Engagement In Research Activities Research Articles

Health, Libraries, Research and Education

Researchers in LIS have been working on projects related to health and wellness in various environments, whether related to medical libraries, public libraries, health information behavior, or health information-related community interventions. At the same time, researchers have explored new methods to educate students on both research and on health and wellness as it relates to LIS. It is our goal to bring together the two and create a collaborative panel in which both the panelists and audience participate in a dialog that highlights our research and our engagement with our students over the past couple of years examining health information and practices in our libraries, communities, and classrooms.
 This non-traditional panel focuses on health and wellness research and its impact on student education and engagement in research activities. The session aims to provide an opportunity for both the organizers and the audience to share their research and/or research agendas and engage in conversations and feedback that can contribute to a cohesive understanding as to what researchers are doing in the area of health and wellness. Our objective is also to discuss current pedagogical practices or student engagement opportunities related to these topical areas. Some examples will be physical and mental health programs and services in public libraries, health literacy courses taught by LIS students in public libraries, health insurance education, using the OCLC Call to Action Opioid toolkit with public libraries, public library staff as health information facilitators, and much more.
 The session will begin with the Health SIG members presenting their research through five-minute lightning talks. While the panelists describe their research, they will begin creating a visualization on Google Jamboard that represents the research being discussed. After these first presentations, the audience will be invited to share their own research, which will also be added to the collaborative board. Throughout this process, participants will be invited to offer constructive feedback on each contributor’s ideas. Through this process, we hope to create an exciting, interactive session in which the SIG members and the audience will have the opportunity to share research and teaching strategies and potentially find new collaborators.

Barriers to participation in research as perceived by undergraduate medical students: A cross-sectional study from Qassim.

Background: Medical students` engagement in research activities continues to be below the expectation. In this study we aimed to investigate students` views about research, and to identify the barriers preventing them from participation in research projects. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Qassim University. A total of 230 students were included. The perceptions of students were assessed using a 16-item questionnaire. The mean scores were compared between students using Mann-Whitney test .Factors associated with students` perception of research barriers were analyzed using four separate logistic regression models. Results: The overall response rate was 89.4%. The results indicate that the students generally possess a moderately positive attitude towards research with a mean score of 14.8±2.7 (range: 5-25). A substantial number of participants reported their willingness to take part in any research-related task (77.0%). However, the participants highly agreed that lack of time (70.4%), lack of supervision and guidance (72.6%), lack of research training and support (73.9%), and lack of research exposure and opportunities (75.2%) were major barriers to their participation in research .We found that students having lower CGPA ranks are almost three times more likely to indicate lack of time as a challenge (AOR: 2.94; 95% CI: 1.09,7.94; p.value=0.033). Overall, female students were more likely to report concerns about research training and availability of research opportunities, while male students were more likely to indicate lack of time and lack of supervision as research barriers. Conclusions: The barriers addressed in the current study —both discretely and cumulatively—are highly demotivating for students, and negatively affect their participation in research. Efforts should be invested to shift the focus from providing superficial research exposure to incorporating more in-depth and effective research training for undergraduate students

Toward Transformative Engagement: Ethical and Effective Clinical-Research Partnerships in Cancer Care Nursing

Background: Clinical nurses have the potential to conduct impactful practice-focused research, enhancing institutional research cultures and improving patient outcomes. However, collaboration between clinical nurses and academic nurse scientists can be challenging and resource intensive. Objective: Describe how transformative clinical-research partnership facilitates achieving mutual goals for clinical nurses and academic nurse scientists. Methods: The Virtual Supportive Cancer Care Research (ViSuCaRe) Study, a multisite, mixed-method study, was conducted through a clinical-research partnership to explore the experience of patients and clinicians engaging in supportive cancer care via telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: We describe research and quality improvement products and identify how the ViSuCaRe Study addressed three common challenges to clinical-research partnerships. (1) Study conception, construction, and development prioritized frontline clinical staff involvement; (2) Data collection and analysis engaged clinical partners in recruitment, interviewing, data management, coding, and theory-building; (3) Subsequent analyses, products, and dissemination efforts emerged from evolving needs of clinical partners and shifted in accordance with their arising priorities. Conclusions: Using an approach to collaboration centered on transformative engagement offers clinical nurses and academic nurse scientists. Implications for Practice: Frontline clinical staff should have consistent and meaningful roles in developmental, analytic, and dissemination-directing processes. Supporting clinical nurses’ engagement in research activities will enable them to identify and address problems that impact practice, enhance research cultures, and promote evidence-based practice. Foundational: Using a model of transformative engagement, rooted in community engagement, allows nurses to carry out collaborative practice-focused research. Clinical-academic partnerships offer an economical approach to enhancing clinical nurses’ research capacities.

Strategies to Support Sustained Participant Engagement in an Oral Health Promotion Study for Indigenous Children and Their Families in Australia.

The health inequities of Indigenous peoples compared with non-Indigenous peoples are significant and long-standing across many countries. Colonisation and dispossession of land and culture has led to profound and devastating consequences on the health of Indigenous peoples. A lack of trust and cultural security of health services remains a barrier to participation in health care services. Similarly, engagement in research activities is also hindered by a history of unethical research practices. Creating partnerships between researchers and Indigenous communities is key in developing research studies that are culturally appropriate, acceptable and relevant to the needs of Indigenous peoples. Baby Teeth Talk was a randomised controlled trial conducted with Indigenous children and their mothers in South Australia that tested an intervention involving dental care, anticipatory guidance on oral health and dietary intake, and motivational interviewing. The study was developed in consultation and partnership with local Indigenous communities in South Australia and overseen by the study’s Aboriginal reference group. The recruitment and retention of participants in the study has been strong over numerous waves of follow-up. The purpose of this paper is to describe the strategies employed in the study that contributed to the successful and sustained engagement of the participants. These strategies included the establishment of an Aboriginal reference group, building relationships with organisations and community, flexibility of appointment scheduling and allocating adequate time, reimbursement for participant time, developing rapport with participants, encouraging participant self-determination, and adaptation of dietary data collection to better suit participants.

Assessing the Challenges and Enhancing Research Writing Competencies among DepEd Teachers in Nueva Ecija: A Quantitative Analysis

This study focused on evaluating the difficulties faced by 60 teachers of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Nueva Ecija across various ranks in the realm of research writing. The study underscored the pressing need to build the research writing and data analysis capabilities of DepEd teachers, aligning with the evolving goals of the DepEd Central Office aimed at fostering a culture of research in basic education across the Philippines. Through surveys and statistical analyses, this research identified the key challenges confronted by DepEd teachers in Nueva Ecija, shedding light on the obstacles that hindered their effective engagement in research activities. These challenges included limited research experience, inadequate access to resources, and time constraints, among others. This study contributed significantly to the Philippine education system by addressing a critical need for improving the research competencies of DepEd teachers. The findings highlighted the development of a comprehensive training program tailored to the unique needs of DepEd teachers in Nueva Ecija, with the potential for broader applicability across the entire Philippines. The envisioned training program aimed to equip educators with the necessary skills and knowledge to undertake research and data analysis effectively, thereby promoting a culture of research excellence within the Philippine basic education sector.

Examining Teacher Identity Construction in Action Research: The Mediating Role of Experience

ABSTRACT While research on teacher identities has received a surge of attention in the past decades, there is a need for further exploring how teachers’ professional profiles contributes to their engagement in action research. To this end, the current action research-oriented study explored two novice and two experienced language teachers’ identities across the four main stages of action research, namely Plan, Act, Observe, and Reflect. For this purpose, we collected data via semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations. Data analyses indicated that the teachers’ identity construction was largely featured by similarities than differences, as Plan (similar predicaments, different confidence); Act (struggling differently, exulting similarly); Observe (similar emotions, similar recognition); and Reflect (similar trajectories, different reflectivity). In addition, the study argues that while experience influences teacher-researchers’ initial AR steps, novice and experienced teachers undergo similar trajectories in constructing their identities over the course of implementing their plans.

Bridging the gap between research and clinical care: strategies to increase staff awareness and engagement in clinical research.

Research active hospitals have better patient outcomes and improvements in healthcare are associated with greater staff engagement in research. However, barriers to research activity include inadequate knowledge/training and perceptions that research is a specialist activity. Nursing is an academic discipline but the infrastructure supporting nursing research worldwide is variable and sustaining clinical academic careers remains challenging. The National Institute of Health Research 70@70 Senior Nurse Research Leader programme provides dedicated time to increase clinical academic opportunities and foster a research culture across England; we describe initiatives developed by one National Institute of Health Research 70@70 leader to increase clinical staff engagement in research. The purpose of this work was to develop initiatives to facilitate clinical research opportunities and bridge the gap between clinical care and research. New strategies were developed in one health service to increase clinical staff engagement in research activity. This included: (a) Chief Nurse Research Fellows: clinical staff undertaking bespoke research training to identify local clinical research priorities, (b) an exemplar nurse-led Embedding Research In Care unit to pioneer innovation, evaluation and research participation supported by a research facilitator and (c) a Clinical Academic Network for nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare professionals to aid collaborative working. The first cohort of Chief Nurse Research Fellows have successfully completed a bespoke training programme and, with mentoring, developed projects to tackle clinical problems. The Embedding Research In Care unit initiative was configured and the first Embedding Research In Care unit has been awarded. A Clinical Academic Network group of 25+ nurses, midwives and allied health professionals was established and provides peer support and mentoring. This multi-faceted approach has successfully supported research training/engagement, enabled career development and identified nurses/midwives with potential to undertake clinical academic careers. A range of strategies, such as those described in this paper, are required to successfully bridge the gap between clinical care and research and provide additional opportunities for clinical staff to become engaged in a research active career.

Cultural Safety in Emergency Support Services

Wildfire and flood events of recent years, including this year, have stretched and tested British Columbia’s Emergency Support Services (ESS) system, a provincial program designed by Emergency Management BC (EMBC) to support evacuees. After action reviews from the 2017 and 2018 wildfire and flood seasons, demonstrate ESS approaches fell short of providing fully adequate support to Indigenous communities. Building upon a Master’s thesis which was designed using Indigenous research methodologies and action research engagement principles, I asked the question: “How might emergency management practitioners braid cultural safety and a respect, honouring and celebration of Indigenous traditional knowledge, and community-based practices into ESS training and practices?” This article offers a summary of findings and recommendations for practical application for communities and emergency management organizations across the country. The findings include:
 Finding 1 was a theme related to the context and the current state of emergency services evacuations in 2020. This included the social and historical contexts, jurisdiction, and roles and responsibilities.
 Finding 2 focused on the participants’ perspectives of a definition of ‘Cultural Safety,’ which included the identification of specific competencies, a focus on trust-based relationships, and a connection to land.
 Finding 3 focused on the evacuation and registration process, including keeping families together, the use of community ‘navigators,’ (key individuals with knowledge of community protocol trusted by the community), and suggestions for reception centres in the process of registering evacuees.
 Finding 4 was about providing appropriate supports and services to evacuate communities, including providing traditional food, appropriate accommodation, transportation, language, culture and cultural protocols, and including pets.
 Finding 5 encompassed knowledge and training required for ESS professionals engaged in evacuation of communities. This included content for culturally relevant ESS training, which need to be codesigned and led by indigenous cultural navigators, as well as incorporating evaluation and public education.
 Finding 6 is on the theme of Planning and Preparedness, and includes subtopics of relationships, professional capacity, emergency and evacuation plans, personal preparedness and responder self-care and wellness.

Improving Teachers’ Engagement in Action Research: A Baseline Study in Primary Schools of Bahir Dar City

Improving Teachers’ Engagement in Action Research: A Baseline Study in Primary Schools of Bahir Dar City

An initial assessment of the academic and professional profile of modern foreign languages’ teachers in UK higher education

Abstract The aim of this activity report is to provide an initial appraisal of the current makeup of the professional group of modern foreign language teachers in UK Higher Education. The report is in two parts: a literature review that identifies the main defining qualities of modern foreign languages teachers, and an evaluation of the professional and academic profiles of language teachers in UK higher education, as displayed in the institutional websites of the universities where they work. The analysis of the data collected corroborates the characteristics identified in the literature: the low status of teaching staff, the often unconventional entry paths into the profession, the prevalence of the “native speaker” construct as a desirable feature in candidates who aspire to teach the language, the disparity in qualifications of language teachers, and their low engagement in research activities. Future prospects involve the verification (or amendment, where necessary) of the data collected with accounts from individuals who work as language teachers.

A Theory of Change for Scaling Critical Civic Inquiry

ABSTRACT Case studies of single classrooms and schools have shown promising evidence of learning outcomes associated with action civics and student voice. These findings justify efforts to expand and sustain such opportunities, to ensure greater access for students, and to create a positive feedback loop between youth activism and equity-centered systems change. Although the literature on educational innovation and scaling offers some guidance, this literature has not grappled sufficiently with issues of power that come to the fore when the innovation, such as student activism, challenges dominant systems and practices. We draw on theories of antiracist education and community organizing to propose a theory of change for scaling and sustaining justice-centered civic learning. We situate this argument in examples from a research-practice partnership that has sought to scale a district-sponsored program that works with teachers and students to raise awareness about injustices and to catalyze student engagement in action research and policy change.

Return on time investment: Research resources

Return on time investment: Research resources

Plan, Act, Observe, Reflect, Identity: Exploring Teacher Identity Construction across the Stages of Action Research

Despite the accumulating body of knowledge on action research, the scope of research on teacher identity construction in action research is still limited. This study relied on the concept of identities-in-practice and examined four second language (L2) teachers’ identity construction across the plan, act, observe, and reflect stages of action research. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations. Data analyses indicated that the teachers navigated their action research identity construction through the four stages as: plan (managing the misgivings); act (initial puzzlement, subsequent adaptability, and satisfaction); observe (positive emotions and increased agency); and reflect (further initiatives, greater knowledge generation, and enhanced reflexivity). The study concludes with implications for further empirical attention to the role of emotions in teacher-researchers’ action research engagement and the important role of teacher educators in assisting teacher-researchers with taking the initiative toward conducting action research.

Cancer Omics in Africa: Present and Prospects.

During the last century, cancer biology has been arguably one of the most investigated research fields. To gain deeper insight into cancer mechanisms, scientists have been attempting to integrate multi omics data in cancer research. Cancer genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, and metagenomics are the main multi omics strategies used currently in the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and biomarker discovery in cancer. In this review, we describe the use of different multi omics strategies in cancer research in the African continent and discuss the main challenges facing the implementation of these approaches in African countries such as the lack of training programs in bioinformatics in general and omics strategies in particular and suggest paths to address deficiencies. As a way forward, we advocate for the establishment of an “African Cancer Genomics Consortium” to promote intracontinental collaborative projects and enhance engagement in research activities that address indigenous aspects for cancer precision medicine.

The role of action research in teachers’ efforts to develop research-based education in Sweden: intentions, outcomes, and prerequisite conditions

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes teachers’ motivations and expectations when engaging in action research and relates these to the process outcomes and to the broader evidence movement in education. The theoretical framework builds on research on motivations for teaching and engaging in action research. The empirical data consisted of 50 written teacher reflections completed on two occasions within the action research and teachers’ oral presentations using PowerPoint slides. The outcomes regarding individual and collegial professional learning corresponded well to the teachers’ expectations. However, the relationships with their principal, and also with the researcher, developed more than had been expected. Also, the teachers saw evidence of student/child learning in line with the intentions, but the fact that social and emotional learning was, ultimately, more visible, was unexpected. This study shows that action research, based on an evidence-informed perspective, plays an important role when teachers are building a research-based education, in a context where evidence-based teaching is promoted. Implications of this study include: the importance of establishing fair conditions for teachers’ voluntary engagement in action research; highlighting intentions in the beginning, and throughout the process, which increases the probability of achieving the expected outcomes; and promoting teacher-driven processes.

Factors influencing junior doctor workplace engagement in research: An Australian study

Introduction: Engaging junior doctors in research can contribute to improved health outcomes, but there is a lack of guidance on how best to support junior doctor research engagement through their workplace experiences. This study aims to identify factors influencing Australian junior doctors’ workplace engagement in research and inform recommendations for building research capacity. Methods: This qualitative interview study, using convenience sampling, explored junior doctors’ perceptions and experiences of research engagement. Seventeen junior doctors working at an Australian teaching hospital were interviewed. Data were analysed using the framework method, informed by workplace learning theory. Results: Junior doctors found it challenging to engage in research activities and attributed this to the lack of a practice-based curriculum to sequence their learning. They described an absence of workplace affordances for research engagement, including time, research-active clinician mentors and accessible projects. Whilst career progression was one motivator for research engagement, a key motivator was engaging in research contributing to patient care. Conclusions: The findings suggested that absence of practice-based curriculum, mentor guidance and engagement in meaningful research activities hampered research engagement. These findings may inform junior doctor research development programs in acute healthcare organisations.

The ecological impact of action research on language teacher development: a review of the literature

ABSTRACT Action Research is now frequently practiced and promoted as a form of continuing professional development for language teachers, with recent studies reporting many benefits for those who engage in Action Research. Less frequently reported, but equally as important for sustainability, are the wider impacts of Action Research engagement on teachers’ colleagues, schools and educational sectors. However, to date, there has been no cohesive or holistic review of research on the various forms of development that language teacher Action Research can initiate. This conceptual paper adopts an ecological perspective as a holistic framework for analysing the dimensions of impact of Action Research. An ecological approach studies humans in terms of their relations with their environment, and analyses the affordances and constraints that interact with human development. Accordingly, this paper reviews recent literature on the impact of Action Research in terms of three levels of ecology: micro (individual), meso (school) and macro (wider educational sector) levels. The paper then advances current understandings about why and how Action Research initiates development by analysing the experiences reported, within the studies reviewed, that are unique to teacher Action Research.

Trends in Industry 4.0 Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications in Internet of Thing Component

This research was carried out to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of published research on Internet of Thing (IoT) in order to appreciate the trends and compare the publications contributions among different countries, institutions, authors, subject areas and other knowledge domains. The publications on the IoT were retrieved from Scopus database covering a period of 2009 -2018. A total of 9,367 articles were identified after different search steps. The analyses were conducted using bibliometric procedure. The largest number of publications were recorded in 2018 (3,712). The results further revealed that, China contributed the highest proportion of 3018(32.2%) publications, the USA was ranked second with total publications of 1348 (14.4%). The most productive journals of publications were IEEE Access and IEEE Internet of Things Journal with 465 publications each with total citation of 103,978. Similarly, the most productive authors were Yang, Laurence with 29 (h-Index 14), followed by Sangaiah, with 27 (h-Index) while Rodrigues is the least with 20 (h-Index). The top two authors has cumulative citations of 1,331. The bibliometric analysis of subject area revealed that, Computer Science with 2,987 (32%) followed by Engineering with 2597 (27.7%). However, among the top areas of research in IoT, business, management and accounting is ninth with a contribution of 188 (2%) publications only from 2009 to 2018. Additionally, affiliations, keywords, language, funding agencies information were clearly reported. Finally, this study provide an important inside for researchers in all the field of learning and serve as motivation for engagement in research activities as well as collaborations among scientist for meaningful research output.

Cultura digital y cambio institucional de las universidades

Con la llegada y el posterior arraigo de una cultura digital en las instituciones de educación superior, las comunidades académicas se modificaron. Sus rutinas, formas de gestión, maneras de interactuar y de relacionarse con otros miembros de la comunidad, de investigar, de dar y de tomar clases o de acceder a la información en todos los casos, se vieron permeados por lo digital. Pero esto no sólo se da de forma superficial en la universidad, como se suele dar en otros niveles educativos; la profundidad con la que llega a los campos disciplinarios, que es distinta pero notoria en cada caso, es elemental para integrar las Tecnologías de la Información y de la Comunicación en los planes y programas universitarios. De acuerdo con los resultados de investigación, la cultura de lo digital en áreas de alta especialización procuradas en la Universidad se refleja en los dispositivos que utilizan los universitarios, los programas informáticos para la manipulación de datos y simulación o las revistas digitales y bases de datos de prestigio y de alta valoración, además de en las formas en que la comunidad académica de una disciplina dada interactúa con estos artefactos digitales, los valora y pone en juego para mejorar sus prácticas disciplinarias y atender una serie de necesidades propias de su campo.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY SCOPE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION POSTGRADUATES: THE CASE OF THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF SANTA CATARINA

ABSTRACT This study aimed to analyze previous and current professional activity scenarios of Physical Education master’s and doctoral graduates from the Federal University of Santa Catarina between 2006 and 2013. This descriptive study of documental source was based on curricula (Lattes Platform) of 276 entrants. Before admission to master’s or doctoral programs, the graduates’ professional activity was concentrated in non-formal contexts, public higher education and basic education. After completion, public and private higher education prevailed. It has been concluded that higher education is the graduates’ first option, raising competitiveness for search of better qualification. Engagement in research activities and work in the tertiary sector remain significant.