Use Of Nominal Group Technique Research Articles

Hierarchical relationships of building partnership competency: the use of nominal group technique and interpretive structural modelling

PurposeThis paper aims to determine the hierarchical relationship between building partnership competencies for public sector educational leaders (ELs) administering and running the education system.Design/methodology/approachAn interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique was used to develop a hierarchical structural model for building partnership competencies. Nominal group technique (NGT) was used with the help of experts’ suggestions and opinions at the beginning of ISM to identify building partnership competencies. Also, the NGT was used to rank the competencies. A structural self-integration matrix was developed based on experts’ voting and agreement. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis was used to analyse the relationship among the building partnership competencies. A total of 11 experts were chosen for NGT and ISM sessions.FindingsA total of 16 building partnership competencies were identified for this study. The competencies were compartmentalised into four domains: creative collaboration, create network, develop collective culture and encouraging constructive dialogue. MICMAC analysis shows each domain of the model of its key competencies ranked at the highest level in the ISM model and dependent competencies.Research limitations/implicationsISM is a modelling approach that is based solely on expert opinions and responses. Its limitation can be overcome with the help of empirical analysis.Practical implicationsThis study supports the public sector ELs’ professional development and upskilling. In addition, the model developed in the study will be helpful for stakeholders, human resources division and policymakers to incorporate building partnership competencies in the training and development of ELs.Originality/valueThis study helps to identify and prioritise building partnership competencies using NGT and ISM. Literature shows that numerous authors have used the ISM approach. Still, the combination of NGT approach is limited. Therefore, the model developed in the study was based solely on experts’ opinions and suggestion based on their experiences and knowledge.

Engaging youth in stakeholder analysis for developing community-based digital innovations for mental health of young people in Ingwavuma community, in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.

South Africa faces a critical shortage of mental health service professionals and support for young people with common mental health disorders is inadequate. Social relationships that provide support to adolescents in South African communities are increasingly declining due to socio-economic pressures. Developing ethical digital mental health innovations has potential to address provide services particularly in rural communities where mental health facilities are scarce. The active involvement of young people is critical to maximising uptake and reducing apathy on the use of digital innovations for mental health. Using the nominal group technique this study engaged young people in identifying stakeholders for setting up a community-based mental health intervention in a rural community. Use of nominal group technique for stakeholder analysis proved to a useful tool for engaging young people. The stakeholder identification and analysis provided a base for inclusivity in developing digital innovations for mental health through identifying multi-sector community stakeholders. It revealed that young people in the community have varying perceptions about the level of power and interest which their peers, family members, local leaders, health workers and social development organisations have in developing digital mental health interventions. This research contributes to our understanding of the ways in which to leverage young people's participation in project planning and decision-making and building strong teams and alliances for developing digital innovations for mental health in marginalised rural communities.

Evaluating a nursing erasmus exchange experience: Reflections on the use and value of the Nominal Group Technique for evaluation.

This paper discusses the use of Nominal Group Technique (NGT) for European nursing exchange evaluation at one university. The NGT is a semi-quantitative evaluation method derived from the Delphi method popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The NGT was modified from the traditional version retaining the structured cycles and but adding a broader group discussion. The NGT had been used for 2 successive years but required analysis and evaluation itself for credibility and 'fit' for purpose which is presented here. It aimed to explore nursing students' exchange experiences and aid programme development futures exchanges and closure from exchange. Results varied for the cohorts and students as participants enthusiastically engaged generating ample data which they ranked and categorised collectively. Evaluation of the NGT itself was two fold: by the programme team who considered purpose, audience, inclusivity, context and expertise. Secondly, students were asked for their thoughts using a graffiti board. Students avidly engaged with NGT but importantly also reported an effect from the process itself as an opportunity to reflect and share their experiences. The programme team concluded the NGT offered a credible evaluation tool which made use of authentic student voice and offered interactive group processes. Pedagogially, it enabled active reflection thus aiding reorientation back to the United Kingdom and awareness of 'transformative' consequences of their exchange experiences.

Developing an integrated educational simulation model by considering art approach: Teaching Empathic Communication skills

Introduction: Simulation plays an important role in integrated learning of communication skills. Communication skills are known as the heart and art of medicine. Although, designing high-impact learning experiences in simulated environments are essential elements in the process of communication training, it has encountered some challenges. Art-based education by providing ‘simulation’ of the wider experience of life as well as making creative thinking in medical students can help to overcome these issues. This article aims to develop a new model of simulation for communication skills education, the Integrated Model for Communication Skills (IMCS), by integrating the essential features of simulation and art.Materials and Methods: A review was done on the current literature of medical education, simulation model and main framework of art approach. Then, an expert panel by the use of nominal group technique (NGT) was held with medical education experts in Iran and Sweden to design, select an appropriate simulation model and approve the final model (IMCS) following some modifications.Results: IMCS is an integrated model in 3 concepts of Jeffries simulation model based on art approaches: simulation design, simulation intervention and outcome. The model used activity theory and transformative learning theory to foster outcomes of skill-based and emotional-based communication skills.Conclusion: Arts strategies could be incorporated into the simulation model. The IMCS has the potential to promote emotional and technical aspects of communication skills to make the healthcare providers as competent communicators.

Creating authentic video scenarios for use in prehospital research

Video scenarios have been used to explore clinical reasoning during interviews in Think Aloud studies. This study used nominal group technique with experts to create video scenarios to explore the ways paramedics think and reason when caring for children who are sick or injured. At present there is little research regarding paramedics’ clinical reasoning with respect to performing non-urgent procedures on children. A core expert panel identified the central structure of a prehospital clinical interaction and the range of contextual factors that may influence a paramedic’s clinical reasoning [the way in which information is gathered, interpreted and analysed by clinicians]. The structure and contextual factors were then incorporated into two filmed scenarios. A second panel of clinical practice experts, then critiqued the body language, spoken word and age appropriate behaviours of those acting in the video scenarios and compared them against their own experience of clinical practice to confirm authenticity. This paper reports and reflects on the use of nominal group technique to create authentic video scenarios for use in prehospital research.

The Use of Nominal Group Technique: Case Study in Vietnam

The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) is a structured process to gather information from a group. The technique wasfirst described in early 1970s and has since become a widely-used standard to facilitate working groups. The NGT iseffective for generating large numbers of creative new ideas and for group priority setting. This article reports on acase study carried out in Vietnam on exploring the perceptions of key stakeholders towards the vocational educationtraining (VET) sector where the study applied the NGT. Therefore, this article has two purposes: (1) describing whatNGT is and outlines how to use it; and (2) describing the case study findings by providing an analysis of datagenerated during a workshop led by the author. The findings of the case study indicated that the Government policyfactor or the roles of Government on the VET sector are ranked as the most important force impacting upon thequality of VET programs in Vietnam. Both the established research technique used to collect data and present thefindings of the case study have particular significance as they contribute to a major problem which has not beenresearched seriously in Vietnam in the past as has happened in many other countries. Importantly, the study providesan overview of the Vietnamese VET system which both VET experts in Vietnam and international scholars will beable to understand.

Using Nominal Group Technique (NGT) to reach consensus on Graduate Attributes for nurses undertaking Postgraduate Certification in Neonatal Intensive Care in Australia

Nominal Group Technique is a qualitative/quantitative exploratory research method often used in situations requiring complex problem solving, decision-making, priority-setting and consensus reaching. This paper aims to describe use of Nominal Group Technique to develop National Graduate Attributes for nurses undertaking Postgraduate Certification in Neonatal Intensive Care in Australia.The participants for this Nominal Group workshop were recruited from the members of the Australian College of Neonatal Nurses, Neonatal Nurses Education Special Interest Group, as they had a particular interest in the development of nationally recognised graduate attributes. The research identified core graduate attributes incorporating four themes of; the provision of care, knowledge, communication and teamwork, ethical and professional responsibilities.The use of NGT can be recommended as an efficient collaborative approach for any participatory action research or clinically based research.

The use of nominal group technique to determine additional support needs of Victorian TAFE senior educators and managers.

The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) is a structured process to gather information from a group. The technique was first described in 1975 and has since become a widely-used standard to facilitate working groups. The NGT is effective for generating large numbers of creative new ideas and for group priority setting. This paper describes the process of conducting three workshops with senior educators and managers in a metropolitan TAFE Institute in Australia using NGT. The principal purpose of the workshops was to ascertain what additional support the participants required in a period of intense change and to prioritise them in terms of importance to the participants. The secondary purpose of the workshops was to introduce NGT to an organisation that had hitherto not used NGT in formal evaluation of programs or performance.

The use of nominal group technique to determine additional support needs for a group of Victorian TAFE managers and senior educators

The nominal group technique (NGT) is a structured process to gather information from a group. The technique was first described in 1975 and has since become a widely-used standard to facilitate working groups. The NGT is effective for generating large numbers of creative new ideas and for group priority setting. This paper describes the process of conducting workshops using the NGT with managers and senior educators in a metropolitan TAFE institute in Australia. The primary purpose of the activity was to ascertain what additional support the participants required in a period of intense change. The secondary purpose was to introduce NGT to an organisation that had hitherto not used NGT in formal evaluation of programs or performance. The paper provides an analysis of the data generated during the workshops and discusses the effectiveness of the technique for the participants.

What Factors Influence Postgraduate Medical Trainee Attitudes To Computer-Based Learning?

Computer based learning is an attractive solution to the increasing problem of providing self-directed/directed continuing education for medical postgraduate trainees on multiple sites with fewer teachers and clinical resources available. This study explores the practicalities and views regarding e-learning of trainees working in three hospitals in the same NHS Trust in London. Use of nominal group technique indicated that ease of access to computers and the internet was ranked highly by all groups and may be a significant barrier to trainees' use of e-learning. Use of questionnaires to explore views in more depth demonstrated that not all junior postgraduate trainees made use of e-learning materials prior to planned teaching sessions, despite requests to do so; spoken and written reinforcement may be needed to increase use of e-learning materials. Telephone interviews with senior postgraduate respiratory trainees indicated that they seem receptive to the positive benefits of using e-learning as part of their postgraduate training as long as social interaction and face-to-face teaching on study days is maintained. The exact function and content of each e-module and whether it needs to be compulsory or optional need to be determined if there is to be successful implementation of e-learning.

Community social valuation: use of nominal group technique in ranking of health conditions from two communities in Temeke and Moshi Districts in Tanzania

This study used the nominal group technique to explore societal value preferences in the ranking of health conditions from two communities in Temeke and Moshi districts in Tanzania. The nominal group technique was applied to a community of lay people including patients and community leaders. In this study we found a relatively high stability of ranking values across sites and informant groups. The nominal group technique was easy for lay people to understand and less time consuming compared to other methods used in health state valuation. The findings indicate that the nominal group technique can be used in the valuation process with a population of lay people to obtain societal preferences as a basis for priority setting in health. This study was limited to using criteria as a guide in the voting exercise, which may have framed respondent's final voting judgement. Further studies are needed to assess informant's responses and test validity and reliability of this method with larger sample size in different sites and informant groups. In conclusion, the nominal group technique may be considered to obtain societal preferences to compliment the current burden of disease data for priority setting. Tanzania Health Research Bulletin Vol.6(2) 2004: 42-50

The use of nominal group technique in identifying community health priorities in Moshi rural district, northern Tanzania

This article highlights issues pertaining to identification of community health priorities in a resource poor setting. Community involvement is discussed by drawing experience of involving lay people in identifying priorities in health care through the use of Nominal Group Technique. The identified health problems are compared using four selected village communities of Moshi district in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. We conducted this study to trace the experience and knowledge of lay people as a supplement to using 'health experts' in priority setting using malaria as a tracer condition. The patients/caregivers, women's group representatives, youth leaders, religious leaders and community leaders/elders constituted the principal subjects. Emphasis was on providing qualitative data, which are of vital consideration in multi-disciplinary oriented studies, and not on quantitative information from larger samples. We found a high level of agreement across groups, that malaria remains the leading health problem in Moshi rural district in Tanzania both in the highland and lowland areas. Our findings also indicate that 'non-medical' issues including lack of water, hunger and poverty heralded priority in the list implying that priorities should not only be focused on diseases, but should also include health services and social cultural issues. Indeed, methods which are easily understood and applied thus able to give results close to those provided by the burden of disease approaches should be adopted. It is the provision of ownership of the derived health priorities to partners including the community that enhances research utilization of the end results. In addition to disease-based methods, the Nominal Group Technique is being proposed as an important research tool for involving the non-experts in priority setting in Tanzania.

The use of the nominal group technique as an evaluative tool in the teaching and summative assessment of the inter-personal skills of student mental health nurses

Nominal group technique is a semi-quantitative/qualitative evaluative methodology. It has been used in health care education for generating ideas to develop curricula and find solutions to problems in programme delivery. This paper aims to describe the use of nominal group technique and present the data from nominal group evaluations of a developing module which used novel approaches to the teaching and assessment of interpersonal skills. Evaluations took place over 3 years. Thirty-six students took part in annual groups. Analysis of the data produced the following themes based on items generated in the groups: role play, marking, course content, teaching style and user involvement. Findings indicate that students valued the role play, feedback from service users and emphasis on engagement and collaboration elements of the module. The areas which participants found difficult and desired change included anxiety during experiential practice, the "snap shot" nature of assessment and the use of specific interventions. Indications are also given regarding the impact of changes made by teaching staff over the 3 year evaluation period. The findings support themes within the existing literature on the teaching of interpersonal skills and may to some extent point the way toward best practice in this area. The paper discusses these findings and their implications for nurse education.

A Guide to Nominal Group Technique (NGT) in Focus-group Research

This article briefly describes the use of Nominal Group Technique (NGT) to elicit information from a small group. NGT is a simple and rigorous educational research method, which can easily be used with staff and/or students. In this article, the different stages of NGT are covered sequentially and a short case study is provided on the use of NGT in a recent geography and environmental sciences pedagogic research project. This short paper also considers the appropriate use of NGT and covers some of the technique's weaknesses. The article concludes by providing some recommendations for practitioners who might like to try using this technique.

Interpretive structural modelling: a methodology for structuring complex issues

This paper discusses the nature of Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) as methodology for dealing with complex issues. Aspects of managing complexity relating particularly to the use of ISM with a group of participants are explored. These include the interrelations between the issue, group and methodology, and between content, context, process and product. Languages for modelling structure are briefly examined, and ISM is presented as a computer-assisted modelling approach incorporating words, graphics and mathematics. The steps of using ISM in practice are considered in the context of group work. Each step is elaborated upon and important features discussed. The use of Nominal Group Technique as an idea-generation method which may be used in conjunction with ISM is outlined. An example of an application is given concerning the structuring of a set of objectives to produce an Intent Structure.

Curriculum Development and the Nominal Group Technique: Gaining the Practitioners' View

This study describes the use of Nominal Group Technique by a library school faculty to identify curriculum areas of prime concern to library practitioners. A sample of 26 librarians from senior and middle-rank positions in academic, public, state, school, and special libraries participated in the study. Results show that their major concerns were in the curriculum areas of philosophy and social context of libraries, library skills, administration, personal and interpersonal relations, and specialization. BY COMPARISON with the United States or Great Britain the professionalization of education for librarianship in Australia is a relatively recent process. Apart from the foundation of a school at the University of New South Wales in Sydney in 1960, library schools were not established in tertiary institutions until the adoption of the Martin Report1 by the Commonwealth Government in 1965. The Martin Report dramatically restructured tertiary education in Australia with its concept of colleges of advanced education, equal but different from the universities. The report also required the library profession to revise its hopes that library education would be university based, for it specifically re