Educational Venues Research Articles

Prevalence and factors associated with alcohol consumption among persons with diabetes in Kampala, Uganda: a cross sectional study

BackgroundThe prevalence of diabetes has been rising increasing rapidly in middle- and low-income countries. In Africa, the World Health Organization projections anticipate diabetes mellitus to be the seventh leading cause of death in by 2030. Alcohol consumption influences diabetes evolution, in such a way that it can interfere with self-care behaviours which are important determinants of diabetes prognosis. In this study, we evaluated factors associated with alcohol consumption among persons with diabetes in Kampala to inform management policies and improve comprehensive diabetes care.MethodologyA cross-sectional study was conducted systematically among 290 adults with diabetes, attending diabetic clinics at Mulago National Referral Hospital and St Francis Hospital Nsambya. Data were entered and analysed in Epi-Info version 7 and STATA 13 software. Modified Poisson regression was used to identify factors associated with alcohol consumption among persons with diabetes. All tests were two-sided and the significance level for all analyses was set to p < 0.05.ResultsThe prevalence of alcohol consumption among persons with diabetes was 23.45% [95% CI: 18.9–28.7%]. Divorced, separated and widowed patients (Adj PR: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.21–0.83); and Protestant (Adj PR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.24–0.82); Muslim (Adj PR: 0.30, 95% CI: 0.14–0.62); and Pentecostal (Adj PR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.15–0.65) patients were less likely to consume alcohol. Diabetic patients who had a diabetes duration greater than 5 years were more likely to consume alcohol (Adj PR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.25–2.88).ConclusionApproximately one-quarter of participants consumed alcohol. However being catholic, never being married and having diabetes for more than 5 years predisposed persons with diabetes to alcohol consumption. Sensitization messages regarding alcohol consumption among persons with diabetes should be target patients who have never been married and those who have spent more than 5 years with diabetes; religion should also be considered as an important venue for health education in the community.

Self-efficacy and belonging: the impact of a university makerspace

BackgroundIn recent years, makerspaces have become increasingly common venues of STEM education and are rapidly being incorporated into undergraduate programs. These spaces give students and instructors access to advanced design technology and facilitate the incorporation of a wide variety of projects into the curriculum; however, their impacts on students are not yet fully understood. Using matched survey responses (i.e., repeated measures) from undergraduate students enrolled in engineering courses that assigned a makerspace-based project, we evaluate how the use of a university makerspace impacts students’ attitudes towards design, engineering, and technology. Further, we examine whether there are differences based on students’ year in program, gender, and race.ResultsPaired t-tests were used to analyze whether and how nine factors changed within individual students over one semester. Analyses revealed that students who visited the facility showed significant gains in measures of innovation orientation, design self-efficacy, innovation self-efficacy, technology self-efficacy, belonging to the makerspace, and belonging to the engineering community. Subsequently, repeated measures analyses of variance (RMANOVAs) on the students who visited the makerspace revealed significant main effects of students’ year in program, gender, and race, as well as interactional effects of both year in program and race with time.ConclusionsThese results affirm the value of incorporating makerspace-based projects into STEM curricula, especially during early coursework. However, our analyses revealed consistent gender gaps in measures of self-efficacy before and after using the makerspace. Similarly, gains in belonging to the makerspace were not equal across racial groups. We conclude that while makerspaces are fulfilling some of their promise for educating innovative problem solvers, more attention needs to be paid to avoid reproducing disparities in STEM education that are already experienced by female students and racial minorities.

Educational offer of Pomeranian agritourist farms associated in the National Network of Educational Farms

The aim of the study is to analyse the educational offer of Pomeranian voivodeship agritourism farms which joined the National Network of Educational Farms. The analysis covers the years 2011–2020. The survey involved 25 licensed entities (100%). Their wide offers include educational programmes aiming to teach about farmer’s life and work, the process of food production and acquisition, and the cultural heritage of the Polish rural areas and to promote the right attitudes towards nature and landscape protection. Educational activities are usually organised in the form of one-day group and workshop activities addressed to school children and adolescents. Thanks to that, the school education process is more varied and enriched with school curricula directed at hands-on activities, workshops in different school subjects, alternative venues of education and knowledge about rural culture. Farmers usually play the role of guides or sometimes they hire teachers to do the job. More and more often, people with disabilities and students of Third Age Universities use their services. The farms’ offers are very flexible and their scope and prices are adjusted to the demands, age and number of participants. The educational programmes differ depending on the season of the year.

Suffrage and the City: New York Women Battle for the Ballot by Lauren C. Santangelo

Reviewed by: Suffrage and the City: New York Women Battle for the Ballot by Lauren C. Santangelo Antonia Petrash (bio) Suffrage and the City: New York Women Battle for the Ballot By Lauren C. Santangelo. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. 272 pages, 11 halftones, 6-1/8" x 9-1/4". $78.00 cloth, $79.99 ebook. Suffrage and the City: New York Women Battle for the Ballot By Lauren C. Santangelo. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. 272 pages, 11 halftones, 6-1/8" x 9-1/4". $78.00 cloth, $79.99 ebook. In 2020 the centennial of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment enfranchising millions of women across the nation brought forth a wide range of books on the subject. Most offer a general history, focus on a particular time span, or offer biographies of prime players in the long-running campaign. But in her new book, Suffrage and the City: New York Women Battle for the Ballot, author Lauren C. Santangelo offers historians a unique perspective on the movement, positing that the City of New York, and primarily the borough of Manhattan, was itself an active, viable entity in the battle for the ballot, a central player in the drama, offering a rich and unique environment within which the movement could flourish and eventually succeed. We are introduced to activists Lillie Devereux Blake and Maud Malone, early leaders of the New York City Woman Suffrage League, who as early as 1870 suspected that [End Page 223] New York held unique possibilities for success of the movement. After all, it was the center of banking and industry, publicity and publishing. By 1889 advanced educational venues for women were opening, and a burgeoning retail environment offered respectable employment opportunities. But these positives were offset by myriad negatives, from dread of sexual assault to concern for an equally devastating assault on a woman's respectability. Many early suffrage leaders considered cities rampant with a dangerous anonymity that encouraged crime and corruption. The author shows us how the suffragists gradually overcame these restrictive concerns and learned to use the resources of the nation's largest metropolis to their advantage. Early suffrage meetings were held in private homes, offering a nonthreatening environment where women could freely discuss ideas. But the movement quickly outgrew these venues and needed to find appropriate public spaces, most of which were dominated by men. If finances allowed they rented Masonic Halls, churches, and commercial spaces. But they often used public spaces that cost nothing but effort and organization. They gave speeches on street corners and protested at public ceremonies. Their efforts gradually caught the attention of the city's wealthier women, whose subsequent addition of financial aid, celebrity, and glamour served to diffuse some of the older suffragists' concerns. The dominance of early leaders Susan B. Anthony and Lillie Devereux Blake gave way to that of Harriot Stanton Blatch (Elizabeth Cady Stanton's daughter) and the wealthy socialites Katherine Mackay and Alva Vanderbilt Belmont. While competitive, their focus differed—Blatch's Equality League of Self-Supporting Women served the working-class professional; Mackay's Equal Franchise Society courted the wealthy; while Belmont's Political Equality Association appealed across class lines, opening separate organizations for African American women and courting young immigrant laborers. Blatch favored outdoor activities that could include women with "thin checkbooks," and all began to see the benefit of marches and parades that gave a face to the proponents—teachers, professional women, industrial and domestic workers, a "unified army" working for the vote. By 1914 suffragists had sponsored five parades on Fifth Avenue, each more dazzling than the last. In 1909 Belmont moved the National American Woman Suffrage Association from Warren, Ohio, to the corner of Forty-Second Street and Fifth Avenue, the veritable center of Manhattan. She also rented space there to the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, thus making Manhattan the "capital of the city, state and national movements" (66). This strategic placement gave the movement an unmistakable aura of respectability that an address of downtown Henry Street could not, and encouraged other suffrage organizations to relocate nearby. But the suffragists did not confine themselves to this posh area. They...

Combating the Stress of an Urgent Move to Remote Learning Caused by the COVID Pandemic

Remote learning became the primary venue for university education throughout the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. While some academic institutions already had remote learning mechanisms in place by design, many higher education institutions – along with faculty and students – had to adapt to virtual or online education for the first time, while school was in session, in spring 2020. The continued effort to improve on-line pedagogy during the 2020-21 academic year suggests new pedagogical norms are now being established, with longer term implications for educators and students alike. In this paper, the authors explore different technologies used in the “classroom” and observed impacts on teaching effectiveness, particularly as they relate to an undergraduate economics course. The authors find that while it is challenging to replicate the in-person class experience, basic economics courses can be effectively taught in a remove environment by leveraging technology.

Addressing Contemporary Criminal Justice Issues as Interpretive Outcomes at a Prison Museum

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site (ESP) is a venue for public education and dialogue on contemporary as well as historical criminal justice issues. Since visitors to prison museums typically have had limited involvement with prisons, the experience they have onsite may impact their perceptions of contemporary criminal justice issues. Therefore, this study examined the influence of the onsite experiences, as well as policy narratives, policy beliefs, and underlying values on interpretive outcomes. Visitors were surveyed at the end of their visit to Eastern State Penitentiary. Multiple regression was conducted to identify which factors predicted interpretive outcomes. Results showed an increased awareness of criminal justice issues, increased empathy and appreciation for those involved in the system, and support for criminal justice reform across ideological boundaries.

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Environment for Preschool Children to Learn Fundamental Motor Skills: The Role of Teaching Venue and Class Size

The development of children’s fundamental motor skills (FMS) is shaped by the environment surrounding them. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the changes of children’s FMS after an intervention program differed between classes conducted in different schooling conditions. Participants were 295 preschool children (62 boys, 133 girls; M = 5.4 years; SD = 0.28) from eight preschools in Hong Kong. Children participated in an 8-week FMS program and their FMS were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2). A linear mixed model was used to analyze the association on the changes of FMS score between children in different schooling conditions: (1) teaching venue size (large or small); and (2) class size (large, medium, or small), while accounting for the clustering of participants within preschools. The changes of object control skills were significantly different between groups with different teaching venue size (p = 0.000) (small: 5.54 (SD = 5.84) vs. large: 2.46 (SD = 6.42)) and different class size (p = 0.000) (small: 8.12 (SD = 6.34) vs. medium: 2.92 (SD = 6.26) vs. large: 4.00 (SD = 5.79)). The findings have practical implications for the teaching of FMS in that the social and physical environment in preschools should be considered for the design of FMS intervention programs.

Cuando el proceso de construcción es tan importante como el resultado formal: Can Buch, Sant Aniol de Finestres, Gerona

El objetivo principal de este proyecto de renovación era demostrar que las técnicas tradicionales, recurriendo a materiales locales utilizados por artesanos, son una solución viable para el actual desafío de la sostenibilidad. El proyecto de Can Buch ha consistido en adaptar la masía para el turismo rural y convertir el antiguo granero en la casa del propietario. El objetivo de la instalación turística es proporcionar ingresos a la familia del propietario y al mismo tiempo un espacio educativo para los clientes, un ambiente para reconectar con la naturaleza.

Advances in anesthesia education: increasing access and collaboration in medical education, from E-learning to telesimulation.

The landscape of medical education continues to evolve. Educators and learners must stay informed on current medical literature, in addition to focusing efforts on current educational trends and evidence-based methods. The present review summarizes recent advancements in anesthesiology education, specifically highlighting trends in e-learning and telesimulation, and identifies possible future directions for the field. Websites and online platforms continue to be a primary source of educational content; top websites are more likely to utilize standardized editorial processes. Podcasts and videocasts are important tools desired by learners for asynchronous education. Social media has been utilized to enhance the reach and visibility of journal articles, and less often as a primary educational venue; its efficacy in comparison with other e-learning platforms has not been adequately evaluated. Telesimulation can effectively disseminate practical techniques and clinical knowledge sharing, extending the capabilities of simulation beyond previous restrictions in geography, space, and available expertise. E-learning has changed the way anesthesiology learners acquire knowledge, expanding content and curricula available and promoting international collaboration. More work should be done to expand the principles of accessible and collaborative education to psychomotor and cognitive learning via telesimulation.

Medical Imaging Enfranchising the Patient for Better Feedback and Life-Long Wellness: From Female Pelvic Floor Control to Orgasm

Image design for healthcare instruction must be attuned to the way we learn and the formulation of our abstract knowledge. Images for a manual on how to use a medical device will differ significantly in presentation from images that are intended as guidance on how to improve corporal performance. Images for the former will rely on intentional recollection of life experiences, learned concepts and facts as tools. While not mutually exclusive, images for the latter should be designed to consciously work with procedural memory to improve bodily performance. The images in this article demonstrate this by imaging the relationship between the pelvic floor muscles, clitoris and demarking “Spots” indicated for sexual arousal. Qualitative data suggests that many individuals know little about the interactive relationship between the clitoris, pelvic floor muscles and the female orgasm. Social and educational venues are inadequate, and in some cases misleading. The use of appropriate images conveys meaning very effectively. So whether imaging for a medical condition, procedure (e.g., surgery) or device to enfranchise the patient in their wellness the individual’s experience and proclivity for learning must be considered. If the images are effectively planned and executed, images can play an important role in involving the patients in their wellness. Enfranchising the patient into the process can improve patient feedback therein contributing to advancements in medical procedure and device usage. The sequence of images is guidance based upon a woman’s innate understanding of her body, so that she may move to a higher state of knowledge where her body performs better. Further, if her mind is inspired by the success, then her body could proceed beyond the achieved state repeatedly. The data confirms this performance structure. Women who score high for pelvic floor strength and coordination report high sexual functioning and genital perception.

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as an Extracurricular Venue for Medical Student and Resident Education and Professional Development: Story Time and Teen Talk.

Comparatively little systematic data exists concerning medical student education from the inpatient child and adolescent psychiatry venue. Training in this venue is vulnerable to pressures including increasingly reduced lengths of stay and greater emphasis on clinical productivity. An extracurricular psychosocial opportunity during evening hours may be a productive means through which to provide meaningful patient exposure, training, and mentorship to trainees. We sought to evaluate the impact upon student beliefs and attitudes through participation in an initiative titled "Story Time and Teen Talk." Under the direct supervision of postgraduate resident physicians in psychiatry, students read fairy tales and children's literature to children and conducted group discussions with adolescents during weekly held evening hours. Students were invited to complete a 15-item questionnaire that surveyed the impact of their participation on their beliefs and attitudes concerning general medical education and patient care, the field of psychiatry, and training in child and adolescent psychiatry. A subset of students underwent a semi-structured interview which was evaluated via grounded theory analysis to determine qualitative themes related to impact of program participation. Thirty students (N = 30) completed the survey and five students (N = 5) completed the interview. The majority of students reported strongly agreeing or agreeing that participation impacted their attitudes and beliefs about general medical education and patient care in twelve of the thirteen assayed items. Themes from qualitative analysis supported these findings. Extracurricular opportunities may be a productive venue for graduate medical education and, specifically, child and adolescent psychiatry.

Grabbing the Sharp End of the Knife to Bring Liberation, Peace and Justice to South Africans: lessons from Ellen Kuzwayo and Phyllis Naidoo

abstract The tableware sparkles, the fresh flower arrangements are fragrant, soft, live jazz music tones permeate the air as the luncheon, which is of a world-class standard, gets underway. I am attending the celebration to mark the opening of new teaching venues at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, named after political stalwarts Ellen Kuzwayo and Phyllis Naidoo. Tributes are paid to these prototypical giantesses, who had worked as teachers during a part of their lives. My interest is piqued: Who were these political icons whose memory was being preserved in the buildings? What obstacles did they experience as women in the struggle for political emancipation? How might these insights inform our cultural identity as South African women in modern day society? In the present, pluralistic, patriarchal South African society, women encounter a multitude of challenges, including HIV and Aids, gender-based violence, unemployment, poverty, workplace gender discrimination and child abuse. However, women have broken the shackles of the past by resisting gender oppression and political injustices. Historically, women experienced exclusion within social and political spheres. For example, it took 31 years before women were permitted to join the African National Congress (ANC). Currently, the invisibility of women, compared to men in South African political history, is attributed in a large part to patriarchy. In order to address this vacuum, I use a feminist lens to look into the past to understand the herstorical accounts of these women, and locate the challenges and enablers which can serve to inform the empowerment of women today and in the future.

Flexibility and Creativity: Critical Elements in Prevention of Child Maltreatment

The effects of abuse and neglect on children and on society are well documented, and suggest that prevention must be among the highest of priorities. Current child welfare agencies are limited in how effective they can be in child abuse prevention because of being overwhelmed by the caseload and being part of rigid bureaucracies. The Strong Communities initiative was successful in overcoming these limitations by employing a grassroots approach that gave their workers a great deal of freedom in their efforts to mobilize communities around the norm that children should be safe. This article reports details about what the workers actually did to accomplish this goal. Findings show that the workers were successful in engaging multiple community sectors, e.g., faith groups, community/neighborhood organizations, educational venues, civic organizations, and fire departments. Results also show that the activity within these sectors varied considerably over time and across different communities. These results suggest that those planning or working in grassroots, neighborhood-based child abuse prevention initiatives must develop relationships with, or create, a variety of community sectors, be persistent in their contacts with those sectors, and most importantly, be prepared for the activity in those sectors to wax and wane over time and be different in different communities. In short, one must continuously be creative and employ a great deal of flexibility and patience when doing this type of work.

"He Bore it Like a Scarlet Letter": Medical Student Reflections on Substance Use Disorders.

Substance abuse in the context of the opioid crisis presents a major public health concern. Despite some evidence that medical students' attitudes towards substance use disorders worsen during medical school, very few studies have examined how students' early clinical experiences with substance use disorders shape their views of this clinical population. This study uses student reflective essays to explore these formative educational experiences. Using content analysis, the authors analyzed a collection of 802 medical student reflective essays written during core clerkships (excluding Psychiatry), coding for ethical and professional themes as well as descriptions of substance use disorders. In addition to the qualitative identification of themes, the authors used chi-square analysis to determine which themes had statistically significant associations with substance use disorders. Fifty-three essays described patients with substance use disorders. The most common substances described were opioids (n = 25), alcohol (n = 18), and cocaine (n = 11). There were five themes statistically associated with substance use disorders (p < 0.05): (1) adequate treatment, (2) pain, (3) difficult patient, (4) jumping to conclusions, and (5) malingering. In the sample, students found the treatment of pain to be a significant ethical challenge related to substance use disorders. In considering a comprehensive educational plan, medical educators may need to consider educational venues outside of the Psychiatry clerkship to address substance use disorders.

Compreensões sobre gráficos por professores de escolas no campo

A interpretação de dados estatísticos apresentadas em gráficos vincula-se a competências que devem ser desenvolvidas pelos cidadãos no decurso de sua escolarização. No Brasil os contextos de Educação do Campo são desafiadores uma vez que essa modalidade de demanda que sejam consideradas as especificidades dos contextos campesinos. Este artigo discute aspectos de uma pesquisa que investigou as compreensões sobre gráficos que professores de escolas no campo evidenciaram a partir de entrevistas e oficinas de formação continuada sobre letramento estatístico. Os resultados obtidos das entrevistas evidenciaram algumas lacunas em relação às concepções de Educação do Campo, bem como evidenciou dificuldades quanto a compreensão dos gráficos propostos para interpretação. As oficinas de formação mostraram-se como espaços importantes de formação para o letramento estatístico, pois os professores sentiram-se incentivados a enriquecer sua prática pedagógica.

Estimating and mapping cigarette butt littering in urban environments: A GIS approach

BackgroundCigarette butts are some of the most common form of litter in the World, causing severe environmental damage. Analysing spatial distribution of cigarette butts in the urban environment may lead to useful insights for further interventions to reduce this form of litter. In this study, we present a GIS-based methodology to estimate the density of cigarette butts across a large urban area. MethodsWe collected information about discarded cigarette butts in outdoor public spaces by systematic social observation in a diverse sample of areas in Madrid, Spain. We used these data to estimate the density of cigarette butts in public spaces around the entire city by performing GIS analyses based on Kernel Density Estimations. Last, we validated these measures using on-field observations in a set of locations across the city. ResultsHospitality venues and public transportation stops were the places with the highest concentrations of cigarette butts, followed by the entrances to educational venues and playgrounds. Central districts showed the highest amount of cigarette butts in contrast to peripheral ones. We found that our measure had good validity, with a correlation coefficient of 0.784. DiscussionThis is the first study estimating and mapping cigarette butt litter in a large urban area. We identified a set of outdoor public places with high concentrations of cigarette butts and found geographical unevenness in the distribution of this pervasive form of litter across the study area. Our findings demonstrate the ubiquitous nature of cigarette butts in the urban environment and the need for interventions to reduce its impact on both people's health and the environment.

A Synopsis of the WhatsApp-Based Instruction and ELT Pedagogy: Concept, Challenge and Strategy

Learning system is developing fast. The learning process has become easier than before. Technology has taken the place of an immensely important tool of the learning system. E-mails, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Imo, Line App and WhatsApp are some of the most important, common, social, immediate messaging tools. WhatsApp is generally used on the mobile phones. It is one of the most popular tool for immediate messaging, transferring ideas, knowledge and pictures for fun, and, of course, for learning. WhatsApp incorporates an ultimate solution for learners, teachers and teacher educators. It facilitates easier communication among the learners, teachers and teacher educators. It could be another venue for learners, teachers and teacher educators. Learning could be achieved faster through this channel. Technology has been used as a tool for instructions in many interesting ways. Students as well as instructors use mobile in various ways, and feel satisfied, feel to be there, feel to be with one another as well. Technology, in our mobile age, has been incorporated into almost all curricula. “Tandem learning may be found as more compatible than any other kind”. (Khan.2018, P-1) Hence, this paper is going to show how the WhatsApp could be a means of allocating as well as distributing educational resources and information to learners, teachers and teacher educators. Whether, it could be a strategy to enhance the learning process faster and easier. Whether, it could be an interesting experience for learners, teachers and teacher educators. Is it attainable? Is it time-friendly? I hope this research paper will accommodate the responses and will try to find a conclusion. WhatsApp is a mobile instant messaging App, which is used immensely for so many reasons. It is simple, popular and versatile. Therefore, the aim of the study is to discover the influence as well as the waves of the use of mobile, and especially, the ‘WhatsApp’ as a tool in boosting the process of ESL/EFL pedagogy.

The Role of Palliative Care in Reducing Symptoms and Improving Quality of Life for Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Review.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive fibrotic lung disease with a median survival of 3–4 years from time of initial diagnosis, similar to the time course of many malignancies. A hallmark of IPF is its unpredictable disease course, ranging from long periods of clinical stability to acute exacerbations with rapid decompensation. As the disease progresses, patients with chronic cough and progressive exertional dyspnea become oxygen dependent. They may experience significant distress due to concurrent depression, anxiety, and fatigue, which often lead to increased symptom burden and decreased quality of life. Despite these complications, palliative care is an underutilized, and often underappreciated, resource before end-of-life care in this population. While there is growing recognition about early palliative care in IPF, current data suggest referral patterns vary widely based on institutional practices. In addition to focusing on symptom management, there is emphasis on supplemental oxygen use, pulmonary rehabilitation, quality of life, and end-of-life care. Importantly, increased use of support groups and national foundation forums have served as venues for further disease education, communication, and advanced care planning outside of the hospital settings. The purpose of this review article is to discuss the clinical features of IPF, the role of palliative care in chronic disease management, current data supporting benefits of palliative care in IPF, its role in symptom management, and practices to help patients and their caregivers achieve their best quality of life.