Postgraduate Status Research Articles

Comparison of pain, posture, physical activity and sleep quality of undergraduate and graduate students of health sciences

The aim of this study was to investigate pain, posture, levels of physical activity, and sleep quality in undergraduate and postgraduate students along with determine how educational differences affect these parameters.A cross-sectional study. This study conducted with the participation of 60 undergraduate, 58 graduate students. The Short-Form McGill pain questionnaire was used to assess pain, the New York Posture assessment for posture assessment, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to determine physical activity levels, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Scale to determine sleep quality. A total of 118 participants (mean age =24.07 years, 72.9% women) were included in the study. Posture and the low IPAQ score had significant differences between undergraduate and graduates (p<0.05), whereas pain, IPAQ total score, and sleep quality were similar (p>0.05). When the literature is briefly mentioned, there are general studies about university students, but it was not clear how the undergraduate and postgraduate status of the students affected the health related factors. Therefore, based on the results of this study, necessary evaluations and improvements should be made regarding the risk factors faced by the students, taking into account the pain, posture, physical activity levels, and sleep quality of undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Perceptions of orthodontic specialist training in the United Kingdom: a national survey of postgraduate orthodontic student opinion.

Postgraduate orthodontic education is highly challenging. There is a lack of evidence regarding orthodontic postgraduates' perceptions of their orthodontic education in the United Kingdom. In addition, no study has been conducted to compare the postgraduate orthodontic training experience between UK trainees and international postgraduates. (1) To investigate orthodontic UK trainees' and international postgraduates' perception and satisfaction of their orthodontic education. (2) To compare postgraduate orthodontic training experience between UK trainees and international postgraduates. (3) To compare orthodontic caseload between UK trainees and international postgraduates. Utilizing a descriptive, cross-sectional survey, conducted through a web-based self-administered questionnaire, the sample population consisted of all 189 orthodontic postgraduates in the United Kingdom. One hundred and twenty-five questionnaires were completed resulting in a response rate of 66.1%. All three academic years were evenly represented. Ninety five (76%) respondents rated the quality of their postgraduate orthodontic education as excellent. Over 90% of third year postgraduates felt the quality of their education was excellent. The majority of orthodontic trainees (n = 98, 78.4%) were satisfied with the number of cases. Apart from the first year postgraduates, other postgraduates regardless of UK trainee or international postgraduate status reported a high number of cases in treatment, with 45 (36%) respondents treating more patients than the recommended range of 80-120. Postgraduates' responses were less positive regarding their ability to influence the delivery of their programme, whether their programme represented value for money and the fairness of their training. Most of the respondents believed that UK trainees had an advantage in communicating with patients. The majority of orthodontic postgraduates rated the quality of their postgraduate education as excellent. Apart from first year postgraduates, other postgraduates irrespective of UK trainee or international postgraduate status reported a high number of cases in treatment. There was no difference in caseload between UK trainee and international postgraduate groups.

Problematic Drinking Among Postgraduate Students: Binge Drinking, Prepartying, and Mixing Alcohol With Energy Drinks

ABSTRACTBackground: Although problematic alcohol use has been studied extensively in undergraduate students, little is known about problematic drinking among postgraduate students. Objectives: This study examined binge drinking, prepartying, and mixing alcohol with energy drinks to determine: (1) the extent to which postgraduate students engage in these drinking behaviors, (2) how postgraduate students differ from undergraduate students in these behaviors, and (3) the demographic risk factors for these behaviors in postgraduate (and undergraduate) students. Methods: This study utilized data from n = 695 students (n = 298 postgraduate; n = 397 undergraduate) who participated in the Healthy Minds Study at a large, public university in the Midwestern US. Results: Past-two-week binge drinking, past-year and past-30-day prepartying, and past-30-day mixing alcohol with energy drinks were reported by 26.2%, 28.6%, 14.9%, and 8.1% of postgraduate students, respectively. Multivariate analyses indicated that postgraduate status was a significant negative predictor of binge drinking and prepartying, and that status interacted with age in predicting prepartying such that the effect of age on prepartying was negative for postgraduate students and nonsignificant for undergraduates. Age was a significant negative predictor of mixing alcohol with energy drinks for all students. Conclusions/Importance: This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by providing information on problematic drinking in postgraduate students. Although there was evidence of “maturing out,” a substantial number of postgraduate students were found to engage in binge drinking and prepartying, and a not insubstantial number of them were found to mix alcohol with energy drinks.

Students' Conceptions of Research. 2: An exploration of contrasting patterns of variation

This study explores variation in postgraduate students' and supervisors' conceptions of research. Based on earlier work, a Conceptions of Research Inventory (CoRI) was trialled on a mixed sample of postgraduate students and supervisors (n = 251). Exploratory factor analyses of resultant data yields a five‐dimensional empirical model, the composition of which is consistent with earlier work by the present authors. Four of these five dimensions distinguish between (variation in) conceptions of research such as “truth”, “problem‐solving”, “re‐search”, and “an insightful process”. The fifth dimension captures variation in terms of what are interpreted as “misconceptions”. The discrete conceptual dimensions suggested within the factor model are further explored via k‐means cluster analyses in terms of partitioning of the dataset, as limited by sample sizes, according to postgraduate status and supervisor designation. These analyses provide further insights into variation, across the various clusters in each case, as expressed in the profiles of cluster mean scores. Such differences as are evidenced highlight contrasting patterns of variation between, for example, experienced and novice researchers. There is also evidence of dissonance in some of the cluster solutions and it is further demonstrated via analysis of variance that dissonant cluster membership is associated with a generally lower level of self‐estimated performance. The implications of these findings are finally considered in relation to postgraduate training and supervision.

Effect of postgraduate training on the careers of University of California Pharm.D. graduates

Graduates of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) doctor of pharmacy degree program were surveyed to determine the effect of postgraduate pharmacy residency or fellowship training on the professional outcomes of these graduates. In 1982, a 39-item questionnaire was sent to 1061 UCSF School of Pharmacy alumni who had graduated in the years 1970 through 1981. The survey addressed several issues, including the graduates' general attitudes toward the profession of pharmacy, their practice patterns, and their professional activities. The response rate of the survey was 72%. Of the survey respondents, 30% had completed or were currently involved in a residency or fellowship program. Both postgraduates (PGs) and non-postgraduates (NPGs) indicated an overall satisfaction with life and the pharmacy profession as a whole. A greater fraction of PGs than NPGs worked in the hospital setting and held positions with varied job components (i.e., clinical, managerial, teaching, and operational activities). First-position salaries for both groups were the same regardless of postgraduate training status. Gender, rather than postgraduate status, was the major determinant of annual changes in salary, especially among men PGs. For managers, both men PGs and men NPGs had a greater change in mean salary per year of experience than their women counterparts. Of those graduates who did not hold management positions, men had a greater change in mean salary per year of experience than women. PGs had greater involvement in professional, educational, and publication activities than NPGs, and a smaller percentage of PGs than NPGs left the profession.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

University Training of Mathematicians

Universities have taught in England for about seven centuries, and mathematics has always been one of the subjects taught; but in the earlier centuries it was not part of the undergraduate course. This consisted of three years’ study of Latin grammar, logic, and rhetoric, forming what was called the trivium. Mathematics was part of the M.A. course, consisting of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy, forming the quadrivium; but this postgraduate status meant less than might seem, because the undergraduates had the position of schoolboys today, and became Bachelors of Arts at ages from fourteen to seventeen. The B.A.s of those days corresponded to the undergraduates of our time.