Support nursing researchers' need from academic societies during COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey

The activities of nursing researchers have been constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the types of support and related factors that nursing researchers hope to receive from academic societies during the pandemic and to obtain suggestions for the role of academic societies in supporting nursing researchers and expanding research. An online survey was conducted with 1532 Japan Academy of Nursing Science members. The survey included 19 items of potential support from the society during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as open-ended questions. Data were analyzed statistically and qualitatively. For 9 of the 19 items, over 50% of respondents reported that they "needed" or "very much needed" support. Multivariate analysis results showed that younger respondents and those with family members requiring care were significantly more likely to report needs for some items. In the open-ended comments, there were several suggestions for activities, including "Lobbying for revision of regulations on research implementation." Nursing researchers expressed needs for support that reflect their demographic characteristics and situations, including collaboration across organizations and securing research-promotion and skill-development opportunities online.

Evaluation of Social Cognition Measures for Japanese Patients with Schizophrenia Using an Expert Panel and Modified Delphi Method

Social cognition is strongly linked to social functioning outcomes, making it a promising treatment target. Because social cognition measures tend to be sensitive to linguistic and cultural differences, existing measures should be evaluated based on their relevance for Japanese populations. We aimed to establish an expert consensus on the use of social cognition measures in Japanese populations to provide grounds for clinical use and future treatment development. We assembled a panel of experts in the fields of schizophrenia, social psychology, social neuroscience, and developmental disorders. The panel engaged in a modified Delphi process to (1) affirm expert consensus on the definition of social cognition and its constituent domains, (2) determine criteria to evaluate measures, and (3) identify measures appropriate for Japanese patients with a view toward future quantitative research. Through two online voting rounds and two online video conferences, the panel agreed upon a definition and four-domain framework for social cognition consistent with recent literature. Evaluation criteria for measures included feasibility and tolerability, reliability, clinical effectiveness, validity, and international comparability. The panel finally identified nine promising measures, including one task originally developed in Japan. In conclusion, we established an expert consensus on key discussion points in social cognition and arrived at an expert-selected set of measures. We hope that this work facilitates the use of these measures in Japanese clinical scenarios. We plan to further examine these measures in a psychometric evaluation study.