A comparison between the lecture and self-study methods on female students' awareness and attitudes about text neck syndrome

BACKGROUND

Text Neck Syndrome (TNS) is a common issue in the neck. The emergence of such issues makes it more pressing to offer ergonomic training to prevent their consequences. The present study aimed to compare training through the lecture and Self-Study methods awareness and attitudes about the TNS.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was conducted on 94 female high-school students in 2021, and a quasi-experimental methodology was implemented. The participants were randomly divided into a lecture method and a self-study group. A researcher-made questionnaire was utilized for data collection to measure the participants' attitudes and awareness. The data were analyzed according to descriptive and inferential statistics.

RESULT

The findings showed that the mean post-test scores of the participants' awareness in the lecture method and self-study groups were 8.74 and 5.83, respectively, and a significant increase was observed in the post-test scores of the lecture method group. However, no significant difference was observed between the pre-test and post-test attitude scores of the two groups.

CONCLUSION

As training by the use of the lecture method in a webinar format has the characteristics of a traditional and online educational simultaneously, it offers an advantage that can be utilized in educational institutions as a complementary (or even an independent) method. Moreover, the experts in medical informational sciences need to accompany training groups as they are responsible to select and prepare credible content materials for audiences.

The frequency and cueing mechanisms of involuntary autobiographical memories while driving

Involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) have been typically studied with paper diaries, kept for a week or longer. However, such studies are unable to capture the true frequency of IAMs, nor the level of detail that would give new insights into the mechanisms of IAMs. To address this gap, a new audio-recording method was developed and tested on the first author who recorded 674 IAMs while driving a car on a 30-40-minute-long habitual route on 20 occasions. Results revealed very high frequency of IAMs (almost 34 per journey) that were reported more often in response to dynamic (one-off) than static cues. Moreover, a substantial number of memory chains and long-term priming of IAMs by previously encountered incidental stimuli were also recorded. Based on these results, a new theoretical model is proposed in which the occurrence of IAMs is determined by an interplay of factors at the time of the IAM, such as the type of ongoing activity and internal or external triggers, as well as different types of long-term priming. The results also have practical implications for studying mind-wandering and safety issues in driving and aircraft-flying, where periods of concentration are followed by monotony and less demanding tasks.

Guided self-study in preclinical physiotherapy students - A feasibility study

Background

Literature describing the impact of guided self-study (G-SS) in knowledge changes and skills improvements in undergraduate students is scarce.

Objectives

The aims of our study were to evaluate the feasibility of a G-SS programme in a full-time undergraduate physiotherapy degree course and to assess the effectiveness of the G-SS on changes in knowledge and development of skills (hands-on).

Method

Fifty-three first-semester undergraduate physiotherapy students were randomly divided into a G-SS group and a control group (CG). The G-SS group received six clinical cases and prepared each case during an 8-day cycle. The control group received self-study learning units of the original curriculum content. Primary outcome parameters were (1) time of task, (2) responsiveness of students and (3) programme differentiation. Knowledge changes and skills changes were tested using a multiple-choice questionnaire and the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).

Results

Students' responsiveness was 32%. This was below the a priori set 83%. No differences in programme differentiation were found. The OSCE grade was significantly higher in the G-SS compared to CG (p = 0.003).

Conclusion

The G-SS programme in its current form was not feasible regarding students' responsiveness. Therefore, a slight modification of our study protocol (e.g., better time planning in the academic calendar) is needed to improve students' willingness to participate in the G-SS programme.

Clinical implications

Adaptation of the school timetable should allow undergraduate physiotherapy students to prepare clinical cases under conditions of lower workload. Guided self-study as compared to CG is superior in knowledge change and (hands-on) skills improvement.

The impact of guided self-study on knowledge and skills in Swiss pre-clinical physiotherapy students - a feasibility study protocol

Physiotherapy education in Europe must incorporate self-study units in the curriculum due to the bologna reform. Studies investigating the impact of guided self-study (G-SS) on knowledge and skills in pre-clinical Swiss physiotherapy students are scarce. This study protocol describes a prospective randomized feasibility education study that will primarily examine the feasibility of establishing G-SS using retired physiotherapists as tutors in undergraduate physiotherapy students at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Health Professions. Secondary objective will be to evaluate the effectiveness of six G-SS cycles with retired physiotherapists as tutors on knowledge and skills of pre-clinical undergraduate physiotherapy students. Students of the physiotherapy degree course will be allocated into a G-SS group or control group (CG). G-SS consists of an 8-day cycle. Feasibility outcome are the fidelity of implementation that include exposure dosage and students' responsiveness, and the degree of acceptability. Success criteria of feasibility are (1) exposure dosage calculated as the number of 90-min presentations that are conducted, and the content of cases and competences and (2) students' responsiveness, with at least a 83% willingness to participate. Acceptability of intervention from the undergraduate students' perspective will be evaluated by a questionnaire with open, semi-structured questions (post intervention). This study will provide new information regarding the feasibility of embedding G-SS in the curriculum and about the students' responsiveness and their acceptability for G-SS. Study protocol version 1 Trial registration: German Register of Clinical Studies (DKRS: DRKS00015518).

Remote Teaching of Canine Cardiac Auscultation Using Digital Phonocardiograms

Veterinary students often struggle to correctly interpret heart sounds. This study sought to evaluate if additional online training using digital phonocardiograms (DPCGs) improves students' ability to identify normal and pathologic heart sounds in dogs. Thirty-six randomly assigned veterinary students listened to and interpreted 10 audio recordings of normal heart sounds (2), heart murmurs (4), and arrhythmias (4) at the start and the end of a 4-week period. Twenty-two students participated in training with DPCGs, including those created from these recordings during this period, via a self-study website (n = 12) or online webinar (n = 10). Their results were compared with those of a control group (n = 14) that did not undergo additional training. Although pre- and post-training test scores did not differ between groups, both training groups showed within-group improvement between the two tests (p = .024, p = .037); the control group did not (p = .49). Although neither training group showed differences in ability to differentiate normal heart sounds from arrhythmias, both showed increased ability to detect and specify heart murmurs and provide refined diagnoses of detected arrhythmias. These results suggest additional training, even without actual patients, improves students' ability to identify heart murmurs and provide specific diagnoses for arrhythmias. Further study with a larger sample size and an additional group without DPCG-based training would help evaluate the effectiveness of DPCGs regarding arrhythmias. Studying a larger sample size would also allow for a training group participating in both training methods, measuring cumulative effectiveness of both methods.

Data Collection in Times of Pandemic: A Self-Study and Revisit of Research Practices During a Crisis

COVID-19 as a global pandemic has greatly disrupted research, not only in terms of the practicality of research activities such as data collection, but also in data quality. Using self-study in form of duoethnography method for reflecting on research practice, this article reviews and reflects on the practices of remote data collection during the pandemic and further revisits additional issues brought about by these practices and concerns. One key observation from this self-study is the prevalence of practical challenges, particularly those related to participant access, that overshadows the potential advantages of remote data collection as well as other challenges. This challenge results in researchers' reduced control of the research process and also a requirement for more flexibility, greater sensitivity toward the participants and research skills for the researchers. We also observe greater conflation of quantitative and qualitative data collection and the emergence of triangulation as the main strategy to offset potential threats to data quality. This article concludes by calling for more discussions on several areas that feature scarce discussion in literature, including potential rhetoric importance assigned to data collection, adequacy of triangulation to safeguard data quality, and the potential difference between COVID-19's impact on quantitative and qualitative research.

Using self-study as a methodology for dental educators' professional inquiry

INTRODUCTION

Dental educators play crucial roles in dental education and in the functioning of dental schools. Whilst it is recognised that dental educators need more than relevant disciplinary expertise and that scholarly development of dental educators is important, there is a lack of knowledge about ways research can be used to promote professional development. This article aims to showcase a research methodology for professional inquiry that is widely used in teacher education to promote the view that dental education is a professional practice.

APPROACH

Self-study methodology was employed by four dental educators to illuminate their theory-informed practice. We chose to frame the inquiry around technology and accumulated three forms of data: individual journaling, video-call discussions and Padlet/bricolage. Analysis of this data focused on how the learning was co-constructed by the group.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Five key elements of our self-study were constructed into narratives: understanding technology as a dental educator, being a learner and embodied scholarship, the (expanded) roles of a teacher in a technological environment, advancing our own professional identity as an educator, and possibilities and limits for self-study in the dental education context.

CONCLUSION

Professionalisation of dental educators is critical to sustainable dental education. By educators researching their own practice, research approaches such as self-study can perform a dual role of facilitating scholarly development and contributing to the generation of new knowledge about becoming and being a dental educator.

[Ten years of the application of REACH and CLP - assessing the knowledge and implementation of these regulations by Polish users of chemicals]

BACKGROUND

The aim of this work was to assess the awareness among both downstream users and distributors of chemicals in Poland, as regards legal regulations applicable to chemicals (i.e., the Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals - REACH, and the Registration on classification, labelling and packaging - CLP), and to identify on this basis the needs for training and information campaigns addressed to these professional groups, by means of a questionnaire survey.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The SurveyMonkey Internet survey software was selected for this purpose. Two groups of respondents were surveyed - downstream users (DU) and distributors (D) of chemicals, and consumers.

RESULTS

Responses were obtained from 65 downstream users and distributors of chemicals, and from 98 consumers. As many as 23% of the respondents did not know the obligations imposed on their company by REACH and CLP. Over 59% of the DU/D respondents did not have the opportunity to participate in chemical safety management (CSM) training in the last 5 years. Eighty percent of the respondents were interested in participating in free courses that would enable them to broaden their knowledge of the classification, labeling and marketing of chemicals.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the 10 years of the application of REACH and CLP, many people working for chemical enterprises still do not know their company's obligations set out in these regulations. The percentage of people positively assessing their competences increases with the size of the enterprise. The results of the survey indicate the need to organize continuous training for people using chemicals in their professional activity and for distributors. It is very important to ensure training at the basic level of chemical distributors. Such training should provide them with elementary knowledge on the hazards posed by chemicals, which could then be passed to consumers in an understandable manner. Med Pr. 2019;70(4):435-44.

Exploring whether (and how) self-reflection can improve practice as a teacher educator

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The present essay describes a model under which a method of self-improvement of teacher-educator practice can be implemented by analyzing personal practices. I will focus my argument on investigating self-reflection and the subject under investigation will be the educator: how can they self-reflect in order to enhance their learning and hence their practice. The first step of the model is self-reflection. The second step will be self-study. The final step will be self-research techniques (such as autoethnography). This final step will provide the validity for improving personal practice in a possibly reliable way such that practices of narcissism and self-replicating redundancies or errors are avoided. By acknowledging the multiple identities a teacher assumes in their professional practice allows them to analyze them systematically and eventually improve on them.

An evaluation of outcomes following the replacement of traditional histology laboratories with self-study modules

Changes in medical school curricula often require educators to develop teaching strategies that decrease contact hours while maintaining effective pedagogical methods. When faced with this challenge, faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine converted the majority of in-person histology laboratory sessions to self-study modules that utilize multiple audiovisual modalities and a virtual microscope platform. Outcomes related to this shift were investigated through performance on in-house examinations, results of the United States Medical Licensing Examination^® (USMLE^® ) Step 1 Examination, and student feedback. Medical School College Admissions Test^® (MCAT^® ) scores were used as a covariate when comparing in-house examinations. Results revealed no significant change in performance on in-house examinations when the content being assessed was controlled (F(2, 506) = 0.676, P = 0.51). A significant improvement in overall practical examination grade averages was associated with the self-study modules (F(6, 1164) = 10.213, P < 0.01), but gradual changes in examination content may explain this finding. The histology and cell biology portion of USMLE Step 1 Examination remained consistent throughout the time period that was investigated. Student feedback regarding the self-study modules was positive and suggested that features such as instructor narrated videos were an important component of the self-study modules because they helped recreate the experience of in-person laboratory sessions. Positive outcomes from the student perspective and no drop in examination performance suggests that utilizing self-study modules for histology laboratory content may be an option for educators faced with the challenge of reducing contact hours without eliminating content. Anat Sci Educ 10: 276-285. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

Impact of an Interactive Vascular Surgery Web-Based Educational Curriculum on Surgical Trainee Knowledge and Interest

OBJECTIVE

The surgical council on resident education developed an online competency-based self-study curriculum for general surgery residency trainees. Vascular surgery trainees are yet to have a similarly validated and readily accessible self-study curriculum. We sought to determine the effect of an interactive online vascular surgery curriculum on trainee knowledge and interest in vascular surgery.

METHODS

Over 15 months, 53 trainees (36 medical students and 16 surgical residents) performing a vascular surgery rotation were enrolled in a prospective, randomized, 2-cohort study. Before starting a 4-week rotation, trainee baseline demographics were collected, and a pretest was administered to evaluate baseline vascular surgery knowledge. During the same study period, 31 trainees (GROUP 1) were randomized to an interactive online curriculum with weekly reading assignments, and 21 trainees (GROUP 2) did not have access to the online curriculum. At the conclusion, all trainees received a posttest and survey to evaluate any change in vascular surgery knowledge and interest.

RESULTS

Although 26.8% of trainees predicted that online computer modules would be a beneficial learning tool, most of trainees indicated textbook reading and case discussions are preferred. Analysis of GROUPS 1 and 2 revealed no significant differences in the average trainee age, training level, sex, or number of surgical cases observed during the rotation. Improvement in vascular surgery knowledge in GROUP 1 was significantly higher compared to GROUP 2 (average increase in posttest scores of 16.1% vs 6.6%, p = 0.009). New interest in vascular surgery was increased by 22.2% in GROUP 1, but was decreased by 40% in GROUP 2 (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Basic vascular surgery principles can be efficiently introduced through an interactive online curriculum. This type of self-study can improve trainee knowledge, and foster interest in vascular surgery. As in other specialties, a standardized and validated online vascular surgery curriculum should be developed for emerging trainees.

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Zusammenfassung. Den Mitgliedern der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine Innere Medizin (SGAIM) werden 30 Stunden Selbststudium pro Jahr vorgeschrieben. Wie wird dieses Selbststudium von Hausärzten praktiziert? In unserer Umfrage zeigte sich, dass vornehmlich werbefreie oder werbearme, qualitativ hochwertige und vertrauenswürdige schweizerische medizinische Zeitschriften gelesen werden. Lehrbücher, medizinische Webseiten und Online-Fortbildungen spielen eine untergeordnete Rolle.

Exploring Oncology Nurses' Grief: A Self-study

Oncology nursing, like many other nursing fields, often provides nurses with the opportunity to get to know their patients and their families well. This familiarity allows oncology nurses to show a level of compassion and empathy that is often helpful to the patient and their family during their struggle with cancer. However, this familiarity can also lead to a profound sense of grief if the patient loses that struggle. This self-study provided me the opportunity to systematically explore my own experience with grief as an oncology nurse, helping me to identify specific stressors and also sources of stress release.

Independent learning modules enhance student performance and understanding of anatomy

Didactic lessons are only one part of the multimodal teaching strategies used in gross anatomy courses today. Increased emphasis is placed on providing more opportunities for students to develop lifelong learning and critical thinking skills during medical training. In a pilot program designed to promote more engaged and independent learning in anatomy, self-study modules were introduced to supplement human gross anatomy instruction at Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University. Modules use three-dimensional constructs to help students understand complex anatomical regions. Resources are self-contained in portable bins and are accessible at any time. Students use modules individually or in groups in a structured self-study format that augments material presented in lecture and laboratory. Pilot outcome data, measured by feedback surveys and examination performance statistics, suggest that the activity may be improving learning in gross anatomy. Positive feedback on both pre- and post-examination surveys showed that students felt the activity helped to increase their understanding of the topic. In concordance with student perception, average examination scores on module-related laboratory and lecture questions were higher in the two years of the pilot program compared with the year before its initiation. Modules can be fabricated on a modest budget using minimal resources, making implementation practical for smaller institutions. Upper level medical students assist in module design and upkeep, enabling continuous opportunities for vertical integration across the curriculum. This resource offers a feasible mechanism for enhancing independent and lifelong learning competencies, which could be a valuable complement to any gross anatomy curriculum.

A project management approach to an ACPE accreditation self-study

In preparation for an on-site evaluation and accreditation by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE), the Albany College of Pharmacy employed project management techniques to complete a comprehensive self-study. A project lifecycle approach, including planning, production, and turnover phases, was used by the project's Self-Study Steering Committee. This approach, with minimal disruption to college operations, resulted in the completion of the self-study process on schedule. Throughout the project, the Steering Committee maintained a log of functions that either were executed successfully or in hindsight, could have been improved. To assess the effectiveness of the project management approach to the the self-study process, feedback was obtained from the College community through a poststudy survey. This feedback, coupled with the Steering Committee's data on possible improvements, form the basis for the lessons learned during this self-study process.