Norwegian University Research Articles

From Teaching as Transmission to Constructive Alignment

This paper reports on an action research study on curriculum design in an optional module at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. There were two professors teaching their respective parts, henceforth termed “Part 1” and “Part 2”. Oral evaluations confirmed students’ satisfaction with teaching; however, failure rates had been an issue for years and was a concern to the professors who were wondering why. This study sets out to explore causes of poor academic achievement in order to launch targeted interventions. A major issue was students’ limited capabilities in dealing with conceptual and theoretical problems. This was partially explained by a mismatch between types of problems in the exercises compared with those at the final exam. The ensuing intervention included the redesign of tasks to improve alignment of course components as well as introducing a mid-term exam specifically addressing conceptual and theoretical themes. Failure rates dropped markedly in subsequent years due to students’ enhanced ability to cope with the broader spectrum of course requirements.

Gender differences in research performance within and between countries: Italy vs Norway

• We analyse the research performance of 36,000 Italian and Norwegian professors. • We apply an output to input indicator of research performance, the FSS. • We find that men outperform women across countries, fields and academic ranks. • Performance differences can be largely explained by the top 10 % professors. • Possible biases intrinsic in quantitative performance indicators are discussed. In this study, the scientific performance of Italian and Norwegian university professors is analysed using bibliometric indicators. The study is based on over 36,000 individuals and their publication output during the period 2011–2015. Applying a multidimensional indicator in which several aspects of the research performance are captured, we find large differences in the performance of men and women. These gender differences are evident across all analysed levels, such as country, field, and academic position. However, most of the gender differences can be explained by the tails of the distributions—in particular, there is a much higher proportion of men among the top 10 % performing scientists. For the remaining 90 % of the population, the gender differences are practically non-existent. The results of the two countries, which differ in terms of the societal role of women, are contrasting. Further, we discuss possible biases that are intrinsic in quantitative performance indicators, which might disfavour female researchers.

Faculty Development Training in Online Instruction at a Norwegian University: An Experience Report

Introduction: Online learning and work are commonplace in both engineering and professional communication. To be effective online, even experienced face-to-face teachers require new skills. About the case: This case reports on the design and delivery of faculty training on teaching online at a Norwegian university during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two questions are examined: 1. What topics and training designs are suitable for beginning online teachers with little time to implement the results of the training? 2. In this emergency context, how do local conditions impact the design and delivery of such training? The training focused on building interactive online courses, providing formative feedback for students, and choosing between synchronous and asynchronous teaching. Situating the case: The literature suggests that teachers often undergo a shift in their teaching philosophies and methods when transitioning to online environments. Methods/approach: Pretraining and post-training reflection were used as informal data sources to develop the training sessions and to holistically discuss the themes that emerged from the training. Results/discussion: Two online and one face-to-face 2-hour training sessions were delivered to three groups of faculty. Three main themes emerged from the training: active learning, synchronous/asynchronous teaching, and providing formative feedback to students. Conclusions: Challenges included convincing participants to shift from the lecture as the main method of instruction to more interactive and active techniques, as well as reconciling the standardized course study plans with individual teachers' instructional needs. Larger studies of training programs and more formal methods of data analysis are suggested.

Support and opposition in an attempted higher education merger

The study explores an ultimately unsuccessful merger of three Norwegian public university colleges. It shows how social practices of support for and opposition to the merger were the effects of the intersection(s) between why the merger was necessary and how the proposed merger process was enacted. Support and opposition may change during the merger process, since participants move in and out of positions given how the process unfolds. We relate support and opposition to identity. A merger supports attractive identities if it is consonant with overarching normative ideals of higher education and experienced fairness during the merger process. The findings have implications for how we can better understand and explain why some merger initiatives lead to termination instead of a merger.

Communication as a non‐technical skill in the operating room: A qualitative study

AimThe aim of this study was to explore how operating room nurses (ORNs) experience operating room (OR) team communication concerning non‐technical skills.DesignBased on the Scrub Practitioners List of Intraoperative Non‐Technical Skill (SPLINTS), qualitative individual in‐depth semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 11 ORNs in a Norwegian university hospital. Braun and Clarke's six analytic phases for thematic data analysis were used.ResultsSurgeons being unprepared or demanding different instruments than the preoperative information indicates, cause stress and frustration. So does noise and brusquely or poor communication. Ensuring good information flow within the entire team is important. When silence is required, the ORNs communicate with gestures, looks and nods. Creating a positive and secure team culture facilitates discussions, questions and information sharing.ConclusionInappropriate dynamics, inaccurate and/or disrespectful communication and noise may reduce patient safety. Interdisciplinary team training may bring attention to the value of communication as a non‐technical skill.

Exploring Educational Change in First-Year Calculus: A Comparative Case Study

This article draws on research conducted in a mandatory, first-year calculus course at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. By the turn of the century concerns were expressed over high failure rates in calculus, and action was called for to remedy the situation. In the years to come, various measures were introduced, though rather scattered and unsystematic. From 2013 onwards development initiatives in the course became more systematic, ensued by expectations of improved learning outcomes. This study draws on data collected by identical surveys conducted four years apart with a view to similarities and differences in attitudes and behaviours. Contrary to expectations, observed changes turned out to be marginal, if not totally missing, which in turn motivated the search for explanations to design more productive strategies.

Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 infections in healthcare workers with high and low exposures to Covid-19 patients in a Norwegian University Hospital

Introduction A year into the pandemic, the knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 infection risks among healthcare workers remains limited. In this cross-sectional study, we examined whether healthcare workers with high exposure to Covid-19 patients had a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection than other healthcare workers in a Norwegian University Hospital. We also investigated the prevalence of asymptomatic healthcare workers in a ward with a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Methods Healthcare workers from five wards at Akershus University Hospital were included between May 11 and June 11, 2020. Blood samples were analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and seroprevalences compared between participants with high and low exposure to Covid-19 patients. Demographic data and SARS-CoV-2 infection risk factors were recorded in a questionnaire. Naso-/oropharyngeal swabs from participants from the outbreak ward were analyzed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Results 360/436 (82.6%) healthcare workers participated. 9/262 (3.4%) participants from wards with high exposure to Covid-19 patients were SARS-CoV-2 seropositive versus 3/98 (3.1%) from wards with low exposure (OR 1.13; 95%CI 0.3–4.26, p = .861). SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were found in 11/263 (4.2%) participants who had worked one or more shifts caring for Covid-19 patients versus in 1/85 (1.2%) without any known occupational Covid-19 exposure (OR 3.67; 95%CI 0.46–29.06, p = .187). SARS-CoV-2 was detected in naso-/oropharyngeal swabs from 2/78 (2.6%) participants. Conclusion We found no significantly increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in healthcare workers with high exposure to COVID-19 patients. Five healthcare workers had either serologic or molecular evidence of past or present unrecognized SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Satisfaction With Life, Mental Health Problems and Potential Alcohol-Related Problems Among Norwegian University Students.

Objective: Recent studies have shown that today's college students more than ever are struggling with mental health and alcohol problems. While poor satisfaction with life and mental health problems have been linked to higher alcohol consumption, there is still a lack of studies examining in detail the shape and nature of the relationship between mental health and alcohol consumption.Aim: To investigate the associations between satisfaction with life, mental health problems and potential alcohol-related problems among Norwegian university students. The shape of the associations was also examined.Methods: Data were drawn from a 2018 national survey of students in higher education in Norway (the SHoT-study). Associations between satisfaction with life, mental health problems and potential alcohol-related problems (AUDIT; risky and harmful alcohol use) were investigated using logistic regression. Both crude models and models adjusted for age, gender and marital status were conducted. To investigate the shape of the associations, logistic regression with quadric and cubic terms was tested.Results: Decreased satisfaction with life and increased mental health problems were associated with potential alcohol-related problems. For satisfaction with life, a curvilinear association with risky alcohol use and a linear association with harmful alcohol use was identified. For mental health problems, curvilinear associations were found for both risky and harmful alcohol use.Conclusion: Many students report potential alcohol-related problems. Students with harmful alcohol use seem to be more at risk of reduced satisfaction with life and increased mental health problems than students with risky alcohol use. Educational institutions may be an ideal setting for raising awareness of mental health issues and responsible alcohol consumption among students. The present study contributes with important information about the shape of the associations between satisfaction with life, mental health problems and potential alcohol-related problems in the student population.

30-day mortality in patients after hip fracture surgery: A comparison of the Charlson Comorbidity Index score and ASA score used in two prediction models

Objective: To compare the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Physical Status Classification used in two prediction models for 30-day mortality after hip fracture surgery.Study Design and Setting: Data from 3651 patients (mean age: 83 years) from a Norwegian University Hospital were retrospectively obtained and randomly divided into two cohorts: a model cohort (n = 1825) to develop two prediction models with CCI and ASA as the main predictors, and a validation cohort (n = 1826) to assess the predictive ability of both models. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve determined the best model to predict mortality.Results: Area under the ROC curve at 30 days was 0.726 (p = 0.988) for both the CCI- and ASA-model. The chosen cut-off-points on the ROC curve for CCI- and ASA-model corresponded to similar model sensitivities of 0.657 and specificities of 0.680 and 0.679, respectively. Hence, each model predicts correctly 66% (n = 96) of the mortalities and 68% (n = 1132 and n = 1131) of the survivals. 23% (n = 33) of the mortalities were predicted by neither model.Conclusion: The CCI- and ASA-model had equal predictive ability of 30-day mortality after hip fracture. Considering the effort involved in calculating Charlson Comorbidity Index score, the ASA score may be the preferred tool to predict the 30-day mortality after hip fracture.

Controlled sample environment for studying solid-gas interactions by in situ powder X-ray diffraction.

A sample cell for powder X-ray diffraction studies with in situ applied pressure and control of temperature is demonstrated. The cell is based on a previously reported design and consists of a glass or quartz capillary glued into a Swagelok weld gland; this configuration can hold up to 100 bar (1 bar = 100 kPa). The cell is placed in contact with a copper plate for control of temperature between -30 and 200°C. This is achieved by Peltier elements, heat cartridges and a refrigerated circulating bath. This work mainly focuses on the temperature control system. Commissioning tests were performed in a custom-made small/wide-angle X-ray diffractometer at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The system is easily portable to synchrotron facilities.

Cannabis use among Norwegian university students: Gender differences, legalization support and use intentions, risk perceptions, and use disorder

AimsWe explored past-year cannabis use and associated characteristics, focusing on legalization attitudes, use intentions, risk perceptions, and possible dependence among Norwegian university/college students. MethodsWe examined a nation-wide sample of Norwegian university/college students (N = 49,688; 67% female) who participated in the Students’ Health and Wellbeing Study (SHoT-study) in 2018. Participants reported past-year substance use, support for cannabis legalization, intent to use cannabis if legal, and perceived risks of weekly use. Past-year cannabis use (including use frequency) was examined in relation to these indicators. Legalization support, use intentions, and risk perceptions were examined in relation to use and gender. Potential cannabis use disorder was assessed with the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST) and examined in relation to use frequency and gender. FindingsPast-year use was reported by 15.3% (11.8% women; 22.9% men). Majority of current users (roughly 90%) used no more than 50 times past year, and 6% (3.8% women; 8.5% men) met CAST use disorder criteria. Legalization support, use intentions, and no/low risk perceptions were significantly associated with greater odds of use, and greater use frequency among current users in both crude and adjusted models. Legalization support (23.0%), use intentions (14.0%), and perceptions of no/low risk (29.2%) were also relatively common even among current non-users, especially men. Male gender and more frequent use were associated with greater CAST scores and greater odds of use disorder. ConclusionsCannabis use was relatively common in this student sample. In addition to targeting frequent use, interventions may focus on cannabis-related attitudes and risk perceptions among uncertain/uninformed students.

Organising professional support staff at higher education institutions: a multidimensional, continuous balancing act

Centralisation is a recurrent theme when the organisational structure of contemporary higher education institutions is on the agenda. This may be in large part because of the unsolicited effects of decentralised organisational structures. The aim of this study is to explore how professional support staff at higher education institutions perceive the organisational structure of support and the rationales for this organising. An analytical framework based on the dichotomy of centralisation/decentralisation was applied in 18 interviews with professional support staff at one Dutch university and one Norwegian university. A common theme in the findings was the consciousness among the professional support staff that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for the organising of efficient and effective support. The issue of centralisation and standardisation was clearly on the agenda, but their focus was on the elements of a well-functioning support structure, not the specific organisational solution. The study also highlights the objection to the trend towards centralisation, and that some organisational changes may be too short sighted to be sustainable. From the perspective of the professional support staff, it can be concluded that organisational structure is a continuous balancing act based on dialogue between the academic and support staff.

Images of Educational Leadership: How Principals Make Sense of Democracy and Social Justice in Two Distinct Policy Contexts

Purpose: This article investigates how school leaders make sense of social justice and democracy in their practice in two settings, a high-stakes testing and accountability context, the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and a low-stakes testing and accountability context, Norway. It demonstrates how leaders view relationships among education, democracy, and social justice, when located in a neoliberal democracy with a minimalist welfare state or in a social democracy with a robust welfare state. Design and Evidence: Through a comparative design, we analyze qualitative data from two international principal exchanges designed to capture outsiders’ impressions of schools in each context. Participants included alumni from an American and a Norwegian university’s principal preparation programs. Through preobservation and postobservation interviews and focus groups, we explore observations by practitioners, who acted as coconstructors in the research. Findings and Implications: The article presents three findings: (1) While principals in both systems conceptualized equity similarly, their conceptions of democracy were aligned with the type of democracy in which they were embedded; (2) Schools’ norms, climate, structures, and leadership, as well as students’ daily lives, reflected the values implicit in their respective political contexts; (3) Principals perceived elements of their macro- and micro-level settings to enable or constrain their ability to craft democratic, socially just schools. These findings help scholars move beyond discourse about the need for leaders to advocate for equity, to deeper understandings about conditions that shape democratic schools, such as values about collectivism, welfarism, and the common good—tenets of a socially just civic society.

Improving Reproductive Function in Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome With High-Intensity Interval Training (IMPROV-IT): A Two-Centre, Three-Armed Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: A physically active lifestyle is recommended to improve cardiometabolic health and fertility in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), yet there are few randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of different exercise protocols on clinical reproductive outcomes. Our aim was to determine the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIT) on menstrual frequency, as a proxy of reproductive function, in women with PCOS. Methods: The IMPROV-IT study was a two-centre randomized controlled trial undertaken in Norway and Australia. Women with PCOS (Rotterdam criteria) were eligible for inclusion. After stratification for body mass index < or ≥27 kg/m2 and study centre, participants were randomly allocated by computer-generated random numbers (1:1:1) to high-volume HIT (HV-HIT), low-volume HIT (LV-HIT), or a control group. Measurements were assessed at baseline, after the 16-week exercise intervention and at 12-months follow-up. The primary outcome was menstrual frequency after 12 months. Secondary outcomes included markers of cardiometabolic and reproductive health, quality of life, and adherence to and enjoyment of HIT. Analysis was by intention-to-treat. Findings: The study took place between June 2015 and February 2020. We randomly allocated 64 participants to HV-HIT (n=20), LV-HIT (n=21), or the control group (n=23). There were no difference in menstrual frequency at 12 months between LV-HIT and control (frequency-ratio 0·09, 95%CI 0·06-0·12), HV-HIT and control (frequency-ratio 0·07, 95%CI 0·05-0·10) or LV-HIT and HV-HIT (frequency-ratio 0·09, 95%CI 0·07-0·13). More participants became pregnant in the LV-HIT group (n=5, 33·3%) than in the control group (n=0, p=0·02). Interpretation: HIT did not improve menstrual frequency in women with PCOS, but significantly increased pregnancy rate. Trial Registration: The study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02419482). Funding Statement: The Liaison Committee for Education, Research and Innovation in Central Norway, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Australian Catholic University. Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethics approval was obtained from the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in Central Norway (REK-midt 2015/468) and the ACU Human Research Ethics Committee (2017-260H). The procedures for data entry, coding, and storage have been approved by the Regional Committee Medical Research Ethics in Central Norway. All participants were informed about the experimental protocol and potential risks verbally and in writing before providing their written informed consent.

Perception of Student Life as Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being. A Study of First-Year Students in a Norwegian University

Perception of Student Life as Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being. A Study of First-Year Students in a Norwegian University

Trans-Ethnic Mendelian Randomization Study Reveals Causal Relationships Between Cardiometabolic Factors and Chronic Kidney Disease

Background: The chronic kidney disease (CKD) public health burden has not declined as expected with current interventions on treatments focusing only on the disease. This study aims to systematically estimate the causal roles of cardiometabolic risk factors on CKD in Europeans and East Asians using Mendelian randomization (MR). Methods: A total of 45 risk factors with genetic data in Europeans and 17 risk factors in East Asians were identified as exposures from PubMed. A total of 51,672 CKD cases and 958,102 controls in Europeans and 13,093 CKD cases and 238,118 controls of East Asian ancestry were used as outcome for this study. We defined the CKD case by clinical diagnosis or by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)<60 ml/min/1·73m2. Findings: Eight risk factors showed causal effects on CKD in Europeans, including genetically predicted body mass index (BMI), hypertension, systolic blood pressure, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein A-I, lipoprotein(a), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and nephrolithiasis. In East Asian ancestry, BMI, T2D and nephrolithiasis showed causal effects. Comprehensive follow-up analyses suggested that: (1) increased hypertension is a risk factor for CKD in Europeans but not in East Asians, suggesting the possibility of ancestry-specific disease aetiology; (2) T2D may have glucose-independent mechanisms to influence CKD; (3) non-linear MR indicated BMI above 25 kg/m2 as a threshold for increasing CKD risk. Conclusion: This study built up a strong causal link between cardiometabolic risk factors and CKD in two ancestries. This evidence could inform the design of future interventions to reduce the burden of CKD and its cardiometabolic co-morbidities. Funding: J.Z. is funded by a Vice-Chancellor Fellowship from the University of Bristol. This research was also funded by the UK Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MC_UU_00011/1, MC_UU_00011/4 and MC_UU_00011/7). Jie Zheng is supported by the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) Springboard Award, the Wellcome Trust, the Government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK (SBF006\1117). JZ is funded by the Vice-Chancellor Fellowship from the University of Bristol. This study was funded/supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol (GDS, TRG and REW). This study received funding from the UK Medical Research Council (MR/R013942/1). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health and Social Care. J.Z., Y.M.Z. and T.R.G are funded by a BBSRC Innovation fellowship. Y.M.Z. is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81800636). H.Z. is supported by the Training Program of the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91642120), the Grant from the Science and Technology Project of Beijing, China (D18110700010000) and the University of Michigan Health System–Peking University Health Science Center Joint Institute for Translational and Clinical Research (BMU2017JI007). N.F. is supported by the National Institutes of Health awards R01-MD012765, R01- DK117445 and R21-HL140385. R.C. is funded by a Wellcome Trust GW4 Clinical Academic Training Fellowship (WT 212557/Z/18/Z). The Trondelag Health Study (The HUNT Study) is a collaboration between HUNT Research Centre (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Trondelag County Council, Central Norway Regional Health Authority, and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. M.C.B. is supported by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) Skills Development Fellowship (MR/P014054/1). S.F. is supported by a Wellcome Trust PhD studentship (WT108902/Z/15/Z). Q.Y. is funded by a China Scholarship Council PhD scholarship (CSC201808060273). Y.C. was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFC0900500, 2016YFC0900501, 2016YFC0900504). The China Kadoorie Biobank baseline survey and the first re-survey were supported by a grant from the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation in Hong Kong. The long-term follow-up is supported by grants from the UK Wellcome Trust (202922/Z/16/Z, 088158/Z/09/Z, 104085/Z/14/Z). Japan-Kidney-Biobank was supported by AMED under Grant Number 20km0405210. P.C.H. is supported by Cancer Research UK [grant number: C18281/A19169]. A.K. was supported by DFG KO 3598/5-1. N.F. is supported by NIH awards R01-DK117445, R01-MD012765, R21- HL140385. Declaration of Interest: T.R.G. and J.Z. receive funding from GlaxoSmithKline and Biogen for unrelated research. All other authors have nothing to declare. Ethical Approval: All participants included in the CKDGen, UK Biobank, HUNT, Biobank Japan, China Kadoorie Biobank and Japan Kidney Biobank/ToMMo provided written informed consent and studies were approved by their local research ethics committees and institutional review boards as applicable.

Torrefaction as a Pre-Treatment of Biomass: A Bibliometric Analysis

This article sought to investigate biomass torrefaction, analyzing the collaboration network between authors, institutions and countries in order to systematize the dynamics of scientific research on the subject. The systematic evaluation of the articles obtained in the scope of the research was important to provide an overview of the main stakeholders in the academic and institutional scope. This research is characterized as exploratory-descriptive of quantitative nature, whose technical procedure adopted was bibliometric research. A set of 662 documents were extracted from the main collection of Web of Science. The Vosviewer software was used to create scientific collaboration and co-citation networks. It was noted that the number of documents has been growing steadily since 2011, with a high degree of multidisciplinary collaboration and prolific contributions from American and Chinese researchers on this topic. The USA is the country with the largest number of publications (120 publications), followed by China (70 publications). There was a total of 1,894 authors and 594 institutions researching on biomass torrefaction, with SINTEF Energy Research - Norway having the largest number of publications, followed by National Cheng Kung University - Taiwan and Norwegian University of Science and Technology - Norway. The use of bibliometrics proposed here offers a systematic and dynamic approach to scientific research on biomass torrefaction. The identified groupings and collaboration networks presented a specific outline of the contents already published, authors, countries and institutions, in order to contribute as a starting point to future work in the field of biomass torrefaction.

Electrical Conditions in 3-phase Submerged Arc Furnaces: Learning from the ElMet Project

ElMet is the short name for a competence project (2015-2020) on electrical conditions in 3-phase submerged arc furnaces (SAFs). In the project, NORCE has cooperated closely with The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), University of Oxford, University of Santiago de Compostela, and the industrial partners, Elkem and Eramet Norway. ElMet has focused on mathematical modelling, and a set of tools have been utilized: • Basic equation analysis, together with very simplified models, have clarified fundamental aspects. • 2D and 3D models have then supplied important overall insight. • Finally, metamodels have enabled a link between physics- and data-based modelling. The ElMet project has established a sound basis for understanding electrical conditions in SAFs, and proper tools have been developed and tested for future use: • Flexible 3D simulations models to be applied for various case studies. • A strong electromagnetic proximity effect for (almost) parallel currents has been discovered. • Induced currents in the furnace steel shell carry information that might be utilized for identification of inner conditions. • Metamodels, together with additional measurements, seem suitable for on-line use and to identify inner furnace conditions.

Financial difficulties and student health: Results from a National Cross-Sectional Survey of Norwegian college and university students

To examine financial circumstances among Norwegian higher education students and investigate associations between financial difficulties and health, academic outcomes and self-destructive behaviours, we used data from a recent national health survey from 2018 for higher education in Norway (the SHoT study). 50,054 full-time students (69.1% women; 30.9% men) aged 18–35 years participated and reported work status, income and experience of financial difficulties, self-reported mental health problems, deliberate self-harm and suicide attempts, somatic health complaints and exam failures in higher education. Students often experiencing financial difficulties (n = 3933, 7.9%) reported more mental health problems (HSCL-25; M = 2.1 vs 1.6), depression (24% vs 7.2%), anxiety (20.8% vs 6.7%), deliberate self-harm (12.2% vs 4.9%), attempted suicide (3.1% vs 0.5%), somatic health complaints (SSS8; M = 13.1 vs 7.4), having ever failed exams (45.5% vs 28.4%) and higher average number of failed exams (M = 1.1 vs 0.6) compared to peers not experiencing financial difficulties. These associations were robust to adjustments for age, gender, relationship status, immigrant background and study program. Strategies to alleviate problems associated with financial difficulties may be to improve the existing financial support to students, strengthen student mental health services, and expand services for financial counselling and guidance.

Psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the clinical learning environment comparison survey.

AimTo translate The Clinical Learning Environment Comparison Survey (CLECS) into Norwegian and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Norwegian version.DesignA cross‐sectional survey including a longitudinal component.MethodsThe CLECS was translated into Norwegian following the World Health Organization guidelines, including forward translation, expert panel, back‐translation, pre‐testing and cognitive interviewing. Nursing students at a Norwegian university college were invited to participate in the study (psychometrical testing) based on informed consent. Reliability and validity of the translated version of CLECS were investigated using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach's alpha and test–retest analysis.ResultsA total of 122 nursing students completed the questionnaire and Cronbach alphas for the CLECS subscales ranged from 0.69 to 0.89. CFA goodness‐of‐fit indices (χ2/df = 1.409, CFI = 0.915, RMSEA = 0.058) showed acceptable model fit. Test–retest ICC ranged from 0.55 to 0.75, except for two subscales with values below 0.5