Reflexos de experiências docentes na Terceira Idade:

Computer-mediated communication has been an integral part of how people communicate in today’s modern society. The study of the impact of social media on intercultural competency is still in its infancy and has intrigued many scholars and researchers. An integral part of a foreign university student’s experience in a host country is to manage cultural differences. Hence, through the use of computer-mediated communication by foreign university students, a better understanding of the impacts of social media (Facebook) on intercultural learning experiences can be achieved. The aims of this study are: 1) to analyse the experience of foreign university students that uses Facebook to communicate with their local peers 2) to examine Facebook usage pattern(s) among foreign university students in Malaysia, and 3) to determine the level of intercultural competency among foreign university students in Malaysia. This study employs the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS), developed by Chen and Starosta (2000), to analyse the communication patterns of foreign university students in Malaysia that uses Facebook as a platform to learn and cope with cultural differences. This study analysed data from the survey of 210 foreign university students in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The findings from this study suggest that the majority of foreign university students enjoy communicating with their local peers from different cultures by using Facebook. Moreover, the findings indicate that foreign university students are confident when communicating with their local friends, and further concludes that the foreign students are culturally competent. These findings were determined by examining online interactions between foreign students and their local peers, and through Facebook usage patterns obtained from their experience.

Computer-mediated communication is an integral part of how people communicate in today’s modern society. The impact of social media on intercultural competency is a new territory that is beginning to interest scholars and researchers. Part and parcel of a foreign university student’s experience in a host country are managing cultural differences. Understanding how foreign university students use computer-mediated communication will provide insights into the impacts of social media (Facebook) on intercultural learning experiences. The aims of this study are: 1) to analyse the experience of foreign university students in using Facebook to communicate with their local peers 2) to examine Facebook usage pattern(s) among foreign university students in Malaysia, and; 3) to determine the level of intercultural competency among foreign university students in Malaysia. The study employs the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) developed by Chen and Starosta (2000) in analysing how foreign university students in Malaysia use Facebook as part of a platform in learning and coping with cultural differences. This study analyses data from a survey of 210 foreign university students in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The findings from this study illustrated that the majority of foreign university students enjoy communicating with their local peers who are from different cultures using Facebook. The findings highlight that foreign university students are confident when communicating with their local friends and they are culturally competent. This is examined from the online interactions with their local peers and the Facebook usage pattern developed from their experience.

IntroductionUse of psychoactive substances is a risk factor for mental health. Studying the peculiarities of using psychoactive substances by university students is extremely important for organizing preventive health careObjectivesTo specify the frequency of smoking and alcohol drinking, as well as the peculiarities of the correlational interconnections, in domestic and foreign university studentsMethodsThe survey covered 546 undergraduate domestic and foreign university students of both genders and different religious backgrounds. As a tool, we used the Sociocultural Health Questionnaire (E. Nikolaev)ResultsIt has been revealed that domestic students smoke cigarettes and hookahs surely more often (p=.01) than foreign students (30.49% vs 19.08%). It is obvious that they also more often (p=.01) use electronic cigarettes or vaping drugs (25.24% vs 12.86%) and alcohol (54.42% vs 9.96%). Students in both groups denied using other psychoactive substances. Foreign students reveal positive correlational interconnections between smoking and alcohol drinking (r=.44), while there is no evidence of such interconnections in domestic students. Both groups show valid interconnections between the frequency of smoking and the level of stress (r=.15 и r=.17 correspondingly), the frequency of smoking and monthly financial expenses (r=.21 и r=.22 correspondingly). With domestic students, vaping negatively correlates with exercising in gyms (r=-.12), with foreign students it directly correlates with bodybuilding supplements consumption (r=.15). Those foreign students who drink alcohol more often point to the necessity of having a psychologist in the university (r=.13).ConclusionsThe revealed general and specific factors associated with domestic and foreign students’ use of psychoactive substances call for the necessity of developing culturally differentiated preventive programsDisclosure of InterestNone Declared

BackgroundThis study aimed to understand the relationship between e-health literacy, health perception, cyberchondria, and health anxiety among foreign university students in Turkey. International students often face unique challenges such as language barriers, cultural differences, and limited familiarity with local healthcare systems, which may lead them to rely more heavily on online health information and shape their responses to health-related uncertainty and stress. Understanding these dynamics is essential from a public health perspective, as this population represents a vulnerable group whose health behaviors and digital engagement have important implications for both individual well-being and broader community health.MethodsA cross-sectional design was used in the study. The sample consisted of 352 foreign students selected through the convenience sampling method. The study data were collected from a university in the Western Black Sea Region in Turkey between June 2024 and November 2024. A serial multiple mediation analysis was applied to examine the direct and indirect effects of health perception on e-health literacy.ResultsThe findings show that health perception positively affects e-health literacy, but cyberchondria and health anxiety have important mediating roles in this relationship. Findings suggest that individuals with negative health perception are more likely to exhibit behaviors such as increased health-related information-seeking, which may be associated with elevated levels of cyberchondria and health anxiety. The serial mediating role of cyberchondria and health anxiety further exacerbates the negative impact of negative health perception on e-health literacy.ConclusionsThe study highlights the complex interplay between psychological factors and digital health behaviors among foreign students. Improving e-health literacy requires addressing health perception and mitigating anxiety-related behaviors. The findings suggest the importance of developing culturally tailored digital health literacy programs to support informed decision-making and reduce vulnerability to online health misinformation.

Concerns regarding the poorer scholastic performance of international students in western tertiary institutions have generated studies to determine which factors affect academic success. A significant factor appears to be proficiency in the classroom language, generally a second language (L2) for the international students. There is also growing evidence that some sociological attributes and neuropsychological skills, such as cultural dissimilarities and working memory (WM), impact on academic attainment in L2 learners. The present study was conducted to examine the role of language-related factors that may affect academic differences between local and international Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students in an Australian university. Data were obtained from two separate cohorts of medical students for both their 1st and 2nd years of study. Altogether, academic data from a total of 13 years were used and analyzed for this thesis. Studies 1 and 2 examined the same cohort of students who commenced their studies in 2002-2006 (i.e. 1st year 2002-2006 and 2nd year 2003-2007; data from the 2004 cohort (i.e. 1st year 2004 & 2nd year 2005) was incomplete and, therefore, not useable). This data was from a pool of previously collected information obtained by the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences for census and other academic purposes. For Study 3, data were obtained from students who commenced their 1st year studies in 2008-2010 and 2nd year studies for only the 2008 and 2009 students (i.e. 1st year 2008-2010 and 2nd year 2009-2010; due to time constraints 2nd year information for the 2010 students was not collected) and data were obtained specifically for the present doctorate studies. For all three studies, information on social demographics, first language (L1) and/or L2 usage and various psychometric scales were obtained via questionnaire and academic assessment outcomes were gathered from official university records. Additionally, 103 students in Study 3 undertook a well-established Speech-in-Noise (SiN) measure of verbal working memory. In Study 1, overall End of Year academic totals were compared between 872 local and international students categorized by the Language Family (LF) of their L1. In Study 2, the individual assessments that made up the End of Year Totals were examined for 707 students from the same cohort of Study 1. Assessment instruments varied, but included Examinations, Coursework and Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). In Study 3, the SiN task was used to develop a model correlating verbal WM and various measures of English usage to the 103 students’ academic outcomes of overall End of Year Totals and individual Assessment instruments. In Study 1, the local students, generally, outperformed their international counterparts academically and this depended not only on Origin (i.e. Local versus International) but also on Language Family of their first language. Given that language proficiency is somewhat controlled for, this indicated that the differences may be due to acculturative stressors rather than English language skills. This was elaborated in Study 2, which examined the details of performance differences in the varying assessment types making up the course assessment each year of Years 1 and 2. There were year-specific differences between local and international students, suggesting that varying factors occurred. In the 1st year, international students showed poorer performance only in communications-based tasks, but in the 2nd year, international students performed worse than the locals in all assessments. After establishing that English proficiency did not appear to be the main influencing factor in academic achievement by international students in the Monash MBBS course, the final study 3 in this thesis examined one major neurophysiological factor that has been suggested to impact on learning, i.e. working memory, and specifically verbal working memory in the language of instruction in the Monash MBBS course (a language that is L2 for a significant number of the international students in the course). In this study, a model was developed to significantly predict the performance difference in a communications-based assessment, but not in other assessments requiring mainly factual knowledge. Overall, evidence from all three studies suggests that international students show poorer performance in academic attainment compared to their local peers as a probable result of impaired verbal WM for the L2 in specific communications-based assessments. Possible greater demands on English language skills and acculturative stress in the 1st year may also be contributing factors. Therefore, support for international students to do well will differ as a function of their progression and language background through the different years of the course.

China has since 2000 started marketing itself as a hub for international education, and there has been a push by the government to attract a large number of foreign students to the country's universities. Sharma (2011) reported that there were around 260,000 foreign students studying in China's universities, and that the aim of the Ministry of Education was to attract around 500,000 foreign students by 2020. However, as China is a so-called ‘emerging destination’ for foreign students, perhaps not surprisingly, the vast majority - around two-thirds - of its foreign student population is currently from the Asia region (Study in China, 2012). Although the largest number of foreign students in China study Chinese language programs, an increasing number are attracted by such programs as engineering and medicine. These courses are also being promoted as English-medium programs, with whole degree programs offered from undergraduate to postgraduate levels in English. Little research has been carried out on how these programs are being conducted, the reception of these programs by foreign students in China, and the impact this is having on China's universities. The attraction of international students to China's higher education institutions would no doubt alter the dynamics of language use on these university campuses. This article reports on the reception and use of English by foreign university students in one such international degree program: international undergraduate students studying for a degree in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in the School of Medicine of one of China's leading universities. This case study provides an example of how English-medium instruction programs are currently being used to attract foreign students to China's universities, partly in order for these universities to promote themselves as ‘international’ institutions (see also Botha, 2014; and Bolton and Botha, 2015).

This research was performed to identify the incidence and to determine the effects of risk factors of axial and lower extremity deformities. One hundred forty-seven domestic college students (102 males and 45 females) and 72 foreign students (33 males and 39 females) were subjects in this study. Data collecting was performed by questionnaire and visual postural evaluation. For backpack shoulder dominance, higher incidences of genu varus (P=0.043) and lower incidence of leg length discrepancy (LLD) (P=0.001) were found in both shoulder carrier, while the incidence of lordosis was higher in left (P=0.001) and both (P=0.012) carrier in domestic students. The incidence of genu varus (P=0.022) and scoliosis (P=0.002) were significantly lower in both shoulder carrier in foreign students. For dominant arm, the incidence of forward head (P=0.001) and of lordosis (P=0.029) were significantly higher in left handedness both in domestic students and in foreign students. As the body mass index increases, the incidence of protruding abdomen (P=0.001) and lordosis (P=0.009) showed significant increase, but, the incidence of kyphosis (P=0.022) and scoliosis (P=0.001) decreased in domestic students, and same tendency for lordosis (P=0.001) and for scoliosis (P=0.001) in foreign students. As a whole, in domestic students, female students revealed significantly high (P=0.004) incidence of genu recurvatum compared to significantly low (P=0.022) incidence of LLD. However, no significant incidence difference found in foreign students. Male students showed significantly low incidence (P=0.001) of LLD and high incidence (P=0.014) of lordosis. In foreign students, female students also showed significantly low incidence (P=0.032) of LLD in foreign students compared to their counterparts.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of e-health literacy and subjective health status and health behavior of domestic foreign college students and to determine how subjective health status affects the relationship between e-health literacy and health behavior as a mediating variable. . For this purpose, a population of foreign college students attending a four-year university was set, and frequency analysis, correlation analysis, and hypothesis testing were conducted using SPSS 28.0, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using AMOS 28.0. Finally, the following conclusions were obtained by applying the structural equation model. First, it was confirmed that foreign students' e-health literacy had a significant impact on their subjective health status. Second, international students' e-health literacy was found to have a significant impact on health behavior. Third, the subjective health status of international students was found to have a significant impact on health behaviors.

This article introduces the theoretical and methodological foundations for studying the development of identity and tolerance in foreign university students. The research featured the organization of the educational process that encourages the development of personality identity and tolerance in foreign students. The authors defined the main directions and approaches to the problem of identity and tolerance development as a set of skills. The article describes the identity and tolerance profile of foreign students that study at Russian universities. The author proved that tolerance developed under the effect of national, cultural, and religious factors, as new sociocultural environment affected the personal characteristics of foreign students. The results were both positive and negative, thus forming both tolerant and intolerant attitudes. Subsequently, the personality profile of foreign students demonstrated a combination of tolerant and intolerant traits. The levels of ethnic nihilism and egoism were low; so were the levels of ethnic isolationism and fanaticism. The level of ethnic and social tolerance appeared average. The ethnic indifference and communicative tolerance were also at an average level. However, the level of positive ethnic identity was high. The research revealed a link between tolerance and ethnic identity in foreign students. The results can help to organize the development of identity and tolerance in foreign students.

This study aims to compare and analyze learning satisfaction and learning immersion among Koreans and foreign students in the Corona 19 era and to prepare the need and alternatives for blended learning classes (face-to-face + non-face) among various class methods. In this study, 208 questionnaires were distributed to every students in the Department of Beauty Design Management at H University in Seoul, and 206 questionnaires were used for the final analysis. The statistical processing was analyzed using SPSS 21.0 as follows: First, a frequency analysis was conducted to identify the general characteristics of the subjects surveyed; second, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted for the verification of the subjects surveyed; and third, a reliability test was conducted to verify the validity of the measurement tool. Fourth, we conducted t-test, ANOVA to find differences in learning satisfaction and immersion according to demographic characteristics, and conducted a Scheme-test as a post-test of ANOVA. Female students showed higher proportion than male students, and the proportion of Korean and foreign students was about the same. The Blended Learning course found that 39.8% of students take more than five courses, meaning that online classes alone are not enough to satisfy students' needs. Foreign students showed higher satisfaction in learning according to nationality than Korean students, and foreign students also showed higher immersion in learning than Korean students.

This study aims to compare and analyze learning satisfaction and learning immersion among Koreans and foreign students in the Corona 19 era and to prepare the need and alternatives for blended learning classes (face-to-face + non-face) among various class methods. In this study, 208 questionnaires were distributed to every students in the Department of Beauty Design Management at H University in Seoul, and 206 questionnaires were used for the final analysis. The statistical processing was analyzed using SPSS 21.0 as follows: First, a frequency analysis was conducted to identify the general characteristics of the subjects surveyed; second, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted for the verification of the subjects surveyed; and third, a reliability test was conducted to verify the validity of the measurement tool. Fourth, we conducted t-test, ANOVA to find differences in learning satisfaction and immersion according to demographic characteristics, and conducted a Scheme-test as a post-test of ANOVA. Female students showed higher proportion than male students, and the proportion of Korean and foreign students was about the same. The Blended Learning course found that 39.8% of students take more than five courses, meaning that online classes alone are not enough to satisfy students' needs. Foreign students showed higher satisfaction in learning according to nationality than Korean students, and foreign students also showed higher immersion in learning than Korean students.

Patients with schizophrenia exhibit impairments in working memory that often appear in attenuated form in persons at high risk for the illness. The authors hypothesized that deviations in task-related brain activation and deactivation would occur in persons with an at-risk mental state performing a working memory task that entailed the maintenance and manipulation of letters. Participants at ultra high risk for developing psychosis (N=60), identified using the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States, and healthy comparison subjects (N=38) 14 to 29 years of age underwent functional MRI while performing a verbal working memory task. Group differences in brain activation were identified using analysis of covariance. The two groups did not show significant differences in speed or accuracy of performance, even after accounting for differences in education. Irrespective of task condition, at-risk participants exhibited significantly less activation than healthy comparison subjects in the left anterior insula. During letter manipulation, at-risk persons exhibited greater task-related deactivation within the default-mode network than comparison subjects. Region-of-interest analysis in the at-risk group revealed significantly greater right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation during manipulation of letters. Despite comparable behavioral performance, at-risk participants performing a verbal working memory task exhibited altered brain activation compared with healthy subjects. These findings demonstrate an altered pattern of brain activation in at-risk persons that contains elements of reduced function as well as compensation.

This paper explores how a group of elderly women used humour, beauty, and cultural activities to maintain physical and mental well-being. The paper reports on one aspect of a qualitative study on women's work and health in a lifetime perspective. Interviews with 20 strategically selected Swedish women, aged 63 to 83 years, were audiotaped and analysed according to a phenomenological approach. During the interview process, the researchers became increasingly aware that the women had clear ideas about what enabled them to feel well and healthy - even when actually quite diseased. Creating and enjoying humour, beauty, and culture formed part of such strategies. Joking with workmates made hard, low-status jobs easier, helped them endure pain, and helped balance marital difficulties. Creating a nice and comfortable home gave pleasure and a little luxury in a life filled with necessities. Making articles for everyday use more beautiful was regarded as worthwhile, because it gave delight to them and their families. Gains from cultural activities were social, aesthetic, and existential - the latter through a feeling of self-recognition and being heard. Humour, beauty, and culture formed a greater part of these women's survival strategies than expected. Making everyday life more aesthetic is an undervalued aspect of women's health-creating work in the family. Through their lifelong experience as carers and homemakers, elderly women possess special knowledge regarding what may promote health, a knowledge that should be tapped. When supplying elderly women with social care, their needs for humour, beauty, and culture should be respected.

The aim of this research is to reveal the views of foreign students in order to establish their communicative competences through technologies. This research was conducted with the phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research designs. Study data were collected through semi-structured interview forms prepared separately for each of the foreign students. The sample of the study is 40 foreign students studying at universities in Kazakhstan in the 2022-2023 academic year and voluntarily agreeing to participate in the research. Apart from the questions asked to determine the demographic characteristics of the foreign students participating in the research, such as their gender and department of education, two closed-ended and two open-ended questions were asked about the formation of the communicative competences of foreign students. While preparing the research questions, the literature was used and the questions were presented to the expert opinion and took their final form. As a result of the research, among the answers given to the question asked about the difficulties foreign students face in communication; language is complicated, adjustment problems, loneliness, thinking of doing wrong. Among the answers given to the question regarding the determination of technology use in the formation of foreign students' communicative competencies; podcasts, discussion/chat rooms, instant messaging, blogs and wikis, social networks answers.
 Keywords: Foreign university students, technology, communicative competence

Among the global determinants of smoking, gender, age, region, income, education, and sociocultural norms, influence consumption. <b>Aim:</b> We essayed to determine and compare the relative association strength of gender, age, region and religion, among others, with smoking among foreign college students in a state university in Elazığ, Turkey. <b>Methods:</b> Questionnaire-based cross-sectional study applied in lecture rooms using standardized tools of smoking behaviour, sociodemographic, country-home, religious cult, university studies; A convenience-weighted sample among foreign students was applied. Inferential analysis using chi-square tests and binary logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association of current smoking and the independent variables. <b>Results:</b> Participants: 337 students, mostly males (83%), and undergraduate (75.4%), mean age was 24 ± 4.68 years. Students were from Africa or the Middle East. The prevalence of current smoking was as follows: 37.3% in males, 32.8% in females; 27.3% in those aged ≥23, 43.3% in those ≤22 years*; 71.4% among communication-sciences students, 31.5% among others*; 40.9% in undergraduate, 22.9% in postgraduate*; 28.3% in students reporting Muslim religion, 73.8% in Christians*; 55.6% among Middle East/North African students, 27.5% among Subsarian African students*. Multivariate analyses showed that being a Christian (aOR=16.9;95%CI:8.2-34.6, p&lt;0.001) or from Middle East/North Africa (aOR=7.6;95%CI:4.3-13.7, p&lt;0.001) was strongly associated with current smoking. <b>Conclusion:</b> Among university students from Africa/Middle East, religion and region mostly determine smoking. This suggests that sociocultural norms greatly influence smoking. *p&lt;0,005