Izmir University Research Articles

The phenomenon of yoga in the imagination of Turkish nursing students: "The way to place goodness in the heart"

BackgroundThe aim of the research is to shed light on the experiences of a group of nursing students enrolled in a yoga elective course who practiced yoga regularly for 14 weeks, regarding yoga and the phenomenon of doing yoga, with a qualitative approach.MethodsThis qualitative study was conducted at a public university in Izmir, Turkey. The study sample consisted of 61 students enrolled in the 1st-year yoga course at the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences. Except for two students, 59 of them participated in the study. Participants attended a face-to-face yoga course once a week for 1.5 h over a 14-week period. Each session comprised 30 min of theoretical instruction and 60 min of practice. In data collection, an interview form containing five questions was used to understand nursing students' experiences and thoughts about practicing yoga. In addition, A4 sized papers in different colors were presented to the participants. The participants were asked to draw and/or cut a shape by choosing the paper in the color that most evokes yoga. Then they were asked to explain why they chose this color and why they drew this shape. Participants were given one hour. After the data were collected, the pictures drawn by the participants and their descriptions of their drawings were transferred to the computer and included in the analysis. Qualitative data were hand-coded by the researchers. Within in-vivo coding, code names were formed from the participants' expressions. The findings analyzed by content analysis were interpreted with the literature under the themes by presenting quotations.ResultsIt was determined that the participants used nature figures (sun, cloud, tree, sky, flower) (f = 75), people doing yoga (f = 12), and sound, light and other figures (bird sound, wave sound, candle, light bulb, traffic light, heart, eye, left key, peace, swing, India, circle, etc.) (f = 29) in the shapes they drew and cut out on A4 sized papers in different colors to describe their experiences and thoughts about practicing yoga. The participants mostly chose blue-green-yellow colors (n = 41). With qualitative question analysis, a list of codes was created from the answers given by the students to the questions for the phenomenon of “doing yoga” (number of codes = 98). After the analysis of the data, four categories were reached. The category names and frequency numbers explaining the phenomenon of practicing yoga were distributed as “symbol of health and serenity (f = 345)”, “the way to place goodness in your heart (f = 110)”, “the most effective way to meet the self (f = 93)” and “no guarantee of relaxation (f = 71)”, respectively.ConclusionsThe results indicate that yoga is perceived by nursing students as a multifaceted practice that evokes a range of emotional and physical responses. Most participants associate yoga with symbols of health, serenity, and self-awareness, often using natural elements and blue-green-yellow the colors to represent these feelings. However, there is also recognition that yoga may not guarantee relaxation for everyone, as some students reported difficulties in meditation, physical discomfort, and challenges in focusing. The study highlights the variability in how individuals experience yoga, emphasizing both its positive effects on well-being and the potential challenges in practice. These findings suggest that while yoga is widely valued for its calming and health-promoting benefits, it may not be universally effective in achieving relaxation or mindfulness.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for International Journal of Social Science Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4

International Journal of Social Science Studies (IJSSS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether IJSSS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 12, Number 4Fahri ÖZSUNGUR, Adana Science and Technology University, TurkeyJibrin Ubale Yahaya, National Open University of Nigeria NOUN, NigeriaK.O. Aramide, The Polytechnic Ibadan, NigeriaLingkai Kong, Izmir University of Economics, TurkeyMartial Fanga, The University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, IranMd. Nasir Uddin, Prime Minister’s Office, BangladeshNAZIAH ABD. KADIR, Universiti Selangor, MalaysiaPeriyasami Anbarasan, Indian Institute of technology Delhi, IndiaSana Ali, Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan, and Birmingham City University, United Kingdom, PakistanShaoshu Li, Cornell University, USASusheelabai Srinivasa, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, United StatesYuhan WANG, Guangdong University of Technology, ChinaYusramizza Md Isa, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia James YoungEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of International Journal of Social Science StudiesRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAURL: http://ijsss.redfame.com

Students’ Perspective on the Smoke-Free Campus Application at a University in Izmir

Students’ Perspective on the Smoke-Free Campus Application at a University in Izmir

Living in the Lower Town at Kınık Höyük (Niğde). Preliminary Report on the 2021-2022 Campaigns in Anatolia

Excavations at the site of Kınık Höyük have brought to light over the past twelve years several occupational phases dated to the first Millennium BCE both on the acropolis and in the lower town, especially for the Middle Iron Age and the Hellenistic period. Since 2021 the University of Firenze joined the University of Pavia (Italy), NYU-ISAW (USA) and Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir (Turkey) in the excavations at the site of Kınık Höyük, and since 2022 the same university took over in the management of the project. This article is a preliminary report on recent excavations area D2-3, located in the lower town, where archaeologists could identify six phases of occupation and two large primary contexts dated to the beginning of the Middle Iron Age, that provide new insights on every-day assemblages and inventories produced locally and the architectural and archaeological context they are related to. The most interesting element in terms of urban layout and structure is related to the construction of the massive defensive fortification of the lower town, that seems to be related so far to the earliest occupation of the Iron Age lower town, i.e. possibly at the end of the Early Iron Age. A selection of the materials and a detailed report on deposits and architecture provides the reader with the archaeological data collected mainly in the campaign 2022 and 2021 in the lower town excavations, while a general overview on the urban fortification of the acropolis allows a general picture of the whole settlement defensive system and space organisation.

RESEARCH ON 21ST-CENTURY SKILLS COMPETENCY PERCEPTIONS OF GENERATION Z

Nowadays, Generation Z is the most discussed generation both in the world and in Turkey. With its unique aspects and skills, this generation is known to have a high potential to impact many areas of life, particularly education and work life. One way Generation Z representatives can be successful and maintain this success in a rapidly changing world is to empower themselves in a field of competency called 21st-century skills. This study aims to determine the level of 21st-century skills competency perceptions of Generation Z representatives (born between 2000-2018) and reveal whether these perceptions differ according to various demographic factors. The research covers a total of 402 Generation Z representatives who are mainly students in two foundation universities in Istanbul and one foundation university in Izmir and, other than the relevant universities, who are from the specified provinces. They were reached using the convenience sampling method. The data were collected by the survey method, and statistical analyses were conducted with the SPSS software. The research results indicate that the 21st-century skills competency perceptions of Generation Z representatives are quite high. Moreover, these perceptions of competency differ in some skill dimensions in terms of gender, age, and studied/graduated field variables. The study is expected to contribute to Generation Z representatives and individuals and institutions that assume the role of guiding these individuals. Furthermore, it is thought that the study will also be useful for the development of the literature covering a limited number of studies that have focused on Generation Z in the context of 21st-century skills.

A comparative study on the effects of peer influence on willingness to communicate in speaking activities in online and face-to-face EFL lessons

The purpose of the study is to investigate whether English as a foreign language (EFL) learners are more willing to communicate and study with the same partners or different partners in speaking activities in pairs or small groups and to determine whether there are similarities or differences in learners’ views regarding the same and different partners according to different learning environments (face-to-face and online). A qualitative research design was adopted in the study. The participants were EFL learners at the School of Foreign Languages (SFL) of a state university in Izmir, Turkey. The participants were divided into two groups. The first group (FF) included 20 students who took face-to-face education and the second group (OL) consisted of 20 students who took online education. The qualitative data were collected from both groups by means of a structured written interview form. The results revealed two main themes (1-Feelings, 2- English language production process) and ten sub-themes (1a- positive feelings, 1b- negative feelings, 1c- both positive and negative feelings, 2a- developing intimacy, 2b- collaboration and ease of communication, 2c- insufficiency of English language production, 2d-increase of knowledge, 2e-use of speaking skills, 2f- insufficiency of socialization and interaction, 2g- challenges of online education). The study compares both groups with respect to the above themes and subthemes and discusses implications for the teaching of English.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for International Journal of Social Science Studies, Vol. 11, No. 5

International Journal of Social Science Studies (IJSSS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether IJSSS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 11, Number 5Dipankar Chatterjee, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, IndiaLingkai Kong, Izmir University of Economics, TurkeyMd. Nasir Uddin, Prime Minister’s Office, BangladeshNadarajah Pushparajah, University of Jaffna, Sri LankaNAZIAH ABD. KADIR, Universiti Selangor, MalaysiaSana Ali, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, Pakistan James YoungEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of International Journal of Social Science StudiesRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAURL: http://ijsss.redfame.com

Welcome to the New Issue (Vol: 29, No: 3, 2023) and Current News of the European Journal of Therapeutics

Welcome to the New Issue (Vol: 29, No: 3, 2023) and Current News of the European Journal of Therapeutics

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Applied Economics and Finance, Vol. 10, No. 3

Applied Economics and Finance (AEF) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether AEF publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 10, Number 3 Ali Darub Al-Hiyali, University of Anbar, IraqBabacar Seck, University of Bahrain, BahrainHichem Maraghni, University of Taibah, TunisiaIgor Matyushenko, School of Foreign Economic Relations and Touristic Business, UkraineKeffala Mohamed Rochdi, University of Manouba, TunisiaLingkai Kong, Izmir University of Economics, TurkeyMagdalena Radulescu, University of Pitesti, RomaniaMarco Muscettola, Independent Researcher-Credit Risk Manager, ItalyNikoloz Chikhladze, Akaki Tsereteli State University, GeorgiaPatrycja Kowalczyk-Rolczynska, Wroclaw University of Economics and Business, PolandRajeev Rana, APB Govt. P.G. College, IndiaRamona Orastean, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, RomaniaSzabolcs Blazsek, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, GuatemalaY. Saidi, M’sila University, Algeria Nikki GibbsEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of Applied Economics and FinanceRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAURL: http://aef.redfame.com

Correlation between Mental Health Literacy Levels and Attitudes of Seeking Psychological Help of Health Services Vocational School Students: Descriptive Cross-sectional Research

The aim of this study is to find the correlation between mental health literacy and psychological help-seeking attitudes of Health Services
 Vocational School students and to determine the socio-demographic characteristics that affect mental health literacy. The research
 was realized in a descriptive form at a state university in Izmir between April and May 2022. Between the specified dates, 138 students
 who could be reached and volunteered participated in the research. Data were collected with a questionnaire that determines sociodemographic
 characteristics, “Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS)”, and “Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help
 Scale-Short Form (ATSPPH-SF)”. Data were evaluated by using “number, mean, percentage, independent sample t-test and one-way
 analysis of variance (ANOVA)” tests in SPSS 25 program. The students’ total MHLS score was 106.34±14.09 and the mean ATSPPH-SF
 score was 15.57±4.62.r While the level of knowledge about recognizing diseases and reaching professional help was found to be higher
 in women compared to men, “attitudes that facilitate seeking appropriate help for mental health-related diseases and attitudes towards
 mental health-related diseases” were found to be higher in men compared to women. A statistically significant positive correlation was
 found between MHLS and ATSPPH-SF. The MHL score of the students was found to be moderate and a positive relationship was found
 between MHLS and seeking psychological help.

Effect of an educational intervention on knowledge of human papillomavirus infection among university students in Turkey: A quasi-experimental study

Aim: This study aimed to determine the knowledge level of university students outside the health field on human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and evaluate the efficacy of educational interventions provided on HPV infection. Method and Material: This was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test design. This study was conducted on undergraduate students outside the health field at a public university in Izmir. HPV education was provided to the students in classes with a PowerPoint presentation, and the “Fall in Love, Not in HPV” brochure was distributed. Results: Of 873 students participating in the pretest, 48.7% and 42.5% heard of HPV infection and vaccine, respectively. While the response rates of the students participating in the pretest of the 16-question HPV knowledge survey ranged from 13.9% to 58.8%, a significant (51.4%–91.6%) increase was observed in the percentage of answers to the posttest HPV questions after the educational intervention (p < 0.001). The total HPV knowledge score was 5.17±4.33in the pre-test, and the post-test was 13.37±2.66 (p<0.001). The biggest barriers to those who did not want to be vaccinated were the cost of the vaccine and the lack of information about HPV infection. Conclusion: The educational intervention has greatly increased the knowledge of HPV infection among university students. Continuing education programs are needed to bridge the knowledge gap on HPV infection and HPV-related diseases among young adults.

Risk factors and outcomes for carbapenem-resistant klebsiella pneumoniae in hematological patients

Background Prolonged hospitalization, prolonged neutropenia, and immunosuppressive treatments increase bloodstream infections in hematological patients. Identifying risk factors for carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia (CRKP) infection will shed light on controlling the spread of CRKP. Our retrospective study aimed to determine the clinical features, antimicrobial susceptibility, and mortality risk factors of patients who developed CRKP in patients followed up for hematological cancer in the Izmir University of Economics Haematology Department.
 Material and Methods 19,170 blood-urine-sputum cultures were delivered from the patients, 1,595 (8.31%) of which presented growth. CRKP comprised 302 (1.57%) of such growth cases. The study included 72 patients with hematological malignancy who presented CRKP growth in 302 cultures obtained during the neutropenic fever period.
 Results The mean age of patients was 51 (18-75 years). Acute myeloid leukemia was the most common disease (n: 26, 36.11%). As to the antibiotic sensitivity of CRKP, 44 patients (61.1%) were colistin sensitive, 28 patients (38.9%) were colistin-resistant, 47 patients (65.3%) were tigecycline sensitive/medium sensitivity, 25 patients (34.7%) were tigecycline resistant, there was no statistically significant difference between antibiotic sensitivities and survival.
 Conclusions Today, early detection of CRKP colonization in high-risk hematological patients, taking rectal culture, and if the patient presents rectal colonization of CRKP or had CRKP bacteremia during prior hospitalizations, early initiation of treatment with antibiotics acting against CRKP during NPF would significantly reduce mortality.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for International Journal of Social Science Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2

International Journal of Social Science Studies (IJSSS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether IJSSS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 11, Number 2Ayşegül Sili Kalem, Necmettin Erbakan Universitesi, TurkeyE.Ozan Aksoz, Anadolu University, TurkeyFroilan Mobo, Philippine Merchant Marine Academy, PhilippinesGülsüm Depeli, Hacettepe University, TurkeyLingkai Kong, Izmir University of Economics, TurkeyMei-Ling Lin, National Open University, TaiwanSana Ali, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, PakistanShyue Chuan CHONG, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, MalaysiaYaghoob Foroutan, The University of Waikato, New ZealandYusramizza Md Isa, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia James YoungEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of International Journal of Social Science StudiesRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAURL: http://ijsss.redfame.com

DETERMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION USING A MANIKIN

Objectives: Many studies have shown that people applying cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) cannot make sustained and effective CPR due to fatigue, sweaty hands, broken ribs, inability to determine the correct area etc. Thus, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness and sustainability of CPR quality using a CPR manikin by following the 2015 CPR guidelines.Material and Method: This study was carried out with 153 student volunteers from seven different health sciences programmes at Izmir University of Economics. All students were trained in first aid and basic life support in the previous school academic year. The time and effectiveness of CPR applied on a CPR manikin (Ambu® Manikin) were measured. The students’ body positioning, blowing capacities, depth of pressures and effective pressure durations were evaluated and numerical data were analysed by t-test. P-value <0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Data were analysed using SPSS version 21.Results: Of the 153 student volunteers, 60.1% were female and 39.9% were male. The average student age was 20.32 ± 03 years, the average height was 169.20 ± 26 cm and the average weight was 65.12 ± 42 kg. The average effective CPR duration was 2.95 ± 0.86 min, the average pressure depth was 4.33 cm and the average depth of pressures and effective pressure was 0.6 liters. The position of the arms was correct in 83% of the students. In 81% of the cases, the application site was correctly determined. Moreover, 68.6% of the students were able to sustain the pumping activity of the heart. In all parameters other than the arms position, male students had better results than female students. CPR is a very important live-saving method to increase the chance of survival. However, this practice is ineffective unless applied correctly and timely.Conclusion: This study showed that manual chest compression on the manikin became ineffective in both speed and effectiveness just within minutes. This shows that there is a very important deficiency in this area where human life depends on minutes. Thus, developing and commissioning auxiliary external chest compression device that can perform CPR, especially in pre-hospital setting, ambulance and emergency departments, is important.

NURSING PROFESSION FROM NURSING STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract
 This research was carried out to determine the nursing students' perceptions of the nursing profession. The research is descriptive and cross-sectional. The sample of the study consisted of 183 volunteer students studying at the nursing department of a university in Izmir between October 5, 2020 - December 8, 2021. "Individual Identification Form" and "Nursing Profession Perception Scale" were used to collect data. In the evaluation of the data, descriptive statistics of qualitative variables, and non-parametric tests were used. Students' total score was 87.60 ± 9.03 from the scale, professional qualification sub-dimension score was 66.90 ± 7.46, and occupational status sub-dimension score was 20.69 ± 2.44. There is a statistically significant difference between the professional qualifications sub-dimension and the gender and class of the students. According to the status of liking the nursing profession, there is a remarkable difference between the professional qualification sub-dimension, gender, and total score of the scale. It was determined that nursing students' perception of the nursing profession is high. It is recommended to carry out further studies to improve the perceptions of nurse candidates towards the nursing profession in a positive way.

HOW DO HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PRACTICES REFLECT ON EMPLOYEES? AN EVALUATION FROM JOB CRAFTING PERSPECTIVE

Amaç: Bu çalışmada, kontrol ve bağlılık odağından insan kaynakları yönetimi uygulamalarının çalışanların iş becerikliliği davranışları üzerindeki rolünü belirlemek amaçlanmıştır.Yöntem: Çalışmanın amacı doğrultusunda İzmir ilinde bulunan bir üniversitenin İnsan Kaynakları Yönetimi Bölümü üçüncü sınıf öğrencilerinden 22 kişi seçilmiş ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Görüşmelerden elde edilen cevaplar betimsel analiz yöntemiyle incelenmiş ve yorumlanmıştır.Bulgular: Araştırma sonucunda, kontrol odaklı insan kaynakları yönetimi uygulamalarının iş becerikliliğinin ortaya çıkmasını zorlaştırırken, bağlılık odaklı insan kaynakları yönetimi uygulamalarının iş becerikliliğinin ortaya çıkmasını kolaylaştırdığı belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca bazı kontrol odaklı insan kaynakları yönetimi uygulamalarının da çalışanların iş becerikliliğini olumlu yönde etkileyebileceği görülmüştür.Özgünlük: Literatürde kavramı henüz kontrol ve bağlılık odaklı insan kaynakları yönetimi uygulamaları kapsamında inceleyen fazla çalışmaya rastlanamamıştır. Bu çalışma, Türkçe literatürde bu odakta yer alan ilk çalışma olması açısından önem teşkil etmektedir.

Editorial Issue 33.2

This issue contains five papers. In the first paper, Ege Tekgün, Muhtar Çağkan Uludağlı, Hüseyin Akcan, and Burak Erdeniz, from Izmir University of Economics in Turkey assess the influence of virtual avatar anthropomorphism and the synchronicity of the visuo-tactile stimulation on self-location using a virtual reality (VR) full-body illusion (FBI) experiment. During the experiment, half of the 36 participants observed a gender-matched full-body humanoid avatar from a first-person perspective (1PP) and the other half observed a less anthropomorphic full-body cubical avatar from 1PP while they were receiving synchronous and asynchronous visuo-tactile stimulation. Results show a significant main effect of the synchronicity of the visuo-tactile stimulation and avatar body type on self-location but no significant interaction was found between them. Moreover, the results of the self-report questionnaire provide additional evidence showing that participants who received synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation, experienced not only greater changes in the feeling of self-location, but also, increased ownership, and referral of touch. In the second paper, Ke Li, Qian Zhang, Jinyuan Jia, from Tongji University in Shanghai, China, and Hantao Zhao, from Southeast University in Nanjing, all in China discuss the technology of presenting building information modeling (BIM) with an online platform and the difficulty to display large-scale BIM scenes in a flawless manner on mobile browsers, due to network bandwidth and browser performance limitations. The authors propose CEBOW, a Cloud-Edge-Browser Online architecture for visualizing BIM components with online solutions. The method combines transmission scheduling, cache management, and optimal initial loading into a single system architecture. For network transmission testing, BIM scenes are used, and the results show that their method effectively reduces scene loading time and networking delay while improving the visualization effect of large-scale scenes. In the third paper, Yuzhu Dong and Eakta Jain, from University of Florida in Gainesville, and Sophie Jörg, from Clemson University, all in United States discuss how the importance of eyes for virtual characters stems from the intrinsic social cues. They emphasize that the eye animation impacts the perception of an avatar's internal emotional state. They present three large scale experiments that investigate the extent to which viewers can identify if an avatar is scared. The authors find that participants can identify a scared avatar with 75% accuracy using cues in the eyes including pupil size variation, gaze, and blinks. Because eye trackers return pupil diameter in addition to gaze, their experiments inform practitioners that animating the pupil correctly will add expressiveness to a virtual avatar with negligible additional cost. These findings also have implications for creating expressive eyes in intelligent conversational agents and social robots. The fourth paper, by Osman Güler, from TUSAŞ Şehit Hakan Gülşen Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Ankara and Serkan Savaş, from Çankırı Karatekin Üniversitesi, both in Turkey present a study showing that Interactive Boards (IBs) have the necessary hardware to run Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) training materials, but the panel has not got an S3D imaging feature. Therefore, only the Anaglyph S3D imaging method can be applied to IBs. Thus, an Anaglyph S3D training material was prepared for the interaction of the skeletal system and interactive 3D material design for IBs with its effects in education was investigated. A Likert-type scale was developed to measure the usability of the training material on IBs and the material was evaluated by 20 experts. The data were analyzed by the SPSS statistical program and the results were interpreted. According to the results, educational material seems to be positive in terms of image characteristics, content, navigation, and ease of use, font sizes were moderate for readability, the feedback process and the help menu were moderately effective. The last paper by Alexandra Sierra, Marie Postma, from Tilburg University in Netherlands and Menno Van Zaanen, from North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa investigate whether the uncanny valley effect, which has already been found for the human-like appearance of virtual characters, can also be found for animal-like appearances. They conducted an online study in which six different animal designs were evaluated in terms of the following properties: familiarity, commonality, naturalness, attractiveness, interestingness, and animateness. The study participants differed in age (under 10–60 years) and origin (Europe, Asia, North America, and South America). For the evaluation of the results, the authors ranked the animal-likeness of the character using both expert opinion and participant judgments. They also investigated the effect of movement and morbidity. The results confirm the existence of the uncanny valley effect for virtual animals, especially with respect to familiarity and commonality, for both still and moving images. No uncanny valley effect was detected for interestingness and animateness.

The impact of visual thinking in medical education

Abstract Background Considering medical humanities, medicine and art are two areas that resemble each other at several features. Clinical diagnosis involves the observation, description and interpretation of information of which visual ones take an important one. The skills described are important skills in the field of visual arts, as well. Underlying a good clinical practice; clinical examination and observation skills constitute an important place. Although in several studies, these skills are shown to be improved by analyzing visual art pieces, courses intended to improve visual thinking skills are not that much common in medical faculty curriculums. Methods In this article, we share our opinion about the use of visual thinking in medical education by providing preliminary reflection results of learners from the second year of medical education about the visual thinking course that we have recently started to apply in Faculty of Medicine in collaboration with Faculty of Fine Arts in Izmir University of Economics in order to improve the observational skills of learners. Results Reflection results of the learners support the view that training art-viewing skill is helpful to improve observational and descriptive skills. Conclusions Increasing interdisciplinary programs on visual thinking in medical curriculums have the potential to overcome several professional development challenges in clinics.

Risk Factors for the Morbidity and Mortality of Stoma Closure.

To identify the risk factors for postoperative complications of stoma closures. Descriptive study. Department of General Surgery, Izmir University of Health Sciences, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir Turkey from October 2008 to December 2018. A total of 179 patients were divided into two groups according to presence or absence of postoperative complications. Differences between these two groups were analysed with tests of proportion; p <0.05 value was considered statistically significant. The results are reported as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI). The median age of the patients with postoperative complications was 57.00 (40.00-67.00) and 30/55 (54.5%) of them were males. American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) score and coronary artery disease had significant association with postoperative complications of stoma closure (p=0.033, p=0.024). Although colostomy was not associated with presence of postoperative complications, but when the authors analysed correlations of colostomy with postoperative complications separately, it was found that colostomy was a risk factor for postoperative ileus (OR 0.257, 95% CI 0.081-0.821; p= 0.026). ASA score and coronary artery disease should be considered as risk factors for complications of stoma closure. Colostomy should be considered as a risk factor for postoperative ileus. Key Words: Colostomy, Ileostomy, Stoma closure, Risk factors.

The Role of Community-based Health Practice on the Improvement of Healthcare Students’ Communication, Empathy and Perception of the Elderly: A Qualitative Study at Izmir University of Economics

Interpersonal communication involving empathy is of great importance in therapeutic relationships in healthcare. To equip medical/healthcare students with interpersonal communication skills, community-based health education provides real-life contexts in which they engage with the community as part of the curriculum. A community-based health practice (CBHP) was implemented at Izmir University of Economics (IUE) to improve students’ communication, empathy and perception towards the elderly. Within an interdisciplinary collaboration among the medicine, nursing, elderly-care and physiotherapy programs, a total of 111 students participated in the project. This study aimed to evaluate the role of the CBHP on students’ communication, empathy and perception of the elderly. Taking a qualitative approach, focus group interviews were organized with students (n=22). Descriptive analysis of the qualitative data revealed that students witnessed the loneliness of elderly individuals, their physical and psychosocial needs, which resulted in a high degree of empathy. Furthermore, the study also aimed to gain insights from elderly participants via in-depth interviews (n=9). Results demonstrated that the participants felt valued and useful during the communication processes with the students. In conclusion, CBHP contributed to students’ perceptions and empathy towards the elderly; meanwhile the elderly individuals were satisfied with the interest of the medical, nursing and healthcare students.