Journal articles on the topic 'Exercise of Professional Practice Evaluation. eng'

IntroductionTeaching, as a profession, is recognized as demanding and stressful.Objectives(1) Evaluate the professional teacher stress, (2) Identify possible factors associated with it.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study, descriptive and analytical, conducted among teachers of high school Mahmoud Magdich in Sfax. (Tunisia). Participants were asked to complete the anonymous form detailing the socio-demographic, professional characteristics and any work stressors.The evaluation of occupational stress was evaluated by the scale of “Karasek”.ResultsThirty-six teachers replied to the questionnaires. The sex ratio (M/F) was 0.38. The mean age was 48.77 years. The average number of years of exercise was 23.20 years and the average number of hours worked per week was 16.25 hours. The participants stress profile according to the scale of “Karasek” was: 55.6% stressed, 27.8%, assets, 11.1% liabilities, and 5.6% relaxed. The main stress factors mentioned were respectively: the inadequate salary (58.3%), difficult working conditions (52.8%), problems with students and parents (25%) and lack of organization at work (22.2%). Factors correlated with the profile “stressed” were: female gender (P = 0.026), lack of pastime practice (P = 0.034), teaching high school degree (P = 0.04), feeling that they work “too hard” in their work (P = 0.005), they are “the end” at the end of the working day (P = 0.015) and low social support (P = 0.005).ConclusionThe occupational stress among teachers was quite important. Knowing how to identify factors and taking action would be interesting for the guarantee development for teachers. Students would be the ultimate beneficiaries.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

BackgroundThe needs of people with dementia and their carers are inadequately addressed at all key points in the illness trajectory, from diagnosis through to end-of-life care. The EVIDEM (Evidence-based Interventions in Dementia) research and development programme (2007–12) was designed to help change this situation within real-life settings.ObjectivesThe EVIDEM projects were (1) evaluation of an educational package designed to enhance general practitioners’ (GPs’) diagnostic and management skills; (2) evaluation of exercise as therapy for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD); (3) development of a toolkit for managing incontinence in people with dementia living at home; (4) development of a toolkit for palliative care for people with dementia; and (5) development of practice guidance on the use of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.DesignMixed quantitative and qualitative methods from case studies to large database analyses, including longitudinal surveys, randomised controlled trials and research register development, with patient and public involvement built into all projects.SettingGeneral practices, community services, third-sector organisations and care homes in the area of the North Thames Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Network local research network.ParticipantsPeople with dementia, their family and professional carers, GPs and community mental health team members, staff in local authority social services and third-sector bodies, and care home staff.Main outcome measuresDementia management reviews and case identification in general practice; changes in behavioural and psychological symptoms measured with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI); extent and impact of incontinence in community-dwelling people with dementia; mapping of pathways to death of people with dementia in care homes, and testing of a model of collaborative working between primary care and care homes; and understandings of the MCA 2005 among practitioners working with people with dementia.ResultsAn educational intervention in general practice did not alter management or case identification. Exercise as a therapy for BPSD did not reduce NPI scores significantly, but had a significant positive effect on carer burden. Incontinence is twice as common in community-dwelling people with dementia than their peers, and is a hidden taboo within a stigma. Distinct trajectories of dying were identified (anticipated, unexpected and uncertain), and collaboration between NHS primary care and care homes was improved, with cost savings. The MCA 2005 legislation provided a useful working framework for practitioners working with people with dementia.ConclusionsA tailored educational intervention for general practice does not change practice, even when incentives, policy pressure and consumer demand create a favourable environment for change; exercise has potential as a therapy for BPSD and deserves further investigation; incontinence is a common but unrecognised problem for people with dementia in the community; changes in relationships between care homes and general practice can be achieved, with benefits for people with dementia at the end of life and for the UK NHS; application of the MCA 2005 will continue to improve but educational reinforcements will help this. Increased research capacity in dementia in the community was achieved. This study suggests that further work is required to enhance clinical practice around dementia in general practice; investigate the apparent beneficial effect of physical activity on BPSD and carer well-being; develop case-finding methods for incontinence in people with dementia; optimise working relationships between NHS staff and care homes; and reinforce practitioner understanding of the MCA 2005.Trial registrationEVIDEM: ED-NCT00866099; EVIDEM: E-ISRCTN01423159.FundingThis project was funded by the Programme Grants for Applied Research programme of the National Institute for Health Research.

Diabetes is a serious health condition that significantly impacts physical and emotional well-being. Working with primary care providers, clinical mental health counselors have an opportunity to contribute to its efficacious treatments. Researchers and clinicians have suggested a multidisciplinary approach to diabetes care may be useful. To increase knowledge and awareness about the use of collaborative care models for diabetes care, the authors—a licensed professional counselor and a family physician—share lessons learned from their experiences designing and cofacilitating a series of multidisciplinary-led diabetes groups in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The series covered education, support, and self-management techniques related to diabetes care. All 57 participants were asked to complete a program evaluation survey. All 29 participants who did so (100%) reported having a better understanding of diabetes, and 21 (71%) reported applying what they had learned (e.g., increasing exercise and making better nutritional choices). Implications for counselors in practice and research are discussed.

6 Background: Narrative medicine (NM) is acknowledged as an effective approach for valuing patient and provider experiences. The NM approach requires developing narrative competence to “recognize, absorb, interpret, and honor” the stories of self and other (Charon, 2010). Given the difficulties providers face engaging in end-of-life (EOL) and advance care planning (ACP) conversations, this study reports the results of a NM workshop to 1) develop skills in attending and responding to the stories of others as part of ACP conversations and 2) reflect on their own stories of loss in relation to their professional practice. Methods: 80 health care professionals participated in a workshop on NM principles for end-of-life care and completed both pre- and post-workshop surveys. Workshop activities included a close reading on a professional’s story of personal loss and a reflective writing exercise sharing one’s own personal story of loss. Small groups debriefed after each exercise. 2 participants were current students and were dropped from analysis, for a final analytic sample of 78. Participants completed surveys at baseline and at the conclusion of the workshop. Surveys included questions on participant demographics, confidence for EOL conversations, and the ACP Self Efficacy scale. Descriptive statistics were calculated for sample demographics and post-workshop evaluation questions. A paired sample t-test was used to compare ACP Self Efficacy scores pre- and post-workshop. Confidence for EOL conversations was compared pre- and post-workshop using Kendall’s tau-b. Results: The mean age of the sample was 46.6 years (SD 13.1), 94% were female, and 82% were White. Social workers represented 84.6% of the sample. 53% of the sample reported having some type of advance care directive for themselves. Self-efficacy for engaging in ACP conversations increased from pre- to post-workshop (p < 0.0001) and there was a statistically significant improvement in confidence discussing death and dying from pre- to post-workshop (p = 0.004). Conclusions: NM competencies improve self-efficacy and confidence for engaging in ACP and EOL conversations. Providers find the NM approach to be a useful framework for engaging in difficult conversations about end-of-life.

Curriculum development comprises a process to meet learners’ needs leading to learners’ learning improvement. For that reason, curriculum developers should gather as much information as possible toward the learners’ needs. This study aims to reveal the learners’ needs on local cultural based-textbook in learning Reading Professional Context at the English department of Universitas Kristen Indonesia (UKI) Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. This study employed qualitative with survey design. One-hundred-and-fifty-five learners of English program study of UKI Toraja participated in this study. The instruments used in this study are questionnaire and semi structured-interview. The technique of analyzing data applied in this research is descriptive analysis in the form of calculation and percentage, and in analyzing the qualitative data (interview), the researcher used cyclical data analysis. This study showed that the students’ need a learning objective to understand beliefs, norms, values, and social practices in Toraja for maintaining Torajan Culture and avoiding misunderstanding across the culture. This study also indicates that the students’ need themes about the cultural pattern in Toraja for learning materials include beliefs, values, norms, and social practices in Toraja. Besides, this study revealed that students’ need learning strategies and evaluation. Learning strategies are rooted in activities/exercises on the material content and the number of students. On-time evaluation is necessary during the process and at the end of the lesson.

The subject of evaluating foresight work has been around for almost as long as the professional practice itself has, but the field has done little to move closer to a systematic evaluation of its work. This special issue marks the second collection of articles on that project after a special issue of Futures in 2012 (Van Der Duin and Van Der Martin 2012). This issue takes a three-part approach: Part 1: evaluation of foresight in general and evaluation approaches and methods that can support designing an appropriate evaluation; Part 2: evaluation of foresight work in organizations and its impact on long-term thinking and decision-making; and Part 3: evaluation of specific foresight activities—an undergraduate learner foresight experience and a health sector scenario development exercise. The foreword ends with a reflection on the continuing issue of foresight and evaluation.

Describes the nature of accrediting prior learning (APL). Examines its potential from the perspectives of professional bodies, such as the IPM and the Government. As a prelude to examining a case study evaluation of a “Portfolio Exercise” used to detect non‐standard entrants to a suite of programmes in higher education discusses some problems of putting its principles into practice.

Value bracketing is a clinical practice proposed by graduate-level mental health counseling educators to help therapists-in-training learn how to avoid imposing their private values on clients as well as how to manage value conflicts with clients that emerge during the course of therapy. With value bracketing during professional work, a therapist does not refer to his or her private values so as not to influence a client’s decision-making process. When some academic writers describe this practice, however, they risk overemphasizing the distinction made between a therapist’s private values and the professional values that regulate his or her clinical work. This overemphasis is especially apparent in the assertion that a therapist’s religious morality must be entirely separated from the ethics of professional practice. In contrast with this viewpoint, I maintain that a Catholic therapist can both avoid imposing values on clients while at the same time balance value bracketing with the integration of religious morality into professional work. I approach this integration in two ways. First, I approach therapy from the perspective of the intellectual tradition from which value bracketing originates (the tradition of qualitative research involving phenomenological interviewing). From this perspective, I agree that bracketing is methodologically necessary during the stage of clinical interviewing but not necessarily during the stage of treatment planning (when both therapist and client consent to seek particular treatment goals). Second, I outline moral criteria derived from the Catholic intellectual tradition that can help therapists exercise practical wisdom when discerning their professional involvement in how clients will apply treatment outcomes outside of the therapy. Summary: The goal of the foregoing discussion has been to explore how therapists might balance the clinical practice of value bracketing with a supplemental practice of value integration. Ways were sought for Catholic therapists to adopt the practice of value bracketing without it requiring the professional affirmation (in thought, word, or deed) of client decisions and behaviors that contradict the therapist’s private value system. An integration strategy to professional acculturation was explored where students and professionals seek to balance value bracketing with value integration. This balance is primarily to be located in the collaborative work of the therapist and the client when formulating a treatment plan together. At this stage of clinical work, a Catholic therapist consents to seek goals not only as a professional but also as a follower of Christ.

Athletic training students need real-time patient experiences in order to transfer the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom into clinical practice. The objective is to present a description of an assignment that could be incorporated into a therapeutic exercise course giving the student an opportunity to evaluate a patient, design a program utilizing evidence-based practice (EBP), and work with the patient in a 1-on-1 capacity over a period of time to implement the program. Students may not always have the opportunity in the clinical education environment to develop a rehabilitation program for a patient based on their own evaluation of the patient and utilize EBP concepts in the development of a program. This assignment involves utilizing patient evaluation techniques, including the use of a patient-rated outcome measures instrument, as well as the use of clinician-based measures, to develop a rehabilitation program. The program must be anchored in sound evidence and patient needs, incorporating multiple facets (eg, range of motion exercises, strengthening exercises) within the limitations of the injury/condition. Students report increased confidence in their ability to design a rehabilitation program, as well as their ability to utilize EBP in the clinical setting. They also develop problem-solving skills and cultivate professional attributes (communication skills, interpersonal skills) through this activity. In conclusion, this assignment is 1 way to infuse EBP concepts into a classroom assignment that requires real-time patient care experience over a period of time.

This study builds with AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) the teaching ability system for martial arts teachers in institutions of higher learning, which falls into four layers: destination layer, criteria layer, feature layer and index layer. The destination layer refers to the teaching abilities of martial arts teachers; the criteria layer consists of two criterions, which are professional practice ability and teaching ability; the feature layer is made up of seven features, including martial arts skills, martial arts organization and judgment, martial arts culture, martial arts graph recognition and routine design, basic quality, basic skill and teaching organization; and the index layer consists of 19 indexes, which are self-defense skills, routine exercise skills, offensive and defensive skills, martial arts organization, martial arts judgment, schools of martial arts, martial arts culture, martial arts graph recognition, martial arts routine design, professional ethics, teamwork, humanistic quality, language expression, student management, teaching research, course design, teaching practice, teaching evaluation and teaching guide. The results show that the top five impact factors for the teaching ability of martial arts teachers in institutions of higher learning are course design, routine exercise skills, teaching practice, teaching research and martial arts routine design.

The rapid emergence of information and communication technology (ICT) has had implications for the education system and initial teacher education (ITE) in particular. This study investigated the extent to which teacher education assists student teachers in developing their professional digital competence (PDC) in general and, more specifically, their competence in using ICT responsibly. Responsible use of ICT is here taken to include privacy and copyright issues, ethical issues and the ability to evaluate digital information. To explore Norwegian student teachers’ perspectives, awareness and experience of the responsible use of ICT, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 student teachers before their practice placements at local schools and with six students after their practice placements. Overall, the findings indicate that the student teachers mostly knew how to search for and evaluate digital information, but that they tended to choose the most convenient approach for search and evaluation. Further, it seems that the student teachers were aware to some extent of how to avoid advertisements, marketing or inappropriate content when using online resources in the classroom. However, they had limited competence in dealing with privacy and copyright issues in a teaching setting. One of the challenges identified through this study is that, during practice placements, the attention seems to be on the technical aspects of ICT rather than on pedagogical or responsible ways of using ICT. The study concludes that teacher education programmes need to include responsible use of ICT as an integral part of their programme, as well as during student teachers’ practice placements in schools, rather than providing stand-alone activities or courses of limited duration.

BackgroundTherapy interventions emerged four times in the top 10 research priorities in a James Lind Alliance research prioritisation exercise for children with neurodisabilities (Morris C, Simkiss D, Busk M, Morris M, Allard A, Denness J,et al.Setting research priorities to improve the health of children and young people with neurodisability: a British Academy of Childhood Disability-James Lind Alliance Research Priority Setting Partnership.BMJ Open2015;5:e006233). The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) commissioned this study as part of an information-gathering exercise in response to this.ObjectivesThe objectives were to (1) describe the current practice, approaches and schools of thought in relation to physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy for children with neurodisability; (2) explore clinical decision-making; (3) investigate views on outcomes and their measurement, particularly participation as an outcome, that is, the child’s ability to have the opportunity to be involved in life situations and activities (e.g. communication, mobility, interpersonal interactions, self-care, learning and applying knowledge); (4) seek views on the aspects of therapy interventions that have an impact on outcomes; and (5) elicit stakeholder views on research needs and priorities.Design, setting and participantsMore than 70 professionals (therapists, service leads, paediatricians and education staff) and 25 parents participated in a qualitative interview (either individually or as part of a focus group).ResultsProfessional thinking and models of service delivery are in a state of flux and development. There is a move towards goals-focused, family-centred approaches. Work tends to be highly individualised, with few protocols. Parents are certain of the value of therapies, although they may experience difficulties with provision and may seek (additional) private provision. Therapy interventions are conceived as three components: the therapist, the procedures/equipment, etc., and the wider therapeutic environment. They are believed to be highly complex and poorly understood. Although participation is widely endorsed as a core intervention objective of therapy interventions, its suitability, or appropriateness, as an outcome measure was questioned. Other child and/or parent outcomes were identified as more or equally important. Notions of intermediate outcomes – in terms of body structure/function, and the achievement of activities – were regarded as important and not counter to participation-focused approaches. Among therapists, research on intervention effectiveness was (cautiously) welcomed. A number of methodological challenges were identified. A portfolio of study designs – quantitative and qualitative, experimental and observational – was called for, and which included economic evaluation and clear pathways to impact.LimitationsThe study was not successful in recruiting children and young people. Further work is required to elucidate the views of this key stakeholder group.ConclusionsTherapy interventions are poorly understood. There was strong support, tempered a little by concerns among some about the feasibility of demonstrating impact, for investment in research.Future workThe identification of research priorities was a core study objective, and a wide-ranging research agenda was identified. It included ‘foundational’ research into neurodisability, the active components of therapy interventions and the concept of participation. Three areas of evaluation were identified: overall approaches to therapy, service organisation and delivery issues, and the evaluation of specific techniques. Parents regarded evaluations of approaches to therapy (e.g. goals-focused; supporting family-self management) as priorities, along with evaluations of models of service provision. Professionals’ views were broadly similar, with an additional emphasis on methodological research. In terms of specific techniques, there was no shared agreement regarding priorities, with views informed by personal interests and experiences.FundingThe NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme.

Background Evidence-based practice refers to building clinical decisions on credible research evidence, professional experience, and patient preferences. However, there is a growing concern that evidence in the context of electronic health (eHealth) is not sufficiently used when forming policies and practice of health care. In this context, using evaluation and research evidence in clinical or policy decisions dominates the discourse. However, the use of additional types of evidence, such as professional experience, is underexplored. Moreover, there might be other ways of using evidence than in clinical or policy decisions. Objective This study aimed to analyze how different types of evidence (such as evaluation outcomes [including patient preferences], professional experiences, and existing scientific evidence from other research) obtained within the development and evaluation of an eHealth trial are used by diverse stakeholders. An additional aim was to identify barriers to the use of evidence and ways to support its use. Methods This study was built on a case of an eHealth trial funded by the European Union. The project included 4 care centers, 2 research and development companies that provided the web-based physical exercise program and an activity monitoring device, and 2 science institutions. The qualitative data collection included 9 semistructured interviews conducted 8 months after the evaluation was concluded. The data analysis concerned (1) activities and decisions that were made based on evidence after the project ended, (2) evidence used for those activities and decisions, (3) in what way the evidence was used, and (4) barriers to the use of evidence. Results Evidence generated from eHealth trials can be used by various stakeholders for decisions regarding clinical integration of eHealth solutions, policy making, scientific publishing, research funding applications, eHealth technology, and teaching. Evaluation evidence has less value than professional experiences to local decision making regarding eHealth integration into clinical practice. Professional experiences constitute the evidence that is valuable to the highest variety of activities and decisions in relation to eHealth trials. When using existing scientific evidence related to eHealth trials, it is important to consider contextual relevance, such as location or disease. To support the use of evidence, it is suggested to create possibilities for health care professionals to gain experience, assess a few rather than a large number of variables, and design for shorter iterative cycles of evaluation. Conclusions Initiatives to support and standardize evidence-based practice in the context of eHealth should consider the complexities in how the evidence is used in order to achieve better uptake of evidence in practice. However, one should be aware that the assumption of fact-based decision making in organizations is misleading. In order to create better chances that the evidence produced would be used, this should be addressed through the design of eHealth trials.

Objectives(1) To explore professional and lay stakeholder views on the design and delivery of services in the area of consanguinity and genetic risk. (2) To identify principles on which there is sufficient consensus to warrant inclusion in a national guidance document. (3) To highlight differences of opinion that necessitate dialogue. (4) To identify areas where further research or development work is needed to inform practical service approaches.DesignDelphi exercise. Three rounds and one consensus conference.SettingUK, national, web-based and face-to-face.ParticipantsRecruitment via email distribution lists and professional networks. 42 participants with varied professional and demographic backgrounds contributed to at least one round of the exercise. 29 people participated in statement ranking across both rounds 2 and 3.ResultsOver 700 individual statements were generated in round 1 and consolidated into 193 unique statements for ranking in round 2, with 60% achieving 80% or higher agreement. In round 3, 74% of statements achieved 80% or higher agreement. Consensus conference discussions resulted in a final set of 148 agreed statements, providing direction for both policy-makers and healthcare professionals. 13 general principles were agreed, with over 90% agreement on 12 of these. Remaining statements were organised into nine themes: national level leadership and coordination, local level leadership and coordination, training and competencies for healthcare and other professionals, genetic services, genetic literacy, primary care, referrals and coordination, monitoring and evaluation and research. Next steps and working groups were also identified.ConclusionsThere is high agreement among UK stakeholders on the general principles that should shape policy and practice responses in this area: equity of access, cultural competence, coordinated inter-agency working, co-design and empowerment and embedded evaluation. The need for strong national leadership to ensure more efficient sharing of knowledge and promotion of more equitable and consistent responses across the country is emphasised.

Introduction In the Family Health Strategy (FHS), the treatment of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) includes education and lifestyle change strategies. Physiotherapists have a key role in this health setting. Objectives To implement actions of evaluation and guidelines for patients with type 2 DM who attend a Family Health Strategy (FHS), regarding diabetic foot and the practice of regular physical exercise in the control and prevention of the complications of Diabetes Mellitus. Methods 17 individuals from an FHS were evaluated, with the following procedures: clinical and anthropometric parameters, inspection, a questionnaire on diabetic neuropathy, tests of vibratory and tactile sensitivity, muscle function, range of motion, functional analysis, questions about exercise practice and guidance regarding controlling blood glucose and foot care. Results Deformities, dry skin, calluses, dehydration, ulceration, cracking and brittle nails were found. Peripheral neuropathy was not observed; tactile sensitivity was altered in the heel region and the vibratory sense was absent in 5% of individuals. A decrease in functionality of ankle movements was verified. Of the participants, 76% were sedentary, 24% knew about the benefits of practicing regular exercise, 25% had undergone a medical evaluation prior to performing physical exercise and, of these, 25% were supervised by a qualified professional. Discussion The implementation of physiotherapy actions in diabetics from an FHS was important for highlighting the presence of risk factors for diabetic complications. Conclusions Individuals attending the FHS need more information and programs for the prevention of diabetic complications.

Resumo: O assistente social é um dos profissionais requisitados a atuar na gestão das políticas públicas. Trata-se de um dos campos profissionais onde exerce função de planejamento e avaliação de programas, projetos e serviços das políticas públicas. Este artigo aponta referências sobre este trabalho partindo da bibliografia sobre o Serviço Social e seu estatuto teórico-prático. Indica a necessidade de analisar a profissão e as relações construídas entre o projeto ético-político, o exercício profissional e suas dimensões. Conclui que este exercício requer um conjunto de saberes que o possibilita reconhecer as determinações constitutivas deste campo profissional dentre elas, identificar o modo como opera a relação teoria e prática; os conhecimentos que a orientam; a interpretação dos desafios da gestão social como possibilidade de (re) construir e qualificar as respostas profissionais. Palavras-chaves: Serviço Social. Trabalho profissional. Gestão de políticas públicas. SUMMARY: The social worker is professionals required to act in the management of public policies. This is one of the professional fields in which it exercises planning function and evaluation of programs, projects and services of public policies. This article points out references to this work based on the literature on social work and its theoretical status and practical. Indicates the need to examine the profession and the relationships built between the ethical-political project, professional practice and its dimensions. We conclude that this exercise requires a set of knowledge that allows the recognition of this professional field determinations constituent among them, identify how the relationship operates theory and practice, the knowledge that guide it, the interpretation of the challenges of corporate management as a possibility (re) construct and qualify professional responses. Keywords: Social Service. Professional work. Management of public policies. Professional Practice

Abstract Introduction The cost to healthcare of wasted medicines has been estimated at around £300million per annum (1). In response to this figure and efforts to increase medicines management performance across pharmacy and patient outcomes, the practice of ‘medicines optimisation’ has developed into a key aspect of patient care. In particular, concerns exist around whether patients are deriving the optimum benefit from their medications and the extent to which adherence ‘drops off’ at varying intervals after prescription and collection. In order to tackle medicines adherence and waste, a multi-disciplinary approach must be applied to ensure patients who are prescribed a new medicine take it as intended, experience no problems and receive as much information as they feel they need from healthcare professionals (HCP’s). Adapting Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)-based techniques to medicines-related consultations has proven effective in supporting medicines adherence in previous studies (2). Collectively, findings demonstrate scope for improving the way HCP’s communicate with patients around starting a new medication and monitoring ongoing use. Aim The study aim was to adapt an existing, Royal College of General Practitioners accredited ’10-minute CBT’ training package to be suitable for wider use by a range of healthcare professionals (HCP’s) (i.e. Practice Nurses, Community Pharmacists, Hospital Pharmacists and General Practitioners). Methods The research design adopted a repeated-measures, pre/ post questionnaire study that gathered data on HCP knowledge around the use of CBT-based techniques in consultations at the start and end of the training intervention. Two training days were attended by HCP’s that took place three weeks apart. The degree of satisfaction with the training intervention was assessed, along with a formulation exercise that was completed on a hypothetical patient case study pre- and post-training. Results Training of healthcare professionals took place at the Oxford Science Park and 105 NHS staff members participated. Feedback questionnaires were received by 96 HCP’s and 46 HCP’s provided additional follow-up questionnaires at 6-months, demonstrating favourable results regarding intervention content and delivery that were consistent with a prior feasibility study. Paired samples t-tests were performed on each formulation exercise rating scale domain and for total scores. There was a highly statistically significant increase in scores for all domains including total pre- and post-training scores as measured by the Formulation Rating Scale. Intra-class Correlation Coefficient for mean FRS ratings was 0.99 (p=.000) and there was no statistically significant change in any score when attendees repeated the skills assessment at 6 months, indicating once learning had been incorporated into practice, there was no recognisable training degradation over the 6-month period. See Table 1. Conclusion The training intervention was rated favourably by attendees and was reported by participants as providing a safe environment from which to increase knowledge of CBT-based techniques, practice implementation of formulation skills and access additional peer support to help integrate learning into medicines-related consultations. The study also demonstrates this group of HCP’s were able to integrate CBT-based techniques into hypothetical medicines-related scenarios and that learning was retained over a six-month period following training intervention. References 1. York Health Economics Consortium and the School of Pharmacy, University of London. Evaluation of the Scale, Causes and Costs of Waste Medicines. 2010. http://php.york.ac.uk/inst/yhec/web/news/documents/Evaluation_of_NHS_Medicines_Waste_Nov_2010.pdf 2. Easthall C, Song F, Bhattacharya D. A meta-analysis of cognitive-based behaviour change techniques as interventions to improve medication Adherence. BMJ Open 2013;3:e002749.

Evidence-based practice suggests the best approach to improving professionalism in practice is ethics curricula. However, recent research has demonstrated that millennium graduates do not advocate for patients or assert themselves during moral conflicts. The aim of this article is the exploration of evaluation techniques to evaluate one measurable outcome of ethics curricula: moral reasoning. A review of literature, published between 1995 and 2013, demonstrated that the moral orientations of care and justice as conceptualized by Gilligan and Kohlberg are utilized by nursing students to solve ethical dilemmas. Data obtained by means of reflective journaling, Ethics of Care Interview (ECI) and Defining Issues Test (DIT), would objectively measure the interrelated pathways of care-based and justice-based moral reasoning. In conclusion, educators have an ethical responsibility to foster students' ability to exercise sound clinical judgment, and support their professional development. It is recommended that educators design authentic assessments to demonstrate student's improvement of moral reasoning.

Forestry education is poorly served with published examples of teaching and learning methods that enable students to engage actively with the discipline. This is not the case in other professional disciplines, such as the biology, medicine and engineering, where sub-disciplines have emerged and are devoted to the development and evaluation of optimum learning strategies. In this paper we present a short field-based practical that introduces forestry students to forest stand dynamics, applied forest ecology and silviculture. Students measure a series of tree and stand parameters in 2 contrasting forest types. They then analyze and interpret the data to develop their understanding. Reflective practice is built in by setting questions designed to promote enquiry and the self-identification of future avenues for personal development. The project, as described here, was devised for students at the National School of Forestry, England, but the principles could be applied to almost any learning environment. Planning within curriculum teams would be required to identify the appropriate location for this exercise in specific undergraduate programmes. Key words: forest stand dynamics, silviculture, problem-based learning, reflection, professional education

Background: The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. Because of their close proximity to the population, primary care physicians and nurses are in a unique position to motivate and advise patients with obesity on a healthy diet and increased physical activity. Drawing from information recorded in electronic clinical records, we evaluated how the general recommendations included in obesity guidelines are being implemented in routine clinical practice. Methods: This study drew from the following data from a cohort of 209 patients with obesity that attended primary care consultations: electronic clinical records, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), cardiovascular risk factors, comorbidities and whether their health professional documented compliance with the recommendations of the evidence-based obesity guidelines in their electronic history. Results: Only 25.4% of the clinical records met all the criteria established in the therapeutic guidelines regarding diet prescription, 1.4% for physical activity and 1.5% for behavioral change activities. The patients whose records mentioned diet prescription and physical activity and who received follow-up consultations for both factors had lower average BMI and WC, although this relationship was not significant after adjusting for baseline. Conclusions: We found that only a small number of records in the electronic clinical histories followed the evidence-based obesity guidelines. Recording dietetic prescription and physical exercise in the patient’s clinical record is associated with better control of obesity.

Burnout is increasingly present in organizations and in the most diverse professions, namely, in university students. Burnout can have negative repercussions on their well-being and can even lead them to abandon their studies. The objective of the study focuses on academic burnout and taking medication as a consequence of the requirements of the academic path of students at a Portuguese public university. To achieve this goal, a quantitative methodology was used, consisting of the distribution of a questionnaire to a sample of students from the analyzed university. The first study questionnaire obtained 207 responses, all valid. To perform the analysis of the quantitative data, the program IBM SPSS Statistics, version 25 was used. Inferential statistics were used, namely, Student t-test and one-way ANOVA (parametric tests), Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and the Chi-square test, to test the previously defined research hypotheses. Among the variables for which statistically significant relationships with burnout were found, the following stand out: the arithmetic mean (course average); the professional situation; participation in extracurricular activities; the practice and frequency of physical exercise; the choice and expectations regarding the course; the uncertainty felt about the professional future; the evaluation of the relationship with colleagues.

BackgroundBy 2010 English health policy-makers had concluded that the main NHS commissioners [primary care trusts (PCTs)] did not sufficiently control provider costs and performance. After the 2010 general election, they decided to replace PCTs with general practitioner (GP)-controlled Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). Health-care commissioners have six main media of power for exercising control over providers, which can be used in different combinations (‘modes of commissioning’).ObjectivesTo: elicit the programme theory of NHS commissioning policy and empirically test its assumptions; explain what shaped NHS commissioning structures; examine how far current commissioning practice allowed commissioners to exercise governance over providers; examine how commissioning practices differ in different types of commissioning organisation and for specific care groups; and explain what factors influenced commissioning practice and the relationships between commissioners and providers.DesignMixed-methods realistic evaluation, comprising: Leximancer and cognitive frame analyses of policy statements to elicit the programme theory of NHS commissioning policy; exploratory cross-sectional analysis of publicly available managerial data about PCTs; systematic comparison of case studies of commissioning in four English sites – including commissioning for older people at risk of unplanned hospital admission; mental health; public health; and planned orthopaedic surgery – and of English NHS commissioning practice with that of a German sick-fund and an Italian region (Lombardy); action learning sets, to validate the findings and draw out practical implications; and two framework analyses synthesising the findings and testing the programme theory empirically.ResultsIn the four English case study sites, CCGs were formed by recycling former commissioning structures, relying on and maintaining the existing GP commissioning leaderships. The stability of distributed commissioning depended on the convergence of commissioners’ interests. Joint NHS and local government commissioning was more co-ordinated at strategic than operational level. NHS providers’ responsiveness to commissioners reflected how far their interests converged, but also providers’ own internal ability to implement agreements. Commissioning for mental health services and to prevent recurrent unplanned hospital readmissions relied more on local ‘micro-commissioning’ (collaborative care pathway design) than on competition. Service commissioning was irrelevant to intersectoral health promotion, but not clinical prevention work. On balance, the possibility of competition did not affect service outcomes in the ways that English NHS commissioning policies assumed. ‘Commodified’ planned orthopaedic surgery most lent itself to provider competition. In all three countries, tariff payments increased provider activity and commissioners’ costs. To contain costs, commissioners bundled tariff payments into blocks, agreed prospective case loads with providers and paid below-tariff rates for additional cases. Managerial performance, negotiated order and discursive control were the predominant media of power used by English, German and Italian commissioners.ConclusionsCommissioning practice worked in certain respects differently from what NHS commissioning policy assumed. It was often laborious and uncertain. In the four English case study sites financial and ‘real-side’ contract negotiations were partly decoupled, clinician involvement being least on the financial side. Tariff systems weakened commissioners’ capacity to choose providers and control costs. Commissioners adapted the systems to solve this problem. Our findings suggest a need for further research into whether or not differently owned providers (corporate, third sector, public, professional partnership, etc.) respond differently to health-care commissioners and, if so, what specific implications for commissioning practice follow. They also suggest that further work is needed to assess how commissioning practices impact on health system integration when care pathways have to be constructed across multiple providers that must tender competitively for work, perhaps against each other.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

Purpose Little is known about how harm reduction is practiced in Norwegian housing first (HF) projects. The purpose of this paper is to explore, describe, and interpret how providers apply a harm reduction approach within a housing project focused on individuals who are homeless with co-morbid substance use and mental health problems. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study was part of a larger evaluation study of a three-year HF project in a Norwegian municipality. Data were collected using four multi-stage focus groups with five providers working in the HF project. Focus group interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings Analysis resulted in three main themes: “Letting the service user sit in the driver’s seat,” “We don’t follow service provision contracts, we do everything,” and “Collaborating with the local community.” Research limitations/implications There is a need to develop increased knowledge about service users’ experiences within the harm reduction approach. Practical implications To practice effective harm reduction, treatment providers must have open authorizations and the opportunity to exercise professional judgment. Harm reduction practice must also focus on social, political, and economic factors influencing users’ everyday lives. Originality/value The paper contributes to the knowledge base on harm reduction within HF practice that differs from a traditional model wherein clients are expected to abstain from substance use. It highlights important preconditions for challenges practitioners might encounter at both individual and service system levels.

Research demonstrated that personality traits of fighter pilots have impact on their performance. The prediction of supersonic fighter pilots performance and professional success can be made by assessment of the levels of personality traits of those individuals that are selected to practice this profession. The present research examined if the personality traits (self-efficacy, orderliness, dutifulness and altruism) can predict the level of performance of the fighter pilots on supersonic aircraft, by using the “IPIP NEO” (International Personality Item Pool NEO) based on Big Five model and inter-evaluation method within group of supersonic fighter pilots. The results indicated that the high performance of supersonic aircraft fighter pilots can be predicted by high levels of above-mentioned personality traits and that there is a significant positive relation between those variables. The great need for success, the desire to adapt, to overcome their limitations and to face the difficulties, allow pilots to exercise their profession with all the special requirements of missions and the challenges in air combat.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this Activity is to provide good quality HOT test quality training seen from: (a) Validity and reliability of the test (b) Grain analysis to see the difficulty index and Different power. Target Audience in this activity is the teachers of SMK in Jakarta, who really interested and have the potential to develop. The number of active participants is 25 vocational teachers. The participant will then transfer the training activities to the other teachers through each school. The type of activity material is this training theory and practice, with 20% theory composition and 80% practice covering aspects of data analysis techniques with computer assistance through SPSS program and ITEMAN program. Theory is given before engaging in practical activities or integrated during the direct practice by the participants. Based on the results of the exercises made some conclusions. There are two aspects of training materials provided to teachers in Jakarta, namely the technical aspects of HOT problem making skills and aspects of ITEMAN program use. Based on the evaluation that has been implemented, from the technical aspect, this training can be quite successful. Over 90% of participants mastered the material well, this training can be quite successful. Given the time of limited service activities. Nevertheless, in general, this service activity received a positive response from the teachers especially trainees, and schools in general. In relation to the implementation of this activity, suggestions may be made: (a) For the trainee's teachers, the knowledge and skills possessed should be developed on their own. The way that can be taken for example, teaching in a relavan. (b) For the implementing team of dedication activities, to be considered for holding the same training but with more in-depth material in the coming year. The goal is to achieve the desired end goal. namely to make the professional teachers in the field. (c) It is good that teachers continue to develop practical practices in schools. ABSTRAK: Tujuan Kegiatan ini adalah Untuk memberikan pelatihan pembuatan kualitas tes HOT yang baik dilihat dari: (a) Validitas dan reliabilitas tes (b) Analisis butir untuk melihat indeks kesukaran dan Daya beda. Khalayak Sasaran dalam kegiatan ini adalah para Guru SMK di Jakarta, yang betul-betul berminat dan mempunyai potensi untuk berkembang. Jumlah peserta yang aktif adalah 25 Guru SMK. Peserta itu nantinya akan mentransfer kegiatan pelatihan tersebut ke para guru yang lainnya lewat masing-masing sekolah. Jenis materi kegiatan adalah pelatihan ini teori dan praktek, dengan komposisi 20% teori dan 80% praktek yang mencakup aspek teknik analisis data dengan bantuan komputer melalui program SPSS dan program ITEMAN. Teori diberikan sebelum melakukan kegiatan praktek atau diintegrasikan selama praktek langsung oleh peserta. Berdasarkan hasil latihan yang dilakukan didapat beberapa kesimpulan, Terdapat dua aspek materi pelatihan yang diberikan terhadap para guru di Jakarta, yaitu aspek teknik keterampilan pembuatan soal HOT dan aspek penggunaan program ITEMAN. Berdasarkan evaluasi yang telah dilaksanakan, dari aspek teknik, pelatihan ini dapat dikatakan cukup berhasil. Lebih dari 90% peserta menguasai materi dengan baik, pelatihan ini dapat dikatakan cukup berhasil. Mengingat waktu kegiatan pengabdian yang terbatas. Namun demikian secara umum kegiatan pengabdian ini mendapat respons yang positif dari para guru peserta pelatihan khususnya, dan sekolah pada umumnya. Berkaitan dengan pelaksanaan kegiatan ini, saran yang dapat disampaikan: (a) Bagi para guru peserta latihan, bekal pengetahuan dan keterampilan yang telah dimiliki ini hendaknya dikembangkan sendiri. Cara yang dapat ditempuh misalnya, mengajar dibidang yang relavan. (b) Bagi tim pelaksana kegiatan pengabdian, supaya dipertimbangkan untuk mengadakan pelatihan yang sama namun dengan materi yang lebih mendalam di tahun mendatang. Tujuannya adalah agar tercapainya tujuan akhir yang diharapkan. yaitu menjadikan para guru yang professional pada bidangnya. (c) Ada baiknya para guru tetap mengembangkan latihan-latihan praktik di sekolah.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the pilot Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) project that ran in three London boroughs in England in 2014-2015. The project aimed to help local authority social work practitioners better engage with adults at risk at the beginning, middle and end of safeguarding work and to develop a more outcomes focused approach to safeguarding. Design/methodology/approach – Three adult social care teams volunteered to take part in the MSP pilot for four months, November 2014-February 2015. They were closely supported through telephone conferencing, bespoke training and individual mentoring. Evaluative data were collected from the participating teams about their work and the MSP change processes to assist in further implementation. Findings – The findings suggested that staff felt that the open discussions with adults at risk that were encouraged by the MSP initiative enabled safeguarding to be more effective and provided a better basis of support for adults at risk. The support from the project team was appreciated. Staff reported their own increased confidence as a result of involving adults at risk in decisions about their situations and risks of harm. They also reported their increased awareness of cross-cutting subjects related to adult safeguarding, such as domestic abuse and working with coercive and controlling behaviours. Permission to exercise greater professional discretion to make responses more considered, rather than the need to adhere to time-limited imperatives, was received positively. Staff felt that this enhanced discussions about resolution and recovery with adults at risk although it required greater expertise, more extensive managerial support, and more time. These were available in the pilot. Research limitations/implications – The MSP pilot was confined to three teams and took place over four months. The numerical data reported in this paper are provided for illustrative purposes and are not statistically significant. As with other evaluations of implementation, the data provided need to be set in the local contexts of population profiles, care settings and the reporting source. The pilot also took place during the early implementation of the Care Act 2014 which affected the context of practice and training. The views of adults at risk were not collected. There is a risk of bias in that participants may have wished to convey positive views of MSP to their colleagues. Practical implications – The paper indicates a need for the roll out of MSP philosophy and MSP approaches to be communicated with other agencies supporting adults at risk and for project support of some form to continue. It will be important to see if the overall enthusiasm, support and motivation reported by the pilot teams when taking a MSP approach in practice extend beyond a pilot period during which the staff received substantial support from a dedicated Professional Standards Safeguarding Team. Many of those staff participating in the pilot perceived the MSP approach as a return to core social work principles and welcomed putting these into practice. Originality/value – The paper provides details of one pilot in which the feasibility of the MSP approach was tested by supporting three frontline teams working in different contexts. The pilot suggests that the level and type of support offered to the pilot teams were effective in a variety of practice settings. It draws attention to the need for the MSP concept and approach to be shared with other agencies and for implementation support to continue beyond initial pilot period.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline a two-year project designed to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes of people with intellectual disabilities using health services in South London by raising awareness and increasing health staff confidence and capability. Design/methodology/approach The project was conducted in two stages. In stage 1, a mapping exercise was undertaken to establish existing intellectual disabilities education and training availability. In stage 2, a network of stakeholders was formed and education and training materials were developed and delivered. Findings A formal evaluation of the project is underway and this paper seeks to share information about the project. That said prima facie data appear to indicate that health staff who attended education and training events learned new knowledge and skills that they could implement in their practice, increasing confidence and capability. Research limitations/implications Health staff who attended the events appeared to have an interest in intellectual disabilities and wanted to increase their knowledge and skills base. This means that there is a significant group of health staff that the project was unable to reach or who may not know that they need to know about intellectual disabilities. The results of the project have not yet been formally analysed. Practical implications Work-based education and training events can have a positive impact on health staff capability and confidence, however, it would appear that only those who already have an interest in the field or recognise its value to their own practice attend such events. To truly capture all health staff intellectual disabilities needs to be visibly included in all health curricula. Originality/value This project has not focussed on one profession or one aspect of healthcare and has embraced the values of inter professional and inter agency learning; this has enabled health staff to learn from each other and think in a “joined up” way replicating the realities of providing healthcare to people with intellectual disabilities.

To prove the quality of their teaching activities, school leaders and teachers are almost always resort to summative assessments; the level of the scores obtained by the largest number of students for assays or exams is the best indicator of the quality of learning achieved by students. Summative assessments become sufficiently numerous to help establish report cards and rankings monthly to the detriment of a formative assessment needed to regulate and guide the educational activity. All this does not take into account the dynamics of the error in learning and the stress state in which the learner is then subjected to a strong emotional pressure. Research in neuroscience show that a high level of anxiety causes a deficit in the ability to perform tasks involving solving non-routine problems. In this study, most of the respondents have had several years of professional training and a long teaching practice. It was interesting to explore their relationship to error and their level of apprehension of the summative evaluation in a context where they are in the process of "exercise" the student work. In general, the results show that the dominant fundamental emotion among all respondents is the fear as with most recurrent words anxiety, worry, fear, feelings or emotions that inhibit the action.

Introduction: Lateral Epicondylitis has been found to be the second most frequently diagnosed musculoskeletal disorder. A wide range of symptomatic treatments are available such as use of anti-inflammatory analgesic drugs, steroids, physiotherapy. This study aims to know about the diagnosis, prescription pattern and current practice on management of tennis elbow in Nepal. Methods: This is a hospital based observational study carried out at Bir Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. Patients diagnosed with tennis elbow were purposively selected through prospective sampling technique from Orthopedic Department. Questionnaire and patient medication files were used as tools for data collection. Results: A total of 97 patients were found to be suffering from tennis elbow affecting mostly 41-50 years of age group and seen mostly in female (62%). Further, it was found that housewives (31%) were mostly affected. Diagnosis of tennis elbow was done commonly by clinical evaluation (61%) and X-ray (39%). Both Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological approaches were in practice. Pharmacological treatment include NSAIDS (59% Aceclofenac, 19% Naproxen, 18% Indomethacin, 16% Diclofenac, 6% Piroxicam) and Steroids (23% methylprednisolone acetate and 21% oral prednisolone). Non-Pharmacological treatment was done by lifestyle modification (100%), 78% application of heat, 63% use of tennis elbow band, 29% exercise and 28% physiotherapy. Surgical intervention (3%) was also done when the conservative management failed. Conclusions: There is professional risk of tennis elbow for housewives, farmers and shopkeepers in context of Nepal. Only one treatment approach is not effective in management of tennis elbow for long term effect. Keywords: lateral epicondylitis; NSAIDs; physiotherapy; steroid; tennis elbow.

Controversy continues regarding an appropriate level of supervision for occupational fitness assessments. A bout of vigorous physical activity can augment the immediate risk of a cardiac catastrophe by a factor of 5-100 depending on age, cardiac risk factors, and the physical and emotional circumstances of the participant. However, if a person engages regularly in such activity, the immediate risk is more than offset by an improvement in prognosis during intervening periods of rest. During demanding physical work, there is a small but measurable risk of sudden death (3 to 7 episodes per 100,000 personnel per year). The risk associated with a brief (< 15 min) but vigorous occupational fitness assessment is so low as to preclude attempts to reduce it still further by direct medical supervision. If testing encourages an increase in personal fitness, any immediate increase in risk is enormously offset by a reduction in the number of cardiac deaths while resting. Furthermore, evidence is unconvincing that the average medical practitioner can prevent or treat any emergencies that may arise better than a well-trained professional fitness and lifestyle consultant (PFLC), a person certified by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology who has had frequent opportunities to practice the necessary skills. Since occupational fitness assessments are not diagnostic procedures, they appear to fall outside the jurisdiction of medical licensing bodies. In the absence of a history of cardiovascular disease, supervision of such assessments is safely and appropriately undertaken by the PFLC. Unnecessary insistence on medical supervision could preclude annual evaluation of occupational fitness and a resulting enhancement of physical condition, thus increasing rather than diminishing the risk to the worker. Key words: cardiac catastrophe, professional fitness and lifestyle consultant, medical delegation, medical supervision, sudden death

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Skillful research staff members are critical to productive translational research teams and yet their ongoing professional development is rarely formally addressed. Through the Strategic Teamwork for Effective Practice-Mentor Development Program (STEP-MDP), we aimed to both create a community of practice (COP) for research staff and build the skills needed to enhance research team performance. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We selected 16 participants of 32 staff-level applicants from among the NYU Schools of Medicine, Social Work and Nursing for the first STEP-MDP cohort. Participants included research assistants, coordinators, managers, and directors. We delivered 3, two-hour workshops, scheduled 3 weeks apart, focused on team communication, identifying team areas for improvement, and mentorship/coaching skills. Peer-Coaching Teams (PCTs) were created by pairing participants at the same position level, and PCTs worked together at each session to explore and practice learned skills. Sessions featured brief didactics, group-based learning and exercises based on participants’ real issues. A variety of active learning techniques such as brainstorming, role-playing, problem solving, and peer coaching were used. Practical core readings, worksheets, and summary cards were provided. PCTs met between sessions to practice coaching skills, and troubleshoot problems. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Participants (n=16) completed a 37-item retrospective pre/post self-assessment of team behaviors and skills, and a STEP-MDP evaluation survey at the end. We saw pre-post improvements in each of 5 self-assessment domains: Communication (4 items, pre-mean 2.66, post mean 3.36, p≤0.001), Leadership (8 items, pre-mean 2.76, post mean 3.55, p≤0.001), Empowerment and Motivation (12 items, pre-mean 2.86, post mean 3.51, p≤0.001), Coaching (6 items, pre-mean 2.40, post mean 3.58, p≤0.001), and Community (3 items, pre-mean 2.33, post mean 3.76, p≤0.001). On average, PCTs met twice (range 2–4 times) between workshop sessions. Learners valued the PCTs, and 1 commented on the value of working with peers in PCTs, having no one in a similar position within his immediate work environment. Participants’ written comments strongly endorsed the value of the workshops for their work, with the coaching skills session seen as the most valuable. Some participants worry that skills will decrease over time without continued reinforcement. All but 1 participant reported that they planned to continue with the PCT. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The number of applicants to our program suggests a need and motivation for staff to participate in the STEP-MDP. Participants’ reported improved skills and sense of community. To maintain the COP and address worry about degradation of skills we are planning to remind PCTs to meet once a month and will follow-up with them 3 and 6 months post intervention to evaluate their continued development. This spring a second cohort will receive the training. We believe developing these core teamwork skills will lead to more collaborative, efficient, and innovative research. We have implemented a successful program targeting critical members of research teams with potential to facilitate expansion of institutional capacity for translational research. It will be important to understand the long-term impact of the program on individuals, on team science, on research, and ultimately on the health of the public.

BackgroundOsteoarthritis (OA) is the most common long-term condition managed in UK general practice. However, care is suboptimal despite evidence that primary care and community-based interventions can reduce OA pain and disability.ObjectivesThe overall aim was to improve primary care management of OA and the health of patients with OA. Four parallel linked workstreams aimed to (1) develop a health economic decision model for estimating the potential for cost-effective delivery of primary care OA interventions to improve population health, (2) develop and evaluate new health-care models for delivery of core treatments and support for self-management among primary care consulters with OA, and to investigate prioritisation and implementation of OA care among the public, patients, doctors, health-care professionals and NHS trusts, (3) determine the effectiveness of strategies to optimise specific components of core OA treatment using the example of exercise and (4) investigate the effect of interventions to tackle barriers to core OA treatment, using the example of comorbid anxiety and depression in persons with OA.Data sourcesThe North Staffordshire Osteoarthritis Project database, held by Keele University, was the source of data for secondary analyses in workstream 1.MethodsWorkstream 1 used meta-analysis and synthesis of published evidence about effectiveness of primary care treatments, combined with secondary analysis of existing longitudinal population-based cohort data, to identify predictors of poor long-term outcome (prognostic factors) and design a health economic decision model to estimate cost-effectiveness of different hypothetical strategies for implementing optimal primary care for patients with OA. Workstream 2 used mixed methods to (1) develop and test a ‘model OA consultation’ for primary care health-care professionals (qualitative interviews, consensus, training and evaluation) and (2) evaluate the combined effect of a computerised ‘pop-up’ guideline for general practitioners (GPs) in the consultation and implementing the model OA consultation on practice and patient outcomes (parallel group intervention study). Workstream 3 developed and investigated in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) how to optimise the effect of exercise in persons with knee OA by tailoring it to the individual and improving adherence. Workstream 4 developed and investigated in a cluster RCT the extent to which screening patients for comorbid anxiety and depression can improve OA outcomes. Public and patient involvement included proposal development, project steering and analysis. An OA forum involved public, patient, health professional, social care and researcher representatives to debate the results and formulate proposals for wider implementation and dissemination.ResultsThis programme provides evidence (1) that economic modelling can be used in OA to extrapolate findings of cost-effectiveness beyond the short-term outcomes of clinical trials, (2) about ways of implementing support for self-management and models of optimal primary care informed by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendations, including the beneficial effects of training in a model OA consultation on GP behaviour and of pop-up screens in GP consultations on the quality of prescribing, (3) against adding enhanced interventions to current effective physiotherapy-led exercise for knee OA and (4) against screening for anxiety and depression in patients with musculoskeletal pain as an addition to current best practice for OA.ConclusionsImplementation of evidence-based care for patients with OA is feasible in general practice and has an immediate impact on improving the quality of care delivered to patients. However, improved levels of quality of care, changes to current best practice physiotherapy and successful introduction of psychological screening, as achieved by this programme, did not substantially reduce patients’ pain and disability. This poses important challenges for clinical practice and OA research.LimitationsThe key limitation in this work is the lack of improvement in patient-reported pain and disability despite clear evidence of enhanced delivery of evidence-based care.Future work recommendations(1) New thinking and research is needed into the achievable and desirable long-term goals of care for people with OA, (2) continuing investigation into the resources needed to properly implement clinical guidelines for management of OA as a long-term condition, such as regular monitoring to maintain exercise and physical activity and (3) new research to identify subgroups of patients with OA as a basis for stratified primary care including (i) those with good prognosis who can self-manage with minimal investigation or specialist treatment, (ii) those who will respond to, and benefit from, specific interventions in primary care, such as physiotherapy-led exercise, and (iii) develop research into effective identification and treatment of clinically important anxiety and depression in patients with OA and into the effects of pain management on psychological outcomes in patients with OA.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN06984617, ISRCTN93634563 and ISRCTN40721988.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme and will be published in full inProgramme Grants for Applied Research Programme; Vol. 6, No. 4. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Increasing preoccupations and interest manifested for the Romanian language as a foreign language compose a focused and clear expression in the volume “Romanian as a foreign language. Methodology and cultural applicability”, launched at the Turku University publishing house, Finland (2018). The editors, Paul Nanu (Department of Romanian Language and Culture, University of Turku, Finland) and Emilia Ivancu (Department of Romanian Studies of the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań, Poland) with this volume, continue a series of activities dedicated to the promotion of the Romanian language and culture outside the country borders. This volume brings together a collection of articles, previously announced and briefly presented at a round table organized by the two Romanian lectors, as a section of the International Conference “Dialogue of cultures between tradition and modernity”, (Philological Research and Multicultural Dialogue Centre, Department of Philology, Faculty of History and Philology, “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia). The thirteen authors who sign the articles are teachers of Romanian as a foreign language, either in the country or abroad. The challenge launched by the organisers pointed both at the teaching methods of Romanian as a foreign language – including the authors’ reflections upon the available textbooks (Romanian language textbooks) and the cultural implications of this perspective on the Romanian language. It is probably no accident that the first article of the aforementioned volume – “Particularities of teaching Romanian as a foreign language for the preparatory year. In quest of “the ideal textbook’’ (Cristina Sicoe, University of the West, Timișoara) – brings a strict perspective upon that what should be, from the author’s point of view, “the ideal textbook”. The fact that it does not exist, and has little chances ever to exist, could maybe be explained by the multitude of variables which appear in practice, within the didactic triangle composed by teacher – student – textbook. The character of the variables is the result of particular interactions established between the components of the triad. A concurrent direction is pointed out by the considerations that make the object of the second article, “To a new textbook of Romanian language as a foreign language’’ (Ana-Maria Radu-Pop, University of the West, Timișoara). While the previous article was about an ideal textbook for foreign students in the preparatory year of Romanian, this time, the textbook in question has another target group, namely Erasmus students and students from Centres of foreign languages. Considering that this kind of target group “forms a distinct category”, the author pleads for the necessity of editing adequate textbooks with a part made of themes, vocabulary, grammar and a part made of culture and civilization – the separation into parts belongs to the author – that should consider the needs of this target group, their short stay in Romania (three months to one year) and, last but not least, the students’ poor motivation. These distinctive notes turn the existent RFL textbooks[1] in that which the author calls “level crossings”, which she explains in a humorous manner[2]. Since the ideal manual seems to be in no hurry to appear, the administrative-logistic implications of teaching Romanian as a foreign language (for the preparatory year) should be easier to align with the standards of efficiency. This matter is addressed by Mihaela Badea and Cristina Iridon from the Oil & Gas University of Ploiești, in the article “Administrative/logistic difficulties of teaching RFL. Case study”. Starting from a series of practical experiences, the authors are purposing to suggest “several ideas to improve existent methodologies of admitting foreign students and to review the ARACIS criteria from March 2017, regarding external evaluation of the ‘Romanian as a foreign language’ study programme”. Among other things, an external difficulty is highlighted (common to all universities in the country), namely the permission to register foreign students until the end of the first semester of the academic year, meaning around the middle of February. The authors punctually describe the unfortunate implications of this legal aspect and the regrettable consequences upon the quality of the educational act. They suggest that the deadline for admitting foreign students not exceed the 1st of December of every academic year. The list of difficulties in teaching Romanian as a foreign language is extremely long, reaching sensitive aspects from an ethical perspective of multiculturalism. This approach belongs to Constantin Mladin from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia, who writes about “The role of the ethical component in the learning process of a foreign language and culture. The Macedonian experience”. Therefore, we are moving towards the intercultural competences which, as the author states, are meant to “adequately and efficiently round the acquired language competences”. In today’s Macedonian society, that which the author refers to, a society claimed to be multiethnic, multilingual and pluriconfessional, the emotional component of an intercultural approach needs a particular attention. Thus, reconfigurations of the current didactic model are necessary. The solution proposed and successfully applied by Professor Constantin Mladin is that of shaking the natural directions in which a foreign language and culture is acquired: from the source language/culture towards the target language/culture. All this is proposed in the context in which the target group is extremely heterogeneous and its “emotional capacity of letting go of the ethnocentric attitudes and perceptions upon otherness” seem to lack. When speaking about ‘barriers’, we often mean ‘difficulty’. The article written by Silvia Kried Stoian and Loredana Netedu from the Oil & Gas University of Ploiești, called “Barriers in the intercultural communication of foreign students in the preparatory year”, is the result of a micro-research done upon a group of 37 foreign students from 10 different countries/cultural spaces, belonging to different religions (plus atheists), speakers of different languages. From the start, there are many differences to be reconciled in a way reasonable enough to reduce most barriers that appear in their intercultural communication. Beneficial and obstructive factors – namely communication barriers – coexist in a complex communicational environment, which supposes identifying and solving the latter, in the aim of softening the cultural shock experienced within linguistic and cultural immersion. Several solutions are recommended by the two authors. An optimistic conclusion emerges in the end, namely the possibility that the initial inconvenient of the ethnical, linguistic and cultural heterogeneity become “an advantage in learning the Romanian language and acquiring intercultural communication”. Total immersion (linguistic and cultural), as well as the advantage it represents as far as exposure to language is concerned, is the subject of the article entitled “Cultural immersion and exposure to language”, written by Adina Curta (“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia). Considered to be a factor of rapid progress and effectiveness of acquisition, exposure to language that arises from the force of circumstances could be extended to that what may be named orchestrated exposure to language. This phrase is consented to reunite two types of resources, “a category of statutory resources, which are the CEFRL suggestions, and a category of particular resources, which should be the activities proposed by the organizers of the preparatory year of RFL”. In this respect, we are dealing with several alternating roles of the teacher who, besides being an expert, animator, facilitator of the learning process or technician, also becomes a cultural and linguistic coach, sending to the group of immersed students a beneficial message of professional and human polyvalence. A particular experience is represented by teaching the Romanian language at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. This experience is presented by Nicoleta Neșu in the article “The Romanian language, between mother tongue and ethnic language. Case study”. The particular situation is generated by the nature of the target group, a group of students coming, on the one hand, from Romanian families, who, having lived in Italy since early childhood, have studied in the Italian language and are now studying the Romanian language (mother tongue, then ethnic language) as L1, and, on the other hand, Italian mother tongue students who study the Romanian language as a foreign language. The strategies that are used and the didactic approach are constantly in need of particularization, depending on the statute that the studied language, namely the Romanian language, has in each case. In the area of teaching methodology for Romanian as a foreign language, suggestions and analyses come from four authors, namely Eliana-Alina Popeți (West University of Timișoara), “Teaching the Romanian language to students from Romanian communities from Serbia. Vocabulary exercise”, Georgeta Orian (“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia) “The Romanian language in the rhythm of dance and hip-hop music”, Coralia Telea (“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia), “Explanation during the class of Romanian as a foreign language” and Emilia Ivancu (Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań, Poland), “Romanian (auto)biographic discourse or the effect of literature upon learning RFL”. The vocabulary exercise proposed to the students by Eliana-Alina Popeți is a didactic experiment through which the author checked the hypothesis according to which a visual didactic material eases the development of vocabulary, especially since the textual productions of the students, done through the technique that didactics calls “reading images”, were video recorded and submitted to mutual evaluation as well as to self-evaluation of grammar, coherence and pronunciation. The role of the authentic iconographic document is attested in the didactics of modern languages, as the aforementioned experiment confirms once again the high coefficient of interest and attention of the students, as well as the vitality and authenticity of interaction within the work groups. It is worth mentioning that these students come from the Serbian Republic and are registered in the preparatory year at the Faculty of Letters, History and Theology of the West University of Timișoara. Most of them are speakers of different Romanian patois, only found on the territory of Serbia. The activity consisted of elaborating written texts starting from an image (a postcard reproducing a portrait of the Egyptian artist Eman Osama), imagining a possible biography of the character. In the series of successful authentic documents in teaching-learning foreign languages, there is also the song. The activities described by Georgeta Orian were undertaken either with Erasmus students from the preparatory year at the “1 Decembrie 1989” University of Alba Iulia, or with Polish students (within the Department of Romanian Studies in Poznań), having high communication competences (B1-B2, or even more). There were five activities triggered by Romanian songs, chosen by criteria of sympathy with the interests of the target group: youngsters, late teenagers. The stake was “a more pleasant and, sometimes, a more useful learning process”, mostly through discovery, through recourse to musical language, which has the advantage of breaking linguistic barriers in the aim of creating a common space in which the target language, a language of “the other”, becomes the instrument of speaking about what connects us. The didactic approach, when it comes to Romanian as a foreign language taught to students of the preparatory year cannot avoid the extremely popular method of the explanation. Its story is told by Coralia Telea. With a use of high scope, the explanation steps in in various moments and contexts: for transmitting new information, for underlining mechanisms generating new rules, in evaluation activities (result appreciation, progress measurements). Still, the limits of this method are not left out, among which the risk of the teachers to annoy their audience if overbidding this method. Addressing (Polish) students from the Master’s Studies Program within the Romania Philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań, Emilia Ivancu crosses, through her article, the methodological dimensions of teaching Romanian as a foreign language, entering the curricular territory of the problematics in question by proposing an optional course entitled Romanian (auto)biographic discourse”. Approaching contact with the Romanian language as a foreign language at an advanced level, the stakes of the approach and the proposed contents differ, obviously, from the ones only regarding the creation and development of the competence of communication in the Romanian Language. The studied texts have been grouped into correspondence/epistolary discourse, diaries, memoires and (auto)biography as fiction. Vasile Alecsandri, Sanda Stolojan, Paul Goma, Neagoe Basarab, Norman Manea, Mircea Eliade are just a few of the writers concerned, submitted to discussions with the help of a theoretical toolbox, offered to the students as recordings of cultural broadcasts, like Profesioniștii or Rezistența prin cultură etc. The consequences of this complex approach consisted, on the one hand, of the expansion of the readings for the students and, on the other hand, in choosing to write dissertations on these topics. A “tangible” result of Emilia Ivancu’s course is the elaboration of a volume entitled România la persoana întâi, perspective la persoana a treia (Romania in the first person, perspectives in the third person), containing seven articles written by Polish Master’s students. Master’s theses, a PhD thesis, several translations into the Polish language are also “fruits” of the initiated course. Of all these, the author extracted several conclusions supporting the merits and usefulness of her initiative. The volume ends with a review signed by Adina Curta (1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia), “The Romanian language, a modern, wanted language. Iuliana Wainberg-Drăghiciu – Textbook of Romanian language as a foreign language”. The textbook elaborated by Iuliana Wainberg-Drăghiciu (“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia) respects the CEFRL suggestions, points at the communicative competences (linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic) described for levels A1 and A2, has a high degree of accessibility through a trilingual dictionary (Romanian-English-French) which it offers to foreign students and through the phonetic transcription of new vocabulary units.

Abstract Introduction A priority action of the Healthy Ireland implementation plan is the Making Every Contact Count initiative (MECC) that aims to leverage the 30 million annual contacts with the healthcare system by asking every health worker to deliver brief interventions [1]. Benefits of brief interventions are well established, but GPs and pharmacists report challenges implementing them in practice including limited training, time, and poor fit with existing practices [2]. Aim This government-funded Sláintecare project aimed to develop a novel method for brief interventions in pharmacy/GP settings using human-centred design. Methods User research was carried out with twelve users, including patients (3), GPs (4), and pharmacists (5) to identify their needs and priorities. Participants were recruited via email using a purposive sampling approach and completed semi-structured interviews with a design researcher. All participants invited agreed to participate. Next, a series of design sprints were completed with the research team. Design sprints allowed the team to integrate insights from user research with findings from a literature review/secondary research to understand pain points, identify stakeholder and user goals, and develop a list of initial design specifications. This list was used to develop and iterate a series of prototype solutions. Prototype service blueprints and wireframes (simple, two-dimensional schematic illustrations of the digital interface) were developed and tested with users before final versions were agreed. Results Findings from the interviews and literature review indicated (1) the main barrier to adoption was time, (2) patients and pharmacists were very positive about brief interventions with GPs more hesitant, (3) an approach blending technology with a consultation was preferred, and (4) having a specific list of local supports was important. Prototyping and evaluation processes identified that a simple interface with a clear indication of progress were preferred. A blended intervention combining a tablet-based digital tool and structured interaction was developed. The interface was designed to maximise use of patient and healthcare professional time, and mapped to the 5As approach (which is underpinned by principles of motivational interviewing, shared-decision making, and readiness to change frameworks). The HealthEir digital tool enables patients to self-complete the Ask, Advise, and Assess phases of a brief intervention using a tablet device while waiting to see their pharmacist/GP. The pharmacist or GP then review the patient’s responses, risk level, and importance confidence and readiness scores. They complete the Assist and Arrange elements during the consultation, supported by a directory of local/national patient support services before printing information tickets for the patient to keep. The HealthEir intervention has been successfully rolled out at eight pilot pharmacy sites nationally, with a mix of urban/rural sites, and independent/chain pharmacies. Conclusions Adopting an interdisciplinary approach based on human-centred design principles led to the development of a blended brief intervention that has been successfully introduced in pilot sites across Ireland. While the implementation has been smooth despite COVID-19 challenges, and initial feedback has been very positive, the impact cannot yet be fully evaluated as research is ongoing. Future work will involve extending the intervention to include other healthcare professionals. References 1. Making Every Contact Count Framework https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/healthwellbeing/making-every-contact-count/framework/framework.html (accessed Oct 10, 2020) 2. Keyworth C, Epton T, Goldthorpe J, Calam R, Armitage CJ. ‘It's difficult, I think it's complicated’: Health care professionals’ barriers and enablers to providing opportunistic behaviour change interventions during routine medical consultations. British journal of health psychology. 2019 Sep;24(3):571–92.

I was glad to read today, on December 16th of 2016, that the Sports Sciences Department of the University of Beira Interior (UBI) appears in an outstanding place in the Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking for Sport Science Schools and Departments. We could indicate that this small department is actually in the top 80 of the sports schools of the world, which is something that should be highlighted.In 2007, the head of the Department of Sports Sciences at UBI and currently president of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (UBI) called for the development of internal research in the field of sports sciences, not only on the national panorama, but above all on an international level. This wish was strongly based on a complete lack of research in the department, in which until 2007 there was no single publication with indexing, much less with ISI or Scopus or any relevant project or book recognized by the scientific community. It was a herculean and risky challenge, but today we think that it has been more than achieved. At that time the cornerstones for the development and sustainability of the investigation in the department were based on three key-vectors: selection and recruitment of more teachers with experience and research potential; acquisition of equipment, laboratory software and reformulation of the advanced training proposal (reformulation of the Master course and Doctoral study plan).As a complement to the quality of the existing teachers, external professors were hired. The rectory was present in the creation of an R & D unit in consortium with UTAD, UMa and 5 Polytechnics Schools, under the designation of CIDESD with headquarters in UTAD and a center in UBI. As far as the equipment is concerned, the department has acquired high quality material and diversification through internal funds (Department / Faculty) and also with the individual scientific production funds of the research unit CIDESD/UBI. Between 2008 and 2013, these acquisitions encouraged the exponential writing of articles, the development of projects and the conclusion with high quality of masters and doctoral theses. This was only possible due to the high scientific production carried out, which was strictly thought in favor of our students and the Department of Sports Sciences. The acquisition of research material had not only a typical laboratory concern but also an ecological one, that is, most of the acquired equipment was portable, allowing us to carry out several studies outside the Department, going to the places where the individuals that composed the samples were. Finally, since 2009, there has been a strong internationalization policy for the Masters course, especially with the arrival of highly qualified teachers from worldwide, which has allowed the promotion of research policies and a significant increase in quantity, but above all in the quality of the published articles. In this research policies project - it was sought to present a line of concrete study that addressed some pertinent problems to which the international literature has not yet shown any final conclusions.In the last two decades, scientific research in Sport Sciences has grown exponentially in the department. Unfortunately, most of the resources, such as critical mass or equipment (laboratories) are still scarce in our country, although some universities have taken important steps in order to reverse this situation. Thus, UBI could not remain unaware of this "revolution". We had a young department with quality and capacity to perform quality research. To this purpose, it was urgent to develop protocols and / or connect with universities and researchers of international reference, which would transport us to higher levels of research. Since our field of study was so vast and complex, we had to focus on the following points of interest: A) preparing research projects in the field of sports performance; B) drawing short - term strategies for the construction of a root laboratory that would be able to transport us to the "front line"; C) helping integrate our young doctoral students (teachers) into the "world" of research. Considering the opening of the European university space resulting from the Maastricht Treaty, one of the pillars of the internationalization policy has been the focus on European cooperation activities. Numerous protocols were developed with the University of Pitesti, the Public University of Navarra, the Pablo de Olavide University, and the University of Barry State. These contacts were a result from the social and academic networks established with members of these universities.After hiring the new professors whose doctorates were concluded between 2007 and 2009, the mission of equating a course development strategy and improving its attractiveness was crucial. Given the fact that, at the level of the 2nd cycle offer, the demand was low, it was therefore necessary to attract students from other schools of the country. It was obvious that this would only be possible with the use of previous personal knowledge networks and the support of the Center for Research in Sport, Health and Human Development (CIDESD), a research center where UBI is an integrated member.The 2nd cycle of studies of the Master’s Degree in Sports Sciences was created in the 1st year of the Bologna Process adjustments of the courses given at the UBI. At that time, the Department's doctoral faculty was exiguous and very little diversified. For this reason, the Curricular Units proposed for the curriculum were based in the possibility of hiring other human resources. National and international teachers of recognized pedagogical and scientific value were recruited, with special emphasis on the prestigious curriculum of publications in the area of Sports Sciences. Provisional calls were launched and readily accepted on the condition that they taught concentrated classes, similar to what already being done in many foreign universities and also in some national ones.In the main scientific area of the cycle of studies (Sports Sciences) all the teachers integrated in the service distribution are effective members or collaborators of CIDESD. CIDESD is a research unit accredited by FCT (since the 12th of December of 2009) with the initial classification of GOOD and nowadays of VERY GOOD. Also worth mentioning is the collaboration with the Center for Excellence in Studies, Research and Sports Medicine and the Navarro Institute of Sport, Government of Navarra.The approach to scientific research has also been a point of honor of this department, carried out in a sustainable way, mainly through teaching / learning methodologies specific to each curricular unit (CU), mostly through research seminars. This approach begins in the 1st semester of the 1st year, encouraging the student to the good practices of scientific research, particularly in his area of interest. However, the ultimate milestone of his effective integration into the scientific research can only be consolidated if the student is qualified to prepare or eventually to submit a scientific paper in an ISI-indexed journal provided by the Seminar CUs. Finally, we must highlight the involvement in the implementation of technical-scientific events allowing contact with basic and applied science, of which the Research Seminar of CIDESD and CIDESD Junior is the best example. It should also be said that the scientific activity produced by teachers and students is strongly implemented in the methodological orientation of teaching / research and in the provision of services and advice to the academic community and to civil society in general. Regarding to the research-community relationship, the type of research developed is powerfully applied by integrating and transmitting immediately the produced knowledge to the stakeholders (e.g., clubs, municipalities, gymnasiums and swimming pools). Therefore, this applied research par excellence in the physical activity context of exercise and sport in its most diverse fields of application brings economic benefits to the partners of the course.It should be mentioned that in the last two years there has been a significant increase in the publication of scientific articles in journals indexed to the ISI Web of Knowledge, a true and successful Case Study at the national level. Also note that part of the articles published during the last years were launched in magazines with an impact factor higher than 1.0. Also noteworthy are the publications in book or chapter format of books with scientific review. There are also dozens of abstracts published in national and international conferences (with scientific review). In fact, we consider this type of publication as an excellent measure of dissemination of the work produced by senior researchers and 3rd cycle students. In some cases, even for the 2nd cycle students.We succeeded in spreading knowledge through the range of articles available in worldwide renowned journals, i.e.: Original Research, Brief Reviews, Reviews, Methodological Reports, Research Notes, and Letters to Editor. In terms of impact, if we consider that the UBI Teaching Activity Regulation defined 0.4 as the impact reference median to the Sports Sciences, the publications in question are clearly above this level with an average close to 1.0 impact, a high value for the sports sciences. It should be emphasized that more than 50 percent of the articles refer to 1.8-1.9 impact journals, and that we have had a review - recently published in the highest impact factor journal of the area (Sports Medicine: 5.2).With this philosophy of publications, it was intended to carry out a large number of scientific studies that addressed a panoply of issues considered more relevant like the ones related to the effectiveness of Strength Training and Physical Condition on performance improvements in High Performance Sports, Public School and Exercise /Health. Consequently, this line of thought / intervention, in addition to discussing in a pragmatic and scientific way different topics related to the methodology of Strength Training and Physical Condition, tried to do a parallelism between theory and practice, that is, most of the abovementioned articles are of a highly practical nature in order to daily assist coaches, physical education teachers and health / sport professionals. We also analyzed the Simultaneous Training of Strength and Aerobic thematic, as well as the problematic of the Detraining. These are two hot topics as both are far from consensus in the scientific community.Since the origin of the Department (1994), the first four experimental studies conducted in our laboratories have been published in two of the best sports training magazines. In the five-year period in question, the level of scientific production was exponential with more 100 international ISI articles published or accepted for publication in journals indexed to international reference databases by the end of 2013. The participation in conferences such as the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the European College of Sport Science (ECSS) as well as the positive evaluation of 2 R & D projects by international panels (with emphasis on the project approved in call 2010) seem to indicate that the scientific community recognizes the efforts done to contribute for a better understanding of the sportive phenomenon, both in theoretical as in empirical terms. We should also note the level of involvement in the scientific community with referee reports for international reference journals and with several coauthors affiliated to different universities (national and international).The research networks developed in 5 years and the funding of the international R & D Projects planned for the coming years, will not only allow the renewal of equipment and software, but also bring the possibility of hiring highly qualified human resources, guaranteeing important conditions to continue in the line of international merit investigation. It is also an important incentive to further progress in the worldwide scientific production, recognized by the scientific community as well as helping UBI to consolidate its role in the country and in the world, in this scientific area. However, there are still some teachers who feel some lack of motivation to publish regularly.

There are different apprehensions regarding the contemporary assessment system. Often, I listen to my colleagues saying that multiple-choice questions are seen as easier to score. Why can’t all assessments be multiple-choice tests? Some others would say, whether the tests given reflect what students will need to know as competent professionals? What evidence can be collected to make sure that test content is relevant? Others come up with concerns that there is a perception amongst students that some examiners are harsher than others and some tasks are easier than others. What can be done to evaluate whether this is the case? Sometimes, the students come up with queries that they are concerned about being observed when interacting with patients. They are not sure why this is needed. What rationale is there for using workplace-based assessment? Some of the students worry if the pass marks for the assessments are ‘correct’, and what is the evidence for the cut-off scores? All these questions are important, and I would deliberate upon them with evidence from the literature. Deliberating on the first query of using multiple-choice questions for everything, we know that assessment of a medical student is a complex process as there are multiple domains of learning such as cognition, skills, and behaviors (Norcini and McKinley, 2007)(Boulet and Raymond, 2018). Each of the domains further has multiple levels from simple to complex tasks (Norcini and McKinley, 2007). For example, the cognition is further divided into six levels, starting from recall (Cognition level 1 or C1) up to creativity (Cognition level 6 or C6) (Norcini and McKinley, 2007). Similarly, the skills and behaviors also have levels starting from observation up to performance and practice (Norcini and McKinley, 2007). Moreover, there are different competencies within each domain that further complicates our task as an assessor to appropriately assess a student (Boulet and Raymond, 2018). For instance, within the cognitive domain, it is not just making the learning objectives based on Bloom’s Taxonomy that would simplify our task because the literature suggests that individuals have different thinking mechanisms, such as fast and slow thinking to perform a task (Kahneman, 2011). We as educationalists do not know what sort of cognitive mechanism have we triggered through our exam items (Swanson and Case, 1998). Multiple Choice Questions is one of the assessment instruments to measure competencies related to the cognitive domain. This means that we cannot use multiple-choice questions to measure the skills and behaviors domains, so clearly multiple-choice questions cannot assess all domains of learning (Vleuten et al, 2010). Within the cognitive domain, there are multiple levels and different ways of thinking mechanisms (Kahneman, 2011). Each assessment instrument has its strength and limitations. Multiple-choice questions may be able to assess a few of the competencies, also with some added benefits in terms of marking but there always are limitations. The multiple-choice question is no different when it comes to the strengths and limitations profile of an assessment instrument (Swanson and Case, 1998). There are certain competencies that can be easily assessed using multiple-choice questions (Swanson and Case, 1998). For example, content that requires recall, application, and analysis can be assessed with the help of multiple-choice questions. However, creativity or synthesis which is cognition level six (C6) as per Blooms’ Taxonomy, cannot be assessed with closed-ended questions such as a multiple-choice question. This means that we need some additional assessment instruments to measure the higher levels of cognition within the cognitive domain. For example, asking students to explore an open-ended question as a research project can assess the higher levels of cognition because the students would be gathering information from different sources of literature, and then synthesizing it to answer the question. It is reported that marking and reading the essay questions would be time-consuming for the teachers (McLean and Gale, 2018). Hence, the teacher to student’s ratio in assessing the higher levels of cognition needs to be monitored so that teachers or assessors can give appropriate time to assess the higher levels of cognition of their students. Hence, we have to use other forms of assessment instruments along with multiple-choice questions to assess the cognitive domain. This will help to assess the different levels of cognition and will also incite the different thinking mechanisms. Regarding the concerns, whether the tests given reflect what students will need to know as competent professionals? What evidence can be collected to make sure that test content is relevant? It is one of an important issue for medical education and assessment directors whether the tests that they are taking are reflective of the students being competent practitioners? It is also quite challenging as some of the competencies such as professionalism or professional identity formation are difficult to be measured quantitatively with the traditional assessment instruments (Cruess, Cruess, & Steinert, 2016). Moreover, there is also a question if all the competencies that are required for a medical graduate can be assessed with the assessment instruments presently available? Hence, we as educationalists have to provide evidence for the assessment of required competencies and relevant content. One of the ways that we can opt is to carefully align the required content with their relevant assessment instruments. This can be done with the help of assessment blueprints, or also known as the table of specifications in some of the literature (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). An assessment blueprint enables us to demonstrate our planned curriculum, that is, what are our planned objectives, and how are we going to teach and assess them (Boulet and Raymond, 2018). We can also use the validity construct in addition to the assessment blueprints to provide evidence for testing the relevant content. Validity means that the test is able to measure what it is supposed to measure (Boulet and Raymond, 2018). There are different types of validity but one of the validity that is required in this situation to establish the appropriateness of the content is the Content Validity. Content validity is established by a number of subject experts who comment on the appropriateness and relevance of the content (Lawshe, 1975). The third method by which the relevance of content can be established is through standard-setting. A standard is a single cut-off score to qualitatively declare a student competent or incompetent based on the judgment of subject experts (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). There are different ways of standard-setting for example Angoff, Ebel, Borderline method, etc. (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). Although the main purpose is the establishment and decides the cut-off score during the process, the experts also debate on the appropriateness and relevance of the content. This means that the standard-setting methods also have validity procedures that are in-built in their process of establishing the cut-off score. These are some of the methods by which we can provide evidence of the relevance of the content that is required to produce a competent practitioner. The next issue is the perception amongst students that some examiners are harsher than others and some tasks are easier than others. Both these observations have quite a lot of truth in them and can be evaluated following the contemporary medical education evaluation techniques. The first issue reported is that some examiners are harsher than others. In terms of assessment, it has been reported in the literature as ‘hawk dove effect’ (McManus et al, 2006, Murphy et al, 2009). There are different reasons identified in the literature for some of the examiners to be more stringent than others such as age, ethnic background, behavioral reasons, educational background, and experience in a number of years (McManus et al, 2006). Specifically, those examiners who are from ethnic minorities and have more experience show more stringency (McManus et al, 2006). Interestingly, it has been reported elsewhere how the glucose levels affect the decision making of the pass-fail judgments (Kahneman, 2011). There are psychometric methods reported in the literature, such as Rasch modeling that can help determine the ‘hawk dove effect’ of different examiners, and whether it is too extreme or within a zone of normal deviation (McManus et al, 2006, Murphy, et al, 2009). Moreover, the literature also suggests ways to minimize the hawk-dove effect by identifying and paring such examiners so the strictness of one can be compensated by the leniency of the other examiner (McManus et al, 2006). The other issue in this situation is that the students find some tasks easier than others. This is dependent on the complexity of tasks and also on the competence level of students. For example, a medical student may achieve independent measuring of blood pressure in his/her first year but even a consultant surgeon may not be able to perform complex surgery such as a Whipple procedure. This means that while developing tasks we as educationalists have to consider both the competence level of our students and the complexity of the tasks. One way to theoretically understand it is by taking help from the cognitive load theory (Merrienboer 2013). The cognitive load theory suggests that there are three types of cognitive loads; namely, the Intrinsic, Extraneous, and Germane loads (Merrienboer 2013). The intrinsic load is associated with the complexity of the task. The extraneous load is added to the working memory of students due to a teacher who does not plan his/her teaching session as per students' needs (Merrienboer 2013). The third load is the germane or the good load that helps the student to understand the task and is added by using teaching methods that helps students understand the task (Merrienboer 2013). The teachers can use different instructional designs such as the 4CID model to plan their teaching session of the complex tasks (Merrienboer 2013). One of the ways to understand the difficulty of the task can be to pilot test the task with few students or junior colleagues. Another way to determine the complexity of the task can be through standard-setting methods where a cut-off score is established after the experts discuss each task and determine its cut-off score based on their judgments (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). However, it is important that the experts who have been called for setting standards have relevant experience so as to make credible judgments (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). A third way to evaluate the complexity of tasks is by applying the post-exam item analysis techniques. The difficulty of the task is evaluated after the performance of students in the exam. Each item’s difficulty in the exam can be measured. The items can be placed from extremely easy (100% students correctly answered the item) to extremely difficult (100% students failed on that specific item). The item analysis enables the teachers to determine which tasks were easier in exams as compared to more difficult tasks. Another concern that comes from students is about their observation when interacting with patients. Health professions training programs require the interaction of students with patients. The student-patient interaction is not very often in initial years of student’s training due to the issues of patient safety, and due to the heavy workload on clinical faculty. However, with the passage of time in the training program, these student patient interactions increase. There is also a strong theoretical basis for better learning when the students are put in a context or a given situation (Wenger, 1998). For example, infection control can be taught through a lecture however the learning can be more effective if the students practically learn it in an operation theatre. Moreover, the undergraduate students or foundation year house job doctors are yet not competent enough to practice independently and require supervision for the obvious reasons of patient safety. Although, some of the students may not like being observed it is one of the requirements for their training. The examiners observing them can give them constructive feedback to further improve their performance (Etheridge and Boursicot, 2013). Feedback is one of the essential components of workplace-based assessments, and it is suggested in the literature that the time for feedback to the student should be almost equal to one-third of the procedure or task time (Etheridge and Boursicot, 2013), that is, for a fifteen minutes tasks, there should be at least five minutes for the feedback hence having a total of twenty minutes time on the whole. Further, it is important for the examiners and senior colleagues to establish trust in the competence of their students or trainees. The ‘trust’ is one of the behavioral constructs that also starts initially with an observation (Etheridge and Boursicot, 2013). Hence, observation of students or house officers by senior colleagues or teachers during clinical encounters is important to establish trust in student’s competence levels. Additionally, in the workplace, there are different skills that are required by the students to demonstrate, and each skill is quite different to others. There are different workplace-based assessment instruments and each of them assesses only certain aspects of student’s performance during clinical practice. For instance, the Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercise (Mini-CEX) can primarily assess the history taking and physical examination skills of students (Etheridge and Boursicot, 2013). Similarly, the Directly Observed Procedural Skills (DOPS) is required to assess the technical and procedural skills of students (Etheridge and Boursicot, 2013). More so, the Case-based Discussion (CBD) is required to assess clinical reasoning skills, decision-making skills, ethics, and professionalism (Etheridge and Boursicot, 2013). Further, multi-source feedback (MSF) or 360-degree assessment collects feedback about a student on their performance from multiple sources such as patients, senior and junior colleagues, nursing staff, and administrative staff (Etheridge and Boursicot, 2013). All these workplace-based assessments require observation of students so they can be given appropriate feedback on their technical and nontechnical skills (Etheridge and Boursicot, 2013). Hence, clinical encounters at the workplace are quite complex and require training of students from different aspects to fully train them that cannot be accomplished without observation. Some students also worry whether the pass marks for the assessments are ‘correct’, and what is the evidence for the cut-off score in their exams? A standard is a single cut-off score that determines the competence of a student in a particular exam (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). The cut-off score is decided by experts who make a qualitative judgment (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). The purpose is not to establish an absolute truth but to demonstrate the creditability of pass-fail decisions in an exam (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). There are certain variables related to standard setters that may affect the creditability of the standard-setting process; such as age, gender, ethnicity, their understanding of the learners, their educational qualification, and their place of work. Moreover, the definition of competence varies with time, place and person (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). Hence, it is important that the standard setters must know the learners and the competence level expected from them and the standard setters must be called from different places. This is one of the first requirements to have the profile of the standard setters to establish their credibility. Moreover, the selection of the method of standard setting is important, and how familiar are the standard setters with the method of standard-setting. There are many standard-setting methods for different assessment instruments and types of exams (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). It is essential to use the appropriate standard-setting method, and also to train the standard setters on that method of standard setting so they know the procedure. The training can be done by providing them certain data to solve it following the steps of the standard-setting procedure. The record of these exercises is important and can be required at later stages to show the experience of the standard setters. Further, every standard-setter writes a cut-off score for each item (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). The mean score of all the standard setters is calculated to determine the cut-off score for each item (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). The total cut-off score is calculated by adding the pass marks of each individual item (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). The cut-off scores for items would also help in differentiating the hawks from doves, that is, those examiners who are quite strict from those who are lenient (McManus et al, 2006). Hence, it is important to keep the record of these cut-off scores of each item for future records and to have a balanced standard-setting team for future exams (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). Additionally, the meeting minutes is an important document to keep the record for the decisions made during the meeting. Lastly, the exam results and post-exam item analysis is an important document to see the performance of students on each item and to make comparisons with the standard-setting meeting (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). It would be important to document the items that behaved as predicted by the standard setters and those items that would show unexpected responses; for example, the majority of the borderline students either secured quite high marks than the cut-off score or vice versa (Norcini and McKinley, 2013). All the documents mentioned above would ensure the creditability of the standard-setting process and would also improve the quality of exam items. There are many other aspects that could not be discussed in this debate on the contemporary assessment system in medical education. Another area that needs deliberations is the futuristic assessment system and how it would address the limitations of the current system? Disclaimer: This work is derived from one of the assignments of the author submitted for his certificate from Keele University. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- References Boulet, J. and Raymond, M. (2018) ‘Blueprinting: Planning your tests. FAIMER-Keele Master’s in Health Professions Education: Accreditation and Assessment. Module 1, Unit 2.’, FAIMER Centre for Distance Learning, CenMEDIC. 6th edn. London, pp. 7–90. Cruess, R. L., Cruess, S. R., & Steinert, Y. (2016). ‘Amending Miller’s pyramid to include professional identity formation’. Acad Med, 91(2), pp. 180–185. Etheridge, L. and Boursicot, K. (2013) ‘Performance and workplace assessment’, in Dent, J. A. and Harden, R. M. (eds) A practical guide for medical teachers. 4th edn. London: Elsevier Limited. Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Lawshe, CH. (1975) A quantitative approach to content validity. Pers Psychol, 28(4), pp. 563–75. McLean, M. and Gale, R. (2018) Essays and short answer questions. FAIMER-Keele Master’s in Health Professions Education: Accreditation and Assessment. Module 1, Unit 5, 5th edition. FAIMER Centre for Distance Learning, CenMEDIC, London. McManus, IC. Thompson, M. and Mollon, J. (2006) ‘ Assessment of examiner leniency and stringency (‘hawk-dove effect’) in the MRCP(UK) clinical examination (PACES) using multi-facet Rasch modelling’ BMC Med Educ. 42(6) doi:10.1186/1472- 6920-6-42 Merrienboer, J.J.G. (2013) ‘Instructional Design’, in Dent, J. A. and Harden, R. M. (eds) A practical guide for medical teachers. 4th edn. London: Elsevier Limited. Murphy, JM. Seneviratne, R. Remers, O and Davis, M. (2009) ‘Hawks’ and ‘doves’: effect of feedback on grades awarded by supervisors of student selected components, Med Teach, 31(10), e484-e488, DOI: 10.3109/01421590903258670 Norcini, J. and McKinley, D. W. (2007) ‘Assessment methods in medical education’, Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(3), pp. 239–250. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2006.12.021. Norcini, J. and Troncon, L. (2018) Foundations of assessment. FAIMER-Keele Master’s in Health Professions Education: Accreditation and Assessment. Module 1, Unit 1. 6th edn. London: FAIMER Centre for Distance Learning CenMEDIC. Norcini, J. and McKinley, D. W. (2013) ‘Standard Setting’, in Dent, J. A. and Harden, R. M. (eds) A practical guide for medical teachers. 4th edn. London: Elsevier Limited. Swanson, D. and Case, S. (1998) Constructing written test questions for the basic and clincial sciences. 3rd Ed. National Board of Medical Examiners. 3750 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19104. Van Der Vleuten, C. Schuwirth, L. Scheele, F. Driessen, E. and Hodges, B. (2010) ‘The assessment of professional competence: building blocks for theory development’, Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, pp. 1-17. doi:10.1016/j. bpobgyn.2010.04.001 Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge university press.

The quality of articles submitted to Brazilian journals has been a source of criticism (Ferreira Falaster, 2016), not only in the International Journal of Innovation - IJI but also in other journals. Journals also usually receive work outside their scope. It motivated us to write this editorial comment. We aim to help the authors better understand the scope of the IJI and understand what we expect from the submitted works. Our concern is related to the format and the elements necessary for each type of work. In addition to the authors, the reviewers can also consult this editorial comment to guide their evaluations.The predominant field of IJI is innovation with a focus on emerging markets. Within innovation, the themes of interest to the journal are: Innovative Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Learning, Innovation and Sustainability, Internationalization of Innovation, Innovation Systems, Emerging Themes of Innovation and Digital Transformation. As scope, the IJI brings: Scientific research, theoretical essays, and reviews that advance the understanding and variety of innovation, improve its efficiency and critical approaches. We prioritize the development of new challenging theories, clarify existing theories, and identify new theoretical issues. Example: Systematic reviews, Bibliometrics, Theoretical essays, Reviews, among others.Empirical investigations or applied tests that, based on theories or references formulated, show state of the art and practical application in innovation; priority is given to unpublished technological contributions and their importance for studies in the area. Example: Empirical articles (quantitative and qualitative), Technological articles, Articles with guidelines for practice, among others.Perspectives that show the advance of established and emerging methodologies that are used in the area of innovation such as: Experimental, Technometrics, Text Mining, Data Mining, Modeling, Bibliometrics, Netnography, Neuroscientific Methods, Design Science Research, Grounded Theory and others.We will continue discussing what we expect from the papers submitted to IJI. We will contextualize some of the types of papers we accept: Articles, Technological articles, Perspectives, Reviews, and Editorial Comments. When submitting the work at IJI, the author must choose one of these options mentioned. We remind the authors that all types of papers must contain a structured summary in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. This structured summary can be adapted for reviews and perspectives, using only the elements that fit the study. Editorial commentLast year, we started the editorial comment section at IJI. This section is exclusively authored by the editors of IJI and their guests. Eventually, we invite members of the editorial board or scholars to contribute with their knowledge. Editorial comments do not go through peer review. Therefore, they are not considered articles.With the editorial comments from IJI, our goal is to assist authors and readers in understanding the various aspects related to scientific research, the publication of articles, and themes related to innovation. We want to help the researchers in their scholarly productions, orienting their articles in the best possible way. We intend to guide the IJI community through our editorial comments, minimizing the desks rejects of the articles, and maximizing authors' publications in the area of innovation. Articles[1]At the time of submission, authors who choose this type of work option may include empirical articles (qualitative and quantitative), theoretical and review articles (systematic literature reviews, bibliometric, theoretical essays)—always taking care of the scope of the IJI with a focus on innovation in emerging countries.In addition to the formatting guidelines that are found in the IJI, we suggest that the articles follow the following structure: Introduction; Literature review; Conceptual Development (Propositions or Hypotheses, when applicable); Methods; Results; Discussions and Conclusions. This structure, which will be suggested below, may undergo some changes depending on the article type. For example, a review article may not have a literature review section, as its results play this role. We suggest that an article has approximately 8000 (eight thousand) words.Introduction: When developing the introduction note the following aspects with greater specificity: if it is clear what the theoretical focus is used, present the research question that motivates the article, indicates the method, present the main results and the contributions or implications. Some failure possibilities deserve special attention from the authors: (1) the article indicates the research question, and (2) the article includes an explanation of the desired contribution.Literature review: Aspects to be considered by the authors: (1) the author is not limited to exposing a set of previous works on a theme with little connection to the current article; (2) links previous works to this article - the authors must clarify how previous referenced works relate to this article; and (3) it has a good balance in the inclusion of classic, or seminal, pertinent references, and more recent references.Conceptual development (propositions or hypotheses, when applicable): An article may or may not have propositions or hypotheses, but it must always have specific conceptual support that motivates the study. Authors should pay attention to the text of the propositions or hypotheses, the consistency between the various hypotheses, and whether they are adjusted to the research question. Authors should give special attention to the argument that supports each of the propositions or hypotheses. Check that it is consistent.Method: The method section needs to be elaborated on several aspects, especially on the data collection procedures and instruments, sample, variables, and data analysis procedures. Check if the data are appropriate to the objectives and if they are not biased. The article should include an adequate explanation of the data and sources used, given that primary data or lesser-known sources require further explanation. Likewise, it is important to understand the characteristics of the data and their representativeness, for which the sample description must be complete. An adequate description if an instrument is used is crucial, and it is not enough to send the questionnaire as an attachment to the article. The questionnaire items, the measurement method, and the source of the items are important. Finally, it is necessary to check the data analysis procedures. In empirical studies, the article must indicate which statistical technique is most effective for testing hypotheses.Results: The authors must include some descriptive elements. The descriptive component is relevant to observe the distribution of the data. A quantitative article should include the correlation table, for example. The article must contain tables with the statistical results, and in the text, the authors need to indicate sequentially if each hypothesis is verified. The text must contain an interpretation of at least the most important results.Discussion: It is a whole section for articles submitted to IJI. The authors must briefly mention the purpose of the article and how it was pursued throughout it. Here the authors must integrate the theory used in the theoretical framework, the hypotheses or propositions, and the results. It is time to show the contributions and/or implications of the study given the existing knowledge. Authors must present an analysis of the main results about the exposed theory. The discussion must be sustained in the analyzes so as not to run the risk of being speculative.Final considerations: the authors must pay special attention to some aspects. The conclusion does not need be too long. One can start by remembering the purpose of the article and how it was achieved. Authors should bring the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research. The ideal is a paragraph for each limitation and any future research. All of these elements must flow coherently and without ramblings for similar subjects or with references to other studies in progress. Technological articleWe will now conceptualize the technological article and show its difference from an academic article. The technological article is a production with a professional emphasis, with an approach mainly focused in problem-solving (Motta, 2017). It is the fundamental difference between a technological article and a production with an academic emphasis. The technological article generally describes experiences in organizations. Even so, authors must follow scientific and methodological rigor in their writing (Biancolino et al., 2012).We propose that the authors submit in this technological article section applied research that prioritizes the learning description, presenting the practical results experienced in the organizations. The CIMO logic (Van Aken, 2007) brings us some insights for a technical production:Context (problem situation);Intervention (intervention proposed to solve the problem presented);Mechanisms adopted (description of how the problem was solved);Results Obtained (objectively describe the results obtained in the organization).It is worth mentioning that in a technological article, reports of solutions implemented with results already obtained are expected. It does not make sense to report something that has not yet been implemented in the organization. So, it is expected that the technological article submitted to IJI will offer contributions to knowledge, as an example (Gregor and Hevner, 2013):Focus on innovation: new solutions to new problems;Focus on improvement: new solutions to known problems;Focus on extrapolation: known solutions to new problems.Another point that we would like to clarify is the size of a technological article. Even if some journals accept technological articles with fewer pages, we suggest that the submission to IJI has at least 6000 (six thousand) words. Also, authors should follow the format available in the guidelines for the author, including the structured abstract and adopting the structure[2] presented below.Introduction: its purpose is to present what the technological article is about briefly, and the intervention carried out, making it clear which problem situation will be solved. Quickly inform how the research was carried out and how the data collected to interpret the technological article were interpreted.Literature review: must be related to the intervention carried out in the organization. The theoretical framework will give theoretical support to the findings of the technological article and contribute to the discussion of the results obtained.Technical production method: despite being a technical production, the technological article must follow a method, which must be well detailed. It should contain a description of the procedures used to collect the data and information relevant to the technological article's realization. It needs to indicate whether it was a direct observation or direct participation, among other examples.Context and problem situation: the authors must present the problem or the opportunity and characterize the organization.Types of intervention and mechanisms adopted: the authors must analyze the problem situation and discuss the possible alternatives for its resolution: innovation, improvement or extrapolation, and describing the activities developed to solve the problem situation.Results obtained and analysis: the authors must bring the most relevant contributions according to the subjects dealt with in the technological article. Its relevance for similar cases with lessons from the reported experience should be emphasized. Describe the results obtained and analyze the data.Discussions and final considerations: the discussion is also welcome in the technological article. It is time to compare the analysis of the results with the researched theory. Show that the objectives of the technological article have been achieved. The authors can comment on the limitations for the research to be carried out and propose new ideas for studies of a technical nature that can continue what was presented.References: the authors must insert at the end all authors used in the theoretical framework, according to APA standards found in the IJI guidelines. Reviews[3]Review is the analysis of a work in an evaluative and critical way, exposing the summary of its main points. Authors who choose this option at the time of submission should exercise caution. They must remember that the review is an academic work to encourage authors and readers to understand and criticize the reviewed work.With this review section, the IJI proposes to provide, for its readers and the wider community of academics, interesting reviews that deal with topics relevant to research or the practice of innovation. The reviews can be, for example, of recently published books and seminal or classic books, which are important for the academic community and complement the training of graduate students.The suggested steps in the review, presented below, should make sense for the author and the reader. All of these elements must appear coherently and fluidly in the text of the review. We suggest that a review has at least 6000 (six thousand) words, depending on the work reviewed.Bibliographic reference: presents a brief description of the work's registration data, such as author's name, title/subtitle, edition (place of publication, publisher, edition, etc.), number of pages.References of the author of the work: this phase is dedicated to the author's data, such as date and place of birth and death (if applicable), his main works, and the works' main themes.What are the issues that mobilized the work being examined: explain why, according to the author, the work is important for studies in this field. This information is generally placed in the introduction and can be important to understand the meaning of the work.Context of the work: indicates the period and place in which the work was carried out, especially in the case of publications and works considered seminal.Methodology of the work (if it is the case especially works of a theoretical-practical nature): point out the main methodological axes described by the author.Summary of the work's main conclusions: this phase is dedicated to the conclusions/contributions of the work, according to the author.Most important bibliographic references of the reviewed work: identify the main references most cited in the work.Reviewer's Opinion: Main contributions of the work, according to the reviewer;For which target audience can this work be recommended?What is your opinion about the work? Strengths and weaknesses, specific limitations.The reviewer can complement the review with results from other research on the topic in question. For example, present the results of a systematic review or a bibliometric for possible additions to the theme or comparisons. PerspectiveIn the perspective section, we want to reach specialist readers who are not necessarily academic to disseminate ideas and concepts that can contribute to practice and reflection on their day-to-day activities in the scope of innovation. These articles seek to focus on evidence, much more than on the development of theory. However, they can demonstrate the advancement of established and emerging methodologies that are used in the area of innovation, such as Experimental, Technometrics, Text Mining, Data Mining, Modeling, Bibliometrics, Netnography, Neuroscientific Methods, Design Science Research, Grounded Theory, and others, as we mentioned earlier. Thus, this section proposes to receive articles reviewing concepts, articles that integrate theories and results, new ideas about the field, and integration of fields of study.Our intention with the perspectives section is to raise debates and increase the IJI community's discussion to attract the public to thoughts and reflections on the theme of innovation. In addition to having another channel to disseminate academic research progress, so distant from executives and undergraduate students, or even academics from other areas of knowledge. We suggest that a prospect has at least 6000 (six thousand) words. Main reasons for work failures at IJIWe will share with the IJI community the main reasons for rejection of the submitted works. The aim is to bring our experience as editors in the conduct of editorial processes. This way, we minimize rejections in the desk reviews and the works that peers are already evaluating. The desk review is a moment before peer review; it takes place before the editors send the submitted article to the reviewers. The IJI desk review takes place in two stages, which will be described below.In the first stage, as soon as the work is submitted to IJI, it undergoes a technical desk review to verify that the work is minimally in the journal's rules. It is at this point that many authors need to resubmit their work. The main reasons are:Authors forget to exclude the indication of their names in the file sent;The work goes through plagiarism identification software, and we often find similarities outside of good academic practices;The authors do not place the work within the rules presented in the submission guidelines. For example, the IJI only accepts papers within the APA standards, or with a certain maximum number of pages. Moreover, the authors do not adapt their article in our format.After the technical verification, we, the editors, carried out the second stage of the desk review. In this step, we assess the work scope as adherent to IJI, as presented at the beginning of this editorial comment. We also check if the work is adequate according to the suggestions we present in the articles we receive for submissions. The main reasons for rejections at this stage of the desk review are:The works are not within the scope established in the IJI;The works do not meet the suggested structure suggestions for each type of study. As an example: they do not have a discussion section; or do not have a literature review section in the empirical articles; they do not have a minimum number of words, making it a superficial job; they have serious method errors.After the works go through these two stages of desk review, we proceed with the editorial process, and the works are sent to the reviewers. Right now, there are several reasons for rejection. But most of the time, the works are rejected because the authors do not heed the suggestions of the reviewers. An important item that facilitates this process of rounds between the authors and the reviewers is the letter of reply from the authors regarding changes in the work. Our guideline is that when the authors send the revised paper, send a letter and all the changes suggested by the reviewers made in this new version.We take the opportunity to thank the authors for their confidence in submitting their work to the IJI. We also thank the efforts of all the reviewers, who were involved with the IJI, for their extraordinary work and to offer authors valuable suggestions for improvement. We hope that readers will appreciate our editorial comment and that the guidelines will be useful to further improve their submissions to IJI. And that they serve as an incentive to send your research papers on innovation to our journal.[1] (Adapted from Ferreira, 2014).[2] (Adapted from Biancolino et al., 2012).[3] (Adapted from Marconi Lakatos, 2010).

This study aimed to explore the perceived barriers to physical activity among college students Study Design: Qualitative research design Eight focus group discussions on 67 college students aged 18-24 years (48 females, 19 males) was conducted on College premises. Data were analysed using inductive approach. Participants identified a number of obstacles to physical activity. Perceived barriers emerged from the analysis of the data addressed the different dimensions of the socio-ecological framework. The result indicated that the young adults perceived substantial amount of personal, social and environmental factors as barriers such as time constraint, tiredness, stress, family control, safety issues and much more. Understanding the barriers and overcoming the barriers at this stage will be valuable. Health professionals and researchers can use this information to design and implement interventions, strategies and policies to promote the participation in physical activity. This further can help the students to deal with those barriers and can help to instil the habit of regular physical activity in the later adult years.

As members of a learned profession, engineers are often required to assess and critique the work of others. Preparation for this professional responsibility should be developed during their academictraining, alongside other required skills. This authorproposes that there are generic skills and trainingmethodologies that can be applied to both technical and“soft skill” situations to prepare students for this task.This paper discusses results of a peer assessment exerciseapplied to a “soft-skills” situation.The main objectives of this experiment were to i)develop peer assessment skills in students, ii) maintain orimprove the accuracy of assessments for subjectivematerial, iii) improve students’ skills in the subject area,and iv) potentially reduce marking effort for instructors.The experiment described in this paper involved peerassessment of a short report (3 – 5 pages) required as aterm assignment in a senior course on ethics andprofessionalism. The reports were prepared andsubmitted by groups of two students. Each student wasthen randomly assigned two other reports to assess in adouble-blind fashion, except that no student reviewerreceived their own report. For reference and analysis,each report was also assessed by both the instructor anda Teaching Assistant resulting in approximately sixseparate assessments per report The results were used todetermine a grade for the assignment. The originalassignment rubric was used for all assessments. Inaddition, formative feedback was provided by thereviewers and returned to the authors.The quality of the numerical results was analyzed bycomparing the marks determined by the student assessorsto the reference (instructor, TA) assessments. An averagedifference of 8.5% was observed, and was consideredgenerally acceptable given the subjective nature of thematerial. Student “generosity bias” was also considered,but found to be virtually non-existent with a difference instudent versus reference averages of less than 0.2%.“Outliers” were anticipated, and student assessmentshowed approximately twice the standard deviation of thereference marks. A weighted average was used todetermine the assignment mark, and any marks outside a20.0% band were de-weighted. Approximately 25% ofcases were weight-adjusted, resulting in a maximum markadjustment of 4.1% and an average adjustment of only1.6%.Feedback was solicited from students prior to the peerreview period and at the end of term. Informal feedbackwas solicited prior to the review period regardinginstructions and logistics, and was used to refine the setupfor the peer review phase. Questions on the value of boththe exercise and the feedback provided were included inan end-of-term survey of students about the course, with83% finding the exercise “a bit” or “quite” educationaland 74% finding the peer feedback “a bit” or “quite”helpful.Involving students in this peer evaluation exercise hadgenerally positive outcomes and provided experiencefrom which to improve future implementation of peerassessments to achieve the objectives of this experiment.Recommendations regarding future application include:importance of instructions and setup, student training and rehearsal, and mark determination considerations.

Abstract Background This paper describes the initial development process of an eLearning continuing professional education program primarily for post-licensure physiotherapists –“Electronic Aerobic Exercise Recommendations to Optimize Best Practices in Care after Stroke” (eAEROBICS). Our objective was to develop an evidence-based, clinically relevant, user-friendly eLearning program for online delivery tailored to facilitate prescription of aerobic exercise post-stroke by physiotherapists. The Demand Driven Learning Model guided curriculum design, delivery, and evaluation. Based on previously identified gaps in physiotherapists’ knowledge of aerobic exercise, four learning modules were developed and delivered using an eLearning platform to maximize cost-effectiveness and flexibility. Five physiotherapists volunteered to pilot eAEROBICS, providing preliminary feedback on strengths and suggestions for improvement. Results Theoretical information and clinical applications addressed the learning objectives of each module in a logical manner. All technical or administrative issues encountered during program delivery were addressed. The feedback from the pilot end-users informed modifications to the eAEROBICS program. Conclusions Processes used in developing eAEROBICS have the potential to serve as a model of electronic continuing professional education for other areas of physiotherapy practice. Further investigation of end-user perspectives and clinical impact of the program is warranted to determine the overall effectiveness of the program.

Background: Clinical Teaching (CT) is a training and evaluation tool used by Nursing courses. In view of the path taken, technical dexterity and expansion of theoretical knowledge, the performance and training of the student as an upcoming professional is evaluated. It is essential to find out the importance of CT as a learning method. Objective: To analyze the importance of Clinical Teaching in the training of nurses. Methodology: Integrative literature review, based on the do Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, in the PubMed, SciELO, BVS and RCAAP databases, between January 2012 and December 2018. Articles about nursing students and / or nurses, over 18 years old, with a focus on CT were included. Results: In the initial research, 20538 was obtained and, after implementing the previously established criteria, in the end 10 articles were obtained, which were analyzed in detail. Five are quantitative studies and another five are qualitative studies. As for quantitative studies, they used several instruments to obtain the data. As for qualitative studies, most of them used interviews and open-ended questionnaires. Nursing students translate the CT as positive, despite seeing discrepancies between the knowledge acquired in the classroom and those exercised in clinical practice. They highlight the interaction with clients, the development of the therapeutic relationship and the opportunity to exercise what they have learned in a theoretical context with a positive connotation. Conclusions: Despite stress and anxiety, it was found the importance of performing CT in the context of clinical practice for personal and professional development, both in terms of technical dexterity and interpersonal skills, resulting in better training for the future nursing professional. Better knowledge of the stress factors of the TC allows to optimize facilitating strategies and optimize this learning period.

Introduction: The common practice prevalent in most of the Postgraduate (PG) teaching institutes is that while the PGs are clinically evaluating the patients for the traditional long case, they are mostly not directly observed by the faculty. The presentation of the case by PGs is the main focus of assessment. Workplace Based Assessment (WPBA) tools assess the clinical competence of students at the ‘does’ level of Miller’s pyramid, while they perform in a real setting. Aim: To assess the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercises (Mini-CEX) for the PGs in Surgery. Materials and Methods: This educational intervention study was conducted in the General Surgery Department, over a period of one year. Sixteen PGs of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-year residency participated in the study, and 13 faculty as assessors. The Mini-CEX was conducted and the abim.org proforma was used to record the observations by the faculty. The perceptions of the PGs and faculty were obtained at the end of the study using a predesigned validated feedback questionnaire. The change in the level of acquisition of clinical skills of the PGs was evaluated using the group mean, median and rank. The Friedman test was applied to calculate the statistical significance at p<0.05 using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Results: A total of 124 Mini-CEX encounters were conducted over a period of one year. The mean satisfaction score for the Mini-CEX encounters was 7.3±0.88 and 6±0.89 on the global rating (0-9) among the PGs and faculty respectively. While 14 PGs (87.5%) accepted that Mini-CEX was easy to conduct as compared to the traditional long case. Ten faculty (76.5%) accepted that it was feasible to conduct with the prevailing professional workload. Twelve PGs perceived that Mini-CEX was an effective tool for improving clinical skills. Statistically significant (p-value <0.05) improvement was found in the competencies of medical interviewing, physical examination, counseling skills, and professionalism. Conclusion: Mini-CEX was acceptable to the PGs and faculty. It was found to be an effective and formative assessment tool for learning clinical skills in a supportive workplace-based environment for clinical skills improvements

AbstractThe improvement or acquisition of socioemotional skills contributes to the academic and personal adaptation of university students. The way students think about themselves and others influence their social skills and well-being. Considering the importance of social competence for professional practice in the face of new social realities, the university must invest in programs that promote the socio-emotional development of students. This study compared the effects of interventions based on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Psychoeducation on assertive skills and subjective well-being. This study involved 25 undergraduate students of a public university. The students were randomly allocated to three groups, including the Control group, and they were evaluated by means of questionnaires, inventories, scales, and written evaluation of the group process. The program consisted of 10 meetings and a 6-week follow-up. Irrational beliefs were reduced and their assertive skills’ scores increased in the post-intervention and follow-up evaluations, regardless of the group. Only verbal reports from participants indicated an increase in well-being. The students’ written reports after the end of the meetings indicate that the two forms of intervention were evaluated as promoting change by the students. One of the limitations of the study is the size of the groups. Despite the very small sample size, the study highlights that developing a set of flexible beliefs is fundamental to the exercise of assertiveness.

Abstract Patient information material (PIM) is omnipresent in healthcare. It is used to convey information or to familiarize potential end-users to offers of support. PIM recaps or elaborates on relevant information and offers recommendation for action. However, the quality of available PIM varies. When the formal and content-related quality of PIM is suboptimal, it not only fails to be effective but can also lead to uncertainty, misunderstandings, resistance or ignorance (e.g. of a support offer). Highly complex information requires much attention on the quality of the PIM, especially with respect to end-users (e.g. vulnerable groups). Excellent communication through the use of PIM is thus essential within complex interventions. Checklists, such as 'Discern' or 'PEMAT', as well as criteria catalogues or evidence-based patient information standards, may assist in the development, quality assessment and optimization of PIM. The inclusion of the end-users is recommended but for various reasons does not often take place. The innovative “integrated, cross-sectional Psycho-Oncology” (isPO) programme, offers needs-driven, professional support to all adult, newly diagnosed cancer patients early in their sickness trajectory. IsPO was developed in 2018. It was implemented and a formative evaluated in 2019. When developing this programme, different PIM were created top-down by the programme designers. During implementation, it became evident that these PIM materials required further improvement. A testing and optimization process started using the participatory health research (PHR) approach and was completed in a five-month period. A PIM-optimisation team was founded, which included the project partners involved in the network support, self-help organisations and the external evaluation institute. A practical instrument (PIM-checklist) for optimising the isPO-PIM was designed, piloted and used for testing by end-users, isPO service providers, and experts. Based on the recommendations in the checklist, the material was revised accordingly. Additionally, the PIM was completed with the design of two new components. Four optimisation rounds were conducted. The optimized PIM was tested on its comprehensibility (for end-users) and its usability (for service providers). During the presentations, the audience is invited to comment on critical questions that may appear during optimization (e.g. timing). Afterwards, there will be a skill building part with a focus on collaborative learning (45 minutes). First, we will focus on the requirements for a practical instrument that is handy for end-users, service providers and experts (mind mapping exercise). Finally, participants will be able to explore the following topics “World Café” discussion: (1) how to plan, conduct and communicate the development of optimization of PIM in a CI program, (2) what needs to be considered for the optimization (e.g. team composition, resources), and (3) how to continuously achieve end-userś participation. Key messages Excellent PIM are essential for a complex interventiońs success in practice and must include information and foster actionability. the iterative PIM design processes benefits from high user participation.

Abstract Background and Aims Appropriate disease and healthcare management are key behaviours for health optimisation in people with long-term conditions including CKD. Effective self-management of health requires appropriate knowledge, skills and confidence. Digital health interventions are potentially appealing tools to improve knowledge and self-management behaviours, as well as actively involving individuals in their healthcare, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era. However, the development strategies and processes behind such interventions are poorly defined. Here we describe the systematic development of a digital self-management programme for people living with non-dialysis CKD which includes novel approaches to improving self-management and health behaviours. Method Intervention mapping (IM) was used to guide the development of a digital self-management programme called ‘My Kidneys and Me’ (MK&M) to ensure that it can be implemented in clinical practice. The development process was guided by the first four steps of IM: (1) establish multidisciplinary and patient and public involvement (PPI) steering groups to describe the context of the intervention and programme goals; (2) identify objectives and determinants at early design stages to maintain a focus on the strategies adopted; (3) generate the programme components underpinned by appropriate psychological theories and models; (4) develop the programme content and describe the iterative process of refining the content and format of the digital programme for evaluation and implementation. The last two steps (adoption, implementation, and evaluation plan) will be evaluated alongside a forthcoming trial. Results A multidisciplinary steering group was formed consisting of 23 healthcare professionals, researchers, and digital health experts who provided expertise in the clinical and psychosocial aspects of CKD, self-management, digital health, and behaviour change research. A PPI steering group of 12 patients and family members identified the needs and priorities of MK&M, providing feedback at relevant time points. As a result of previous literature and input from both steering groups, MK&M was developed with the aim to improve and maintain self-management behaviours, including to improve knowledge, promote self-care skill, increase self-efficacy, improve well-being, and increase physical activity. These target behaviours were translated into key programme goals: 1) increase patient activation; 2) reduce health risks; 3) manage symptoms; and 4) increase physical function. Based on patient input and needs, MK&M was designed to comprise educational (Learn about …) and behaviour change (How to …) sessions, health trackers (e.g. blood pressure, weight, fruit and veg consumption), symptom tracker, exercise trackers, goal setting features, and social support. For example, to improve symptom management behaviours, patients can use MK&M to: 1) learn about symptoms associated with CKD and strategies to help manage these symptoms; 2) learn how to recognise and keep track of their symptoms so that they can modify their lifestyle accordingly and speak to their healthcare professional if needed; 3) track their symptoms using a bespoke tool. Conclusion Applying the IM framework enabled us to systematically use theory, empirical evidence, and practical perspectives in the development of MK&M. Our evidence- and theory-based online self-management programme provides ongoing support and guidance to people with CKD. The efficacy of MK&M to improve patient self-management behaviour is being studied in a multi-site RCT in the UK.

Introduction The exhibition of an artist’s work is traditionally accepted as representing the final stage of the creative process (Staniszewski). This article asks, however, whether this traditional view can be reassessed so that the curatorial practice of mounting an exhibition becomes, itself, a creative outcome feeding into work that may still be in progress, and that simultaneously operates as a learning and teaching tool. To provide a preliminary examination of the issue, we use a single case study approach, taking an example of practice currently used at an Australian university. In this program, internal and external students work together to develop and deliver an exhibition of their own work in progress. The exhibition space has a professional website (‘CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space’), many community members and the local media attend exhibition openings, and the exhibition (which runs for three to four weeks) becomes an outcome students can include in their curriculum vitae. This article reflects on the experiences, challenges, and outcomes that have been gained through this process over the past twelve months. Due to this time frame, the case study is exploratory and its findings are provisional. The case study is an appropriate method to explore a small sample of events (in this case exhibitions) as, following Merriam, it allows the construction of a richer picture of an under-examined phenomenon to be constructed. Although it is clear that this approach will not offer results which can be generalised, it can, nevertheless, assist in opening up a field for investigation and constructing a holistic account of a phenomenon (in this case, the exhibition space as authentic learning experience and productive teaching tool), for, as Merriam states, “much can be learned from a particular case” (51). Jennings adds that even the smallest case study is useful as it includes an “in-depth examination of the subject with which to confirm or contest received generalizations” (14). Donmoyer extends thoughts on this, suggesting that the single case study is extremely useful as the “restricted conception of generalizability … solely in terms of sampling and statistical significance is no longer defensible or functional” (45). Using the available student course feedback, anonymous end-of-term course evaluations, and other available information, this case study account offers an example of what Merriam terms a “narrative description” (51), which seeks to offer readers the opportunity to engage and “learn vicariously from an encounter with the case” (Merriam 51) in question. This may, we propose, be particularly productive for other educators since what is “learn[ed] in a particular case can be transferred to similar situations” (Merriam 51). Breaking Ground exhibition, CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space, 2014. Photo by Ulrike Sturm. Background The Graduate Certificate of Creative Industries (Creative Practice) (CQU ‘CB82’) was developed in 2011 to meet the national Australian Quality Framework agency’s Level 8 (Graduate Certificate) standards in terms of what is called in their policies, the “level” of learning. This states that, following the program, graduates from this level of program “will have advanced knowledge and skills for professional or highly skilled work and/or further learning … [and] will apply knowledge and skills to demonstrate autonomy, well-developed judgment, adaptability and responsibility as a practitioner or learner” (AQF). The program was first delivered in 2012 and, since then, has been offered both two and three terms a year, attracting small numbers of students each term, with an average of 8 to 12 students a term. To meet these requirements, such programs are sometimes developed to provide professional and work-integrated learning tasks and learning outcomes for students (Patrick et al., Smith et al.). In this case, professionally relevant and related tasks and outcomes formed the basis for the program, its learning tasks, and its assessment regime. To this end, each student enrolled in this program works on an individual, self-determined (but developed in association with the teaching team and with feedback from peers) creative/professional project that is planned, developed, and delivered across one term of study for full- time students and two terms for part- timers. In order to ensure the AQF-required professional-level outcomes, many projects are designed and/or developed in partnership with professional arts institutions and community bodies. Partnerships mobilised utilised in this way have included those with local, state, and national bodies, including the local arts community, festivals, and educational support programs, as well as private business and community organisations. Student interaction with curation occurs regularly at art schools, where graduate and other student shows are scheduled as a regular events on the calendar of most tertiary art schools (Al-Amri), and the curated exhibition as an outcome has a longstanding tradition in tertiary fine arts education (Webb, Brien, and Burr). Yet in these cases, it is ultimately the creative work on show that is the focus of the learning experience and assessment process, rather than any focus on engagement with the curatorial process itself (Dally et al.). When art schools do involve students in the curatorial process, the focus usually still remains on the students' creative work (Sullivan). Another interaction with curation is when students undertaking a tertiary-level course or program in museum, and/or curatorial practice are engaged in the process of developing, mounting, and/or critiquing curated activities. These programs are, however, very small in number in Australia, where they are only offered at postgraduate level, with the exception of an undergraduate program at the University of Canberra (‘215JA.2’). By adopting “the exhibition” as a component of the learning process rather than its end product, including documentation of students’ work in progress as exhibition pieces, and incorporating it into a more general creative industries focused program, we argue that the curatorial experience can become an interactive learning platform for students ranging from diverse creative disciplines. The Student Experience Students in the program under consideration in this case study come from a wide spectrum of the creative industries, including creative writing, film, multimedia, music, and visual arts. Each term, at least half of the enrolments are distance students. The decision to establish an on-campus exhibition space was an experimental strategy that sought to bring together students from different creative disciplines and diverse locations, and actively involve them in the exhibition development and curatorial process. As well as their individual project work, the students also bring differing levels of prior professional experience to the program, and exhibit a wide range of learning styles and approaches when developing and completing their creative works and exegetical reflections. To cater for the variations listed above, but still meet the program milestones and learning outcomes that must (under the program rules) remain consistent for each student, we employed a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching that included strategies informed by Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, Frames of Mind), which proposed and defined seven intelligences, and repeatedly criticised what he identified as an over-reliance on linguistic and logical indices as identifiers of intelligence. He asserted that these were traditional indicators of high scores on most IQ measures or tests of achievement but were not representative of overall levels of intelligence. Gardner later reinforced that, “unless individuals take a very active role in what it is that they’re studying, unless they learn to ask questions, to do things hands on, to essentially re-create things in their own mind and transform them as is needed, the ideas just disappear” (Edutopia). In alignment with Gardner’s views, we have noted that students enrolled in the program demonstrate strengths in several key intelligence areas, particularly interpersonal, musical, body-kinaesthetic, and spacial/visual intelligences (see Gardner, ‘Multiple Intelligences’, 8–18). To cater for, and further develop, these strengths, and also for the external students who were unable to attend university-based workshop sessions, we developed a range of resources with various approaches to hands-on creative tasks that related to the projects students were completing that term. These resources included the usual scholarly articles, books, and textbooks but were also sourced from the print and online media, guest speaker presentations, and digital sites such as You Tube and TED Talks, and through student input into group discussions. The positive reception of these individual project-relevant resources is evidenced in the class online discussion forums, where consecutive groups of students have consistently reflected on the positive impact these resources have had on their individual creative projects: This has been a difficult week with many issues presenting. As part of our Free Writing exercise in class, we explored ‘brain dumping’ and wrote anything (no matter how ridiculous) down. The great thing I discovered after completing this task was that by allowing myself to not censor my thoughts by compiling a writing masterpiece, I was indeed “free” to express everything. …. … I understand that this may not have been the original intended goal of Free Writing – but it is something I would highly recommend external students to try and see if it works for you (Student 'A', week 5, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). I found our discussion about crowdfunding particularly interesting. ... I intend to look at this model for future exhibitions. I think it could be a great way for me to look into developing an exhibition of paintings alongside some more commercial collateral such as prints and cards (Student 'B', week 6, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). In class I specifically enjoyed the black out activity and found the online videos exceptional, inspiring and innovating. I really enjoyed this activity and it was something that I can take away and use within the classroom when educating (Student 'C', week 8, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). The application of Gardner’s principles and strategies dovetailed with our framework for assessing learning outcomes, where we were guided by Boud’s seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education, which aim to “set directions for change, designed to enhance learning achievements for all students and improve the quality of their experience” (26). Boud asserts that assessment has most effect when: it is used to engage students in productive learning; feedback is used to improve student learning; students and teachers become partners in learning and assessment; students are inducted into the assessment practices of higher education; assessment and learning are placed at the centre of subject and program design; assessment and learning is a focus for staff and institutional development; and, assessment provides inclusive and trustworthy representation of student achievement. These propositions were integral to the design of learning outcomes for the exhibition. Teachers worked with students, individually and as a group, to build their capacity to curate the exhibition, and this included such things as the design and administration of invitations, and also the physical placement of works within the exhibition space. In this way, teachers and students became partners in the process of assessment. The final exhibition, as a learning outcome, meant that students were engaged in productive learning that placed both assessment and knowledge at the centre of subject and project design. It is a collation of creative pieces that embodies the class, as a whole; however, each piece also represents the skills and creativity of individual students and, in this way, are is a trustworthy representations of student achievement. While we aimed to employ all seven recommendations, our main focus was on ensuring that the exhibition, as an authentic learning experience, was productive and that the students were engaged as responsible and accountable co-facilitators of it. These factors are particularly relevant as almost all the students were either currently working, or planning to work, in their chosen creative field, where the work would necessarily involve both publication, performance, and/or exhibition of their artwork plus collaborative practice across disciplinary boundaries to make this happen (Brien). For this reason, we provided exhibition-related coursework tasks that we hoped were engaging and that also represented an authentic learning outcome for the students. Student Curatorship In this context, the opportunity to exhibit their own works-in-progress provided an authentic reason, with a deadline, for students to both work, and reflect, on their creative projects. The documentation of each student’s creative process was showcased as a stand-alone exhibition piece within the display. These exhibits not only served not only to highlight the different learning styles of each student, but also proved to inspire creativity and skill development. They also provided a working model whereby students (and potential enrollees) could view other students’ work and creative processes from inception to fully-realised project outcomes. The sample online reflections quoted above not only highlight the effectiveness of the online content delivery, but this engagement with the online forum also allowed remote students to comment on each other’s projects as well as to and respond to issues they were encountering in their project planning and development and creative practice. It was essential that this level of peer engagement was fostered for the curatorial project to be viable, as both internal and external students are involved in designing the invitation, catalogue, labels, and design of the space, while on-campus students hang and label work according to the group’s directions. Distance students send in items. This is a key point of this experiment: the process of curating an exhibition of work from diverse creative fields, and from students located thousands of kilometres apart, as a way of bringing cohesion to a diverse cohort of students. That cohesiveness provided an opportunity for authentic learning to occur because it was in relation to a task that each student apparently understood as personally, academically, and professionally relevant. This was supported by the anonymous course evaluation comments, which were overwhelmingly positive about the exhibition process – there were no negative comments regarding this aspect of the program, and over 60 per cent of the class supplied these evaluations. This also met a considerable point of anxiety in the current university environment whereby actively engaging students in online learning interactions is a continuing issue (Dixon, Dixon, and Axmann). A key question is: what relevance does this curatorial process have for a student whose field is not visual art, but, for instance, music, film, or writing? By displaying documentation of work in progress, this process connects students of all disciplines with an audience. For example, one student in 2014 who was a singer/songwriter, had her song available to be played on a laptop, alongside photographs of the studio when she was recording her song with her band. In conjunction with this, the cover artwork for her CD, together with the actual CD and CD cover, were framed and exhibited. Another student, who was also a musician but who was completing a music history project, sent in pages of the music transcriptions he had been working on during the course. This manuscript was bound and exhibited in a way that prompted some audience members to commented that it was like an artist’s book as well as a collection of data. Both of these students lived over 1,000 kilometres from the campus where the exhibition was held, but they were able to share with us as teaching staff, as well as with other students who were involved in the physical setting up of the exhibition, exactly how they envisaged their work being displayed. The feedback from both of these students was that this experience gave them a strong connection to the program. They described how, despite the issue of distance, they had had the opportunity to participate in a professional event that they were very keen to include on their curricula vitae. Another aspect of students actively participating in the curation of an exhibition which features work from diverse disciplines is that these students get a true sense of the collaborative interconnectedness of the disciplines of the creative industries (Brien). By way of example, the exhibit of the singer/songwriter referred to above involved not only the student and her band, but also the photographer who took the photographs, and the artist who designed the CD cover. Students collaboratively decided how this material was handled in the exhibition catalogue – all these names were included and their roles described. Breaking Ground exhibition, CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space, 2014. Photo by Ulrike Sturm. Outcomes and Conclusion We believe that the curation of an exhibition and the delivery of its constituent components raises student awareness that they are, as creatives, part of a network of industries, developing in them a genuine understanding of the way the creating industries works as a profession outside the academic setting. It is in this sense that this curatorial task is an authentic learning experience. In fact, what was initially perceived as a significant challenge—, that is, exhibiting work in progress from diverse creative fields—, has become a strength of the curatorial project. In reflecting on the experiences and outcomes that have occurred through the implementation of this example of curatorial practice, both as a learning tool and as a creative outcome in its own right, a key positive indicator for this approach is the high level of student satisfaction with the course, as recorded in the formal, anonymous university student evaluations (with 60–100 per cent of these completed for each term, when the university benchmark is 50 per cent completion), and the high level of professional outcomes achieved post-completion. The university evaluation scores have been in the top (4.5–5/.5) range for satisfaction over the program’s eight terms of delivery since 2012. Particularly in relation to subsequent professional outcomes, anecdotal feedback has been that the curatorial process served as an authentic and engaged learning experience because it equipped the students, now graduates, of the program with not only knowledge about how exhibitions work, but also a genuine understanding of the web of connections between the diverse creative arts and industries. Indeed, a number of students have submitted proposals to exhibit professionally in the space after graduation, again providing anecdotal feedback that the experience they gained through our model has had a sustaining impact on their creative practice. While the focus of this activity has been on creative learning for the students, it has also provided an interesting and engaging teaching experience for us as the program’s staff. We will continue to gather evidence relating to our model, and, with the next iteration of the exhibition project, a more detailed comparative analysis will be attempted. At this stage, with ethics approval, we plan to run an anonymous survey with all students involved in this activity, to develop questions for a focus group discussion with graduates. We are also in the process of contacting alumni of the program regarding professional outcomes to map these one, two, and five years after graduation. We will also keep a record of what percentage of students apply to exhibit in the space after graduation, as this will also be an additional marker of how professional and useful they perceive the experience to be. In conclusion, it can be stated that the 100 per cent pass rate and 0 per cent attrition rate from the program since its inception, coupled with a high level (over 60 per cent) of student progression to further post-graduate study in the creative industries, has not been detrimentally affected by this curatorial experiment, and has encouraged staff to continue with this approach. References Al-Amri, Mohammed. “Assessment Techniques Practiced in Teaching Art at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.” International Journal of Education through Art 7.3 (2011): 267–282. AQF Levels. Australian Qualifications Framework website. 18 June 2015 ‹http://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf/in-detail/aqf-levels/›. Boud, D. Student Assessment for Learning in and after Courses: Final Report for Senior Fellowship. Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2010. 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Webb, Jen, Donna Lee Brien, and Sandra Burr. “Doctoral Examination in the Creative Arts: Process, Practices and Standards.” Final Report. Canberra: Office of Learning and Teaching, 2013. Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2013.

Abstract Background Process evaluations provide contextual insight into the way in which interventions are delivered. This information is essential when designing strategies to implement programs into wider clinical practice. We performed a process evaluation of the HiBalance effectiveness trial investigating the effects of a 10-week of highly challenging and progressive balance training for mild-moderate Parkinson’s disease (PD). Study aims were to investigate i) the quality and quantity of intervention delivery and ii) barriers and facilitators for implementation. Methods Process outcomes included; Fidelity; Dose (delivered and received) Recruitment and Reach. Investigation of barriers and facilitators was guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Program delivery was assessed across four neurological rehabilitation sites during a two-year period. Data collection was mixed-methods in nature and quantitative and qualitative data were merged during the analysis phase. Results Thirteen program trainers delivered the intervention to 12 separate groups during 119 training sessions. Trainer fidelity to program core components was very high in 104 (87%) of the sessions. Participant responsiveness to the core components was generally high, although adherence to the home exercise program was low (50%). No significant context-specific differences were observed across sites in terms of fidelity, dose delivered/ received or participant characteristics, despite varying recruitment methods. Facilitators to program delivery were; PD-specificity, high training frequency and professional autonomy. Perceived barriers included; cognitive impairment, absent reactional balance among participants, as well a heterogeneous group in relation to balance capacity. Conclusion These findings provide corroborating evidence for outcome evaluation results and valuable information for the further adaptation and implementation of this program. Important lessons can also be learned for researchers and clinicians planning to implement challenging exercise training programs for people with mild-moderate PD. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02727478, registered 30 march, 2016 − Retrospectively registered.

Today is the era of modernization and fast life. Everybody is busy and living stressful life. Changing life style of person has created many disharmonies in his biological system. Advancement of busy, professional life and social life, improper sitting posture, continuous work in one posture, jerking movements during travelling and sports, all these factors create undue pressure and stress injury to spine and play an important role in producing disease like cervical spondylosis. In this study total 70 patients of Cervical Spondylosis having signs and symptoms of same, selected from OPD of our hospital. Patients were divided into two groups, 35 patients in control group and 35 patients in trial group. Patients in trial group were advised to Practice Makarasan as per yoga module adapted during study and Patients in control group were advised to do Neck Exercise as per neck exercise module adapted during study for 90 days daily. Assessment was done on the basis of pain, tenderness, stiffness and x-ray report of cervical spine before and after study. Makarasan is significantly effective in reduction of signs and symptoms of cervical spondylosis but there were no changes seen in anatomical structures in patients of cervical spondylosis after intervention of Makarasan.

Abstract: Introduction: Mini-CEX is an evaluation method that covers the domains: anamnesis, physical examination, counseling, clinical judgment, organization, and professionalism. It has been tested and validated for use in any practice scenario. With its characteristic of providing feedback after a clinical assessment, the Mini-CEX can also be used as a training method to guide the professional development of students and teachers, promoting greater knowledge retention in undergraduate students and continuously providing information for students to realize how far they are from the desired objectives. The aim of this study was to assess the perception of interns, residents, and preceptors of Internal Medicine (IM) regarding the Mini-CEX instrument. Methods: Qualitative study, using the focus group technique, carried out from February to July 2017. Twenty interns, thirteen residents, and five IM preceptors participated. It consisted of six focus groups, two with interns, two with residents, and two with preceptors, using semi-structured questions that identified perceptions, through the methodology used, on the quality of the evaluation and possible repercussions for the teaching-learning process. Results: In the focus group of interns, the feedback moment of the assessment was considered essential for the learning process, although the bedside assessment was tense due to the preceptor’s presence. The residents reported that the evaluation was a valid one, as it led them to review some points in the medical literature, in addition to stimulating clinical reasoning in the face of a real situation. The preceptors validated the importance of the feedback for those who were evaluated and identified the bedside assessment as a moment for the best analysis of the individualities. Conclusion: Through the perceptions of the groups in focus, the mini-CEX was identified as a fundamental instrument for the teaching and learning process of all those involved and the need to structure the moment of feedback aiming to attain a more effective result. During the bedside assessment, the stimulus to clinical reasoning was identified as a positive point and the strangeness, anxiety, and tension as negative points.

Abstract Background/Aims There is evidence for non-pharmacological interventions to support patients to self-manage fatigue, however implementation in clinical practice is a challenge. LIFT (Lessening the Impact of Fatigue in inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a randomised Trial) is a multi-centre three-arm randomised trial using a remotely delivered cognitive-behavioural approach (CBA) or personalized exercise programme (PEP) interventions, in addition to usual care, compared to normal care alone. Interventions were delivered to patients by rheumatology health professionals using a manual, after training. The aim of this nested qualitative evaluation was to understand their perspectives of delivering the interventions. Methods A subgroup of rheumatology healthcare professionals who had delivered the CBA and PEP interventions took part in semi-structured telephone interviews to explore their experiences of training and delivery, the challenges and benefits of learning new skills, and the barriers and facilitators to supporting patients remotely (mainly by telephone) using the LIFT manual. Results A total of 17 rheumatology healthcare professionals (13 women, 4 men) from the CBA (n = 9) and PEP (n = 8) arms contributed. SB conducted an inductive thematic analysis of the data set. ED, CA, AW and KL reviewed a sub-set of transcripts. Five main themes were identified: The benefits of informative, structured training: Rheumatology healthcare professionals reflected how training, including role-play, helped them to practice their skills, even though this could feel uncomfortable. Those allocated shorter four-hour training sessions would have liked more time to practice. Many felt anxious before meeting patients for the first time but liked the manual to refer to. Getting into the swing of it: Practice gave rheumatology healthcare professionals the confidence to tailor content to individual patients’ requirements. Clinical supervision in the PEP and CBA arm supported rheumatology healthcare professionals to query their own practice, gain valuable feedback, and request assistance where needed. Benefits of telephone delivery: The initial face-to-face session enabled rheumatology healthcare professionals to build rapport with patients. Thereafter, patients seemed engaged and valued the opportunity to address their fatigue and challenge their own beliefs via the telephone. Some patients not ready to change: Rheumatology healthcare professionals struggled to work collaboratively with a minority of patients who were not willing to make changes, lacked motivation to complete tasks or stopped engaging with the intervention. LIFT developing clinical skills: Rheumatology healthcare professionals were confident that they were doing the ‘right thing’ for patients with fatigue and gained professional satisfaction seeing patients’ fatigue improve. Many felt that the skills they acquired and their experiences of remote delivery were helping them to respond to the current COVID-19 related changes in service provision. Conclusion Findings support the value of skills training for rheumatology health professionals to deliver fatigue management interventions remotely. These insights can inform service provision and clinical practice. Disclosure S.E. Bennett: None. E. Dures: None. C. Almeida: None. E. Bachmair: None. K. Lovell: None. L. Paul: None. A. Wearden: None. G.J. Macfarlane: None. N. Basu: None.