Colombian Context Research Articles

Experiencia con la intervención DIALOG+ en pacientes con enfermedad mental grave en servicios de consulta externa de Colombia

IntroductionSevere mental disorders can cause significant and lasting distress for patients and their families and generate high costs through the need for care and loss of productivity. This study tests DIALOG+, an app-based intervention to make routine patient-clinician meetings therapeutically effective. It combines a structured evaluation of patient satisfaction with a solution-focused approach. MethodsWe conducted a qualitative study, based on a controlled clinical trial, in which 9 psychiatrists and 18 patients used DIALOG+ monthly over a six-month period. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the experiences of participants and analysed in an inductive thematic analysis focusing on the feasibility and effects of the intervention in the Colombian context. ResultsExperiences were grouped into five overall themes: a) impact of the intervention on the consultation and the doctor-patient relationship; b) impact on patients and in promoting change; c) use of the supporting app, and d) adaptability of the intervention to the Colombian healthcare system. ConclusionsDIALOG+ was positively valued by most of the participants. Participants felt that it was beneficial to the routine consultation, improved communication and empowered patients to take a leading role in their care. More work is required to identify the patient groups that most benefit from DIALOG+, and to adjust it, particularly to fit brief consultation times, so that it can be rolled out successfully in the Colombian healthcare system.

Quality of programs with virtual methodology: a masters’ case in Colombia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the process of building a model that identifies criteria that determine the quality of virtual postgraduate programs. In the Colombian context, there are no national criteria/standards to evaluate the quality of this type of program. This proposed model is implemented in a public university that has several virtual postgraduate courses within the framework of university autonomy.Design/methodology/approachThis study implements a descriptive methodology through documental research based on the study of 414 documents and the analysis of 39 and research based on the design of the proposal of a quality model, its validation by experts and its application in the academic community of a public university that has virtual postgraduate courses.FindingsThe results are presented in a structure composed of 10 quality factors: coherence between programs, virtual methodology and institutional horizon; attention to students; characteristics of author teachers, virtual teachers and researchers; academic, curricular and learning processes; research, knowledge generation and production; the relationship with the environment; articulation and impact; need satisfaction and ability to generate innovation processes; internationalization, alliances and insertion in scientific and global networks; and technological resources and production of virtual contents, among others.Research limitations/implicationsThis model can be prospectively incorporated into processes that have adapted online training elements in health emergency contexts.Practical implicationsThis model combines theoretical and practice aspects and the validation of experts, which contributes to the reflection on the quality of virtual programs, with criteria different from those proposed for face-to-face and distance programs.Social implicationsEven though the model resulting from this inquiry responds to the situated context of a particular virtual academic program, the research perspective may be oriented to perform longitudinal studies of its implementation, as well as its adaptation to other situated contexts, including those that make use of virtual processes and means of remote education. On the other hand, it provides elements to be taken into account in the construction of educational policies on the quality of virtual programs and future research.Originality/valueThis paper is the result of a research project and its content is original.

Examining Hegemonic and Monoglossic Language Ideologies, Policies, and Practices Within Bilingual Education in Colombia

From the lens of coloniality, monoglossic and hegemonic language ideologies and policies exist within public and private bilingual education in Colombia which oppress students’ and teachers’ diverse linguistic identities and languaging practices.This article draws on critical scholarship which recognizes the need to decolonize language education. As such, it includes a review of key literature from the fields of language ideologies, language policy, and classroom languaging practicesto consider alternative approaches to bilingual education from a heteroglossic stance, including translanguaging and critical multilingual language awareness.The literature review suggests that within the Colombian context, hegemonic and monoglossic ideologies and practices are present within international private bilingual schools and through the National Bilingual Program. In addition, anunderlying logic of coloniality exists in both public and private language education as both contexts hold foreign languages, expertise, and relationships as more valuable than their local equivalents. However, recent classroom-based research in Colombia indicates promising new heteroglossic approaches which not only acknowledgethe benefits, but also support diverse linguistic identities and practices.

Knowledge-Base in ELT Education: A Narrative-Driven Discussion

Knowledge and experience, mediated by reflection, are essential components in teacher education and development programs. This paper discusses core elements that have guided ELT education in the last years and analyzes the case of five English language teacher educators who –in the Colombian context—reflect on their own pedagogical practices through narrative. I guide the discussion by four probing questions that generate a reflective overview of English language teachers’ knowledge-base, identity construction, and decision-making when it comes to localizing knowledge. This reflection uncovers teacher educators’ gains and challenges as it becomes input for those others who are at different stages of their teaching career.

Reliability of the Gross Motor Function Measure-66 scale in the evaluation of children with cerebral palsy: validation for Colombia.

Infantile cerebral palsy is the leading cause of physical disability in childhood and generates different alterations in motor development that prevent the child's independence. The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) scale is considered the gold standard for this measurement in children with infantile cerebral palsy. In Colombia, its use is delayed due to its original language (English) and no studies on its validity in this specific field. This study aimed to determine whether cultural equivalence allows maintaining the reliability characteristics of the instrument to favor its use in the clinical setting. We conducted a cross-sectional study that included 330 children with infantile cerebral palsy from three departments of Colombia, to whom the GMFM-66 scale was applied. Reliability was evaluated from interobserver consistency by estimating intraclass correlation coefficients and internal consistency with the omega coefficient (w) or McDonald's test. The scale demonstrates consistency and stability in its measurements in terms of reliability. The internal consistency was satisfactory only for the first dimension, Lying and rolling (w = 0.91). For the other dimensions, the w-value was always > 0.95. Good agreement was found among the experts in 83.3% of the items and dimensions evaluated. The GMFM-66 scale in Spanish and for the Colombian context demonstrates good psychometric properties and provides a better understanding of the motor development of children with infantile cerebral palsy so that it can be recommended for use in the Colombian context.

Methodology for Sustainable Processing of Agricultural Wastes: Case Study of Cocoa and Bamboo in Colombian Context

Methodology for Sustainable Processing of Agricultural Wastes: Case Study of Cocoa and Bamboo in Colombian Context

Socio-educational action in Colombia: historical, academic and professional means to social work and social pedagogy

Social work and social pedagogy in Colombia are disciplines and professional fields of special relevance for social and educational action. This article analyses what has been the evolution of these fields of knowledge and practice in the Colombian context, from historical, disciplinary, professional and academic standpoints. For this, a documentary analysis has been carried out methodologically in the two areas of knowledge, with a historical and theoretical review of the disciplines in the country, as well as of the relevant national undergraduate and graduate programmes. This article concludes by establishing that social work has a longer historical trajectory in the country to provide social responses to complex problems and violence, with vocational professionalisation, scientific intervention and wide academic recognition in careers present in the country’s universities. In contrast, social pedagogy has had some attempts at being instituted into careers in the country and presents a great diversification of professions from popular or community education, and has struggled to become professionalised due to the prominence given to social work by public policy and education. Nonetheless, our analysis demonstrates that with the historical influence of critical pedagogies and recent global contributions, there is currently a significant upward trajectory of social pedagogy in Colombia, with two Master’s degrees existing since 2019 (which train educators and social workers in socio-educational action).

Life Cycle Sustainability Evaluation of Potential Bioenergy Development for Landfills in Colombia

Abstract The Colombian energy matrix faces significant changes toward meeting its energy needs while fulfilling its pledges in the Intended National Determined Contributions linked to the Paris Agreement. The country has developed a plan for energy transition with a 2050 horizon, a strategy reflected and supported by new legislative packages. Within its design, biomass and biomass waste play a vital role in bioenergy production; however, the benefits of deploying new bioenergy production facilities have not been fully accounted for, including only an economic and climate change perspective. In this work, a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of a potential bioenergy plant for industrial symbiosis with the largest landfill in the country is undertaken, avoiding environmental burden shifting between environmental damage categories and exposing the social potential of such projects. The results show how these types of projects are economically feasible and have the potential to boost the sustainable development of local communities, which under the Colombian context, have been structurally relegated from conventional economic growth for decades.

The Effect of Internal and External Sources on Product Innovation: Colombian Context

Product innovation have been recognized as an important factor to firms' survival. To develop product innovations, companies require different knowledge sources. This research aims to identify the effects of both internal and external sources on product innovation. Using logistic regression, we test the proposed model using data from the Colombian Manufacturing Industry Technological Development and Innovation Survey (TDIS). The results suggest that internal, market and free access sources have a significant positive impact on the probability of companies developing product innovation.

Más allá de la cura: la necesidad de implementar un sistema de seguimiento a largo plazo para los supervivientes de cáncer infantil en Colombia

With the advent of high-quality, multidisciplinary treatments, the overall 5-year cancer survival in the pediatric population has improved considerably, reaching as much as 80% in high-income countries. In Colombia, there has also been a progressive increase in overall 5-year survival, particularly for hematologic malignancies. Consequently, the number of survivors of childhood cancer has increased significantly in recent years and, together with them, the appearance of late adverse events related to increased morbidity and risk of premature death in adulthood. Although follow-up strategies have been implemented for childhood cancer survivors in high-income countries, few efforts have been made in Colombia to implement these strategies. In fact, the common practice in most treatment centers is to discharge the child who has undergone 5 years of cancer follow-up, without precise instructions for long-term follow-up. The objective of this paper is to argue about the need to design and implement follow-up strategies for survivors of childhood cancer in the Colombian context.

Virtual reality as a new tool for transport data collection

Transport studies that adopt complex analyses present methodological challenges that lead to the use of innovative techniques to address the limitations of traditional methods. In the Latin American context, people consider security as a relevant variable in their daily lives. Thus, when people travel around the city and choose a mode of transport, secu-rity becomes an important factor and should therefore be included in transport studies. However, the definition of security in terms of transport in the Colombian context remains unclear. Therefore, we examined the security percep-tion effect on transport mode choice by addressing security as a latent variable consisting of three elements: environ-ment, subject and transport mode. We proposed the use of virtual reality (VR) to recreate travel routes and offer partic-ipants a scenario of choice closer to the natural conditions of a trip. The participants were provided routes in the form of immersive 3D videos recreating natural trip conditions to identify their choices and travel behaviour. Recordings were made of daily scenarios and existing urban environments portraying real and active modes of transport, giving respondents an almost-natural experience. The use of 360-degree immersive videos offers a multisensory experience allowing both the capture of socioeconomic and travel information and the collection of journey perception. The experiment evaluated two environments in Medellín, Colombia (secure (E1) and insecure (E2)) and studied the effects of lighting conditions (day (D) and night (N)). A total of four videos (E1D, E1N, E2D and E2N) depicting six transport modes in tandem were assessed by 92 participants from Medellín and Bogotá, Colombia. We found that environment-associated security perception varies depending on the time of the journey (day/night) and one’s familiarity with the environment. The research results position VR as a tool that offers high potential to support transport studies. We found that people’s movements, gestures and expressions while participating in the VR experiments resembled what was expected from journeys in reality. VR constitutes a relevant tool for transport studies, as it allows for an assessment of active transport mode perceptions. It prevents participants from being exposed to the risk associated with travel to specific places and carries out several routes in different transport modes even when participants cannot or have never undertaken journeys in the modes under assessment.

Emergence and Scale-up of Frugal Innovations: The Relevance of University-Industry Interaction

This article analyses the emergence and scale-up of frugal innovations supported by university-industry interactions in the Colombian context. We conducted semi-structured interviews with eight researchers from the National University of Colombia, who participated in activities to transfer technology to society through frugal innovations. Results highlight the social role of the Colombian university and the motivations of the participating researchers to develop frugal innovations. Three benefits of the university-industry interaction to develop and upscale frugal innovations were identified and described: a) the exchange of specialised knowledge that helps to do incremental improvements on frugal innovations; b) the strengthening of distribution and marketing strategies of innovation, supporting its implementation in different contexts; and c) advantages in scaling up production. The relevance of these findings to understand frugal innovation processes and their implications for designing support services by university technology transfer offices are discussed.

Prefeasibility study for the nanocellulose production from biomass in the Colombian context

Prefeasibility study for the nanocellulose production from biomass in the Colombian context

Aping Blackness: Reading and Evaluating Racialized Images in Cartagena, Colombia

Why are residents of a city racialized as Black overwhelmingly in favor of representations of Blackness that caricature Afro-descendants as subservient, hypersexual and licentious, jovial, uninhibited and libertine, primitive (folklorized), and violent? This article bridges the literatures on the sociology of culture and cognition, racial signification, and frame theory to explore the various sociomental lenses and schemata that people use to perceive racial symbols and evaluate their legitimacy. It uses semi-structured and open-ended photo-elicitation interviews, primarily with residents of a largely-Afro-descendant community in Cartagena, Colombia, to systematically generate a collection of readings and evaluations of racialized imagery, resulting in an empirical example of the socio-optical construction of race within the Colombian cultural context. These readings and evaluations of external cultural primers such as photographs of racialized performance and ritual reveal (1) how a Colombian Atlantic Coastal “optical community” connects the signifiers and signifieds of Blackness; (2) that racial frames evoke three primary schemas (personal, spatiotemporal, and explicitly ideological), which interpreters use to decode and evaluate images; (3) that interpreters read the racial frames transmitted by cultural producers (e.g., performance artists and festival goers) via the visual language of racialized imagery as collectively credible and/or personally salient, and that this visual resonance is how the racialized imagery gain legitimacy and; (4) that personal experience, cultural knowledge, and social location account for variations in whether people consider racialized imagery credible and salient and, as such, legitimate forms of recognition.

Attitudes towards physics. A study with high school students from the Colombian context

Science education should promote the development of competent students in science and develop their interest in science; however, although the role and relevance of science within society is evident; the interest towards it is not conscious, being the negative attitudes of the students the main problem in the teaching of physics, which translates into a deficient knowledge and lack of scientific vocation. This report aims to diagnose the attitudes of students in high school physics courses. The study was developed through a non-experimental, descriptive research design, obtained from the application of a Likert scale that evaluates attitudes towards physics, adapted and validated to the context of students in an educational institution in Colombia. The results indicate that the attitudes of the students are slightly favorable, which is an empirical precedent to continue with the studies on attitudes towards physic. This should be considered to enhance the learning processes in these students, especially for those who have their first approach to physical concepts and give importance to attitudes when teaching.

Endogenous growth factors and their empirical verification in the Colombian business context by applying fuzzy measurement techniques

This paper centers on the role and economic effect of the factors that affect the endogenous growth of organizations. To this end, it analyzes the case of Colombian companies, whose economy has been characterized in Latin America by maintaining a traditional economic policy and sectors that seek to maximize the opportunities offered by international markets. This study seeks to identify and analyze the factors that influence the endogenous economic growth of organizations and that allow them to be sustainable over time. For this purpose, adaptation algorithms based on fuzzy logics and supervised and unsupervised learning methods were used, generating an adaptation strategy that allows classifying and knowing the endogenous growth of companies in the Colombian context and identifying the most relevant aspects to take into account. Finally, it was found that most Colombian companies focus their business policies on strengthening human capital, followed by innovation, financial resources and, to a lesser extent, strategic alliances.

Perceptions of adolescent pregnancy in the rural context and the Colombian armed conflict: a qualitative approach based on social determination of health

BackgroundAdolescent pregnancy in rural areas is a persistent health problem that has still not properly been understood. Studies with qualitative perspectives that address this phenomenon as a complex social process, which involves the recognition of the voices of the actors involved and the analysis of the specific context in which it takes place, are limited.ObjectiveThis research explored the perceptions of young people and other social actors (municipalities of Palmira and El Cerrito in Colombia) of the social forces and dimensions of the social determination of adolescent pregnancy in the Amaime river basin. These geographic areas have been scenes of armed violence with various groups in combat within the context of a long-standing political conflict in Colombia. After the 2016 Havana agreements were signed, peacebuilding has been underway in its territories.MethodsA qualitative study that implemented focus groups and semi-structured interviews was conducted. The theoretical approach of social determination of health proposed by Breilh was used to study the social process entailed in adolescent pregnancy. Perceptions about social conditions, specific ways of life, and lifestyles were addressed. Galtung and Fischer’s theoretical approach on violence and peacebuilding was also incorporated to enrich the understanding of the Colombian context. The analysis was conducted with approaches from phenomenology.ResultsLiving conditions with strong social stigma and demand for social, political, and cultural opportunities were found. Regarding ways of life, little communication and information about sex education was perceived. As for lifestyles, there are youthful behaviors infused by sociocultural traditions that affect life projects and sexual behavior. Gender relations are precarious, and there are various types of violence that limit effective peacebuilding.ConclusionsThis study contributes to a priority issue in sexual and reproductive health, with an approach that generates analytical elements to comprehensively expand the social and health interventions required.

Comprehending Interculturality and its Future Directions in English Language Teaching and Teacher Education in the Colombian Context

Interculturality has to do with the personal relational aspects of caring about the other. In this sense, interculturality confronts and challenges untruths and stereotypes that deny the existence of diversity. This article aims to provide a comprehensive view of what interculturality means, as well as to contribute to current and future trends in the field of English language teaching and teacher education in Colombia. I present examples of intercultural practices as possibilities to understand and explore interculturality in ELT, and I share a review of studies that have undertaken this complex conception of interculturality.

Acompañamiento por Voluntarios Para el Cuidado de Pacientes con Trastorno Mental Grave: Resultados de un año de Seguimiento

IntroductionHealth systems have not been able to provide an adequate response to the growing prevalence and burden of disease of mental disorders. It has been proposed that this gap be reduced by strengthening and making use of community resources. This study explores the feasibility and one-year outcomes of a novel volunteer programme for patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. MethodsIn a non-controlled trial with a total of 30 patients, we instigated activities in groups of 5 people with severe mental disorders and individuals from the community. Symptoms, quality of life and social functioning before the intervention and after six and 12 months were assessed and compared using Student's t-test. ResultsThe volunteer intervention was feasible in the Colombian context. Social functioning after 6 months was improved, mainly due to an improvement in the domains of employment and friendship. However, the difference was no longer statistically significant after 12 months. ConclusionsIn a country where there is a large gap in coverage and access to specialized mental health services, it is important to integrate effective and low-cost interventions that improve the mental health of the population through community resources. This intervention improved the social functioning of the patients, which indicates an effective and feasible intervention for implementation in our context. Nevertheless, the intervention may have to be continued beyond six months to maintain the reported improvements.

Incorporation of the Sociocultural Heritage as an Essential Component in the Emergy Asessment Of Agroecological Systems in the Central Region Of Valle del Cauca-Colombia

In Valle del Cauca, a wide range of agroecological production systems havebeen preserved, withstanding the expansionist onslaught of sugar cane monoculture. The study performed the emergy assessment to three agroecological farms in the municipalities of Andalucia, Sevilla and Buga, incorporating a novel flow of emergy called Sociocultural Heritage (H), which is determinant for the functioning of the agroecological farms in the Colombian context, which includes the contribution of internal family labor given by their permanent residence in the agroecosystem, the family's activity to promote agroecological culture with external actors to the farm, the memory of information, and the appropriation of knowledge. The identity architecture and management of the agrosystem were expressed by the total emergy (U), computing the emergy flows of: renewable natural resources (R), nonrenewable (N), Sociocultural Heritage (H), purchased materials (M), and contrated services (S). The efficiency of agroecological farms, involved inclusive emergetic indices that contain the Sociocultural Heritage (H): Percentage of Sociocultural Heritage (%H), Inclusive Renewability (%RH) and Inclusive Environmental Burden Index (ELRH). The H flow gave results between 6,95 and 42,19 E + 17 sej / year, representing 45,47% and 55,07% of total emergy as %H. The %RH index gave values higher than 91%, indicating that the farms have a high renewability. The ELRH index presented values between 0,05 and 0,09, indicating a low environmental load of agroecological systems and low pressure of agroecological farms on local ecosystems. The results of inclusive emergetic indixes from this study show that agroecological systems are more sustainable in the long term. This would not be so evident with results obtained through an emergy assessment without the inclusion of the H.