University Of Granada Research Articles

Burnout and Professional Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Nursing Students without Clinical Experience: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Burnout affects many healthcare professionals, especially nurses, causing serious health problems and disrupting the work environment. Academic burnout may also be experienced, leading students to feel unable to cope with their education. As a result, they may lose interest and even consider abandoning their studies. Hence, burnout syndrome can affect both the mental health and the professional future of those affected. To evaluate academic burnout in nursing students who had no clinical experience before starting their practical training, a cross-sectional study involving 212 third-year nursing students at the University of Granada was conducted. Data were collected using the Granada Burnout Questionnaire, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Fear of CoronaVirus-19 Scale. High levels of burnout were present in 37.8% of the students. Moreover, 21.5% and 8.7% had borderline cases of anxiety or depression, respectively. Another 30.8% and 9.2%, respectively, were considered likely to present these conditions. According to the predictive models of burnout dimensions obtained, neuroticism is a predictor of all three burnout dimensions. Furthermore, anxiety, depression, extraversion, responsibility and engagement are predictors of some dimensions of the syndrome. Many nursing students present high levels of burnout, which is related to certain personality variables and to the presence of anxiety and/or depression. The level of professional engagement is inversely associated with the impact of burnout. The participants in this study have normalised their return to the pre-pandemic study routine (in-person classes), and fear of COVID-19 was not a significant predictor of any dimension of burnout.

Teacher Training and Sustainable Development: Study within the Framework of the Transdisciplinary Project RRREMAKER

The development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a challenge that requires the involvement of the educational system. This study seeks to identify the perception and knowledge of future teachers in relation to sustainable development (SD), the European Green Deal (ECD), and circular economy (CE) at the University of Granada. A qualitative study was carried out, conducted face to face, using an online questionnaire in the classroom. A total of 321 students participated, from bachelor’s degrees in early childhood and primary education to master’s degrees in secondary education. Out of these, 176 validated questionnaires were analyzed. The results showed that future teachers understood the importance of SD education as an important social problem. They believed that education in SD, EGD, or CE could contribute to solving environmental and social problems. Nevertheless, they doubted whether this training should be included by universities in their training actions for teachers; they expressed reservations about the educational effectiveness of the curricula. However, most of them considered the need for more training in this area. Finally, they associated sustainable development mainly with the environmental dimension, followed by the social dimension, and to a lesser extent with the economic dimension.

Validation of the attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS scale in nursing students

BackgroundOne of the environments where people living with HIV/AIDS should feel safer is in the health care setting; however, scientific evidence has identified discriminatory behaviour on the part of health care professionals towards these people. The reduction or abolition of discriminatory practices requires, first of all, to know the attitudes of nursing students towards AIDS with tools appropriate to the socio-cultural context of the disease. The objectives of this study are to update the AIDS Attitudes Scale for Nursing Students (EASE) by adapting it to the sociocultural landscape and to analyse the reliability and structural validity of the new scale.MethodsThe results of the questionnaires answered by 213 undergraduate nursing students from the Faculty of Health Sciences of Ceuta (University of Granada) were analysed. Reliability (test-retest, n = 33) and validity (n = 180) tests were carried out.ResultsAn exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a four-factor model was the most parsimonious solution. Items were examined for their underlying relationships and labelled: professional practice, social integration, partner and family, and benevolent stigma. The new scale yielded a McDonald’s Omega coefficient (ω) of 0.893. Convergent validity was established for average variance extracted per factor greater than 0.5 and divergent validity when the variance retained by each factor is greater than the variance shared between them (average variance extracted per factor > ϕ2).ConclusionsThe new scale is a psychometrically sound instrument for assessing attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS in nursing students.

Evaluative altmetrics: is there evidence for its application to research evaluation?

Altmetrics have been demonstrated as a promising tool for analyzing scientific communication on social media. Nevertheless, its application for research evaluation remains underdeveloped, despite the advancement of research in the study of diverse scientific interactions. This paper develops a method for applying altmetrics in the evaluation of researchers, focusing on a case study of the Environment/Ecology ESI field publications by researchers at the University of Granada. We considered Twitter as a mirror of social attention, news outlets as media, and Wikipedia as educational, exploring mentions from these three sources and the associated actors in their respective media, contextualizing them using various metrics. Our analysis evaluated different dimensions such as the type of audience, local attention, engagement generated around the mention, and the profile of the actor. Our methodology effectively provided dashboards that gave a comprehensive view of the different instances of social attention at the author level. The use of altmetrics for research evaluation presents significant potential, as shown by our case study. While this is a novel method, our results suggest that altmetrics could provide valuable insights into the social attention that researchers garner. This can be an important tool for research evaluation, expanding our understanding beyond traditional metrics.

Towards a sustainable use of shower water: Habits and explanatory factors in southern Spain

One of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6 is the efficient use of water resources in all sectors in order to tackle water shortages. In the home, showering is one of the main water consuming activities. How can people make more sustainable use of shower water? To answer this question, this research analyses showering habits and explanatory factors of shower use. The study is carried out with data from 945 students of the University of Granada, Spain. Significant differences are observed in shower use during the summer and winter months: the average duration is 8.8 and 11.6 min, respectively, and the frequency is greater in summer (with an average frequency of eight showers per week). Determinants of different shower water use include gender, ideology, pro-environmental actions, inherent values, and connectedness to nature, among others. Those variables relate differently to duration and frequency of showers, according to the season, thus highlighting the importance of seasonality. The results show that there is room to achieve a more sustainable use of the shower, in terms of frequency and duration, through awareness measures that are tailored to groups that make a less sustainable use of showers. The main recommendation is that awareness campaigns should be designed on the basis of the user profile as well as the season.

Study on the types of abuse in young couples as a function of sex.

This study analyses the types of violence that can occur in intimate partner relationships among young people and their self-perception of abuse. For this purpose, we have used a survey-type methodology, with a quantitative approach. Participants were selected by means of non-probabilistic convenience and consisted of students enrolled in different degree and postgraduate courses in the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Granada (Spain). The sample consisted of 323 students, with a mean age of 23.8 years (SD = 5.2). Statistical and inferential tests were carried out with the data obtained using the SPSS V26 data analysis programme. The results show that the type of maltreatment most suffered, at some time by the sample participants, is emotional maltreatment, physical maltreatment, and psychological maltreatment. By comparing the means obtained, we can conclude that sex did not influence the violence suffered by young couples, which gives it a bidirectional character.

Attitudes toward mathematics/statistics, anxiety, self-efficacy and academic performance: an artificial neural network.

Mathematics and statistical skills are crucial to daily life. However, many students found mathematics difficult to learn and understand. This research aimed to find relationships between mathematics and statistical attitudes and emotional dimensions, such as anxiety or self-efficacy. The sample consisted of two groups: the first group was formed by 276 Spanish students (75.7% female with an average age of 19.92 years) from different degrees at the University of Granada and the second one by agroup of 19 secondary school students from of a Secondary School in Granada, Spain (57.9% male students between 14 and 16 years of age from a public school). The instruments applied were a scale of attitude toward mathematics, a scale of attitude toward statistics, a scale to assess mathematical anxiety, and a scale to assess self-efficacy. An artificial neural network for the backpropagation algorithm was designed using dependent variable. The results showed a negative impact of anxiety on those attitudes, while self-efficacy had a positive impact on those mentioned attitudes. Therefore, emotional education is important in the well-being, and teaching in mathematics. The usefulness of the innovative neural network analysis in predicting the constructs evaluated in this study can be highlighted.

Training corporate and institutional terminologists: a case study at the University of Granada

ABSTRACT To respond to the needs of the language industry, further specialisation in terminology at Master’s level is needed to equip students with the necessary skills to work as corporate and institutional terminologists. For this purpose, curricular design should envisage the general and specific competences identified by practising terminologists in the workplace. Moreover, the competences established by the European Master’s in Translation Competence Framework (2009, 2017, 2022), adapted to terminology work, can be used to identify course content and expected learning outcomes. Teaching and learning strategies should promote life-long learning and learner autonomy. Finally, course instructors should include both lecturers and practitioners. This paper discusses the curriculum developed for corporate and institutional terminology training within the Master’s Degree in Professional Translation at the University of Granada (Spain), a programme that was incorporated into the EMT network in 2019. The ultimate goal is to train highly qualified terminologists who meet the demands of the market, and who have the necessary competences and skills to continue their self-training, once they have completed their postgraduate studies and have entered the labour market.

Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet Is Associated with Health-Related Quality of Life and Anthropometric Measurements in University Professors.

The main objective of this study was to assess the relationship between Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) according to the anthropometric measurements of teaching and research staff (TRS) at the University of Granada (UGR), Spain. This diagnostic, non-experimental, cross-sectional, and observational study was performed on university lecturers (65 women and 62 men) using a correlational descriptive methodology. The lecturers' anthropometric measurements were taken, while MD adherence was determined using the PREvention with MEDiterranean diet (PREDIMED) questionnaire. The Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used for measuring HRQOL. Better results for body composition were associated with improvements in the physical and mental dimensions and MD adherence. Statistically significant differences were found between sexes, with men showing higher values for weight, height, waist circumference, BMI, waist/hip ratio (WHR), muscle mass, and systolic and diastolic pressure than women. Similarly, MD adherence was positively correlated with vitality (r = 0.233; p = 0.009), social functioning (r = 0.229; p = 0.008), and the mental component summary (r = 0.205; p = 0.021). The regression model determined that the mental component summary (β = 0.239, p = 0.041), diastolic pressure (PD) (β = -0.473, p < 0.000), fat percentage (FP) (β = -0.241, p = 0.004), and age (β = -0.231, p = 0.022) significantly predicted MD adherence. The results obtained in this study suggest that healthy dietary patterns such as the MD and an optimum body composition contribute to an improved HRQOL.

Observing liquid crystals through a liquid crystal

ABSTRACT During the 23rd Andalusian Science Week at the University of Granada, we conducted an outreach activity titled Observing liquid crystals through a liquid crystal, aligning closely with our research project Unveiling the boundaries of biaxial nematics for energy-efficient displays UNBOUND. This initiative, targeting high school students, aimed to disseminate knowledge about liquid crystals and their practical applications, providing a realistic glimpse into scientific research. The activity consisted of an educational presentation and interactive experiments, with the latter proving particularly effective in engaging the students. This highlights the significance of interactive and engaging methods in effectively communicating scientific concepts to an audience of no-experts. Overall, the activity received positive feedback, and we plan to continue refining and implementing this format in upcoming public outreach events.

Student satisfaction with a micro-learning approach in distance translation and interpreting training: an empirical investigation

ABSTRACT The new contexts in higher education, shifting from face-to-face to online scenarios, encourage the application of disruptive methodologies adapted to distance learning. Translation and interpreting (T&I) programmes ideally foster the acquisition of competencies such as self-study, which graduates need to enter a largely freelance and assignment-based labour market. The aim of this study is to describe a micro-learning-based experience delivered at the undergraduate programme in T&I at the University of Granada (Spain), as well as to analyse student satisfaction with the experience. To meet this aim, a survey was conducted among 61 students to evaluate their satisfaction with the course, with distance learning and with the micro-learning methodology on a 1–5 Likert scale. The data were analysed by means of frequency, correlations and stepwise forward regression analysis. The results showed that students were notably satisfied with the methodology proposed but dissatisfied with environmental and interaction issues.

Perceptions of Linguistic and Professional Competences of Postgraduate Students in Bilingual Education

In the last two decades, the number of bilingual schools has increased considerably. The main objective of our research was to find out the perception of the competences acquired after Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education (ICLHE) teaching among the students of a subject of the Master's Degree in Teacher Training, specialising in Physical Education (PE), at the University of Granada. The second objective was to analyse this information in order to establish improvements in the subject. To evaluate this study, 5 semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of the course. After a first overall analysis of the interviews, the main categories that emerged were the improvement of language and teaching competences both at the macro-level in relation to the subject in general and at the micro-level in relation to their performance and to the practical PE session. The present research has already contributed to improving the organisation of the subject and improvements have been made, such as establishing the role of the PE teacher individually and restructuring the role of the organisation of the subject.

DIGITAL SECURITY IN EDUCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMS: A STUDY BASED ON FUTURE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS

A key aspect of future teacher training in this highly digitalized period of education requires a specific focus on digital skills, especially in the area of security. This study delves into this issue by means of a quantitative, theoretical and systematic review of future teachers currently in training at the Faculty of Education, Economy and Technology of Ceuta of the University of Granada (Spain). The specific intention is to determine their perception of the instruction they receive on digital matters, concretely on cybersecurity during their phase of pre-service. To carry out the project, the study resorted to a descriptive method by submitting the participants to a specifically designed questionnaire entitled “Digital Security Competence Required for Teachers”. Examinations of the psychometric properties of the questionnaire reveal its relevance and reliability. The intention, after applying descriptive and inferential statistics tests, was to determine whether students in pre-service training really feel competent on digital matters or if they feel need more theoretical-practical training, especially in the area of security. The general findings reveal that future female teachers pursuing a university degree in Early Childhood Education, although competent from the techno-pedagogical viewpoint, indicate that attaining a high level of competence in digital security requires more theoretical and practical training. Future male Primary Education teachers, by contrast, perceive themselves as competent in digital security. This perhaps stems from their training (courses and workshops) in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the theoretical and practical instruction they received at the university during courses or during a practicum. This aspect deserves further research because, as highlighted elsewhere, higher education institutions must prioritize instruction on digital security in their teacher programs.

Fiber Optic Acoustic Sensing to Understand and Affect the Rhythm of the Cities: Proof-of-Concept to Create Data-Driven Urban Mobility Models

In the framework of massive sensing and smart sustainable cities, this work presents an urban distributed acoustic sensing testbed in the vicinity of the School of Technology and Telecommunication Engineering of the University of Granada, Spain. After positioning the sensing technology and the state of the art of similar existing approaches, the results of the monitoring experiment are described. Details of the sensing scenario, basic types of events automatically distinguishable, initial noise removal actions and frequency and signal complexity analysis are provided. The experiment, used as a proof-of-concept, shows the enormous potential of the sensing technology to generate data-driven urban mobility models. In order to support this fact, examples of preliminary density of traffic analysis and average speed calculation for buses, cars and pedestrians in the testbed’s neighborhood are exposed, together with the accidental presence of a local earthquake. Challenges, benefits and future research directions of this sensing technology are pointed out.

Microfinance, an Alternative for Financing Entrepreneurship: Implications and Trends-Bibliometric Analysis

Microfinance has become one of the most important financing alternatives for business start-ups, especially for vulnerable groups in poor regions. Microfinance provides access to financial products, especially to people who have been excluded from the traditional financial system. However, the mainstream literature on microfinance shows its impact on poverty alleviation, but it is not yet well developed to understand its dynamizing role in the entrepreneurial sector. There is still a large gap in the literature on analyzing microfinance as a financing alternative, so this paper seeks to find this relationship in the literature. A bibliometric analysis is applied, both of the performance of the publications and a word co-occurrence analysis during the period 2017–2022. The articles indexed in the Web of Science have been considered and systematized through the SCIMAT software v1.1.04, developed by the Soft Computing and Intelligent Information Systems Research Group, University of Granada, Granada, Spain. Microfinance institutions, education, entrepreneurship, organizational performance, business microcredits, and women microentrepreneurs have been identified as driving themes to be considered in future analyses. At the end of the document, the proposed future lines of research are presented. In addition, the results show the growing interest of the academic community in the topic, with 2022 being the year with the highest number of articles published on the topic.

Artificial Intelligence in Dementia: A Bibliometric Study.

The applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in dementia research have garnered significant attention, prompting the planning of various research endeavors in current and future studies. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the research landscape regarding AI and dementia within scholarly publications and to suggest further studies for this emerging research field. A search was conducted in the Web of Science database to collect all relevant and highly cited articles on AI-related dementia research published in English until 16 May 2023. Utilizing bibliometric indicators, a search strategy was developed to assess the eligibility of titles, utilizing abstracts and full texts as necessary. The Bibliometrix tool, a statistical package in R, was used to produce and visualize networks depicting the co-occurrence of authors, research institutions, countries, citations, and keywords. We obtained a total of 1094 relevant articles published between 1997 and 2023. The number of annual publications demonstrated an increasing trend over the past 27 years. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (39/1094, 3.56%), Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (38/1094, 3.47%), and Scientific Reports (26/1094, 2.37%) were the most common journals for this domain. The United States (283/1094, 25.86%), China (222/1094, 20.29%), India (150/1094, 13.71%), and England (96/1094, 8.77%) were the most productive countries of origin. In terms of institutions, Boston University, Columbia University, and the University of Granada demonstrated the highest productivity. As for author contributions, Gorriz JM, Ramirez J, and Salas-Gonzalez D were the most active researchers. While the initial period saw a relatively low number of articles focusing on AI applications for dementia, there has been a noticeable upsurge in research within this domain in recent years (2018-2023). The present analysis sheds light on the key contributors in terms of researchers, institutions, countries, and trending topics that have propelled the advancement of AI in dementia research. These findings collectively underscore that the integration of AI with conventional treatment approaches enhances the effectiveness of dementia diagnosis, prediction, classification, and monitoring of treatment progress.

Effects of physical exercise on health-related quality of life in coronary heart disease patients. a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): - HEARTY-BRAIN - Effects of Exercise on Brain in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: The Heart-Brain Connection. Andalusian Plan for Research Development and Innovation (PAIDI). University of Granada. Funding: 116.000 €. PI: F. Ortega. 2021-2021. - VASCULACTIVE. Effects of exercise on brain vascularization in coronary heart disease patients. Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (I+D+I RETOS). University of Granada. Funding: 121.000 €. PI: F. Ortega. 2021-2023. Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most prevalent type of cardiovascular disease in the world, and a leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Previous research showed that patients with CHD have a decrease in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) during the course of the disease. Physical exercise may attenuate the decline in HRQoL observed in CHD patients. Purpose To determine the effect of exercise training interventions on HRQoL in CHD patients. Methods A systematic search of controlled trials (CTs) assessing the effects of exercise training on HRQoL in CHD patients was performed in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Cochrane Register, SportDiscus, PsycINFO and Google Scholar from inception to 30 June 2022. A meta-analysis with fixed and random effects was performed on controlled trials (comparing at least one exercise group with one non-exercise group and including a global score of HRQoL assessments before and after the interventions. All statistical analyses were performed using R-Studio. Results A total of 26 CTs met all the eligibility criteria and were included in the review (25 randomized CTs and 1 non-randomized CTs). HRQoL was mostly assessed by the SF-36 instrument (11/26) and the MacNew Heart Disease Health-Related Quality of Life questionnaire (8/26). Six out of the 26 studies reported the total score of quality of life and were included in the meta-analysis, which resulted in 8 exercise interventions and 591 participants with a mean age of 61 years, and 33% was women. There was a small (effect size 0.20) borderline overall effect of exercise on HRQoL in CHD patients (95% confidence interval: fixed effect, 0.05–0.36; random effect, -0.06-0.46. The percentage of total variability attributed to between-study heterogeneity [I2] = 44%, P=0.09 (Figure 1). Conclusions Findings from this meta-analysis suggest that supervised exercise training may cause a modest improvement in HRQoL in CHD patients. Future studies should explore which type and loads of exercise lead to larger improvements.

Analysis of University Student Motivation in Cross-Border Contexts.

The development of the personality of university students can determine their affinities for certain disciplines; therefore, it is important to know their specific socio-demographic and motivational profile, what motivates them to start a certain university degree and what encourages them to continue with it, which can help to adapt the teaching methodology. A total of 292 university students from the University of Granada (Ceuta and Melilla campuses) participated in this quantitative study with a descriptive, cross-sectional design, in which motivation and social skills were analysed. Among the results, it can be highlighted that the student population is mainly female, with a higher level of motivation. Sociability, communication, thinking (optimistic or pessimistic), empathy and self-confidence are skills that affect university students' motivation levels. This study highlights the importance and impact of students' motivation on their learning and the development of their social competence, so it is essential to carry out educational interventions that promote these types of skills, especially in cross-border contexts, which can be demotivating environments.

Isolating Qatar: the Gulf rift, 2017–2021; Qatar: the practice of rented power

Journal Article Isolating Qatar: the Gulf rift, 2017–2021; Qatar: the practice of rented power Get access Isolating Qatar: the Gulf rift, 2017–2021. By Edward A Lynch. Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 2022. 219pp. £92.00. Isbn978 1 95505 515 4. Available as e-book.Qatar: the practice of rented power. By Diana Galeeva. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. 2022. 236pp. £130.00. Isbn978 1 03221 579 2. Available as e-book. Leticia Rodriguez Garcia Leticia Rodriguez Garcia University of Granada, Spain and Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 99, Issue 3, May 2023, Pages 1353–1355, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiad103 Published: 02 May 2023

SILENCING INDIGENOUS CULTURE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN ECUADOR: A VIEW FROM SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

This article arises from ongoing mixed methods research called “Intercultural Processes in Social Work Training: A Reflection on the Silencing of Indigenous Culture in Higher Education”. It is part of a line of research of the doctoral program of the University of Granada. The article presents an epistemological, theoretical and conceptual reflection on intercultural training in Social Work and the silencing of indigenous culture in higher education. For this purpose, a categorical scheme was built, and a documentary review carried out, the findings of which were processed through analytical matrices. The findings present an approach to the subject with specific references that will allow us to understand the reality of indigenous students. As well as the challenges faced by the educational system and Social Work, to reach a truly intercultural higher education in Ecuador.