore, we predicted difference of learning transfer between gain and loss contexts that was revealed here by introducing two tasks for different groups of schoolchildren in Finland and Russia. The cultural specificity of gain/loss differences was also evident with employed measures, including error rate and post-error slowing. The results support that avoidance-motivated behavior is organized as a more complex organism-environment interaction, than the approach-motivated behavior.

Using artificial intelligence methods to assess academic achievement in public high schools of a European Union country

Understanding academic achievement (AA) is one of the most global challenges, as there is evidence that it is deeply intertwined with economic development, employment, and countries' wellbeing. However, the research conducted on this topic grounds in traditional (statistical) methods employed in survey (sample) data. This paper presents a novel approach, using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to predict the academic achievement of virtually every public high school student in Portugal, i.e., 110,627 students in the academic year of 2014/2015. Different AI and non-AI methods are developed and compared in terms of performance. Moreover, important insights to policymakers are addressed.

Progress of orthopaedic research in China over the last decade

Objective

To summarize the representative scientific achievements in the past decade, and discuss the future challenges and directions for orthopaedic research in China.

Methods

In this review, we used the data provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for analysis.

Results

Over the last decade, NSFC has initiated various research programs with a total funding of over 1149 million RMB to support orthopaedic exploration. Under the strong support of NSFC, great progresses have been made in basic research, talent training, platform construction and the clinical translation in the field of orthopaedics in China.

Conclusion

In general, since the establishment of the Department of Health Sciences of NSFC 10 years ago, both the amount of funding and the scale of researchers in the field of orthopaedic research have increased substantially. Despite of several shortcomings in orthopaedic research, with continuous support from NSFC both in funding and in policy, we believe that the orthopaedic research in China will surely make steady and significant progress.

The translational potential of this article

This article summarizes the representative scientific achievements in the past decade and puts forward the future challenges and directions for orthopaedic research in China.

An integrated humanities-social sciences course in health sciences education: proposed design, effectiveness, and associated factors

BACKGROUND

Previous research has not provided enough direction regarding effective content design of courses integrating the humanities and social sciences in medical and dental education. This study aims at exploring how an Integrated Medical/Dental Humanities-Social Medicine/Dentistry course may be designed; how effective it may be in terms of student growth in knowledge, attitudes, skills, and aspirations; and associated factors.

METHODS

The course was designed by distilling commonalities in the international standards for medical/dental education proposed by seven major health organizations. This analysis resulted in a curriculum covering nine major topics: history, professionalism, communication, ethics, management, policy, insurance, law, and research methodology. During the 2017 calendar year, data was collected and statistically analyzed from 68 third-year pre-doctoral students enrolled in the resulting MDHS 13-week course.

RESULTS

Participants showed growth in skills, aspirations, knowledge, and attitudes, with the greatest change occurring in skills, then aspirations, knowledge, and attitudes. Knowledge growth was the only variable significantly related to student achievement of course objectives (β = 0.635, t (63) = 3.394, p = 0.001). The topics that students perceived as most critical were insurance, policy, management, and law. The perceived importance of research was most common among participants and was significantly related to all learning outcomes (For knowledge, β = 0.213, t (63) = 2.203, p = 0.031; for attitudes, β = 0.784, t (63) = 10.257, p = 0.000; for skills, β = 0.769, t (63) = 9.772, p = 0.000; and aspirations β = 0.639, t (63) = 7.595, p = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONS

This study proposed a framework for humanities-social sciences education in health sciences education and analyzed its implementation. The empirical evaluation of its effectiveness and factors related to successful outcomes found that students perceived gains in their knowledge, attitudes, skills, and aspirations for humanistic and social aspects of dentistry/medicine. In addition, their recognition of the importance of research was associated with the greatest growth in all four learning outcomes. This study may contribute to the improved design of integrated humanities-social sciences courses.

Achievement and Enhancement

We engage with the nature and the value of achievement through a critical examination of an argument according to which biomedical "enhancement" of our capacities is impermissible because enhancing ourselves in this way would threaten our achievements. We call this the argument against enhancement from achievement. We assess three versions of it, each admitting to a strong or a weak reading. We argue that strong readings fail, and that weak readings, while in some cases successful in showing that enhancement interferes with the nature or value of achievement, fail to establish that enhancement poses an unusual threat to achievement.