Final Questionnaire Research Articles

Translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the Indonesian version of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Rheumatology Module (PedsQL-RM) questionnaire for children with rheumatic diseases

Background Quality of life is an important outcome in the management of children with chronic conditions such as rheumatic diseases. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Rheumatology Module (PedsQL-RM) questionnaire has been proven valid and reliable, but a validated Indonesian version of the questionnaire is not yet available.
 Objective To translate the PedsQL-RM into the Indonesian language, perform a transcultural adaptation, and assess its validity.
 Methods A cross-sectional study was performed in patients aged 2 to 18 years with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta. The initial phase of the study consisted of forward translation from the original English version into Indonesian, synthesis by experts, backward translation, and cognitive debriefing, resulting in the final version of the questionnaire. The second phase was testing the final questionnaire on patients in each age group and their parents. Tests were carried out in two sessions with an interval of 2 to 4 weeks. The questionnaire consisted of a child report and a parent report, each measuring five dimensions: pain and hurt, activities, treatment, worry, and communication. We subsequently assessed validity and reliability of each dimension in the child and parent reports for the child and teen age groups. Validity was expressed as correlation coefficient (r) between dimension scores with the total score.
 Results The finalized Indonesian questionnaire was completed by 53 children aged 2-18 years with SLE or JIA and their parents. Due to small numbers of subjects in the younger age ranges, analysis was only performed in the 8-to-18-year age group. Validity varied from good to very good (r = 0.437 to 0.910) for the child report and from poor to good (r = 0.153 to 0.808) for the parent report. The questionnaire was deemed reliable, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.755 to 0.785.
 Conclusion The Indonesian version of the PedsQL-RM is valid and reliable for assessing quality of life in children aged 8 to 18 years with rheumatologic disease. Further study is needed to assess the validity and reliability of the tool for children aged 2 to 7 years.

TEACHING THE SHENYUN DANCE TECHNIQUE: A STUDY ON UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA STUDENTS

Chinese dance is a culturally rich and popular art form worldwide. However, its teaching needs to be improved in Malaysia, despite its multicultural population and significant Chinese community. In the last century, ShenYun technique emerged as one of the primary schools that have been used in teaching Chinese classical dance to ensure its form and type standardization. Nevertheless, there have yet to be any attempts to teach Chinese classical dance overseas using the original teaching materials of the ShenYun technique. This paper focuses on measuring the effectiveness of teaching ShenYun dance technique to international students. 22 students from Universiti Sains Malaysia and various cultural backgrounds were selected to learn the ShenYun dance technique for 12 sessions. The evaluation of the student's learning outcomes involved multiple methods. Post-class questionnaires were given to students after every class, and a final questionnaire was given at the end of the course. Local dance experts assessed the students' progress by observing a live performance, while Chinese dance experts evaluated a video recording of the final performance. The data obtained from students were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation to determine the participants' understanding level. At the same time, the data collected from experts was used to evaluate the learning outcomes. According to the study's findings, the 12 sessions of ShenYun dance technique is an effective instructional resource for international students.

Reliability and Validity of Persian Translation of Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (4-Item Version) in Asthmatic Patients

Background: Non-adherence to medication is a significant health problem that affects disease control and increases hospitalization and mortality. One method of evaluating patients’ medication adherence is utilizing standard questionnaires, such as the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS). Objectives: This study evaluated the reliability of the Persian-translated version of the MMAS among asthma patients. Methods: After the English to Persian translation, back-translation was done, examining the word appropriateness to Iranian culture. A panel of experts in related fields evaluated the questionnaire. The final questionnaire was assessed in 62 asthma patients. Results: The participants’ mean age was 49.62 ± 11.39 years (range: 30 - 72), and the mean duration of asthma was 9.05 ± 6.79 years (range: 1 - 35). The reliability of the questionnaire for four items was 0.637 (95% confidence interval: 0.465 - 0.765; P < 0.001). A significant percentage (29.03%) of the subjects had low drug adherence, and only 30.6% had high adherence. There was no significant correlation between drug adherence and asthma duration (P = 0.441). Conclusions: This study shows that drug adherence is linked to asthma control and the quality of life in asthma patients. The Persian translation of the 4-item MMAS is valid to assess adherence to treatment in asthma patients.

Validation of a Specific Phobia Questionnaire by University Students in Malaysia

Specific phobia is a subcategory of anxiety disorders that remains poor understanding due to inadequate screening tools. This study aimed to develop and validate a new Specific Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ). This SPQ was developed based on literature reviews and inputs from related experts for content validity. The SPQ questionnaire consisted of 14 items and after content validity and face validity testing procedure, 12 items were chosen for the final questionnaire. The questionnaire was then distributed via Google form to university students in Klang Valley. A total of 267 students participated in this study with 70.8% were female with mean age of 23.28 (Standard deviation of 4.98) years. Validity analysis using exploratory factor analysis from the final study indicated that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.77 and extracted three domains; animals, blood injection injury and situational-environment. Reliability analysis showed that Cronbach’s α values were 0.84, 0.86, 0.78 and 0.72 for the total items, animal, blood injection injury and situational-environment domains, respectively. The newly developed SPQ showed good reliability and validity for evaluating specific phobia.

How to Support Co-creation in Higher Education: The Validation of a Questionnaire

In this study, we regard co-creation as a collaborative process where students, lecturers and working field professionals from outside the university jointly develop innovative products, processes or knowledge. In co-creation all stakeholders equally contribute to the collaborative process and aim to create beneficial outcomes for each participant. Co-creation can be used as a valuable pedagogical method to support continuous interaction between learning and working in higher education to foster innovation. However, this process is not necessarily mastered by co-creation groups. In order to identify which components of this collaboration process can be further improved, we developed a questionnaire to assess co-creation processes in higher education. Students, lecturers and working field professionals participating in co-creation projects completed the questionnaire. We validated the questionnaire using a principal component analysis. The seven extracted scales proved to be sufficiently reliable. The final questionnaire consists of seven components: positive interdependence, individual accountability, collaboration, shared mental models, safe and supporting conditions, creative community, and group evaluation. We described how the tool can be used in practice.

Development of an asthenopia survey questionnaire for general surveys

Objective: To design a visual fatigue questionnaire that can be used for population surveys. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that involved three stages of subjects' recruitment. In the first stage, by convenience sampling, 150 individuals who complained of visual fatigue were selected at public places in Wenzhou City in May 2016. The 19-Item Asthenopia Survey Questionnaire (ASQ-19) was used to conduct the survey, and the questionnaire was adjusted. In the second stage, 200 outpatient participants were recruited from Wenzhou Medical University Affiliated Eye and Optometry Hospital from June 2016 to May 2017 and were divided into a visual fatigue group and a control group based on clinical diagnosis. The adjusted visual fatigue questionnaire was used for validation. In the third stage, 64 outpatient participants who met the inclusion criteria were continuously recruited from the Wenzhou Medical University Affiliated Eye and Optometry Hospital in July 2022. They were tested using the adjusted visual fatigue questionnaire and retested one week later. During the questionnaire adjustment stage, factor analysis and feedback were used to adjust the scoring method and items of the ASQ-19 questionnaire. The adjusted questionnaire was then analyzed for reliability, validity, accuracy, and subject acceptance during the validation and retest stages. Results: A total of 403 participants were included, and 456 questionnaires were distributed. Eventually, 432 valid questionnaires were collected from 379 participants, resulting in a valid response rate of 94.7%. During the questionnaire adjustment phase, there were 140 valid questionnaires from 140 participants consisting of 56 males and 84 females with an average age of (35.2±12.4) years. In the questionnaire validation phase, there were 186 valid questionnaires from 186 participants. Sixty-two participants had visual fatigue and 124 were controls. During the questionnaire retesting phase, 53 participants yielded 106 valid questionnaires. The group consisted of 20 males and 33 females with an average age of (22.8±4.9) years. After factor analysis, the symptom severity graded as none, mild, moderate, severe, and very severe was scored as 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 points, respectively. The total score was 44, and the final questionnaire consisted of 11 items (numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 18, and 19). The 11-Item Asthenopia Survey Questionnaire (ASQ-11) had a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.89, a split-half reliability of 0.82, and a test-retest Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.90 (P<0.001). The structural validity was 51.26%, and the discriminative validity was a t-value of 9.19 (P<0.001). On average, it took (2.82±0.43) minutes for participants to complete the questionnaire. The receiver operating characteristic curve had a cutoff value of 8.5, with a sensitivity of 74.19% and a specificity of 80.65%. Conclusion: The ASQ-11, with fewer items and a shorter completion time, is easy for participants to use and is suitable for screening or self-assessment of visual fatigue in the general population. Additionally, it is convenient for clinical and epidemiological studies related to visual fatigue.

Development of a novel instrument for assessing intentional non-adherence to official medical recommendations (iNAR-12): a sequential mixed-methods study in Serbia

ObjectivesWe aimed to (1) develop a novel instrument, suitable for the general population, capturing intentional non-adherence (iNAR), consisting of non-adherence to prescribed therapy, self-medication and avoidance of seeking medical treatment;...

Using Participatory Teaching in Hands-On Courses: Exploring the Influence of Teaching Cases on Learning Motivation

Industrial design is an applied discipline that combines aesthetics and engineering. Through hands-on activities, students can better understand shapes and details in model making. The literature shows that hands-on courses help enhance students’ creativity, learning motivation, and interest. Model-making courses are one of the hands-on courses in industrial design programs. To enhance students’ learning enthusiasm in the practical course of this study, we introduced a “participatory teaching method”. To examine changes in students’ learning motivation after the new teaching method was introduced, the researchers conducted mid-term and final questionnaires and collected feedback on the students’ learning experiences. The results showed that the introduction of the participatory teaching method had a positive impact on students’ learning motivation, as they could participate in the planning and evaluation of course content. These results can serve as a reference for future course planning.

Validation of Questionnaire on Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices of Cooperative Group Work Assessment

This paper aimed to validate a questionnaire intended to measure secondary school teachers’ beliefs and practices of cooperative group work assessment in selected secondary schools in SNNPRS, Ethiopia. To this effect, five experts were selected to rate the content and face validity of the tool. To rate the questionnaire for construct validity, 213 randomly selected secondary school teachers were involved. The validation procedures made use of face validity index, Item Content Validity Index (I-CVIs) and Content Validity Index for scale (S-CVI/Ave), principal component analysis (PCA), and Cronbach alpha. The final questionnaire, which consisted of 31 items, has been found psychometrically valid and reliable to measure teachers’ beliefs and practices of cooperative group work assessment.

Program Ecomposter Sebagai Upaya Pengelolaan Sampah Skala Rumah Tangga

This community service activity aims to increase community knowledge and skills in managing organic and inorganic waste through ECOMPOSTER (ecobrick and composter) programs. The method of implementing this service used counseling and demonstration methods, including educational activities on waste sorting, training on making ecobrick and compost using the Takakura method, and forming ecomposter cadres. The partners of this service were the people of Wonorejo Village RT. 5 and 6, Satui District, Tanah Bumbu Regency, South Kalimantan Province. The instrument for evaluating this activity used a knowledge questionnaire which was statistically analyzed with a paired T-test, an attitude questionnaire which was statistically analyzed with the Wilcoxon test, and a final program evaluation questionnaire which was analyzed descriptively. The results of this service showed that there were significant differences in knowledge and attitudes before and after the provision of education, indicated by a p value &lt;0.05 (0.0007) in knowledge and a p-value &lt;0.05 (0.0036) in attitude. In addition, from the results of this activity, 15 households used the Takakura method of compost, and 23 households made ecobricks at their homes.

Developing and validating a novel staff questionnaire to identify barriers and enablers to nutrition and mealtime care on hospital wards.

Improving hospital nutrition and mealtime care is complex and often requires multifaceted interventions and implementation strategies to change how staff, wards and systems operate. This study aimed to develop and validate a staff questionnaire to identify multilevel barriers and enablers to optimal nutrition and mealtime care on hospital wards, to inform and evaluate local quality improvement. Literature review, multidisciplinary focus groups and end-user testing informed questionnaire development and establishment of content and face validity. To determine the construct validity, the questionnaire was administered to ward staff working in five wards across two facilities (acute hospital, rehabilitation unit). Exploratory factor analysis was used to estimate the number of factors and to guide decisions about whether to retain or reject individual items. Scale reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. The questionnaire was completed by 138 staff, with most respondents being nurses (57%) and working in the acute care facility (76%). Exploratory factor analysis supported construct validity of four of the original seven subscales. The final questionnaire consisted of 17 items and 4 sub sub-scales related to (1) Personal Staff Role; (2) Food Service; (3) Organisational Support, and (4) Family Involvement; each sub-scale demonstrated good reliability with Cronbach's alpha values all >0.70. This novel and brief questionnaire shows good reliability and preliminary evidence of construct validity in this small sample. It provides a potentially useful instrument to identify barriers and enablers to nutrition and mealtime care from the staff perspective and inform where improvement efforts should be focused.

Parental Awareness, Knowledge, and Attitudes Regarding Current and Future Newborn Bloodspot Screening: The First Report from Thailand.

Newborn screening (NBS) is a public health service that is used to screen for treatable conditions in many countries, including Thailand. Several reports have revealed low levels of parental awareness and knowledge about NBS. Because of limited data on parental perspectives toward NBS in Asia and the differences in socio-cultural and economic contexts between Western and Asian countries, we conducted a study to explore parental perspectives on NBS in Thailand. A Thai questionnaire to assess awareness, knowledge, and attitudes regarding NBS was constructed. The final questionnaire was distributed to pregnant women, with or without their spouses, and to parents of children aged up to one year who visited the study sites in 2022. A total of 717 participants were enrolled. Up to 60% of parents were identified as having good awareness, which was significantly associated with gender, age, and occupation. Only 10% of parents were classified as having good knowledge relative to their education level and occupation. Providing appropriate NBS education should be initiated during antenatal care, focusing on both parents. This study noted a positive attitude toward expanded NBS for treatable inborn metabolic diseases, incurable disorders, and adult-onset diseases. However, modernized NBS should be holistically evaluated by multiple stakeholders in each country because of different socio-cultural and economic contexts.

Knowledge and attitude about drug pollution in pharmacy students: A questionnaire-based cross sectional study

IntroductionThe environmental impact of drugs or pharmaceuticals is an issue of growing concern. Healthcare professionals, and pharmacists in particular, are used to managing medicines, yet aspects about drug pollution are generally neglected in schools of pharmacy worldwide. Formation in this issue is essential to tackle the problem. In this study, we aimed to find out the degree of knowledge about the problem of pharmaceuticals in the environment and the attitude about the matter of pharmacy students at the University of the Basque Country. MethodsWe conducted a pilot study (186 students) using an online questionnaire available in two languages (Basque and Spanish). The attitude scale was validated for Spanish. To improve participation, a combination of indirect and direct recruitment was applied in the final study. ResultsFour hundred eighty-seven students participated in the final study (response rate: 65.8%). The final questionnaire contained a total of 25 questions: 13 (knowledge), eight (attitude), and three (opinion). The results showed that knowledge can be considered relatively poor, whereas attitude was generally positive, and students considered drug pollution to be a relevant issue in general and in pharmacy practice. ConclusionsWe believe there is an urgent need to include aspects about pharmaceuticals in the environment in pharmacy studies worldwide.

International Comparison of Ambulance Times Terminology and Definitions: A Benchmarking Study

Introduction:Ambulance times are internationally recognized Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for prehospital care. International benchmarking by comparing ambulance times between countries is a valuable method to help to identify strengths and weaknesses across healthcare systems. However, ambulance times are not standardized across or sometimes even within countries. Thus, this benchmarking study aims to compare terminology and definitions of ambulance times from the ambulance services of a range of countries to facilitate international benchmarking.Method:A 23-point questionnaire was developed and pilot-tested on members of international emergency care organizations. The final questionnaire was administered to domestic and international Ambulance Services, who use the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System, asking for the terminology and definitions for times from “call received” to “arrival at hospital”. This included “clock start” and “clock stop” times. We asked for the ambulance terms and related variable names in the computer aided dispatch/reporting system. We engaged with clinical stakeholders and Patient and Public Involvement Contributors throughout the process.Results:We gathered information from 10 international ambulance services, representing nine countries, and three continents. Some services in the United Kingdom have standardized ambulance times terminology and definitions. However, in the majority of cases terminology differed greatly between countries, and at times within countries and between reports. Definitions of ambulance times varied between countries and regions, with some having different clock start and stop times and others not collecting data on the same time periods.Conclusion:The current level of variation in international ambulance times terminology and definitions poses a challenge for international benchmarking and research. International consensus or harmonization of language and definitions would result in more efficient and accurate global comparison. On a smaller scale, defining terms in publications and reports would begin facilitating this process.

Development and validation of a questionnaire to measure the severity of pain, functional limitations, and reduction of sports ability for german-speaking patients with osteochondral lesions of the ankle (OCLA-G)

BackgroundThere is no patient-reported functional scale specific for osteochondral lesion of the ankle (OCLA). Therefore, the objectives of this study were to develop a questionnaire that measures symptom severity, function, and sports capacity in patients with osteochondral lesions of the ankle and to determine the psychometric properties of the tool in German language (OCLA-G).MethodsThe OCLA-G questionnaire was developed according to the COSMIN guidelines. Scalable items were generated from a literature search, based on an evaluation of 71 own OCLA patients, and from expert opinions. Following a twofold item reduction the questionnaire underwent explorative data analysis and principal component analysis. Validity and reliability were analysed in four groups of participants (40 patients with OCLA, 40 patients with other foot and ankle injuries, 40 asymptomatic athletes serving as a population at risk, and 40 asymptomatic persons playing sports not at risk). The minimum age for participation in the study was set at 18 years. The mean age was 39.3 ± 15.1 years.ResultsThe final OCLA-G questionnaire consists of eight and five questions to mirror activities of daily life (ADL) and sports, respectively. Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.950 for the ADL subscore and 0.965 for the sport subscale, respectively) was found. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients for test-retest reliability were 0.992 for the ADL subscore and 0.999 for the sport subscale (p < 0.001). The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that item difficulty was between 23.4 and 62.8. The Pearson correlation for the OCLA subscales ADL and sport was 0.853 (p < 0.001). Construct validity as tested against the SF-12 questionnaire subscales (Physical and Mental component scale) were r = -0.164 to -0.663 (p < 0.05). Statistically, there was no ADL and sport OCLA mean score difference between OCLA patients and patients with other foot and ankle injuries (p = 0.993 and 0.179, respectively), but both groups differed from the uninjured control groups (p < 0.001). There were no ceiling or floor effects.ConclusionsThe OCLA-G was successfully developed as the first patient reported and injury specific outcome scale to measure the impact of OCLA induced symptoms on activities of daily living and sport. This study provides evidence for the reliability and validity of the OCLA-G assessing patients with OCLA.Trial registrationThe registration trial number is DRKS00009401 on DRKS. ‘Retrospectively registered’. Date of registration: 10/12/2015.

Income-related inequality in out-of-pocket health-care expenditures under Taiwan's national health insurance system: An international comparable estimation based on A System of Health Accounts

National estimates of out-of-pocket health-care expenditures (OOP-HCEs) that use comparable international guidelines based on A Systems of Health Accounts (SHA) are generally unavailable in Taiwan. International comparable OOP are essential for designing universal health-coverage (UHC) policy. We designed an SHA-based household OOP questionnaire. A nationally representative cross-sectional survey was then conducted from January to August 2022. The final questionnaire was completed by 657 households and 1969 individuals. The total OOPs were divided into expenditures related to curative care (HC.1), rehabilitative care (HC.2), long-term care (HC.3), ancillary services (HC.4), and medical goods (HC.5). National estimates were calculated by accounting for the complex survey design. Variance was estimated through Taylor series linearization. The concentration index was calculated using household income as the ranking variable. We then identified factors contributing to the inequality in OOP distribution by household income. National estimates revealed an OOP of NT$424 billion, which accounted for 29.6% of Taiwan's national health expenditure in 2021. Private health insurance (PHI) reimbursements accounted for 9.0% of the total OOP. The OOPs for curative care and medical goods accounted for 50.1% and 39.0% of the total OOP, respectively. The OOPs after PHI reimbursements were progressive (concentration index = 0.103, P = 0.012). The frequency of medical-care use and the number of medical visits negatively affected progressive OOPs. International comparable OOPs revealed that under the Taiwanese National Health Insurance (NHI), OOPs can still be high. However, the NHI might have caused OOPs to be progressive from the perspective of income but regressive from the perspective of health status. Countries striving for UHC should consider the redistribution effect of public health insurance and possible inequalities in health.

Prevalence and Awareness of Musculoskeletal Injuries Associated With Competitive Video Gaming in Saudi Arabia.

Background In recent years, the use of electronic devices has become an important part of the lives of adolescents who regularly use computers for academic activities and leisure. The excessive use of these devices has been associated with several health problems, such as obesity, headaches, anxiety, stress, sleep disorders, and musculoskeletal pain. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and awareness of musculoskeletal injuries associated with competitive video gaming in Saudi Arabia. Methodology This descriptive, cross-sectional study targeted all individuals involved in competitive video gaming aged 18 years or older in Saudi Arabia.The data were collected using a researcher-initiated online questionnaire. The final electronic questionnaire contained questions on participants' data, frequency and pattern of playing competitive video gaming, the associated musculoskeletal injuries, the most reported sites, and the associated consequences. The final questionnaire was sent to the participants via social media platforms and no more answers were obtained. Results A total of 116 competitive video gaming participants were included. Participants' ages ranged from 18 to 48 years, with a mean age of 22.5. The majority of the participants were males (86.2%; 100). A total of 100 (86.2%) participants had at least one site-associated musculoskeletal injury, while only 16 (13.8%) had none. Regarding sites, the most reported sites included the lower back (63.8%), neck (50%), hand/wrist (44.8%), and shoulder (35.3%). A total of 58 (50.4%) thought that competing in electronic game tournaments negatively affects the musculoskeletal system, and 43 (37.1%) had an idea that competing in electronic gaming tournaments is linked to conditions such as tendinopathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, and repetitive stress injuries. Conclusions This study showed that the majority of competitive video gamers had musculoskeletal injuries mainly at the lower back, neck, hand/ wrist, and shoulder. A higher pain rate was reported among females and new gamers.

Greener theatre, greener surgery - environmental sustainability in a rural surgical setup.

Greener theatre, greener surgery - environmental sustainability in a rural surgical setup.

Effect of integrated intervention to prevent child drowning in rural areas of Guangdong, China: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children under the age of 15 years in Guangdong Province, China. This serious public health issue also exists in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which have few value-integrated intervention programs. The current study presents an integrated intervention project that aims to explore an effective pattern of prevention for child drowning in rural areas and feasibility to perform in other LMICs. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial by comparing the incidence of non-fatal drowning among children in two groups in rural areas of southern China. We recruited the participants in two phases and reached a total of 10687 students from 23 schools at two towns in Guangdong Province, China. At the first and second phases, 8966 and 1721 students were recruited, respectively. The final evaluation questionnaires were collected after 18 months of integrated intervention, where we obtained 9791 data from Grades 3-9. The incidence of non-fatal drowning between the intervention and control groups after intervention did not differ significantly from the baseline according to the total number of students, male students, female students and Grades 6-9 [0.81; 95% confidence interval (CI): [0.66, 1.00]; p = 0.05, 1.17; 95% CI: [0.90, 1.51]; p = 0.25, 1.40; 95% CI: [0.97, 2.02]; p = 0.07 and 0.97; 95% CI: [0.70, 1.34]; p = 0.86], except for Grades 3-5 (1.36; 95% CI: [1.02, 1.82]; p = 0.037). The study observed a significantly positive benefit of awareness and risk behaviours of non-fatal drowning between the intervention and control groups (0.27, 95% CI: [0.21, 0.33]; p = 0.00, -0.16; 95% CI: [-0.24, -0.08]; p = 0.00). The integrated intervention exerted a significant impact on the prevention and management of child non-fatal drowning, especially in rural areas.

A teacher professional development course on quantum technologies: discussion of results

We first present the evaluation of a professional development course for in-service teachers on quantum technologies which was initially presented at the GIREP Malta 2020 webinar about halfway into its development. The primary purpose of the course was to enhance physics teachers’ knowledge and awareness of topics related to quantum computation and quantum information, and of their relevance for technological advancement. However, our choice was not to present such topics as a simple addition to high school physics in the final year, but rather to inspect the whole physics and mathematics curriculum in the search for a longitudinal perspective, roughly based on the relationship between physics and computation, which could culminate in the treatment of quantum information topics. In the present contribution, we will focus on the educational outcomes of the course in terms of teacher appreciation, interest level and judgement of usefulness coming from both a final questionnaire and individual interviews. We will also describe a follow-up course structured to frame the topic from the standpoint of curriculum design and action research projects currently underway.