Effective Professional Practice Research Articles

Floods of Fury in Nigerian Cities

Flooding is a phenomenon that sometimes has devastating effects on human livelihoods. Impact of floods is more pronounced in low-lying areas due to rapid growth in population, poor governance, decaying infrastructure and lack of proper environmental planning and management. Flooding is also exacerbated by climate change and inadequate preparedness. However, flooding in most Nigerian cities is a major environmental challenge that has continued to defy solution as more people are rendered vulnerable to hazards involved. The implications of recent flooding in Nigerian cities include among others; loss of life and properties, spread of diseases, deformed livelihoods, assets and infrastructure. This paper therefore provides an overview of how Nigerian cities have been affected by flood incidences. The paper contends that prevailing effects of climate change, particularly flooding affecting almost everything in cities demands urgent attention in form of environmental and infrastructure planning, effective policy, improved and effective management of ecological fund, enhanced environmental disaster insurance, effective professional practice, enhanced public enlightment programmes, integration of environmental planning and education to curriculum of schools at all levels, capacity building towards adaptation and mitigation of climate change impact. It also argued for the need to reinvent Nigerian cities through good governance towards creating sustainable cities in the country.

Towards an understanding of resilience and its relevance to medical training

This article explores the concept of resilience and its potential relevance to medicine. It also looks at the dimensions of resilience and its ethical importance for effective professional practice, and considers whether a focus on resilience might be useful in medical training. An applied literature search was conducted across the domains of education, ethics, psychology and sociology to answer the research question: 'What is resilience and what might it mean for professional development in medical education?' This article predominantly considers the findings in relation to training in undergraduate and postgraduate settings, although the literature is wide-ranging and findings may be applicable elsewhere. Resilience is a dynamic capability which can allow people to thrive on challenges given appropriate social and personal contexts. The dimensions of resilience (which include self-efficacy, self-control, ability to engage support and help, learning from difficulties, and persistence despite blocks to progress) are all recognised as qualities that are important in clinical leaders. Much of what is deemed good practice in modern pedagogical approaches to medical training may support the development of resilience in adulthood, but this concept has rarely been used as a goal of professional development. More research is needed on the ways in which resilience can be recognised, developed and supported during and after clinical training. Resilience is a useful and interesting construct which should be further explored in medical education practice and research.

Learning in Australian early childhood education and care settings: changing professional practice

For the first time across Australia, early education and care services are subject to a single, national set of regulations and standards governing the quality of provision. Concurrently, a set of outcomes for all children aged from birth to 5 years and a ranking system to make transparent the performance of programmes have been developed. This article outlines a Victorian project to address this major policy change through the establishment of early childhood integrated professional learning communities. Early findings have implications for effective professional practice and the pre-service preparation of early childhood specialists who implement learning programmes for young children.

Summary

This concluding paper draws together the dominant themes across the papers published in this issue. The majority of the papers clearly point to disparities between the aims of policy-makers and mental health workers. Using a variety of perspectives and methods, the authors of these insightful papers argue that modernist, rational approaches to structuring and evaluating services are at odds with the professional needs of mental health workers. At one level this critique is self-evident given the messiness and uncertainties inherent in working with service users whose individual problems require flexible approaches tailored from a broad and evolving practice-base. For some authors, the focus is epistemological and methodological; they offer much needed examples of analysing policy construction, interpreting statistics and the concurrent application of the widely used concepts of medicalisation and structural inequality. Together, the papers indicate that the progress of mental health reform in many western countries remains inconsistent and, in some cases, obstructive to effective professional practice.

Building on the Strengths of Australian Males

Theoretically, health-related policies are driven by an assessment of population need and are based on evidence of both need and resources. In practice, however, many other factors and stakeholders exert an influence. As regards boys and men’s health in Australia, and arguably in other countries also, the driving forces have rather been culturally or professionally driven priorities (sometime reinforcing one another). The results have not always been to the benefit of male health. This article suggests that the recent Australian Male Health Policy marks a departure from prevailing mind-sets and practice and in so doing charts a way towards a more rational and compassionate view of men, and hopefully more effective professional practice. The change in perspective involved can help bring about a cultural shift which will have benefits for all Australian males and thereby the entire population.

Tailoring Mentoring for New Mathematics and Science Teachers: An Exploratory Study

This paper explores some aspects of effective professional mentoring practice for early career mathematics and science teachers, and discusses the Early Support Program (ESP), a research project conducted in 2009 and 2010 at a large Australian metropolitan university. It is argued that better outcomes may result from a more strategic “tailoring” of mentoring “type” for different aspects of new teacher induction, especially as school-based mentors often have insufficient time or training to support them. The ESP has been trialling its more “distanced” mentoring model, tracking the issues that a group of new teachers chose to discuss with their mentors, and exploring this further through focus groups and case studies. The project has indicated that more flexible, off-campus mentoring assistance may serve some needs particularly well, and that it may also alleviate the pressure placed upon teachers in schools. A secondary aim of the ESP research was to prepare an appropriate resource for teachers, based on its findings, and this has now been done.

A Professional Practice Portfolio for Quality Learning

AbstractThis article focuses on the extent to which a portfolio may address the challenges of assessment for quality learning in professional education programmes. A four‐year action research study investigated the development and implementation of a portfolio for the assessment of practice in a professional development programme preparing special education resource teachers to undertake a new role. A conceptual framework for an effective professional practice portfolio, derived from the refinement of the portfolio and teaching programme throughout the four years, is presented. Findings indicate that a well‐designed portfolio may support quality learning through the integration of theory and practice, the promotion of self‐assessment, autonomy, reflection and meta‐cognition, and the enhancement of the programme's relevance to workplace practice. The findings support the use of a portfolio as a tool to assess and promote the generic skills included in graduate attribute lists or profiles and in evaluation of programme effectiveness.

Towards knowledge‐based practice in complex child protection cases: a research‐based expert briefing

This article is an extended version of an ‘experts’ briefing' commissioned to inform senior child welfare managers in English local authorities and voluntary agencies about the available evidence to inform the provision of effective services in complex child protection cases. It starts by noting how differences in the approach to service provision in different jurisdictions affect both the nature of research conducted and its transferability across national boundaries. It then summarises the characteristics both of parents who are likely to maltreat their children and also of the children most likely to be maltreated. The factors that make some families ‘hard to engage’ or ‘hard to help/change’ are then discussed, as are the essential elements of effective professional practice in child protection. Particular attention is paid to effective approaches to helping families and young people who are hard to identify or engage.

Online behaviours of adolescents: Victims, perpetrators and Web 2.0

This paper reviews the development of online technologies over the last 40 years in the context of the perceived risks to children. It reviews the literature on the main research, legislation and guidance and their role in the development of responses to safeguard children from the perceived threat of harm online. Significant gaps are found in the evidence base upon which effective and proportionate professional practice could be established. The paper describes the challenges presented by a rapidly changing medium, specifically the development of Web2.0, and the diverse levels of use and creativity young people have shown in adapting it into their lives. A distinction is drawn between the developmental imperatives of risk taking in adolescence and behaviour characterized as thrill seeking, which may be indicative of vulnerability both online and offline. The paper concludes with recommendations including a refinement of safeguarding resources and practices with a greater emphasis upon young people deemed to be vulnerable online.

Interventions for improving the appropriate use of imaging in people with musculoskeletal conditions

Imaging is commonly performed for musculoskeletal conditions. Identifying interventions to improve the appropriate use of imaging for musculoskeletal conditions could potentially result in improved health outcomes for patients and reduced health care costs. To determine the effects of interventions that aim to improve the appropriate use of imaging for people with musculoskeletal conditions. We searched the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group Specialised Register (June 2007), The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library 2007, Issue 2), MEDLINE (January 1966 to June 2007), EMBASE (January 1980 to June 2007) and CINAHL (January 1982 to June 2007). We also searched reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews. We undertook citation searches of all included studies, contacted authors of included studies, and contacted other experts in the field of effective professional practice. Randomised controlled trials, non-randomised controlled clinical trials and interrupted time-series analyses that evaluated interventions designed to improve the use of imaging for musculoskeletal symptoms. Two review authors independently assessed risk of bias and extracted data. We contacted study authors for additional information. Twenty eight studies met our inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies were for the management of osteoporosis or low back pain, and most evaluated interventions aimed at health professionals. To improve the use of imaging in the management of osteoporosis, the effect of any type of intervention compared to no-intervention controls was modest (absolute improvement in bone mineral density test ordering +10%, IQR 0.0 to +27.7). Patient mediated, reminder, and organisational interventions appeared to have most potential for improving imaging use in osteoporosis. For low back pain studies, the most common intervention evaluated was distribution of educational materials and this showed varying effects. Other interventions in low back pain studies also showed variable effects. For other musculoskeletal conditions, distribution of educational materials, educational meetings and audit and feedback were not shown to be effective for changing imaging ordering behaviour. Across all conditions, increasing the number of intervention components did not increase effect. For improving the use of imaging in osteoporosis, most professional interventions demonstrated benefit, and patient mediated, reminder, and organisational interventions appeared to have most potential for benefit. For low back pain studies interventions showed varying effects. For other musculoskeletal conditions, no firm conclusions can be drawn.

What Does Government Regulation Really Mean?

The terminology used to describe healthcare's regulatory environment can be daunting and often confusing. Idioms such as accreditation, certification, registration, and licensure are often erroneously interchanged and used in the wrong context. While standardized language within individual states is an important first step, standardization would be even more effective if it were incorporated in every state for the regulation and licensure of all health professions. The lack of uniformity in language between different healthcare professions limits effective professional practice and mobility, as well as adding confusion to legislators, professionals, and the public. This article will define and analyze the close nexus between the terminology used in regulating the healthcare field and how these terms specifically apply to the profession of sonography.

SLA: A legal assurance process model for software engineering management

AbstractThe legal assurance activities and measures are a key element for the viability of information systems projects because nowadays there can arise legal risks in some cases, which can be a serious threat for project commercial and financial success. In spite of this, there does not exist in the main evaluation and improvement processes models a process of legal assurance that systematizes and orders the activities and measures precisely by to manage such legal risks. On the other hand, the professional practice does not generally incorporate standardized processes in order to discipline the legal assurance activities and measures. This circumstance can generate the appearance of deficits in the project's legal security. This work proposes to consider the legal assurance activities and measures as a process to implement more in the evaluation and improvement processes models, with the objective to provide a suitable instrument for the management of inherent legal risks to any information systems project. This concept of the legal assurance activities and measures as a process allows the exceeding of the present reactivity characteristic of the effective professional practice and elevates it to proactive management, suitable for avoiding the legal risks that can threaten the project. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Missing the Forest for the Trees

This case study examines the alignment between the Intended Curriculum, Implemented Curriculum and Achieved Curriculum of a fourth grade inquiry based unit, Food Chains and Webs. Specifically addressed are how the curriculum was modified to meet state standards, how teachers were trained, and how assessment of curricular implementation was aligned with student performance. Particular focus was placed on measuring how well students connect the findings of inquiry based lessons to larger scientific principles. Implications of this study suggest modifications necessary for effective teacher professional development and classroom practice.

Claiming and Sustaining Space? Sure Start and the Auto/Biographical Imagination

We focus, in this paper, using in-depth auto/biographical research, on a Sure Start project in a marginalized community, seeking to understand its impact and meaning through the stories of families. Programmes like Sure Start represent contested space: they may be seen as an exercise in social control in relation to the marginal other. But diverse objectives, values and people shape such programmes and the resources they offer can be experienced in different ways. We provide three narratives from parents who were initially deeply suspicious ‐ in a community where public interventions tend to be treated with caution ‐ and yet found meaningful support with difficult problems. The narratives also reveal the potential of Sure Start to create transactional space for popular involvement in planning and running public services. We interviewed diverse professionals about these processes and suggest that an auto/biological imagination lies at the heart of effective professional practice as well as research. We are reminded, in the process, of a shared and fundamental human need to be loved and cared for, particularly at times of distress. There is much to learn from such a project, but progress remains fragile and the lessons, for public policy, are easily lost. The sociological imagination enables its possessor to grasp the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals . . . It is the capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self ‐ and to see the relations between the two.

Vaginal or Cesarean Birth?

Research translation models are needed to demonstrate a process for identifying and communicating high-quality scientific evidence that enables informed involvement of relevant stakeholders, including informed consumer participation in healthcare decision making. To describe the rationale for, and elements of, a research translation model, as it is being applied to inform and support diverse end users with respect to decisions relating to vaginal versus cesarean birth. The Maternity Center Association (MCA), the oldest national United States organization advocating on behalf of mothers and babies, identified the need to clarify and translate into practice best evidence about relative harms of cesarean and vaginal birth. MCA developed a model that included engaging leading stakeholder groups, conducting a systematic review to fill research gaps, and initiating an education and advocacy campaign to reach consumers, health professionals, and the general public with review results and related information and guidance. International standards for systematic reviews and evidence about effective professional practice, use of decision aids, and risk communication were used. Dozens of harms that differ by mode of delivery, with nearly all favoring vaginal birth, were found during review. Without clear, compelling, and well-supported justification for cesarean section, vaginal birth is the safest way for women to give birth and babies to be born. Despite modest resource expenditure, the implemented model is bringing review results to many individuals and organizations, incorporating elements that have been shown to be effective. The next step is to formally evaluate the decision aid in clinical settings. Advocacy organizations are uniquely positioned to carry out research translation. Given the importance of research translation and the challenges of carrying out this work, programs and policies should be established to support and evaluate advocacy organizations in this role.

Virtual Social Work Education—Theory and Experience

This paper critically analyses the experience of providing social work education over the Internet. It argues that the interactivity and responsivity integral to e‐learning are significant capabilities that can facilitate the kind of student centred learning in social work that is consonant with the emerging consensus on effective educational and professional practices. Associated with this it argues that e‐learning better provides equality of access and opportunity to a diverse range of students to pursue social work education through the creation of critical mass and technological adaptations to diverse needs. Research with a group of students who have pursued online learning is presented. The research indicates that though e‐learning is largely considered a positive and enabling experience by students, it is still experienced as isolating by most. A balance therefore needs to be struck in future between face to face and online interaction ensuring students are not isolated and that infrequent use of e‐learning does not delay engagement with the medium and the passing of online developmental milestones. This paper concludes that there is a longer term future for e‐learning within social work education but that this future needs to be based on androgenic constructivist strategies to student learning and a responsive blend of online and physical interactivity.

Information Seeking by Nurses in the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Examines the information-seeking behaviour and information needs of professional nurses at Obafemi Awolowo University Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria and the adequacy of the information sources used. Five hundred practising nurses were used as respondents in the study, conducted between January and March, 2004. The study revealed that nurses were aware of their needs for current information for effective professional practice. Attending meetings, seminars, conferences etc., library facilities, colleagues and computers were sources capable of supplying most of their information needs. A high proportion of the respondents attended conferences, seminars, workshops etc. to keep abreast of the latest develoment in their profession. It was clear that the library was not highly rated by the respondents because of the inadequate library facilities provided in the hospital. Recommends that a well-equipped nursing library that will adequately meet the information needs of nurses be provided.

Public health professionals and professional competences debate

Despite its historical contribution to the improvement of health, public health occupies a marginal position in health systems. This lack of correspondence between impact and power is related in part to its scarce recognition as a profession, and in consequence to the lack of recognition of the professionals in the field. The strengthening of the public health profession requires recognising the coherence of their objectives and scientific basis, but it also requires the establishment of mechanisms to guarantee professional competence. Generally, the institutionalisation of these necessary mechanisms to articulate public health objectives into effective professional practice has been lacking. In other words, the so-called professional competencies lacked development in public health. Progress in this strategy calls for the definition of the professional content based on a functional analysis of public health. That is, an analysis of the functions that these professionals must contribute to society and of the specific activities necessary to achieve the desired outcomes. The aim of this work is to stimulate a debate along these lines taking into account the experiences of other countries. The authors propose to reconsider a further reconstruction of public health, based on an analysis of its objectives, functions and competences, in order to grow away from its marginal position, and improve its social function.

Prereferral Intervention Processes: A Survey of State Practices

Without a federal mandate providing clear guidelines for specific practices, prereferral intervention practices are implemented in varied ways within and between the states. The current study focused on practices across all states as a replication of the research reported in 1989 by Carter and Sugai. Significant findings included the status of prereferral practices within the respective states, the pattern of terminology used, the professional ownership of the process, and the patterns of participation. The results are discussed in terms of changes noted since the Carter and Sugai research, apparent trends in the field, and directions for effective professional practice.

Introducing Standards and Guidelines

This article traces the history of efforts to professionalize the Intergenerational field through the development of competencies and standards for practice in different program settings and roles. The authors propose a new set of Guidelines & Standards that identify a common knowledge base to begin unifying this specialized field and to ensure effective professional practices. The new Guidelines & Standards were widely disseminated for feedback, revised several times, and are now being piloted in a graduate program at The University of Findlay.