Professional School Students Research Articles

Educating and Retaining the Cancer-Focused Biomedical Workforce from Rural Appalachian Kentucky: The Impact of Experiential Learning and Scholarship Funding.

Kentucky postsecondary education levels are significantly below the national level, with lower levels in the Appalachian region of the state. Health disparities, including high cancer incidence and mortality, make educating and retaining students from the region a priority. The Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) program offers cancer-related experiential opportunities and scholarships to Appalachian students. This study examines the ACTION program and its scholarship impact on undergraduate and professional school students' decisions to attend the University of Kentucky, pursue a career in science/medicine, and pay for schooling. Thirty-three ACTION participants and alumni received scholarships through a need-based application process in academic years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. All students receiving the scholarship were asked to complete a REDCap survey. The survey evaluated both quantitative and qualitative variables, such as the impact of various factors on college decision, the influence of ACTION programs on career choice, and the effect of ACTION scholarship on financial burden. The two most influential factors affecting students' college choice are finances and experiential opportunities. Students in both the high school and undergraduate programs said their experiences significantly encouraged them to attend the University of Kentucky and pursue a career in science/medicine. Although the scholarship did not eliminate financial concerns, it lessened the burden. The ACTION program and scholarship encouraged Appalachian Kentucky students to attend the University of Kentucky and ameliorated financial concerns. This research demonstrates the program's positive impact on rural, Appalachian students and provides evidence for similar programs that may benefit underserved communities.

Relating Sleep, Stress, and Academic Performance Among a Cohort of Professional School Students

Academic achievement in health professions has been shown to be associated with internal motivation and active learning. While attendance to lectures, small group instruction, and time management have an impact; non-academic factors such as family support, sleep deprivation and stress can also affect academic success. Individuals experience physiological changes when encountering stress. Previous studies have demonstrated that high levels of stress, typically associated with increases in cortisol, can lead to detrimental effects on sleep patterns and academic performance, including impaired memory and diffculty concentrating. High levels of cortisol can have a negative impact on sleep, increasing light sleep and frequent wakings, which can in turn decrease academic performance. However, it is unclear whether physiological stress levels can affect sleep pattern and academic performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how physiological stress levels relate to sleep patterns and academic performance among a cohort of professional school students. We hypothesized that elevated stress levels lead to decreased academic performance and a rise in irregular sleep patterns. Thus, during the summer semester of 2023, a longitudinal study was conducted, involving 22 optometry school students (OPT III) enrolled in a minimum of 19 credit hours. We measured academic performance, based on the participants' semester grade point average and sleep patterns using wrist-based accelerometers (MiBand 7, Beijing, China), while cortisol levels were measured through saliva samples collected at the study's onset, midpoint, and conclusion over a 30 day period. Exclusion criteria included individuals who were pregnant, nursing, or caring for a newborn. The study protocol received IRB approval (5059-9201). Data collection and analysis were performed using Google Sheets (Mountain View, CA) and XLMiner Analysis Tookpak (Incline Village, NV). We observed that cortisol levels were initially at their lowest during the study's onset (0.218 ug/dL), and subsequently increased for the midpoint and end of the study (0.279 ug/dL and 0.241 ug/dL, respectively). However, these fluctuations did not achieve statistical significance, with p-values of 0.08 and 0.24, respectively. The subjects exhibiting increased variation in “mid-sleep waking” displayed elevated levels of cortisol (r = 0.560, p = 0.007), indicating a significant positive association between mid-sleep waking and cortisol levels. Furthermore, we observed a positive relationship between weekday deep and light sleep and academic performance (r = 0.477, p = 0.025 and r = 0.454, p = 0.034, respectively). Our findings suggest that a moderate amount of stress may enhance performance through potentially increased focus and motivation and emphasizes the potential role that deep and light sleep play in cognitive functions and memory. Furtehrmore, promoting healthy sleep habits and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule may contribute to improved academic outcomes. However, based on the potential associations between sleep patterns, cortisol levels, and academic performance, further exploration into the complex interplay between these factors is needed. NIH/NEI T35 Training Grant [T35EY032441]. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Validating a measure of motivational climate in health science courses

PurposeThe aim of the study was to examine the validity evidence for the 19-item form of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (College Student version) within health science schools in three different countries. The MUSIC Inventory includes five scales that assess the motivational climate by measuring students’ perceptions related to five separate constructs: empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring.BackgroundThe 26-item form of the MUSIC Inventory has been validated for use with undergraduate students and with students in professional schools, including students at a veterinary medicine school, a pharmacy school, and a medical school. A 19-item form of the MUSIC Inventory has also been validated for use with undergraduate students, but it has not yet been validated for use with medical school students. The purpose of this study was to provide validity evidence for the use of the 19-item form in heath science schools in three different countries to determine if this version is acceptable for use in different cultures. If validated, this shorter form of the MUSIC Inventory would provide more differentiation between the Interest and Usefulness scales and could reduce respondent fatigue.MethodologyCook et al’s [1] practical guidelines were followed to implement Kane’s [2] validity framework as a means to examine the evidence of validity through scoring inferences, generalization inferences, and extrapolation inferences. Students (n = 667) in health science schools within three countries were surveyed.ResultsThe results produced evidence to support all five hypotheses related to scoring, generalization, and extrapolation inferences.ConclusionsScores from the 19-item form of the MUSIC Inventory are valid for use in health science courses within professional schools in different countries. Therefore, the MUSIC Inventory can be used in these schools to assess students’ perceptions of the motivational climate.

Empathy, Self-esteem, and Cyberbullying in vocational high school students

Advances in technology have made internet access easier, this has changed the way humans communicate with one another in life. Along with the advancement and development of technology, teenagers are internet users who spend more time in the virtual world than the real world. However, the use of the internet is widely blamed for use by teenagers, one of the phenomena of internet abuse is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a form of harassment or humiliation through social media. Factors that influence cyberbullying are empathy and self-esteem. This study aims to determine the relationship between empathy and self-esteem with cyberbullying in vocational high school students. This research design uses quantitative, with the subject of Vocational High School students in Pringsewu as many as 90 students. The measurement tool for this study uses three scales, namely the empathy scale, the self-esteem scale, and the cyberbullying scale. The data analysis technique uses multiple regression analysis to determine the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The results of this study indicate that there is a significant relationship between empathy and self-esteem with cyberbullying in vocational high school students. That is, the higher the empathy and self-esteem, the cyberbullying behavior of low vocational high school students. On the other hand, the lower the level of empathy and self-esteem, the higher the level of cyberbullying among professional vocational high school students.

Driving social belonging and content retention by using the Flipgrid video discussion app.

Abstract Even strong students struggle with the level of detail and interconnectedness required to master immunology. We incorporated Flipgrid assignments to leverage social and emotional learning and cognitive science to enhance students’ engagement with and understanding of content in an undergraduate-level immunology course. The tool is appropriate for elementary through professional school students. Flipgrip is a simple, video recording app used via a cell phone or computer. It can be integrated with most learning management systems. Students created short videos of themselves explaining learning objectives they selected. The videos were evaluated by the educator, updated if needed and shared with the class as tools for review. Peer-evaluation is possible, too. This feedback can be provided quickly in the app. Through such activities, students increase their sense of social connectedness and belonging which research has shown enhances 1) intrinsic motivation and course engagement, 2) safety in the learning community so students ask peers and educators for support, and 3) overall academic success and retention. The benefits of belonging are especially beneficial for students from historically excluded and underrepresented groups. The approach allows students to become experts in a concept and contribute to discussions in ways they might not feel comfortable doing during class sessions. The videos provide opportunities to see and celebrate diversity among the class in a variety of ways. The creativity students bring to the videos help generate recall clues that allow students to retain information more effectively. Similarly, the collection of videos allows students to use distributive recall to self-assess and solidify content. Supported by No funding support

Opioid abuse risk among student pharmacists.

To benchmark opioid abuse risk among student pharmacists attending three northeast pharmacy schools utilizing the opioid risk tool (ORT). A cross-sectional, anonymous risk assessment questionnaire. Three pharmacy schools in the northeast United States. Professional year 1 (P1) through professional year 3 (P3) student pharmacists. ORT was collected and scored by investigators and inputted into an electronic format for analysis. Students voluntarily participated, and 812 surveys were completed during one course meeting time and day at each school. The majority of students were in the low-risk category (n = 581, 71.6 percent). Additionally, 137 (16.9 percent) patients were categorized as moderate risk and 94 (11.6 percent) as high risk. No statistically significant differences existed when comparing risk groups across the first through third professional year student pharmacist cohorts. There were no statistically significant differences in the proportion of risk groups among the three pharmacy cohorts between low-risk versus the high-risk groups. When comparing risk groups by gender, males were found to have a statistically significant higher proportion of being classified as moderate or high risk. The results of this study demonstrate that there may be some student pharmacists with an increased risk for opioid abuse potential. There is potential need for education regarding opioid risk awareness and abuse prevention, which may serve as a call to action for professional school students and practitioners to understand baseline opioid abuse risk if they require chronic pain therapy.

Pedagogical conditions for the development of students’ polylingual competence of the professional high school

The article raises the question of the importance of reforming education in Ukraine, taking into account the peculiarities of the modern educational environment. The requirements to the modern educational space are generalized. The meaning of the term “pedagogical conditions” is clarified and the own definition of pedagogical conditions of the learning process is offered. The unity of the educational space, which consists of the environment, pedagogical conditions and personality, is established. The requirements to the modern educational space are generalized. External and internal factors, organizational and pedagogical, psychological and pedagogical factors influencing the learning conditions are singled out. The pedagogical conditions of multilingual didactics are researched and characterized: development and implementation of educational programs in foreign language teaching for profile school, taking into account individual request of students with orientation on the profile of education, formation of active and student’s own language position, use of methods aimed at development of polylingual competence, expedient use of modern information technologies. The article substantiates the priority of creating appropriate pedagogical conditions for the development of polylingual competence of students of professional schools in the modern educational environment.

Educating “Helping” Professional Students to “Help” Trans People Navigate Their Health Care Needs: A Review of Recent Literature

ABSTRACT In the 2015 United States Trans Survey, trans people overwhelmingly indicated that training health-care providers about trans health is an urgent policy priority within the US. This literature review examines the types of educational training interventions health professional schools have developed from 2015–2020 focused on trans health. This review revealed that the fields of medicine and interprofessional education have created the majority of interventions, which tend to increase students’ knowledge, comfort, and confidence working with trans patients. Schools of counseling, social work, and public health are not adequately developing curriculum and interventions that prepare students in health professional schools to work with trans people. Recommendations include schools of medicine developing more faculty expertise in trans medicine, professional organizations requiring trans content on licensure exams, state licensure boards requiring continuing education in trans health, and health professional schools increasing the use of trans standardized patients and trans panels.

COVID-19 affected “face to face” interaction with the professors. Lessons learned from traditional learning.

Abstract Many university programs have implemented/utilized online teaching platforms for various reasons over the last decade. This has allowed for both students and professors to track progress in the course, as well as providing a method to submit assignments over the traditional paper submission. These are just a few of the reasons that online platforms have gained popularity, though many have been caught off-guard by the sudden full transition from traditional/hybrid learning to online learning. Through the use of surveys, we have aimed to study the effects, both positive and negative, that this transition to online learning has had on university students. Our group has pooled our questions into a larger set of survey questions that have been broken into smaller surveys, so that we can encourage a response rate that allows us to maximize our results without having students lose interest in answering all of our questions. In this current research, we have focused on the major loss in the current pandemic induced learning. Our preliminary data suggests that one of the major things that students feel is that they miss face to face interactions with their professors. Since we looked at a cohort of professional pharmacy school students where experiential education is one of the major aspects of training future pharmacists. The students believe that the practical aspect of learning needs supervision, oversight, mentoring, and physical presence of teachers. Most of the students feel that no matter how realistic the internet world of learning seems, it can not compensate the training and practice required in a professional school of pharmacy. We conclude that nothing can compensate or simulate the loss of profound student-teacher interaction.

The Face of Social Networks: Naive Observers’ Accurate Assessment of Others’ Social Network Positions From Faces

We examined whether, even at zero acquaintance, observers accurately infer others’ social network positions—specifically, the number and patterning of social ties (e.g., brokerage—the extent to which a person bridges disconnected people) and the trait impressions that support this accuracy. We paired social network data (n = 272 professional school students), with naive observers’ (n = 301 undergraduates) judgments of facial images of each person within the network. Results revealed that observers’ judgments of targets’ number of friends were predicted by the actual number of people who considered the target a friend (in-degree centrality) and that perceived brokerage was significantly predicted by targets’ actual brokerage. Lens models revealed that targets’ perceived attractiveness, dominance, warmth, competence, and trustworthiness supported this accuracy, with attractiveness and warmth most associated with perceptions of popularity and brokerage. Overall, we demonstrate accuracy in naive observers’ judgments of social network position and the trait impressions supporting these inferences.

Perceived stress and sleep quality among master’s students in social work

ABSTRACT Poor sleep quality is prevalent in professional graduate school students due to academic- and work-related stress. In addition, it has been found that high levels of perceived stress, including lifetime traumatic stress, are significantly associated with poor sleep quality. This study surveyed 196 MSW students from a university in the United States. The study revealed that the majority of MSW students had poor sleep quality, which was significantly associated with higher levels of perceived stress, poorer sleep habits and environments, and a greater number of experiences of lifetime traumattagdtic events. Importantly, perceived stress and lifetime experiences of traumatic events became less strongly associated with sleep quality after adding sleep habits and environment as a control variable. Findings from the study can guide social work educators to consider incorporating sleep hygiene education into self-care practice programs and offer MSW students these interventions within the MSW curriculum.

Психологические детерминанты профессионального и личностного становления студентов высшей школы

Психологические детерминанты профессионального и личностного становления студентов высшей школы

Грешке које ученици завршних разреда основне и средње стручне школе праве на енглеском језику

The paper aims to detect, classify, and investigate the most common errors that Serbian native students make in the course of learning English as a second language. It focuses on the final year primary school students (grades 7 and 8) and secondary professional school students, both of the public sector. The corpus was collected and extracted from the students’ writings and divided into three types of errors – lexical-pragmatic (33%), morphological-spelling (27%), and syntactic (40%) errors. Each group is represented by a series of examples. Beside the identification of the key errors among the pre-intermediate to intermediate students and tracing the origin of the errors, the research attempts to bring to light the matter of interference and implications of the existing mother tongue habits with the English language (interlingual transfer). Another source of errors was traced to be due to a misuse, and/or partial or faulty learning of a particular language rule of the target language (intralingual transfer). It also shows why the language errors need to be seen as a positive input – a helping tool to highlight and improve students’ average formal and informal needs for communication in English.

Do teenagers know how to use connectives from the written mode?

Connectives are complex lexical items for children, who do not even master connectives used frequently in speech until the end of their primary school years. In this paper, we assess the ability of two groups of 16-year-olds from two different academic levels (i.e., high school vs. professional school students), as well as a group of university students, to use four French connectives bound to the written mode in a constrained production task. These connectives were chosen to assess three potential sources of difficulties: the cognitive complexity of the encoded discourse relation, the connectives’ frequency in corpus data, and their mono- or polyfunctional nature. Our results indicate that teenagers have a lower ability to use these connectives compared to university students, and frequency appears to be the best-suited factor to account for their difficulties. In addition, the teenage group with a higher academic level reached better accuracy with the two more frequent connectives tested. Taken together, our results indicate that teenagers do not yet have mastery over the wide array of connectives from the written mode in their native language, particularly those that are less frequent in corpus data. These connectives are especially problematic for teenagers with a lower academic background.

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS ON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PROFESSIONAL SELF-DETERMINATION

The article presents the theoretical analysis and the empirical research on professional high school students’ self-determination as a final link in the chain of life events that determined or annulled formation of their professional identity. The social and professional self-determination of high school students is inextricably linked with acquired life experience, which forms the horizons and determines plans for the future, and their ambivalent social status forms such a professional life perspective, which depends not on their knowledge, skills and talents, but rather on their attitudes to professions and their basic value orientations. A person’s psychological age on the scale of his/her life path received a deep theoretical and empirical substantiation in the works of K. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, L. Antsiferova, N. Loginova, I. Kon, V. Roments, T. Titarenko, F. Vasilyuk. For experimental studies of the life path, several techniques were created: the psychobiographical method of Z. Freud, the casual-metering of E. Golovakhi and A. Kronik, the psychological autobiography of E. Korzhova, the potential of individual being of I. Manoha. Today, there are many methods to study psychological time on the life path scale. The main problem of these techniques is the lack of a clear data processing algorithm to obtain “visual” results. We consider that the casual-metering is free of this problem: it demands unambiguous answers “yes” or “no”, the results are recorded in the causative matrix and graphically presented in the causogram. It should be noted that high school students’ professional self-determination has not been investigated by this method, and conflicts and transformations concerning decisions on professional choices have not been described. In order to study the influence of socio-psychological factors on transformations of high school students’ professional self-determination, the article describes the full range of social-psychological factors and their causal relationship. Eight areas were identified that affect high school students’ professional choices (socio-political climate, economic status, stereotypes, fashion, inheritance, self-awareness, abilities and talents, values), and the interaction of these areas are analyzed. Socio-psychological factors are considered from the point of view of professional choice reflection in high school students’ consciousness. The analyzed results allows us to conclude that one and the same factor can be destructive, reflective, or affirmative, depending on the causal relations that are characteristic for situations of high school students’ professional choices. Economic reasons and the influence of stereotypes significantly influence on high school students’ refusal from their own professional orientations. Inheritance is one of the most controversial factors in transformations of decisions regarding high school students’ professional definition choices, as it can be a reflective factor when it is a consequence of an inner Self expression, or a destructive factor in the context of a socio-political or economic situation. Thus, we consider it is necessary to study the problem of professional choosing by the casual-metering method of life events, since this approach can reveal the multilayered and interconnected nature of the factors and obtain detailed results for recommendations given to psychologists and career counselors

The long-term impact of an eating disorder prevention program for professional ballet school students: A 15-year follow-up study

ABSTRACTEating disorder prevention programs have been assessed up to 3 years post-implementation; however, their impact on long-term resilience is unclear. The current study assessed disordered eating and body dissatisfaction in 116 dancers from a professional ballet school 15 or more years following their participation in an effective selective prevention program. Dancers who attended the ballet school during and following the program endorsed fewer thoughts and behaviours associated with bulimia, had lower lifetime prevalence of laxative use, and showed a trend toward lower lifetime rates of vomiting to control weight than those who attended the ballet school prior to the intervention. See also https://doi.org/10.1080/10640266.2017.1368866

The Development of Motivation towards Physical Training and Sports in Students of Professional Schools

From practice it is known that highly productive labour is in most cases protected not only by the existence of an interest in working for their profession, but in the adaptability of his body to perform motor operations associated with its production activities. As indicated by research students usually lost before any kind of motor activity, if it causes a physical fatigue. The realities of the economy indicate the need for the establishment and expansion of labour market, where there is a large demand for skilled workers in the manufacturing sectors of many industries. On this basis, a significant portion of our youth is aware of this fact and endeavour to obtain such a profession for which there is the greatest demand for production, linking their future with the hope of a paying job, and with it, with its stable and worthy future life. With this in vocational and technical institutions are in the process of physical education at Ministry of education of Ukraine approved the pgram, which is aimed at strengthening of health of schoolchildren, prevention of occupational diseases, integrated development of physical qualities, motor abilities and skills. But this program does not include teaching methods, which affects the formation of the motivational abilities of students of vocational and technical institutions, and the development of physical qualities, motor abilities and skills that are an integral component in their future professional activities of a skilled worker. Since an increased level of physical qualities is an integral component in some of the production occupations in such industries: construction, metallurgical industry, oil industry, food industry, agriculture, engineering, mining and other sectors of the economy.

A Gram Stain Hands-On Workshop Enhances First Year Medical Students' Technique Competency in Comprehension and Memorization.

BackgroundLaboratory diagnostic tests have an essential role in patient care, and the increasing number of medical and health professions schools focusing on teaching laboratory medicine to pre-clinical students reflects this importance. However, data validating the pedagogical methods that best influence students’ comprehension and interpretation of diagnostic tests have not been well described. The Gram stain is a simple yet significant and frequently used diagnostic test in the clinical setting that helps classify bacteria into two major groups, Gram positive and negative, based on their cell wall structure.Methods and FindingsWe used this technique to assess which educational strategies may improve students’ learning and competency in medical diagnostic techniques. Hence, in this randomized controlled study, we compared the effectiveness of several educational strategies (e.g. workshop, discussion, or lecture) in first year medical students’ competency in comprehension and interpretation of the Gram stain procedure. We demonstrated that a hands-on practical workshop significantly enhances students’ competency in memorization and overall comprehension of the technique. Interestingly, most students irrespective of their cohort showed difficulty in answering Gram stain-related analytical questions, suggesting that more emphasis should be allocated by the instructors to clearly explain the interpretation of the diagnostic test results to students in medical and health professional schools.ConclusionThis proof of principle study highlights the need of practical experiences on laboratory medical techniques during pre-clinical training to facilitate future medical doctors’ and healthcare professionals’ basic understanding and competency in diagnostic testing for better patient care.

의학전문대학원 학생들의 HIV/AIDS 관련 지식 및 태도

This study was done to identify the levels of knowledge and attitude toward HIV/AIDS in professional graduate medical school students. A cross-sectional survey was used, and data were collected in 2014. Participants were 97 students in South Korea. Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 19.0 program. The mean score for HIV/AIDS knowledge was 8.91 and attitude was 7.00 out of 15. The levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitude were not statistically significantly different according to participants' general characteristics. There was a statistically significant correlation between the levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitude. Medical students having a high HIV/AIDS knowledge level tended more towards a positive attitude. These findings can be used in developing effective education strategies for medical students and health care providers to increase knowledge and decrease negative attitude toward HIV/AIDS.

Professional self-determination senior pupils from migrant families

Actual problem is considered professional self high school students from migrant families. Research has shown that most students in this group are not ready to build and implement professional self, poorly represent the content of vocational training in their future careers. A special role in the solution of this problem is the pedagogical collectives of educational institutions.