Provision Of Skills Research Articles

Health services management and research at Nordic School of Public Health.

In Anglo-Saxon countries the subject of health services research has long been an important academic theme. In the Nordic countries, however, this research and training area has been limited and partly hidden by integration into various other sections at universities and colleges. In this respect the Nordic School of Public Health was an exception, as the provision of managerial skills to healthcare professionals and persons working with public health was the backbone of the school during all 60 years. A variety of research in health services management, as well as publications of text books, accompanied the presented courses. Several of the scholars have earned important positions in international networks and editorial boards, as well as in boards for assessments of research grants. In the near future, this academic field will require alternative support.

Evaluating the self-expressed unmet needs of emancipated foster youth over time

This study explores the self-reported unmet need for independent living services of young people making the transition to adulthood from foster care after the creation of the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program. We find that 34.5% of youth indicated that they had an independent living service need that went unmet at age 17, 27.9% at age 21 and 35.5% at age 23, with the largest percentage indicating they lacked preparation in the area of finance. Some of these youth expressed unmet need consistently while others' expression of unmet need fluctuated over time. Youth who indicated that they had mental health issues were significantly more likely to report unmet need at baseline and wave 3. Youth who indicated that they received more social support and independent living services were less likely to report unmet need at baseline and wave 3. These youth perspectives could lead to the enhancement of existing independent living skill provision as states prepare to extend the age of foster care benefits, ultimately making them more timely and effective.

A patient centered electronic health: eHealth system development.

Medical practice and patient-doctor relationship will continue improving while technology is integrated in our everyday life. In recent years the term eHealth landmarked a new era with improved health provider's skills and knowledge, and increased patient participation in medical care activities. To show why the design and implementation of a healthcare system needs to follow a specific philosophy dictated by the level of eHealth maturity of a country and its citizens. Based on the maturity level, an adaptable framework for implementing an Electronic Health System at national level is derived, guided by the Patient Centered Philosophy as defined and introduced by the EU directives. Implementation prerequisites are analyzed together with guiding principles for identifying the maturity level of an organization or country. Cyprus being a small EU country, it can be used as pilot site for the whole Europe, was chosen for this study and its maturity level analysis is presented. Recommendations that determine general steps needed to prepare the ground for an adequate patient-centered national healthcare system are accompanied. The implementation of an integrated Electronic Health Record at National level, as a prerequisite for a patient-centered eHealth environment is evidently demonstrated.

Teaching Professionalism and the Feminisation Debate in Pakistan

This study focuses on teaching professionalism with special reference to its feminisation debate. Professionalism and professional development of teachers is an important discussion to unpack perspectives as to its definition in order to understand the entry points of professionalism and its feminisation arguments. Furthermore this research contains a discussion and analysis regarding the factors that influenced in shaping of teaching profession and professional development in Pakistan and the theories behind the present concept of feminisation of teaching professionals in social set-up. There are many hypothesis involved in the creation of teaching professionalism in Pakistan however for the purpose of this study only historical, political, religious and socio-cultural factors of teaching professionalism are evaluated. The study concludes that the British colonised education moulded the professional development of teachers towards English education, religion and socio-culture forces played a pivotal role in its feminisation context while it is the most respectable and desirable profession for women nevertheless last choice for merit-worthy capable people due to lack of standards and credibility of educational provision and low-level of training skills; uneven practices of recruitment and promotions and low salaries packages.

Eros and inquiry: the Feldenkrais Method® as a complex resource

This essay discusses the Feldenkrais Method® as a critical resource within performer training. The essay draws on performance research undertaken between 2004 and 2012 and on pedagogical practice within international dance and actor training contexts. It examines the development of Feldenkrais-informed performance pedagogies as means to facilitate conditions for embodied self-care, collaborative creative inquiry, and an embodied criticality through movement. There is a trend towards democratisation and collaborative practice in Western contemporary performance ecologies and training, calling for autonomous learners and reflective practitioners with a highly developed sense of agency, empathy and psycho-physical flexibility. The essay proposes that informing performer training through Feldenkrais processes and value systems can offer timely educational models that transcend notions of reductionist, discipline-oriented skills provision, by offering embodied modes of artistic questioning and aesthetic inquiry. It argues that the Feldenkrais Method (FM) offers emancipatory, empathy-forming, and agency-constituting processes which can support an open-ended and rigorous approach to performer training. By drawing on trans-disciplinary critical theory frameworks the article suggests that FM, as a bio-psycho-social practice, fosters improved mobility, creative inquiry skills and complex thought through inter-subjective de-conditioning processes. It argues that the Feldenkrais Method offers a pedagogical foundation for the vitalising and integration of the learners’ sexually potent self into training and performance processes.

한국 사회복지 행정교육의 발전방향 : 사회복지 기관관리자 양성을 중심으로

이 연구의 목적은 서비스 제공환경의 변화에 따른 사회복지 행정교육 강화의 필요성과 발전방향을 제안하는 것이다. 기관평가, 성과관리 등 서비스 제공의 효과성과 책임성을 강조하는 상황에서 기관관리자의 역할이 중요시되고 있다. 이 연구에서는 한국사회복지사협회에서 2,479명의 사회복지사를 대상으로 수행한 '한국사회복지사 기초실태 및 인식조사' 결과를 이용하여, 사회복지사가 일상적으로 어떠한 직무를 수행하는지를 분석하였다. 직무분석결과, 사회복지기관에서 행정 및 관리업무는 전체 업무 중의 40%로 가장 많은 비중을 차지하였다. 사회복지사는 지역사회조직, 인적자원관리, 기획 및 재정관리 등의 기관운영 업무의 중요도와 난이도가 상대적으로 높은 것으로 인식하고 있다. 그러나 사회복지학 교육과정에서 기관관리에 대한 체계적인 교육은 매우 부족한 실정이다. 또한 사회복지사는 관리자로서 대부분의 생애경력을 쌓아 나갈 것이다. 따라서 사회복지행정교육의 목표는 실천가에 대한 지원활동을 넘어서, 관리자로서 기관관리 지식과 기술을 익히는 것으로 재정립되어야 한다. 기관관리자로서 조직환경과 조직내부 운영에 대한 폭넓은 안목을 기르고, 기관관리의 다양한 영역에 대한 전문성을 증진시킬 수 있는 교육이 이루어져야 한다. 이 연구에서는 학부교육, 전문대학원교육, 실습교육 등 각종 교육과정에서 발전방향을 제안하였다. 【The purpose of this study is to identify increasing needs for training students as managers in social service agencies and to suggest ways to develop the education of social welfare administration. Agency evaluations and performance management has increased demands for effectiveness and accountability of social service agencies, which also has increased the roles of managers in social service agencies. Using 'Korean Social Worker Survey' conducted by Korean Association of Social Workers, this study examines job characteristics of 2,479 social workers. The results show that administration/management activities take about 40% of social workers' daily activities. Community organization, human resource management, and planning/financial management are regarded as more important and difficult than other tasks. However, sufficient education for preparing students as social service managers is not provided in undergraduate and graduate level of college education. In addition, social workers make their life long careers as managers. Thus, the education of social welfare administration needs to refocus on the provision of knowledge and skills required for competent social service managers. This study suggests future directions for developing education of social welfare administration in undergraduate and graduate level of college education including field practice.】

Accreditation and quality assurance in the Egyptian higher education system

Purpose – This study aims to analyze the quality of the Egyptian accreditation system. With a view on the high competition in the domestic labor market as well as with regards to the international competitiveness of Egyptian graduates and the potential role of Egyptian universities in the international market for higher education, a high quality of study programmes and the provision of skills which meet the employers’ needs is a pressing issue for policymakers in Egypt, in particular in the light of the recent and ongoing transformation process. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a triangulation of document analysis and semi-structured interviews, the authors analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the system of accreditation as well as current measures to improve quality in higher education and provide policy implications for further action undertaken by Egyptian policymakers to improve the accreditation system. Findings – First, the authors provide a sound overview of the newly established accreditation system in Egypt and analyze the role of the National Authority of Educational Quality Assurance and Accreditation within this process. Second, the paper addresses the structural shortcomings as well as implementation problems of the current accreditation system which limit the capacity of the national accreditation agency to provide accreditation for all institutions of higher education in Egypt and to ensure the overall quality of higher education. The role of peer reviewers is of pivotal importance in this context. A specific problem which has not been analyzed so far is the role of religious institutions, the so-called Al-Azhar institutions, in the accreditation process, and the consequences this will have for further developments in accreditation. Practical implications – The paper concludes with providing policy implications at the backdrop of the ongoing political transformation process in Egypt. Originality/value – The paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Egyptian accreditation system and contributes to the understanding of the pivotal role of peer reviewers in this process. Also, for the first time, the challenges regarding accreditation of Al-Azhar institutions are targeted.

Evaluation of the student adaptation programme in respect to study quality

Successful adaptation of the newly admitted students in a higher school is treated as one of the prerequisites for further high–quality studies. Within this context, the question arises, which further study quality problems reveals the first-year student adaptation programme, and what are its improvement possibilities. The paper aims to present recommendations or improvement of adaptation programme by presenting and comparing student assessment results of the adaptation programme events; revealing advantages and disadvantages of the institutional and the academic adjustment. In autumn, 2014, a survey of 404 first-year students was conducted at Aleksandras Stulginskis University. The institutional adaptation was evaluated more positively than the academic: more students took part in meetings with the University and faculties representatives than in educational sessions; their positive approach towards the introductory week events was related to the subcategories of the institutional adaptation. The advantages of the introductory week were associated with the institutional adaptation, while the disadvantages with the academic adaptation. However, the academic adjustment is critical: it may lead to further student satisfaction or dissatisfaction with academic life. The recommendations are related to the organizational aspects of the adaptation programme as well as to lecturers professional development (communication, evaluation, provision of feedback skills, better knowledge of student issues).

Addressing the Market Research Skills Gap

This Viewpoint focuses on the debate in market research around the gap between academia and practitioners. It argues that the debate misses the key role that universities play in the provision of market research skills and that it is this skills gap that needs to be addressed in order to ensure the future of research as a profession.

Homosexuality-related stigma and sexual risk behaviors among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam.

This article examined the associations between three forms of homosexuality-related stigma (enacted, perceived, and internalized homosexual stigmas) with risky sexual behaviors, and to describe the mechanisms of these associations, among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Hanoi, Vietnam. We used respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to recruit 451 MSM into a cross-sectional study conducted from August 2010 to January 2011. Data were adjusted for recruitment patterns due to the RDS approach; logistic regression and path analyses were performed. Participants were young and single; most had attended at least some college. Nine out of ten participants engaged in sexual behaviors at moderate to high risk levels. Compared to those who had no enacted homosexual stigma, men having low and high levels of enacted homosexual stigma, respectively, were 2.23 times (95% CI 1.35-3.69) and 2.20 times (95% CI 1.04-4.76) more likely to engage in high levels of sexual risk behaviors. In addition, there was an indirect effect of perceived homosexual stigma and internalized homosexual stigma on sexual risk behaviors through depression and drug and alcohol use. Our study provides valuable information to our understanding of homosexual stigma in Vietnam, highlighting the need for provision of coping skills against stigma to the gay community and addressing drinking and drug use among MSM, to improve the current HIV prevention interventions in Vietnam.

The relationship between basic skills and operational effectiveness in the British army

This paper draws on data that formed part of a major three-year longitudinal study (2008–2011), which set out to investigate basic skills (BS) provision and needs in the British army and its relationship to operational effectiveness. Using mixed methods, the findings draw on qualitative data from 60 semi-structured interviews with 26 young recruits and interviews and survey data with 1518 recruits, with an average age of 19.6 years. The research also uses testimony from their line managers and trainers. The first part of the paper looks at educational BS provision that the army provides. While the benefits of this provision are discussed, there is a debate about the extent to which BS programmes provide recruits with qualifications rather than enduring and transferable skills, which would make them more operationally effective and useful to the army organisation. The second part deconstructs the concept of what is meant by being ‘operationally effective’ and the role BS play in reaching this ultimate military objective.

The centre for professional development, the national university-Sudan: Evaluating the achievements

Background: The National University-Sudan is a private university, in Sudan that has been established in 2005. It consists of eight colleges: Medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, medical laboratories, physiotherapy, and administrative sciences. The Centre for Professional Development (CPD) was established in 2010. The aim was to provide and organize training for academic, administrative, and information technology staff. The plan was to have a basic phase focusing on the provision of basic concepts and skills. With the basic phase coming to an end, this paper is a review of both the achievements of the center and the setbacks, in the period between 2011 and 2013. Methodology: Data were collected from the needs assessment forms, meetings, activity evaluation forms filled by participants by the end of each activity, attendance sheets, the annual CPD reports, and discussion with different faculty members. The collected data were analyzed using Excel program. Results: On comparing the faculty attendance per college in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, a decline in the attendance was found in radiography (from 59.09% to 28.48%) and in medicine (from 28.52% to 15.8%). On the other hand, the faculty attendance from dentistry rose from 20.91% to 33.3%. The same trend was found in pharmacology with a rise from 21.43% to 36.67%. In nursing and physiotherapy, there was an increase in the percentage of trained staff to 6.75% and 1.25%, respectively. In both years, participation from the faculty of administrative sciences was weak. Conclusion: There was an increase in the total percentage of faculty members attending from 2011 to 2013. Yet, the details of academic staff attendance show a lot of variation between the 2 years with some faculties attending more activities while others have a declining attendance. While the use of attendance records was useful in reflecting the response of the academic staff to the CPD activities, it did not reflect the actual role played by the CPD as an advisory body to individual faculties or staff members.

Student Test Performance and National Economies: Examining a Neoliberal Conjecture

PISA results make national decision makers very nervous and for good reason: There is the perceived assumption that student performance on the PISA and other international exams are tied directly to a nation's future economic status. Essentially, the notion is that the greater the students’ test scores, the more secure a nation's economic future. But such concerns ignore the three main functions of educational systems: the socialization of youth so that they understand their culture, nation's history, and normative culture; the political socialization of youth so that they become competent citizens; and the provision of skills to youth so that they can participate in the labor market. So there is reason to infer that education is tied to the economy. There are two conjectures being made here: The first is that student performance is related to a nation's economy. That is, the better the economy, the better the student performances. A second conjecture is that student performance will lead to better economies or greater economic growth. The first conjecture seems to view education as being endogenous to economic growth or at least associated with it. The second conjecture, however, views education as being exogenous to economic growth, and it measures the change in economic growth over time to some given level of education among a cohort. In my analysis, I find that education is not related to economic growth after other structural factors are taken into account.

In Their Own Words: Mental Health and Quality of Life of West African Refugees in Nigeria

Refugees are exposed to extreme stressors and are therefore at risk of mental health and social problems. Other issues refugees have to cope with include the loss of their country, culture, language, profession, family, friends, and future plans. Much of the studies that have been done on refugee mental health have not attempted to explain what these experiences mean to these individuals. Thus, this study provides explorative data on the mental health and quality of life of West African refugees living in Nigeria in order to understand their views and perspectives. This study carried out in 2010 employed qualitative methods; a total of four focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among adult male and female refugees purposively selected at the Oru Refugee Camp, Ogun State, Nigeria. Respondents described quality of life as a major determinant of mental health status. Most of the participants believed that women were more predisposed to mental ill health due to their sensitive emotional make-up. Factors identified by respondents as affecting mental health and quality of life among refugees included poverty, unemployment, physical health, housing and environment, discrimination, stigmatization, and insecurity. Refugees rated their mental health and quality of life as poor due to the aforementioned factors. Recommendations were made to the international community, national and local governments to invest more on education, provision of vocational and entrepreneurial skills as well as adequate housing in order to improve the mental health and quality of life of refugees.

Strong, safe, and secure: negotiating early fathering and military service across the deployment cycle.

Military fathers of young children often endure repeated separations from their children, and these may disrupt the early parent-child relationship. Postdeployment reunification also poses challenges; disruptions that have occurred must often be repaired in the context of heightened emotions on the part of each family member at a time when fathers are themselves readjusting to the routines and responsibilities of family life. The current study employed qualitative research with the central aim of informing a richer understanding of these experiences. Interviews were conducted with 14 military fathers of young children who had experienced separation from their families during deployment. Narratives were coded using principles of grounded theory, and common parenting themes were extracted. Fathers shared their hopes that their young children would develop qualities of strength, confidence, and self-sufficiency. They also discussed difficulty in supporting the development of these qualities in their young children due to problems dealing with the negative emotions and difficult behaviors that their children exhibited. Reliance on their parenting partner was commonly cited as an effective strategy as fathers transitioned back to family life. Implications for intervention programs include the provision of parenting and self-care skills and inclusion of the father's parenting partner in the intervention.

Effects of behavioral intervention content on HIV prevention outcomes: a meta-review of meta-analyses.

Numerous meta-analyses have examined the success of trials of interventions to reduce the behavioral risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV. Yet, to date, meta-reviews have not systematically examined which type of intervention content is more likely to lead to successful HIV outcomes. The current study addresses this gap. Published meta-analyses on HIV prevention (k = 56) were retrieved, then coded, and analyzed in terms of the intervention content. Past meta-analyses have examined relatively few dimensions of intervention content. Larger meta-analyses were more likely to find that information content dimensions, especially skill provision and motivational enhancement, relate to risk reduction. Fully incorporating behavior change technique (BCT) taxonomies into both intervention research and systematic reviews of this research offers considerable potential. It can improve the precision of conclusions about which specific types of content best promote HIV prevention behaviors and help to lower the cost of interventions. International efforts to improve reporting standards and generate the scholarly expertise necessary to discern BCTs reliably and validly help to address some of the challenges to including BCTs in study reports. Contextualizing research on effective strategies for HIV prevention by reporting and including in analyses community, social, and sample factors is also recommended. Together, such efforts can help refocus the field of HIV prevention on improved research strategies to further improve future interventions by discerning the content design factors related to success for particular populations, rather than merely to assess whether interventions have been successful.

A Philosophical Reflection on Health and Physical Education

Living life to its fullest calls for paying close attention to our health and well-being. It was on the basis of this that Plato placed emphasis on gymnasium in an attempt to produce the philosopher king. Also, throughout our lives, we tend to depend so much on the skills and knowledge of physical educators and health professionals to assist us make better decisions about nutrition, exercise, preventive health practices and lifetime activity. All these are vital elements and components of a healthy living or lifestyle. Physical, safety and health education are keys to the overall educational experience of professionals who strive for excellence in life. A well designed physical safety and health education programme is supposed to surpass the boundaries of the gymnasium, classroom and playing fields through the provision of essential life skills and environment where all learners (students) are encouraged to feel safe and strive to achieve their various life ambitions. It serves as a catalyst for the actualization of sustainable lifestyle. Physical and health education should aim at developing individuals that can contribute positively to self, family and community. This philosophy should apply comprehensively to health and physical education that include mental health, substance abuse prevention (such as tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, Human Growth and Development, physical Diseases and Disorders(prevention and treatment), Nutrition and physical fitness, first aid and safety, human body systems, consumer education and personal health. So, health and physical education person are critical thinkers and problem solvers responsible and productive citizens, self directed learners and effective communicators that let others see the value of what it is to be sound both in body and in mind. This paper therefore seeks to discover the contents of the value of physical and health education. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p592

Embedding enterprise education: A service based transferable skills framework

Enterprise and entrepreneurship education, according to government reports, should be embedded within Higher Education (HE) however, although many HEI's are experienced in programme led initiatives, they have less knowledge of cross-school and campus wide provision. This paper argues that an alternative approach, based upon embedding transferable skills into the curriculum, produces more consistent and sustainable results than policy led enterprise programme initiatives, especially when informed by a systematic and integrated transferable skills framework.This paper analyses the provision and nature of the transferable skills associated with four, highly successful, enterprise programmes. Using content analysis and a thematic coding system, existing programme documents are analysed to generate a service based framework of transferable skills that can be embedded across institutions.The findings suggest that resource sensitive initiatives are problematic with regard to maintaining sustainable learning programmes and that an embedded transferable skills approach offers greater consistency. We conclude with a framework of transferable skills informed by empirical research, designed to embed such skills across the curriculum, thus shaping the 21st century graduate.The service based framework is an institutional tool for programmes and curriculum design beyond the business school and offers an alternative approach to embedding enterprise education.

The origins of the ‘two cultures’ debate in the adult education movement: the case of the Working Men’s College (c.1854–1914)

Focusing on the Working Men’s College (WMC), this study charts the chequered fortunes of a Victorian project: providing workers with a ‘liberal education’. The paper analyses the project’s aim (making ‘better citizens’), its disciplinary content (the humanities and/or the sciences) and its challenges (the increasing prestige of vocational studies). It argues that, in an increasingly professionalised society, a ‘liberal education’ for workers became contentious ground. As the role of the sciences within a ‘liberal education’ diminished, and the provision of practical skills took precedence in the local-authority-funded courses, Victorian workers’ opportunities for education became polarised between ‘useful’ sciences and ‘profitless’ humanities. With natural scientists losing the intellectual independence of their discipline to technicians, the WMC Edwardian educators chose to side unequivocally with the humanities. The paper contends that it was in the Edwardian context of the adult education movement that the ‘two cultures’ debate first emerged in Britain.

The Effects of a Lack of Career Pathing on Job Satisfaction Among South African Teachers

Education is an important ingredient for advancement in the knowledge-based economy of the contemporary world. Teachers therefore form the vehicle for provision and dissemination of relevant knowledge, skills and values for socio-economic development. In every career professionals are assured of moving through the ranks so long as they do their work well and meet certain laid down criteria but in practice this is not the case with most school teachers in South Africa. Although the Employment of Educators Act mentions the promotion of teachers in practice it is almost non-existent. A teacher may teach and remain on post level one for the entire teaching life. The assumption is that this situation might lead to frustration and disillusion among teachers. Teachers may leave or underperform due to lack of job satisfaction. This paper is the result of an empirical investigation on job satisfaction among South African school teachers. The assumptions of the researchers were validated by an empirical study of the problem in the Dr. Ruth Mompati Education District [North West Province]. The major findings of the study include a lack of equal opportunities for all teachers, poor conditions of service, increased workload of teachers, lack of discipline among learners and increasing violence against teachers, and the apparent eroding of the authority of the teacher.