Personal Practices Research Articles

Understanding and measuring young people’s sustainability actions

Young people foster sustainability in many ways, ranging from low-effort personal practices to highly devoted sustainability actions. These actions and behaviors embody the sustainability agency of the youth. In this article, we shed light on the repertoire and dimensionality of the youth’s sustainability efforts. Using factor analytic methods to analyze a large survey sample (N = 940), we argue that the youth’s sustainability agency emerges in a multitude of actions, and that sustainability actions are distinct from traditional pro-environmental behaviors. However, the distinction between actions and behaviors is more about the degree of effort, commitment, and publicity, than about sustainability dimensions. We encourage researchers and educational specialists to consider sustainability actions and behaviors in a broad sense, including the continuums of individual–collective, public–private sphere, and low–high effort.

Knowledge about recommendations for physical activity and personal practices of primary health care professionals

Since the recommendations of moderate-to vigorous physical activity (PA) for health constitute important information to be shared in counseling practice, the present study was aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge of health professionals about the international PA recommendations for adults and elderly and to verify if there are associations between PA motivation with leisure time PA, readiness to change behavior and body mass index (BMI) of these professionals. In 2021, a questionnaire was applied remotely with health professionals from Brazilian health system. The survey had 34 participants, who answered sociodemographic and health questions, knowledge about international PA recommendations for adults and the elderly, PA duration, behavioral stage and motivations for PA practice. Of the five questions that assessed the knowledge of professionals, three had the highest prevalence of wrong answers, and professionals who have a more internal motivation to practice PA showed a significant association with reaching the minimum PA and eutrophic BMI recommendations. Professional qualification is important, together with encouragement to practice PA, through contents that consider internal motivations.

A Study on Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice and Awareness towards Pre-Marital Carrier Screening of Thalassemia among the University Students of Biological Faculty in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Thalassemia is a hereditary hemoglobinopathies that results from the absence of a globulin chain and it is a very common problem in Southeast Asia. Like many other countries’ community based premarital carrier screening (PMCS) of thalassemia is extremely rare in Bangladesh. This study aimed to investigate knowledge, attitude, practice, and awareness towards PMCS among University students in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to March 2020 using a self-administered questionnaire which was distributed to 911 Jahangirnagar University students aged 18 to 24. The questionnaire was composed of five parts: personal information, knowledge, attitudes, practice, and awareness. On the basis of the answers, knowledge, attitudes, practice, and awareness towards PMCS were evaluated. About (88.80%) of the total participating students thought that PMCS is necessary before marriage. In the case of thalassemia carrier parents, 81.00% of students replied that prenatal screening is important before pregnancy. 610 students (66.95%) of the total 911 students considered that thalassemia can be caused by marrying between blood relatives. Most of the students (79.80%) supported that thalassemia screening should be an obligatory procedure and 91.98% would like to raise social awareness about PMCS and thalassemia. The students of Jahangirnagar University have good knowledge about PMCS program and a positive attitude but it is difficult to implement in real life without continuing practice. The outcome of this study suggested the necessity of increasing student’s awareness of Bangladeshi PMCS program.

The informational “cosplay journey” of Star Wars cosplayers in the context of a Facebook group

Introduction. Research on personal information practices has increased in recent decades. Building on this current of thought, the present study explores information practices in the context of serious leisure, looking specifically at the Rey Cosplay Community Facebook group, an online community of Star Wars cosplayers. The work discusses how these fans seek, organize, and share relevant information during the process of making costumes. Method. This study used participant observation and semi-structured interviews to investigate information behaviours, including information seeking, organization, use, and sharing, of seventeen members in the Rey Cosplay Community with a purposive sampling strategy. Analysis. The researchers transcribed and jointly coded the collected data with an open coding scheme to identify themes that emerged from the data. Results. The cosplayers used a myriad of tools to seek, organize, and share information about costume making. Participants identified that their information practices had evolved over time, and they shared sophisticated strategies for sharing work-in-progress photos and updates as well as methods for organizing information for later use. Conclusion. There are a variety of information practices used when making a costume. Participants often seek and acquire relevant information on online platforms and use a combination of traditional physical tools and modern electronic tools to organize information. They also display a rich culture of sharing information when responding to other fans’ information needs. The overall structure that these information practices take can be neatly articulated as a sort of informational “cosplay journey”.

Legal custom and other rules established by practice: issues of correlation

The article is devoted to the issues of the comparison between legal custom and other rules, formed by practice. In particular, the correlation of legal custom with the practice of state authorities, legal precedent and personal business practice is considered. Identifying the relationships between them makes it possible to understand the meaning of the corresponding phenomena. Differences in the legal nature of the mentioned phenomena cause the fact that some are sources of law, while others are not. The acquisition or loss of certain parameters (features) can lead to the transition (transformation) of one phenomenon into another with corresponding consequences.
 It is explained, that the practice of state authorities is not an independent form of law, but can create such forms - legal custom, legal precedent, etc. It can also create quasi-legal phenomena – agreements between governing subjects, clerk habits, etc. The criteria for distinguishing between legal custom and legal precedent are defined: subjects, the nature of law-making practice, the intensity of such practice, the justification of validity and content, the level of certainty and formalization, as well as the scope of legal action. A legal custom is a general social practice, which consists in repeating certain actions several times or refraining from them by a wide range of subjects. Instead, legal precedent is formed by the special practice of the competent authority in the course of law enforcement, which is most often expressed in a specific judicial or administrative decision.
 It has been found, that business practice is able to create two basic types of rules for contracting parties – legal customs and rules of personal business practice. The first of them are characterized by generality and in terms of legal consequences are equated to the norms, contained in the legislation. Instead, the latter bind only specific counterparties, and therefore are equivalent to the terms of the contract, concluded between them. The use of the term "custom" to delineate the rules, formed by personal business practice, is not only contrary to its nature, but also creates a terminological imbalance in law of obligations

SYMBOLIC MUSICAL RESYNTHESIS AS AN EKPHRASTIC COMPOSITIONAL PRACTICE USING COMPUTATIONAL METHODS

In my artistic work, I explore the affordances of computational methods from the discipline of artificial intelligence for music composition. Grounded in philosophical perspectives that revolve around the notions of trans- and post-humanism and cybernetics, I understand the mediating role of computers in music composition as having the potential to expand a composer’s creative process by providing him with novel ways of exploring relationships between musical material and structure. Under this premise, music composition becomes a process that occurs through the assemblage between human actors and technological artifacts, and this association should result in new, interesting, and valuable artistic works. In this text, I will discuss a personal compositional practice that I understand as ekphrastic, based on the notion of symbolic resynthesis of musical symbolic information employing computational methods, as means for composing an original piece in response to the madrigal “Io Mi Son Giovinetta” by Claudio Monteverdi.

Are public health researchers designing for dissemination? Findings from a national survey in China

BackgroundResearch findings are not always disseminated in ways preferred by audiences, and research dissemination is not always considered a priority by researchers. While designing for dissemination (D4D) provides an active process to facilitate effective dissemination, use of these practices in China is largely unknown. We aimed to describe the designing for dissemination activities and practices among public health researchers in China.MethodsIn January 2022, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in 61 sub-committees of four national academic societies which include a wide range of health disciplines. The sample mainly involved researchers at universities or research institutions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at national or regional levels, and hospitals. Participants completed a 42-item online questionnaire. Respondent characteristics, dissemination routes, dissemination barriers, organizational support, and personal practice of D4D were examined with descriptive analyses.ResultsOf 956 respondents, 737 were researchers. Among these researchers, 58.1% had disseminated their research findings. Although there were some variation in the commonly used routes among different groups, academic journals (82.2%) and academic conferences (73.4%) were the most frequently used routes. Barriers to dissemination to non-research audiences existed at both organizational level (e.g., a lack of financial resources, platforms, and collaboration mechanisms) and individual level (e.g., a lack of time, knowledge, and skills, and uncertainty on how to disseminate). About a quarter of respondents (26.7%) had a dedicated person or team for dissemination in their unit or organization, with university researchers reporting a significantly higher proportion than their counterparts (P < 0.05). Only 14.2% of respondents always or usually used frameworks or theories to plan dissemination activities, 26.2% planned dissemination activities early, and 27.1% always or usually involved stakeholders in the research and dissemination process. Respondents with working experience in a practice or policy setting or dissemination and implementation training experience were more likely to apply these D4D strategies (P < 0.05).ConclusionConsiderable room exists for improvement in using impactful dissemination routes, tackling multiple barriers, providing organizational support, and applying D4D strategies among Chinese public health researchers. Our findings have implications for structural changes in academic incentive systems, collaborations and partnerships, funding priorities, and training opportunities.

Assessment of attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 pandemic: a survey on a cohort of educated Syrian population

BackgroundCoronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused the death of millions of people and affected the lives of hundreds of millions worldwide. The WHO recommendations aimed mainly to reduce transmission, minimize infection, and get people vaccinated. Nevertheless, opinions and attitudes about the disease varied. In this study, we evaluated personal attitudes and practices of a cohort of an educated Syrian population, after several waves of infection with COVID-19 and the release of different types of vaccines.MethodsA cross-sectional internet-based survey was launched in January 2022.The survey queried the participants’ personal experience, attitudes, practices towards COVID-19, and vaccination.ResultsThe study included 408 individuals. The respondents were mainly females (72.6%), 20–29 years old (39.2%), and college graduates (59.3%). A large proportion (89.7%) reported having been infected at least once during the pandemic; a significant association was found with age (p = 0.001). Nearly half of the respondents got vaccinated; the majority were > 40 years old. Opinions differed regarding the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines; only a small percentage of the participants (17.4%) thought all vaccines were effective and safe. Remarkably, the level of education did not significantly dominate the participants’ attitudes or practices towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately half of the respondents (44.9%) stated their lives were affected by the pandemic and over the third were worried (38%). A significant association was detected with gender in favour of females. Most of the participants have taken at least one precautionary measure to limit the infection.ConclusionThe level of education did not significantly dominate the participants’ attitudes or practices towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Female respondents were more cautious, concerned and committed to taking precautionary measures regardless of their education level. However, their unwillingness to receive the vaccine raises significant concerns. Efforts should be made to emphasize the importance of immunization, the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and encourage vaccination among individuals.

Holistic Engagement and White Neoliberal Social Work: Resistance or Accommodation?

ABSTRACT The article situates key themes on holistic engagement practice (HEP) within the context of white neoliberal social work practice. Through a secondary analysis of qualitative data using a critical phenomenological framework, the authors analyze the narratives of social workers who completed a 2-day training on holistically engaged social work practice and reflected on the impacts of the training on their work and lives. The authors explore the role that neoliberal structures, along with social work culture, training and institutional expectations, play in the meaning participants assign to HEP, and their ability to engage such practices in their daily personal and professional lives. Findings reveal themes around the culture of busyness, self-care as a means to an end, the challenges of vulnerability, and importance of relational social work. These findings shed light on the structural and cultural changes needed in the profession to embody whole person practice. Implications focus on needed structural changes in organizations and in social work education, as well as the need for practitioners to have opportunities for longer- term immersion in holistic practices.

Use of Personal Protective Equipment and Hand Hygiene Practices of a State Hospital Workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational Study

Objective: This study aimed to observe the use of personal protective equipment and hand hygiene practices of healthcare personnel working in pandemic clinics.&#x0D; Methods: It is a descriptive and observational study. The research was conducted in the clinics of a pandemic hospital between 01.10.2020 and 31.12.2020. Personal Protective Equipment Usage and Hand Hygiene Compliance Data Collection Form was used. Data were collected by researchers who were infection control nurses, and 171 healthcare workers were observed. Percentage calculation and chi-square test were used in the analysis of the data.&#x0D; Results: In the patient care area, it was determined that personal protective equipment, excluding glasses/face protectors, was fully worn. 6.4% of employees did not remove goggles/face protectors, and 5.3% did not remove surgical masks/N95 masks when leaving the patient area. Practices in the pandemic intensive care unit (wearing the equipment correctly: 88.5%, correct removal: 85.2%) were more in line with guidelines than clinics (correct wearing: 64.5%, correct removal: 65.1%) (p=.001, p=.005). Compliance with hand hygiene is 69% before contact with the patient; 52.6% before aseptic procedure; 61.4% after contact with body fluid; 77.7% after contact with the patient; 73.1% after contact with the environment. Hand hygiene compliance was found to be moderate in pandemic units.&#x0D; Conclusions: In our study, it was determined that personal protective equipment was available in the clinics, the use of goggles/face protection was inadequate, all personal protective equipment was not removed when leaving the patient area, and personal protective equipment was used more appropriately in intensive care units and hand hygiene practices were generally moderate level. In the pandemic process, institutions should conduct more frequent training and make more observations on the use of personal protective equipment and hand hygiene.

Strengthening the Clinician's Self-Care and Resilience Based on the Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person

This article asks how the Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person might identify the personal capacities and interpersonal resources needed to strengthen clinicians’ self-care practices and build up their resilience. The Meta-Model provides 11 comprehensive principles, or premises, to better understand the person, by integrating a theological, philosophical, and psychological vision of the person (anthropology). It serves as a framework to contextualize therapeutic modalities, formulate case studies, interpret empirical studies, and make clinical applications. The article argues that the Meta-Model's interpersonal approach can help build up the self-care and resilience of clinicians (and clients) through attention to the resources available in their personal vocations, character strengths, and practice of virtues. Empirical evidence and clinical examples are provided to support the theoretical implications of the Meta-Model's principles.

Analysis of the Influences of Professional Training and Personal Development Practices Exercised in the Change Process

Analysis of the Influences of Professional Training and Personal Development Practices Exercised in the Change Process

An Assessment of Personal Hygiene Practices Among Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study.

Background Personal Hygiene behavior and practices play a major role in health promotion and disease prevention. Socio-demographic, behavioral, and psychological factors sway a person's overall adaptation of good practices. Disease burden leading to loss of productivity and its influence on the economy cannot be overstated. As medical professionals come in contact with a large number of people, they carry the potential to be super-spreaders in disease outbreaks. Thus, it is of utmost importance that medics and paramedics maintain hygiene to the highest standards. Method This cross-sectional study comprised 323 young adult participants from Muslim Town, Faisalabad. A structured questionnaire containing close-ended questions was used for data collection regarding personal hygiene behavior and practices. Dependency between various qualitative categorical variables and hygiene practices was analyzed using Chi-squared tests. Results It was found that although the majority of the participants followed good hygiene for most of the practices; laziness, lack of relevant education, improper time management, and unreliable water supply posed a significant barrier to good practices. Females had demonstrably better practices compared to males. Urbanity did not have a significant correlation with the results. Conclusion We conclude that a rigorous program of awareness and education regarding this subject is the need of the hour to facilitate an improvement in predictive and preventive health care and reduce morbidity and mortality. Steps should be taken to ease the barriers that are obstructing optimal hygienic practices.

Design Principles for Sustainable Leadership Learning: A Complex Analysis of Learner Experiences

Many institutions of higher education claim to produce leaders and many assume that graduating from a university equates to someone naturally growing in their ability to lead. Developing leaders is considered a worthwhile endeavor in society today and developing a leadership identity is considered foundational to leadership development in college. While colleges and universities purport to develop leaders, little is known about how best to help students develop sustainable leadership learning. Utilizing design-based research, this study examined the learning experiences of college students in three different semesters of a personal leadership course through their reflections about course activities designed to help them develop their leadership identity. Using network maps from student reflections, we analyzed the complexity of learner experiences and developed a set of design principles anchored in the relationships between learning experiences concerning strengths, weaknesses, and theoretical foundations. The following design principles emerged from this study: framing for authentic learning, scaffolding for learner agency, social and collaborative learning, and multimodal engagement. By using these principles in designing leadership experiences, college leadership educators will be empowered to create opportunities that are sustainable and inclusive and that promote lifelong learning in regard to students’ authentic and personal leadership development practices.

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic Circumstances on Cyber Hygiene of University Students

The covid-19 pandemic has motivated the cyber security research activities mainly at national and organizational level, but broader assessment of cyber security at individual level is undoubtedly lacking. Cyber security at individual level refers to humans and their personal cyber security practices that is called cyber hygiene. This study aims to evaluate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic circumstances on cyber hygiene outcomes, i.e., awareness, behavior, and knowledge. The intention was to estimate and compare the cyber hygiene of university students prior to and during the covid-19 pandemic. The results of the survey study indicate that covid-19 pandemic circumstances have caused the change of level of cyber hygiene awareness, behavior, and knowledge of university students. The covid-19 pandemic has improved all these cyber hygiene outcomes and that could be the consequence of intense use of digital space and mirroring of strict covid-19 pandemic protection measures. However, it is evident trend of cyber hygiene knowledge decline which coincides with covid-19 pandemic protection measures relaxation and less utilization of digital services. The findings of this study can be used to improve cyber hygiene worldwide and create a better extraordinary event response as digital space is expected to be increasingly used in future extraordinary circumstances.

A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Planned Teaching Program on Awareness Regarding Environmental Sanitation among the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) Workers Working in Selected Rural Community Area

Background: Water, sanitation and waste management are important driving forces for community health in India. A clean environment, open defecation free areas, personal hygiene practices among the individuals, proper solid and liquid waste management, and availability of adequate safe drinking water determine the health of individuals as well as the community. Aim and Objective: A study was planned to assess awareness regarding environmental sanitation among the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers working in selected rural community area. Material and method: A per-experimental pre-test post-test design was used to assess the effectiveness of planned teaching program on the awareness of 30 ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) Workers selected by non-probability convenient sampling. Result: The analysis and interpretation revealed that the effectiveness of planned teaching program as the post-test awareness score of the ASHA workers regarding environmental sanitation was significantly higher than the pre-test awareness score. Conclusion: Our result indicates that the planned teaching program was an effective tool for improving the awareness regarding environmental sanitation among ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) Workers.

Personal stethoscope disinfection practices and bacterial contamination: A cross-sectional study at the University Hospital Emergency Department in Belgrade, Serbia

A significant reduction in bacterial growth on stethoscope membranes has been noticed after performing daily disinfection. Nevertheless, disinfection is rarely performed. We aimed to assess self-reported stethoscope disinfection practices among medical doctors, detect bacterial contamination on personal stethoscopes, and estimate the effectiveness of 70% ethanol as a stethoscope disinfecting agent. To determine stethoscope disinfection practices, participants filled out a questionnaire (N=47), followed by providing stethoscopes for bacterial analysis. Differences in bacterial contamination were observed through the self-reported frequency and method of stethoscope disinfection. The effect of disinfecting with 70% ethanol was evaluated by comparing the presence of bacterial growth before and after disinfection. The presence of bacterial growth was found in 78.7% of the stethoscope samples, with the median (interquartile range) number of colony-forming units at 25 (10-105). The frequency of disinfection greatly impacted the number of colony-forming units, and the method affected the presence of bacterial growth. Disinfection of stethoscope membranes using 70% ethanol resulted in a compelling 97.3% reduction of bacterial growth. Adequate stethoscope disinfection is highly efficient in reducing bacterial contamination and as such should be considered a critical step in hygienic practices.

Voicing for Life: A Study to Explore the Benefits of Linklater Voice in a Community Music Curriculum

ABSTRACT This study had two objectives. Within the training programs of community musicians, we sought to investigate the relationship between community music-makers and voice habilitation practices. We also sought to understand how community music-makers learn to adapt their personal vocal practices to an undergraduate curriculum. Ten community musicians participated in this study. They were drawn from a class that was following aspects of Kristin Linklater’s voice progression framework as laid out in her book Freeing the Natural Voice. Linklater’s material was supplemented with other interventions thought to promote voice habilitation, such as laryngeal massage (Mathieson 2011) and semi-occluded vocal tract exercises. Data was collected through class observations, interviews and surveys. While the body of participants was admittedly small, we did see evidence that the vocal habilitation practices advocated by the Linklater voice progression framework seemed to support the efforts of these community musicians to express themselves more effectively. A greater sample may add dimension to these preliminary findings. More study is needed.

What processes or key components do teachers attribute to their well‐being? A cross‐cultural qualitative study of teacher well‐being in Cambodia, Kenya, and Qatar

AbstractThe study of teacher well‐being is critically important. However, teacher well‐being studies are lacking in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and also generally in low‐income countries. This exploratory case study sought to identify teachers' perceptions of work‐related characteristics and personal practices associated with well‐being and burnout in three underrepresented, diverse sites: Battambang, Cambodia; Bungoma, Kenya; and Doha, Qatar. Ninety teachers participated in in‐depth interviews (Qatar N = 21, Cambodia N = 33, Kenya N = 36), as well as 16 principals and 11 policymakers. Qualitative analysis was conducted using data‐driven, emergent codes. Findings revealed that teachers attributed remarkably similar processes and key components to their well‐being (e.g., engagement school‐wide or district‐wide, schools attending to teachers' personal needs) and burnout (e.g., administrative burden, student misbehavior) across all three sites, with a few notable differences worthy of future follow‐up. Few teachers could name any well‐being programs at their school.

Teachers’ Knowledge and Practice of Using ICT Tools in High School Science Teaching and Learning

Information and communication technology (ICT) tools are the integral part of innovative science teaching. Effective uses of ICT tools play a vital role in teaching and learning in this era. This research was done to analyze the level of expertise and practice of using ICT tools among teachers in classroom teaching. The study is based on quantitative descriptive design. Four municipalities and 16 schools were selected randomly. Fifty science teachers were selected on the basis of census sampling from Siraha district. The collected data were evaluated by utilizing statistical tools which indicates that most science teachers have inadequate access to ICT tools and have moderate knowledge and practice of handling them. All teachers used mobile phone and internet for personal purpose but ICT tools practices were poor in an integrated science classroom. The traditional lecture-based pattern of teaching, lack of ICT-specific knowledge and practice, content-based knowledge of teachers, aged teachers, inadequate ICT infrastructure and lack of ICT-friendly environment are the major barriers to the transfer of ICT teaching-learning process. The study suggested that there is the need for conducting of ICT based educational training, and preparing the teaching guidelines for regular use of ICT tools.