Footprints of the faith among Filipino youth: five hundred years and moving forward

Outbreak reporting is thought to be subject to technical, or capacity, barriers that physically hinder reporting and non-technical barriers, such as the threat of economic losses, that discourage governments from reporting. While technical barriers to reporting have been extensively explored, there is less evidence for the effects of non-technical barriers, particularly at the subnational level. To better understand the impact of both technical and non-technical barriers at the subnational level, we conducted an explanatory sequential mixed methods study involving field epidemiology training program (FETP) trainees and graduates in the Asia-Pacific region. We first surveyed study participants on the importance of putative outbreak reporting barriers and enablers using a three-point Likert scale and free text responses. We then interviewed respondents to more deeply explore key factors affecting outbreak reporting that were elicited from the survey. We calculated counts and percentages for all survey variables, and we coded free text responses from the survey and the interview transcripts. We then used thematic analysis to derive common themes from our findings. Fifty-six FETP trainees or graduates completed the survey, representing 19 Asia-Pacific countries and territories; of these respondents, we interviewed 16. The barrier noted by most survey respondents to have a high reporting impact was lack of staff (28, 50.0%). The enablers noted by most survey respondents to have a high reporting impact were training about what and how to report an outbreak (40, 71.4%) and sufficient surveillance resources (40, 71.4%). Based on our survey and interview findings, we elicited four thematic barriers - lack of capacity, behavioural barriers, political and socioeconomic barriers, and bureaucratic barriers - and three thematic enablers - building capacity, building a culture of reporting, and political and bureaucratic support. Although lack of capacity was found to disrupt reporting at the subnational level, several non-technical barriers also impacted reporting, particularly economic and reputational concerns. Future studies should explore these barriers beyond the Asia-Pacific region.

Outbreak reporting is thought to be subject to technical, or capacity, barriers that physically hinder reporting and non-technical barriers, such as the threat of economic losses, that discourage governments from reporting. While technical barriers to reporting have been extensively explored, there is less evidence for the effects of non-technical barriers, particularly at the subnational level. To better understand the impact of both technical and non-technical barriers at the subnational level, we conducted an explanatory sequential mixed methods study involving field epidemiology training program (FETP) trainees and graduates in the Asia-Pacific region. We first surveyed study participants on the importance of putative outbreak reporting barriers and enablers using a three-point Likert scale and free text responses. We then interviewed respondents to more deeply explore key factors affecting outbreak reporting that were elicited from the survey. We calculated counts and percentages for all survey variables, and we coded free text responses from the survey and the interview transcripts. We then used thematic analysis to derive common themes from our findings. Fifty-six FETP trainees or graduates completed the survey, representing 19 Asia-Pacific countries and territories; of these respondents, we interviewed 16. The barrier noted by most survey respondents to have a high reporting impact was lack of staff (28, 50.0%). The enablers noted by most survey respondents to have a high reporting impact were training about what and how to report an outbreak (40, 71.4%) and sufficient surveillance resources (40, 71.4%). Based on our survey and interview findings, we elicited four thematic barriers – lack of capacity, behavioural barriers, political and socioeconomic barriers, and bureaucratic barriers – and three thematic enablers – building capacity, building a culture of reporting, and political and bureaucratic support. Although lack of capacity was found to disrupt reporting at the subnational level, several non-technical barriers also impacted reporting, particularly economic and reputational concerns. Future studies should explore these barriers beyond the Asia-Pacific region.

BackgroundThis study assesses the areas and extent of impact of the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on rare disease (RD) organisations in the Asia Pacific region. There is no existing literature that focuses on such impact on RD organisations in any jurisdictions, nor RD populations across multiple jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific region. A cross-sectional survey was distributed to RD organisations between April and May 2020. Quantitative and qualitative data on the impact of COVID-19 on RD organisations and patients were collected from the organisation representative’s perspective. Qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. A follow-up focus group meeting was conducted in August 2020 to validate the survey findings and to discuss specific needs, support and recommendations for sustainable healthcare systems during the pandemic.ResultsA total of 80 RD organisations from Australia, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, India, Japan, mainland China, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan participated in the study. Of all, 89% were concerned about the impact of pandemic on their organisations. Results indicate that 63% of the organisations functioned at a reduced capacity and 42% stated a decrease in funding as their biggest challenge. Overall, 95% believed their patients were impacted, particularly in healthcare access, social lives, physical health, psychological health and financial impact. Specifically, 43% identified the reduced healthcare access as their top impact, followed by 26% about the impact on daily living and social life. Focus group meeting discussed differential impact across jurisdictions and point towards telemedicine and digitalisation as potential solutions.ConclusionsThis serves as the first study to assess the impact of COVID-19 on RD patients and organisations across multiple jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific region, identifying major themes on the impact on both RD patients and organisations. By including 80 organisations from ten jurisdictions, our study presents the most comprehensive assessment of the pandemic’s impact to date. It highlights the need for mental health support and sheds light on moving towards telemedicine and digitalisation of organisation operation, which constitutes a sustainable model in times of pandemics and beyond.

Taking Aim at Asthma Around the World: Global Results of the Asthma Insight and Management Survey in the Asia-Pacific Region, Latin America, Europe, Canada, and the United States

Pediatric gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy significantly contributes to the diagnosis and management of GI diseases in children. Global data on pediatric GI endoscopy in the Asia-Pacific region are limited. We aimed to report the findings of a regional survey on pediatric endoscopy in the Asia-Pacific region. A questionnaire-based survey involving GI endoscopy centers in 13 Asia-Pacific countries (June to November 2021). The questionnaires included annual procedure volumes (from basic diagnostics to advanced therapeutic endoscopy), endoscopists, sedation procedures, and national training programs. A total of 162 GI endoscopy centers completed the survey. All centers performed basic endoscopies (esophagogastroduodenoscopy and ileocolonoscopy); however, 45.1% and 59.1% of the centers performed less than 50 esophagogastroduodenoscopies and ileocolonoscopies per year, respectively. Small bowel evaluation (capsule endoscopy or balloon-assisted enteroscopy) was performed in 59.3% of the centers. Foreign body removal, polypectomy, and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy were performed in 89.5%, 85.8%, and 52.5% of centers, respectively. Endoscopic hemostatic interventions, which are life-saving procedures, included glue injection (30.9%), hemostasis of nonvariceal bleeding (65.4%), and endoscopic variceal ligation (70.4%). Pediatric GI endoscopy is performed not only by pediatric gastroenterologists but also by adult gastroenterologists in 21-50% of centers for many kinds of procedures. Sedation was provided by anesthesiologists in 65.4% of the centers. Most centers offer both adult and pediatric endoscopy training. The study highlights regional disparities in pediatric GI endoscopy services. It emphasizes the need for expanded pediatric GI training and improved access to therapeutic endoscopy, particularly for life-saving procedures.

Research activities, quality and impact are measured for various reasons and citation analysis has been used as a tool in the assessment of scholarly impact. As to understand the influence of core scholarly work, searching and analyzing global citation databases such as Thomson Reuter's Web of Science, Elsevier's Scopus and Google Scholar is appropriate. However, those global citation databases have limitations in coverage and depth of non-English language journals. Thus this paper investigates the current trend of constructing national citation databases around Asia-Pacific regions and introduces Korea Science Citation-Index Database (KSCD). Citation analysis at the journal, article, reference and researcher affiliation level based on KSCD has been performed as to illustrate the overall picture of Korea Science research activities and impact as well.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about the global capacity for timely outbreak reporting. However, gaps remain in our understanding of barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting, particularly at the local level. Field epidemiology training program (FETP) fellows often participate in the outbreak reporting process as part of both their training and the public health roles they assume after graduating; they therefore represent a potentially valuable source of information for better understanding these barriers and enablers. This study will investigate the barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting through a mixed methods approach that will encompass a review of the existing literature as well as surveying and interviewing FETP trainees and graduates from the Asia-Pacific region. This study will begin with a scoping review of the literature to identify existing evidence of barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting. Based on our findings from the scoping review, we will administer a survey to FETP trainees and graduates from the World Health Organization Western Pacific and South-East Asian Regions and conduct interviews with a subset of survey respondents to investigate the survey findings in more detail. We will summarise and compare the survey results according to various country-level economic and political indicators, and we will employ thematic analysis to evaluate the interview responses. Based on the findings from the scoping review, survey, and interviews, we will construct a model to comprehensively describe the various barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting. This study will contribute to our understanding of the determinants of outbreak reporting across several geographic, political, and economic contexts by eliciting the viewpoints and experiences of persons involved with outbreak reporting, particularly at the local level. This information will help improve the outbreak reporting process, allowing for more timely reporting and helping prevent future outbreaks from becoming pandemics.

Introduction As the 21st century progresses it has become increasingly apparent that the library and information profession's role needs to adapt continually to the dynamic context caused by the impact of digitisation. The development of the profession over the last century has reacted to regular changes in circumstances and ways of thinking, so this is nothing new (Abbott, 1988). While there are some obvious important stakeholders to be considered – the individual, the employer, the professional association and the library school – there are others that have a key role to play in contributing to and supporting the development of librarians. In this chapter, we will look at a variety of these stakeholders, and explore how they are supporting librarian development, focusing on digital literacies. We will look at some of the literature around the changing roles of librarians and consider the recent professional context. We will then examine some of the fundamental drivers in library staff development, including the recent impact of the use of digital capability as a quality measurement. This chapter will provide an overview of the landscape and offer up some ideas about how librarians can contribute to their own and their colleagues’ development of digital literacies. A survey of UK heads of service undertaken by Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) considered and explored six main capabilities derived from the Jisc Seven Elements of Digital Literacies model: ICT/computer literacy, information literacy, media literacy, communication and collaboration, digital scholarship and learning skills (SCONUL, 2012). The survey findings demonstrated various levels of current expertise in these literacies and identified priorities in their development (Inskip, 2016) and a high level of support within the workplace for staff development, particularly with a role or sector-specific focus. Wider contributions from professional associations and library schools were considered by the participants to be of less importance than workplace delivery. This chapter builds on the SCONUL findings by exploring how digital literacies are conceived and considering the role of the librarian as a developer of these literacies in others. Digital literacies First of all, we need to clarify where we stand on the meaning of ‘digital literacy’ (or ‘literacies’). There has been much discussion on defining this multi-faceted terminology through the literature (e.g. Bawden, 2001; Pinto, Cordon, and Diaz, 2010; Webber and Johnston, 2017).

Innovations in Handwriting Literacy Development as a Psycho-didactic Issue

This chapter provides a synthesis of the findings of the studies of youth environmental attitudes presented in previous chapters. These chapters had two aims. The first was to explore the cultural, educational and other influences on the environmental attitudes of young people in each country. The second was to review the findings of survey and focus group research into three aspects of the young people’s environmental attitudes in each country: environmental awareness and knowledge; environmental concerns and beliefs; and environmental behaviour. This chapter presents a summary of the findings across the countries concerned. Based on these findings, the chapter concludes with a set of questions to guide the development of environmental education in the Asia-Pacific region.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about the global capacity for timely outbreak reporting. However, gaps remain in our understanding of barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting, particularly at the local level. Field epidemiology training program (FETP) fellows often participate in the outbreak reporting process as part of both their training and the public health roles they assume after graduating; they therefore represent a potentially valuable source of information for better understanding these barriers and enablers. This study will investigate the barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting through a mixed methods approach that will encompass a review of the existing literature as well as surveying and interviewing FETP trainees and graduates from the Asia-Pacific region.MethodsThis study will begin with a scoping review of the literature to identify existing evidence of barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting. Based on our findings from the scoping review, we will administer a survey to FETP trainees and graduates from the World Health Organization Western Pacific and South-East Asian Regions and conduct interviews with a subset of survey respondents to investigate the survey findings in more detail. We will summarise and compare the survey results according to various country-level economic and political indicators, and we will employ thematic analysis to evaluate the interview responses. Based on the findings from the scoping review, survey, and interviews, we will construct a model to comprehensively describe the various barriers and enablers to outbreak reporting.DiscussionThis study will contribute to our understanding of the determinants of outbreak reporting across several geographic, political, and economic contexts by eliciting the viewpoints and experiences of persons involved with outbreak reporting, particularly at the local level. This information will help improve the outbreak reporting process, allowing for more timely reporting and helping prevent future outbreaks from becoming pandemics.

This article reports survey findings related to the current status and future trends of blended learning in workplace learning settings from diverse cultures. This particular survey was conducted of 674 training and human resource development professionals from five different countries, mostly from the Asia-Pacific region (i.e., China, South Korea, Taiwan, United States, and the United Kingdom). The results show that blended learning will become a popular delivery method in the future of workplace learning not only in Western countries but also in Asian countries. Still, the respondents indicated that there were several barriers to blended learning; one of the most noticeable issues was their lack of understanding of blended learning. There is a pressing need, therefore, to provide practitioners with guidance on how to implement blended learning in their organizations. Additionally, among the countries surveyed, the results of the present study revealed that there were significant differences in the current level of adoption of blended learning, the respondents’ attitudes toward and perceptions of blended learning, and the content areas taught by blended learning. Respondents’ predictions related to emerging instructional strategies, technologies, and evaluation techniques for blended learning are also reported.

The Roundup

ObjectiveThere is a lack of national occupational therapy impact data and occupational therapists report challenges collecting, using, and sharing information as part of professional practice. All occupational therapists need a...

ABSTRACTIn 1989, the American Library Association published the well-known Final Report of the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Since then, the information-developed world has seen numerous activities for upgrading information literacy at all levels of education, in the economy and in everyday life. Efficient use of knowledge in society is strongly emphasized and, linked to that, the importance of education and training of information users, as well as the upgrading of information literacy, especially in the context of higher education. Information literacy is increasingly recognized as a basic skill in the process of learning and adapting to the changing living and working environment of today’s information society. Students face dilemmas in the selection of information resources and challenges for their efficient and responsible use on a daily basis. Academic libraries respond to this challenge by offering different information literacy programmes. This paper presents the findings of a pilot survey on education and training of users of library information services, conducted in September 2004, and some forms of information literacy programmes carried out by the academic libraries at the Slovenian Universities. It also proposes some approaches towards the development of information literacy in all segments of Slovenian society.