ABSTRACT Topics of sex, sexuality, and sexual health emerge in every social work practice setting, with all populations. We conducted an exploratory, qualitative study to investigate faculty experiences teaching courses centered on sex, sexuality, and sexual health in social work classrooms. We used convenience sampling and interviews were conducted remotely over Zoom. Twenty-four social work faculty participated (N = 24); most participants identified as queer (67%), white (83%) and with a PhD (75%) in social work (79%). Half identified as a tenured faculty member and 92% reported working at a public institution. Using thematic analysis, we identified three themes: challenges teaching this content, any social work educator can teach this content, and integration of this content into social work education is urgent. Preparedness and training in sex, sexuality, and sexual health is an essential social work skillset in micro to macro practice settings. This research project explores experiences of social work educators teaching sex, sexuality and sexual health, including specific challenges, encouragement of interested faculty, and an appeal to strengthen this content across social work curricula.

Purpose Enterprise social networking (ESN) represents an emerging human resource (HR) technology tool designed to enhance employee communication, knowledge sharing and collaboration within organizations. Despite its potential as a strategic HR innovation, research indicates that ESN adoption often fails due to inadequate organizational support (OS). This research explores the critical types of OS that enable ESN to become an effective HR technology platform. Grounded in social exchange theory (SET), this study examines how reciprocal exchanges between organizations and employees shape ESN success. OS is conceptualized as a strategic resource that, when provided effectively, motivates employees to reciprocate through active ESN engagement and utilization. Design/methodology/approach This study employed triangulated qualitative methods combining semi-structured interviews (n = 26) and document analysis across both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. A novel, confidential, 2-year organizational document containing 157 firsthand employee comments provided rich longitudinal insights into employees' evolving ESN experiences. Findings Key OS factors emerged as critical for ESN success: responsiveness to ESN employee inquiries, provision of meaningful feedback, recognition and rewards for ESN contributions and demonstration of tangible organizational outcomes resulting from ESN use. These support mechanisms directly influence the reciprocity process within ESN. Practical implications This research provides actionable insights for HR professionals, organizational leaders and consultants implementing or revitalizing ESN platforms. ESN cannot be treated as a “set-and-forget” technology; it requires continuous strategic HR support and management. Organizations must develop comprehensive support strategies that address employees' workplace-specific needs within ESN to maximize return on their HR technology investment. Social implications Unlike other workplace technologies, ESN is a social application that relies heavily on employees' voluntary social interactions. For example, technological studies have associated the term “user” with engagement, but the “employee” is more than just a “user.” ESN is used in the “workplace” by “employees,” which makes them more than just public users. Employees in ESN, unlike public users, have specific needs and expectations related to their workplace issues within ESN. Originality/value This research contributes theoretically by advancing SET within the ESN context, revealing how organizational support mechanisms facilitate or hinder reciprocity processes – often conceptualized as a “black box” in prior research. A key finding demonstrates that content filtration processes, which restrict user-generated content (ESN'score functionality), negatively disrupt reciprocity and employee engagement. Methodologically, the study's triangulated approach combining longitudinal and cross-sectional qualitative data, supplemented by previously untapped confidential organizational documentation, provides unprecedented depth in understanding employees' cumulative ESN experiences. These findings offer HR professionals evidence-based guidance for maximizing ESN's strategic value.

ABSTRACT Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is widely promoted as a strategy to improve healthcare quality and integration. However, IPC’s impact is difficult to evaluate due to its multidimensional, context-dependent nature. Existing approaches to IPC impact evaluation are fragmented, often favoring quantitative metrics or qualitative insights that lack comparability. Consequently, more insight is needed into how to evaluate IPC impact. We used Group Concept Mapping, a mixed-methods approach, to explore expert perspectives on IPC impact evaluation in community-based care. The findings revealed three key perspectives – added-value, methodological, and conceptual/organizational – emphasizing the need for a balanced approach combining quantitative (e.g. outcomes, cost-effectiveness) and qualitative methods (e.g. storytelling, monitoring). Experts emphasized that IPC evaluation must balance measurability with contextual flexibility to capture complexity and remain practical. Across perspectives, experts perceived a clear gap between the perceived importance of demonstrating IPC impact and the feasibility of doing so in everyday practice, highlighting structural and organizational barriers. Our findings underscore the need for structured yet adaptable IPC evaluation models that incorporate both outcome-based assessment and in-depth contextual understanding. Future researchers should focus on developing integrative frameworks that support evidence-based evaluation and accommodating the dynamic nature of IPC in practice.

ABSTRACT The teaching of history has been questioned regarding linear interpretations, hero idealization, and national identity construction through unity perspectives. This article explores history teaching during New Granada’s early republican period (now Colombia), presenting the design, implementation, and evaluation of a didactic sequence on 19th-century Colombian history using the comic book ‘The Antagonist’ to demonstrate active and critical approaches through controversial narratives. The study employed a mixed research design, combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative component correlated competences taught and assessed in students, while the qualitative component analyzed implementation activities. Results highlight the importance of providing empirical evidence on developing historical thinking, using concrete and contextualized pedagogical strategies, and employing assessment tools to visualize and monitor student learning. This approach demonstrates how graphic narratives effectively engage students with complex historical issues, promoting critical analysis of controversial topics like racism while developing historical thinking competences in secondary education.

ABSTRACT Nature can benefit learning through various mechanisms such as improved attention and mood and opportunities for physical activity. These mechanisms also support childhood health and development. Nature-based learning (NBL) is one strategy instructors can employ to harness these benefits in early childhood education. The purpose of this study was to explore parent/guardian and instructor perceptions of learning in NBL programs for young children. Following interpretive description and using interviews to engage with participants (n = 13), four themes were identified through reflexive thematic analysis. Findings indicated that NBL programs fostered a healthy foundation for learning and benefitted child mental health and social-emotional learning. Findings also suggested that NBL programs may enhance community and capacity building for children and parents, as learnings from the ‘classroom’ were brought home. The current study contributes to understandings of NBL beyond pedagogy, positioning NBL as health promoting. Recommendations have been made to support practitioners.

This paper, entitled “The Impact of Environmental Factors on National Security: Post-2003 Iraq as a Case Study,” deals with how, after 2003, environmental problems play a crucial role as non-traditional threats to Iraq's national security. The study's key goal is to evaluate how Iraq's social, economic, and public health sectors, along with national unity and stability, have been influenced by environmental factors like pollution, water scarcity, land degradation, climate change, and poor environmental governance. Further, the study employs a qualitative method and utilizes scholarly literature, official documents, and secondary sources. The Copenhagen School of securitization, by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever, and Jaap de Wilde (1998), is employed for analyzing the collected data. That is, it is used to clarify how environmental factors might be viewed as security risks that demand instant institutional and political responses. It is concluded that the environmental deprivation has amplified social strains and destabilized national cohesion by placing important expenditures on Iraq, taxing rare resources, postponing the retrieval of efforts, and depressing people's way of life. Thus, Iraq’s security weaknesses become worse by disregarding environmental elements. Hence, it sheds light on how vital it is to integrate environmental factors into national security planning and policies to obtain long-term security and sustainable stability in Iraq.

ABSTRACT This study explores the role of food practices in the intercultural adaptation of Chinese international students in the UK from the perspective of the Confucian moral reasoning. Drawing on the dual orientation of Confucian collectivism and individualism, the research investigates how food-related behaviors reflect students’ identity negotiation and social integration within a complex intercultural environment. Using a qualitative methodology, the study employs photo interviews to capture participants’ personal experiences and interpretations of their food practices during their adaptation process. Findings show that shared meals with co-nationals foster belonging and reinforce national identity, reflecting Confucian collectivist values, while engaging with diverse food cultures encourages self-reflection and identity exploration, revealing emerging individualist tendencies and a move toward cosmopolitanism. These dual patterns highlight food as both a starting point and central medium in Chinese students’ intercultural adaptation. The study offers practical implications for UK higher education institutions, suggesting that food can be a valuable tool for fostering inclusivity and supporting the cultural integration of students from Confucian backgrounds within the university environment.

Young sexual minority men (YSMM) are at elevated risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) but often underreport IPV experiences and face barriers to help-seeking due to systemic discrimination and internalized stigma. Using Consensual Qualitative Research methodology, we analyzed interviews with 26 YSMM to explore how they make sense of past IPV. Five emergent themes reflected adaptive (increased understanding of IPV, posttraumatic growth, and awareness of desensitization to violence) and maladaptive (minimization of violence and pervasive distrust) meaning-making. Abuse was often recognized only after the relationship ended (often through therapy) and shaped by earlier IPV exposure. Findings underscore the urgent need for culturally responsive IPV services that address the psychological and structural barriers YSMM of color face, including intersecting forms of marginalization that silence help-seeking and delay recovery.

The Veterans Health Administration created initiatives to enhance the monitoring of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) among Veterans in the primary care setting. There remains suboptimal communication between primary care and cancer care specialties. In-depth interviews were conducted at a VA medical center among primary care physicians, social workers, and cancer care physicians. Participants described how SDOH affect Veterans with cancer and identified strengths and weaknesses in the current communication channels between specialties. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded. Key themes were identified using inductive analysis based on the grounded theory. There were four major themes: (1) social issues disrupt treatment and lead to worse outcomes; (2) social challenges drive Veterans' attention and resources away from their treatment; (3) navigating current systems requires institutional experience to overcome barriers; (4) all members of the care team have a role in addressing SDOH. The most common SDOH affecting this population include housing instability, transportation, food insecurity, and social support. SDOH and communication between care settings were considered primary barriers to care for Veterans with cancer. The opportunity to improve the social support and care for Veterans with cancer would be enhanced by a structured and purposeful discussion to include social issues before treatment begins. The findings helped to inform the development of two interventions: creating an accessible template in the electronic medical record to summarize SDOH needs and the inclusion of primary care physicians and social workers at the initial tumor board discussion for Veterans with a new diagnosis of cancer.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are profoundly rooted in social inequalities, yet limited works have explored how intersecting identities and structural conditions jointly shape stigma and its consequences. This review combined qualitative and mixed-method studies to explore the interaction between social identities such as gender, ethnicity, caste, migration status, disability, and socioeconomic status to produce compounded stigma among affected people by NTDs, and the implications for health-seeking behaviour, social inclusion, and equity-oriented policy design. This systematic review was synthesised to explore how intersecting social identities compound stigma and influence health-seeking behaviour, social exclusion, and policy needs among people affected by NTDs. Thematic synthesis was conducted using a detailed data extraction table that captured authorship, theoretical frameworks, intersecting identities, stigma mechanisms, health-seeking trajectories, social participation, and policy recommendations across the included studies. A comprehensive search across major electronic databases, including PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Global Health, complemented by manual searches and citation tracking process, identified relevant studies. After conducting a multi-stage screening process, thirty studies met the eligibility criteria. An inductive coding was performed, followed by integration with an intersectional analytic lens to identify cross-cutting patterns. Themes were developed cyclically and summarised into four higher domains. Stigma was consistently constructed in the interplay between multiple social identities and structural constraints. This review identified distinct, intersecting barriers that defined the experience of stigma, such as gendered expectations, cultural beliefs of illness as impurity or immorality, caste and ethnic hierarchies, migration status, grade of disability, and poverty. All these combined to compound the stigma that resulted in delayed or avoided care, discriminatory provider interactions, reduced social participation, and emotional distress. Stigma related to NTDs is best understood as a product of intersecting identities embedded within broader social and structural conditions. To address its effects, it is necessary to move beyond individual-level interventions toward multisectoral, structurally informed, equity-focused strategies that engage with gender norms, poverty, discrimination, and health-system barriers. This systematic review was preregistered on the Open Science Framework (OSF) and can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KQX7U. Not applicable.

ABSTRACT The Historical Clinical Risk-20 (HCR-20) risk assessment tool has been implemented into practice worldwide; however, we lack an understanding of whether its in-practice use aligns with its intended function and how risk assessment tools are being integrated with decision-making for risk management. We aimed to investigate how the HCR-20 (Version 3) is being used in real-world practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 psychiatrists and psychologists in secure mental healthcare. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The results describe the intended and actual use of the HCR-20, the integration of the HCR-20 output with risk management and clinician’s views on the tool. Professionals believed that the HCR-20 and its guidance/standards were being fully adhered to, with variations found with the quality of delivery, multidisciplinary team involvement and the communication of risk as detailed in the HCR-20. Although the analysis identified different examples of HCR-20 use by individuals to inform clinical decision-making, active use of the HCR-20 to inform multidisciplinary team risk management strategies or case plans was absent. Participants recognised in-principle benefits of using a structured approach to assess risk and inform risk management clinical decision-making, however they also described in-practice impediments to those benefits being fully realised.

Introduction: While short-term medical missions (STMMs) are widely used to deliver humanitarian healthcare in low- and middle-income countries, existing research has largely focused on one-off interventions and has highlighted ongoing concerns related to sustainability, continuity of care, ethical practice, and local capacity building. The emerging model of recurring, regular STMMs remains underexplored. This study investigates the perceived impact, challenges, and systemic contributions of such missions through a qualitative case study of Mission of Hope in Uganda. Materials and Methods: We employed a qualitative case study approach, combining semi-structured interviews with international medical volunteers (n = 6) and a focus group discussion with local partners (n = 10). The study adhered to EQUATOR guidelines for qualitative research, ensuring rigorous data collection and analysis. Results: Six themes and 21 subthemes were identified. Key barriers included financial constraints, infrastructural limitations, volunteer turnover, and resistance to new technologies. Participants reported perceived benefits including improvements in quality of care, local capacity building, and strengthened cross-cultural relationships. The role of trust, continuity, and humility in long-term effectiveness was emphasized. Ethical concerns related to patient autonomy, data privacy, and sustainability were also noted. Conclusions: Regular STMMs were perceived by participants to offer advantages over traditional one-off missions by enabling iterative learning, deeper local engagement, and potentially more sustainable contributions to healthcare delivery—provided they are ethically designed and collaboratively managed. Findings inform future policy, funding models, and ethical frameworks for humanitarian medical initiatives.

Patient-initiated multidisciplinary teams: addressing complex care challenges and enhancing daily life - a qualitative study.

The study of vaginal practices in Africa has predominantly been through the Western hegemonic biomedical lens to ascertain their impact on women’s health. This article is extracted from an ethnographic study on vaginal practices in the rural village of Tshitatshawa in the Tsholotsho district in Zimbabwe. A qualitative approach in data collection was adopted with the use of qualitative research methods, which include in-depth interviews, partial observations and key participant interviews. A total of 23 female and 20 male participants were selected to participate in the study using snowball sampling. Thematic and content analysis were used as qualitative data analysis methods, together with ATLAS.ti as a scientific data analysis method. The study explored vaginal practices as indigenous knowledge (IK) with its foremost goal to improve the lives of women. Vaginal practices are IK that is embedded in culture. It examines the influence of IK on women’s adoption and use of vaginal practices for their health and wellness. This article tackles the preponderant view that positions vaginal practices as primitive. This article argues that vaginal practices are part of IK that is used to mitigate different challenges that women face in traditional societies and ought to be understood and preserved as such. The motives for the use of vaginal practices are driven by the need to meet cultural and social expectations of womanhood embedded in local IK. The study concludes that the use of vaginal practices provides more benefits than harm. In addition, the study shows that there is much more to the use of vaginal practices than for commonly perceived sexual reasons; vaginal practices are important IK used for women’s health and wellness. Contribution: The study contributes to the decoloniality discourse, and it highlights the role of coloniality in the production and control of knowledge. It argues for the need to decolonise knowledge systems and centres of knowledge, which tend to disregard the importance of IK.

Hearing loss (HL) is a prevalent condition that can substantially impact quality of life. Hearing aids can benefit people living with HL, yet many delay seeking treatment. This may be due to limited public awareness of HL and the stigma surrounding HL and hearing aids. The media can significantly shape public perceptions of HL and D/deafness, and there have been calls for improved media portrayals of HL and D/deafness. This study examined how British newspapers represent HL and D/deafness both visually and textually, and whether these representations reiterate and/or challenge stigma. This qualitative study used multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) guided by stigma theory and the Visual Discourses of Disability framework. Public contributors living with HL or D/deafness were consulted. A Nexis database search retrieved 7,173 articles about HL or D/deafness from 2022-2023. A random sample, extracted from the 200 most relevant articles, was screened. Three key themes were identified: (1) representing social progress, including technological advancements and societal roles for people with HL or D/deaf people, (2) the lack of diverse narratives and perspectives, including the absence of older adults, and (3) the stigma and social barriers associated with living in a hearing-orientated world, including tensions regarding whether HL should be (in)visible. Combined, this suggests that the overall social progress narrative is challenged by continued stigmatisation and inadequate diversity. This research was a novel application of MCDA to representations of HL and D/deafness, which focused on British newspapers. Further efforts are needed to improve these representations, particularly representations of older adults. Future research should apply MCDA to representations of HL and D/deafness in other contexts. The findings have important implications for academics in discourse and disability studies, and for all those who communicate with the public about hearing loss, including researchers, clinicians, public health officials, charities, and the media.

This study aims to analyze the implementation of moral education and its impact on the behavioral development of students at PTQ Haidar al‑Hidayah. The research employed a descriptive qualitative approach, utilizing observations, interviews, and documentation to collect data on institutional understanding, strategies for internalizing moral values, and their effects on student behavior. The findings indicate that the institution demonstrates a strong understanding and commitment to moral education, implemented through the integration of ethical values into the Qur’an memorization program, habituation of noble character (akhlaqul karimah), instruction based on the Akhlaq lil Banin text, and religious as well as social extracurricular activities. Strategies for internalizing moral values combine lectures, storytelling, exemplary modeling (uswah hasanah), and habituation (ta’dib wa ta’wid), enabling students to cognitively understand, emotionally internalize, and practically apply moral values in their daily lives. The study observed significant improvements in politeness, discipline, responsibility, honesty, and respect for teachers. These results confirm that a holistic and integrated moral education effectively fosters sustainable moral behavior among students. The findings can serve as a model for other Islamic educational institutions seeking to develop character education programs grounded in moral values and practical experiences.

Abstract The rapid emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools has introduced both new possibilities and risks for supporting inclusive teaching and learning in STEM education. Although GenAI is increasingly adopted in primary and secondary schools, little is known about how teachers conceptualise its potential to support or hinder gender inclusiveness in STEM classrooms. Using qualitative Grounded Theory methodology, this study explored how teachers perceive the opportunities, challenges, and implications of integrating GenAI in ways that might foster girls’ engagement in STEM subjects. Primary and secondary school teachers in Australia ( N = 7 ) were interviewed to understand the factors influencing the adoption of GenAI to support girls’ participation in STEM. The findings revealed three interrelated factors that were shown to influence teachers’ adoption of GenAI tools: (1) teachers’ familiarity and experience with GenAI, (2) the paradoxical nature of GenAI, and (3) first-order and second-order implementation barriers. The findings also show that teachers’ reflections on gender-inclusive applications were speculative and influenced by their general concerns about gender stereotypes and the biases embedded in GenAI content. Together, teachers’ familiarity and experience with GenAI presents as a critical factor affecting educators’ adoption of these tools to bridge gender gaps in STEM, and that teachers experience significant external barriers that impact their ability to effectively integrate GenAI tools into their teaching and learning practice. Based on the insights learned, the study offers practical recommendations for teachers, schools, and policy makers that promote the adoption of GenAI tools to foster girls’ engagement in STEM.

Abstract Digital innovation has emerged as a powerful force reshaping legal systems, governance mechanisms, and the protection of human rights worldwide. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital platforms, algorithmic governance, and big data have accelerated legal reform while simultaneously creating new challenges related to inequality, surveillance, and the concentration of unaccountable power. This article explores the nexus between digital innovation, legal reform, and social justice through an interdisciplinary legal approach that combines doctrinal legal analysis with human rights theory, political economy, and ethical perspectives. Employing a qualitative normative methodology based on secondary legal and scholarly sources, the study examines contemporary legal responses to digital transformation and assesses their effectiveness in safeguarding human dignity, equality, and accountability. The analysis reveals that although digital technologies enhance access to information and justice for certain groups, they also exacerbate structural exclusion, algorithmic bias, labor precarity, and transnational regulatory fragmentation. The findings further indicate that legal regulation alone is insufficient to govern digital power in the absence of ethical foundations, integrated social policy, and coordinated global legal frameworks. The study concludes that without a justice-oriented regulatory paradigm, digital legal reform risks reinforcing technocratic domination rather than achieving inclusive and equitable modernization. Accordingly, the article advocates for a human rights–centered, interdisciplinary model of digital governance that places social justice, accountability, and human dignity at the heart of future legal reform.Keywords: Digital innovation, Legal reform, Human rights, Social justice, Digital governance

Evaluating the Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual Nurses in the Emergency Department Setting.

Character education plays a crucial role in addressing moral and social challenges in contemporary Indonesia. The 7 Habits of Great Indonesian Children program, which includes waking up early, enjoying worship, exercising regularly, consuming healthy and nutritious food, enjoying learning, engaging in social interaction, and going to bed early, represents a practical effort to instill positive values from an early age. This study aims to examine the relevance of the program and its integration with Islamic educational values using a tarbawi interpretation approach. The research employs a qualitative literature study with content analysis of Qur’anic verses and classical and contemporary tafsir sources related to education and character formation. The findings indicate that the seven habits are consistent with the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah, which emphasize moral integrity, discipline, balance, and social responsibility. Integrating Qur’anic values into this program can strengthen the implementation of character education in family, school, and community settings. Therefore, the program has the potential to contribute to the development of Indonesian children who are not only competent in worldly affairs but also possess character and behavior aligned with Islamic values.