Beyond Advocacy? Mobilizing Compassion

To investigate the association between physician participants' levels of engagement in a Web-based educational intervention and their patients' baseline diabetes measures. The authors conducted a randomized trial of online CME activities designed to improve diabetes care provided by family, general, and internal medicine physicians in rural areas of 11 southeastern states between September 2006 and July 2008. Using incidence rate ratios derived from negative binomial models, the relationship between physicians' engagement with the study Web site and baseline proportion of their patients having controlled diabetes (hemoglobin A1c < or = 7%) was explored. One hundred thirty-three participants (intervention = 64; control = 69) provided information for 1,637 patients with diabetes. In the intervention group, physicians in practices in the worst quartiles of A1c control were least engaged with the study Web site in nearly all dimensions. Total number of pages viewed decreased as quartile of A1c control worsened (137, 73, 68, 57; P = .007); similarly, for a given 10% increase in proportion of patients with controlled A1c, participants viewed 1.13 times more pages (95% CI: 1.02-1.26, P = .02). In the control group, engagement was neither correlated with A1c control nor different across quartiles of A1c control. Engagement in Web-based interventions is measurable and has important implications for research and education. Because physicians of patients with the greatest need for improvement in A1c control may not use online educational resources as intensely as others, other strategies may be necessary to engage these physicians in professional development activities.

BackgroundThe 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic disrupted childhood immunization in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. After the epidemic, the Government of Sierra Leone prioritized community engagement to increase vaccination confidence and uptake. To support these efforts, we examined potential drivers of vaccination confidence and uptake in Sierra Leone.MethodsWe conducted a population-based household survey with primary caregivers of children in a birth cohort of 12 to 23 months in four districts with low vaccination coverage in Sierra Leone in 2019. Modified Poisson regression modeling with robust variance estimation was used to examine if perceived community engagement in planning the immunization program in the community was associated with vaccination confidence and having a fully vaccinated child.ResultsThe sample comprised 621 age-eligible children and their caregivers (91% response rate). Half of the caregivers (52%) reported that it usually takes too long to get to the vaccination site, and 36% perceived that health workers expect money for vaccination services that are supposed to be given at no charge. When mothers were the decision-makers of the children’s vaccination, 80% of the children were fully vaccinated versus 69% when fathers were the decision-makers and 56% when other relatives were the decision-makers. Caregivers with high confidence in vaccination were more likely to have fully vaccinated children compared to caregivers with low confidence (78% versus 53%). For example, caregivers who thought vaccines are ‘very much’ safe were more likely to have fully vaccinated children than those who thought vaccines are ‘somewhat’ safe (76% versus 48%). Overall, 53% of caregivers perceived high level of community engagement, 41% perceived medium level of engagement, and 6% perceived low level of engagement. Perceiving high community engagement was associated with expressing high vaccination confidence (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) = 2.60; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.67-4.04) and having a fully vaccinated child (aPR = 1.67; 95% CI = 1.18-2.38).ConclusionsIn these four low coverage districts in Sierra Leone, the perceived level of community engagement was strongly associated with vaccination confidence among caregivers and vaccination uptake among children. We have provided exploratory cross-sectional evidence to inform future longitudinal assessments to further investigate the potential causal effect of community engagement on vaccination confidence and uptake.

Characterization of indigenous community engagement in arthritis studies conducted in Canada, United States of America, Australia and New Zealand

The effect of a healthy lifestyle on diabetes-related dementia remains unknown. We examined whether an active lifestyle and rich social network may counteract the increased risk of dementia in people with diabetes. Dementia-free older adults from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K) (n = 2,650) were followed up for 10 years. Diabetes was ascertained on the basis of medical history, medication use, medical records, or glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) ≥6.5% and prediabetes as HbA1c between 5.7 and 6.5%. Dementia was diagnosed by specialists following standard criteria. An active lifestyle was defined as a moderate to high (vs. low) level of engagement in leisure activities or a rich social network (having moderate to rich [vs. poor] social connections and support). Hazard ratios (HRs) of dementia risk were derived from Cox regression models. There were 246 incident dementia cases during follow-up. Those with diabetes (n = 243), but not those with prediabetes (n = 921), had greater risk of dementia (adjusted HR 2.0 [95% CI 1.4-2.9]) than diabetes-free participants. Participants with diabetes but low level of engagement in leisure activities (HR 4.2 [95% CI 2.2-8.2]) or a poor social network (HR 3.4 [95% CI 1.9-6.1]) had greater dementia risk than diabetes-free participants with moderate to high levels of leisure activity engagement or a moderate to rich social network. In participants with diabetes, an active lifestyle (high level of engagement in leisure activities or a rich social network) was associated with less of a raised risk (HR 1.9 [95% CI 1.1-3.4]). An active and socially integrated lifestyle may significantly counteract the detrimental effect of diabetes on dementia risk.

The RLDS Church, Global Denominations, and Globalization: Why the Study of Denominations Still Matters

Community-based participatory research to engage disadvantaged communities: Levels of engagement reached and how to increase it. A systematic review

Use of an Online Spaced-Education Game to Study Top 200 Drugs in a Skills Laboratory Course

Objetivos: Determinar el nivel de engagement y la relación con las seis áreas de la vida laboral en los profesionales de enfermería en la ciudad de Huesca (España) y su asociación con las variables socio-demográficas y laborales.&lt;br /&gt;Materiales y Método: Estudio descriptivo, transversal, con abordaje cuantitativo, en el que participaron 305 profesionales de enfermería. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo, correlaciones y pruebas paramétricas bivariadas, ANOVA y T-Student.&lt;br /&gt;Resultados: La mayoría de los participantes eran mujeres, con pareja estable e hijos, con edad media de 44,98 años (DT 10,86). El 35,4% de la muestra presenta altos niveles de engagement (altos niveles de energía, implicación y eficacia). El estado civil, la situación laboral del cónyuge y padecer enfermedades crónicas se relaciona con los niveles de eficacia; las actividades de ocio se relacionan con los niveles de energía e implicación. La valoración del clima laboral se relaciona con las tres áreas del engagement; la edad, el tiempo en la unidad de trabajo, los años como enfermera y el tiempo en un puesto de dirección se relacionan con la implicación.&lt;br /&gt;Conclusiones: La población estudiada presenta altos niveles de engagement laboral y congruencia entre las sub-escalas de la vida laboral y la organización, con la excepción de la sub-escala de justicia, puesto que los individuos encuestados creen que la organización los trata de forma injusta.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;

Conditions of rapid change force businesses to increase their competitiveness. To increase their competitiveness, businesses are trying to make human resources more effective and efficient as well as harmonizing their improved physical and financial opportunities. The fact that the employee is committed to the job with vigorous energy and dedication from the very first day is an indicator of the high level of work engagement. It is considered that a high level of engagement will increase the competitiveness of the enterprise by positively affecting the business’s overall performance. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the level of job engagement of employees in the manufacturing or service sector differs according to gender, age and seniority.. Within the scope of the study, a survey was conducted among employees in various companies, both located in the service and manufacturing sectors, to investigate the effect of the level of job engagement on the perceived business performance. As the results of the survey were analyzed positive relation was found between work engagement and business performance perceived by the employees but no significant difference between the manufacturing and service sectors. The research has been expanded to obtain whether there is a relationship between age, gender, and seniority, as well as the perceived business performance of the sectors employed and the level of work engagement. According to the results obtained, and the relationship between the level of work engagement and performance, it has been determined that the younger have higher work engagement and perceived business performance levels.

Students who participate in regular community engagement (CE) often experience benefits in different areas of their lives. Many academic institutions have implemented action plans to increase CE within the student population. At the University of Calgary, Canada, this is done primarily through its broader Eyes High strategy. As there remains a gap in the literature about students' perceptions of CE and their awareness of university CE strategies, this study aims to identify undergraduate students’ awareness of the Eyes High strategy, attitudes towards and levels of engagement, and challenges and potential methods to increase CE participation. Data was collected through a voluntary online survey (n=528). Participants were recruited through posters, social media, online faculty platforms and by faculty members. Survey results indicated students lacked knowledge regarding the Eyes High strategy. It was noted that students’ knowledge, attitudes and practices of CE increased as they spent more time at the university. The top perceived challenges to CE were lack of time, accessible information, support and incentives. To increase accessibility and student participation, we suggest introducing the Eyes High Strategy and CE activities early to the undergraduate population through workshops, credit-based courses and/or professional development requirements. Our data suggests that students are not well informed about the Eyes High strategy. There is thus a need for the university to build a campus-wide, student-informed initiative to proactively engage students. This research will serve as a gateway to further explore communicative methods that might better convey university priorities to students.

Nationwide attention towards the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has motivated many individuals to seek resources related to racial equity activism education. Heightened awareness of racially motivated police brutality has highlighted the realities of systemic racism in the United States' institutions and policies. It has also spurred a growing interest in online platforms offering relevant educational resources, thus demonstrating a need for applications specializing in education around BLM and its platform of anti-racism, police brutality, and equity. This research's purpose is to develop a tool that specializes in directing users who may be unsure how to begin educating themselves to relevant resources. We developed ANTIE, the activism chatbot, using the IBM Watson Assistant framework due to its capability of simulating human-like conversations. We further increased the potential for high levels of user engagement by including fun language and emojis. Overall, our project presents ANTIE in beta. The chatbot currently promotes BLM education by providing voting information, relevant news articles, terminology definitions, media recommendations, a directory of local Black-owned businesses, and other resources. We conducted pilot testing with six participants; however, we plan to gather more results via deployment to a larger audience. Our next steps are to evaluate and improve ANTIE by surveying users' levels of engagement and knowledge about racial equity activism after interacting with the chatbot.

Exploring the pivotal role of community engagement on tourists’ behaviors in social media: A cross-national study

Ecosystem restoration practices are gaining prominence in coping with the crisis of ecosystem degradation. To improve the long‐term effectiveness of restoration activities, community engagement in restoration projects needs to be strengthened. In communities where traditional and local values drive adaptation to environmental changes, a community‐engaged restoration approach requires the integration of restoration techniques and local value systems. In two pastoral communities on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, we used the Q method to explore pastoralists' attitudes towards grassland degradation and restoration and to understand different levels of community engagement in grassland restoration activities. Through this study, we aim to promote an understanding of the value‐based approach of local communities to enable better community engagement for the long‐term effectiveness of ecosystem restoration projects and contribute to the achievement and synergy of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study revealed eight types of pastoralists with different attitudes in two communities, with the type of Active Agents leverages transformative restoration action through creating value‐inclusive narratives of grassland restoration in the community with a higher level of engagement in restoration practices. Alongside this, we explored the pastoralists' perspectives of biodiversity in restoration and the importance of local elites in facilitating multiple‐actor cooperation in restoration projects. We recommend that decision‐makers recognize the significance of local worldviews and values in facilitating environmental adaptations, as well as the irreplaceable role played by local people in developing value‐inclusive narratives that align with the local cultural context. Open dialogues and sufficient communication between multiple stakeholders are needed to build mutual trust and accumulate social capital for driving transformative actions in traditional communities. Such approaches are essential to foster community engagement and gain better momentum in ecosystem management initiatives. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Since the 1970s, there has been an ‘orthodoxization’ of Judaism worldwide, particularly in France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Israel. This movement is primarily driven by young people. However, until now, studies have not sufficiently addressed the conjunction of globalization, youth and religion in this evolution. This article examines the globalization of an Orthodox Jewish movement, the Lubavitch movement. How does it include youth in a globalization strategy? What are the effects on their religious practice? This faith-based NGO is an important vector of ‘orthodoxization’ among young people. It invests in youth as a priority, in particular through a specific educational system: it aims to encourage integration into the Lubavitch community, through a standardized orthodox training. But within the movement, young people are also agents: they promote a globalized Jewish orthodoxy.

In the era of a graying workforce, individuals and their employers are concerned with the impact of the graying workforce on the level of engagement at work. Contrary to the myths about older workers being less engaged, statistics have shown that the level of engagement is higher as people age. Within the broad framework of conservation of resources theory in the area of work engagement, the current study aims to clarify how older workers are more engaged at work than younger workers. Building upon socioemotional selectivity theory and continuity theory from a life-span perspective, we explain how individuals gain more resources as they age, including the abilities to regulate emotion and to maintain a career identity. We argue that this positive relationship between age and resources explains why older people have high levels of work engagement. We tested our predictions with a sample of 613 workers in the United States. The study demonstrates that well-regulated emotion and strong commitment to career mediate the positive relationship between age and work engagement simultaneously. These findings contribute to the understanding of an aging workforce's engagement in the workplace. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.