One University (one + university)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The UCLan community engagement and service user support (Comensus) project: valuing authenticity, making space for emergence

HEALTH EXPECTATIONS, Issue 4 2007
Soo Downe BA (Hons) RM MSc PhD
Abstract Objective, To develop and evaluate service user, carer and community involvement in health and social care education. Background, Despite the high policy profile of involvement issues, there appear to be no published accounts of schemes that have used a systematic whole-faculty approach to community engagement in health and social care higher education. Focus of this paper, The set up and early development of a faculty-wide community engagement project. Setting and participants, Staff from the faculty of health in one University, local service users and carers and community group project workers and local National Health Service (NHS) and public sector staff. Design, Participatory action research including document review, field notes, questionnaires and interviews. Analysis, Thematic analysis. The emerging themes were tested by seeking disconfirming data, and through verification with stake-holders. Results, Prior to the study, there were examples of community engagement in the participating faculty, but they occurred in specific departments, and scored low on the ,ladder of involvement'. Some previous attempts at engagement were perceived to have failed, resulting in resistance from staff and the community. Despite this, an advisory group was successfully formed, and project framing and development evolved with all stake-holders over the subsequent year. The four themes identified in this phase were: building accessibility; being ,proper' service users/carers;moving from suspicion to trust: mutually respectful partnerships as a basis for sustainable change; and responses to challenge and emergence. Conclusions, Successful and sustainable engagement requires authenticity. Many problems and solutions arising from authentic engagement are emergent, and potentially challenging to organizations. [source]


Index of sources of stress in nursing students: a confirmatory factor analysis

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 5 2009
Chris Gibbons
Abstract Title.,Index of sources of stress in nursing students: a confirmatory factor analysis. Aim., This paper is a report of a study to test the proposed factor structure of the Index of Sources of Stress in Nursing Students. Background., Research across many countries has identified a number of sources of distress in nursing students but little attempt has been made to understand and measure sources of eustress or those stressors likely to enhance performance and well-being. The Index of Sources of Stress in Nursing Students was developed to do this. Exploratory factor analysis suggested a three-factor structure, the factors being labelled: learning and teaching; placement-related and course organization. It is important, however, to subject the instrument to confirmatory factor analysis as a further test of construct validity. Method., A convenience sample of final year nursing students (n = 176) was surveyed in one university in Northern Ireland in 2007. The Index of Sources of Stress in Nursing Students, which measures sources of stress likely to contribute to distress and eustress, was completed electronically. The lisrel programme was used to carry out the confirmatory factor analysis and test the factor structure suggested in the exploratory analysis. Findings., The proposed factor structure for the items measuring ,Uplifts' proved to be a good fit to the data and the proposed factor structure for the items measuring ,Hassles' showed adequate fit. Conclusion., In nursing programmes adopting the academic model and combining university-based learning with placement experience, this instrument can be used to help identify the sources of stress or course demands that students rate as distressing and those that help them to achieve. The validity of the ISSN could be further evaluated in other education settings. [source]


The allocation of prestigious positions in organizational science: accumulative advantage, sponsored mobility, and contest mobility

JOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 5 2005
C. Chet Miller
More than 200 freshly minted doctoral graduates enter the field of organization science every year. A non-trivial number of existing faculty members move from one university to another every year, while other organization science faculty leave academia to enter retirement, consulting, or industry. Despite the importance of this large, complex system of entries and exits, few attempts have been made to explicitly understand how the system works. Drawing upon sociology of science and careers research, we studied the underlying form of the position allocation system by focusing on the relative importance of research success and prior affiliations as antecedents of movement and stability across positions. We used three theoretical models: accumulative advantage, sponsored mobility, and contest mobility. Tracking hundreds of faculty members for 16 years post doctorate, we find a downward cascading of affiliation prestige over time that affects people more dramatically and quickly than we expected, especially women. Accumulative advantage, the most predictive of our models, does help to maintain relative but not absolute prestige, at least until its effects wane in later years of the career. These findings are relevant to scholars interested in the sociology of science, organization scholars interested in the underlying dynamics of their discipline, and individuals making career choices. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Levels of empathy in undergraduate occupational therapy students

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2010
Ted Brown
Abstract Empathy is an important attribute for occupational therapists in establishing rapport and in better understanding their clients. However, empathy can be compromised by high workloads, personal stressors and pressures to demonstrate efficacy. Occupational therapists also work with patients from a variety of diagnostic groups. The objective of this study was to determine the extent of empathy and attitudes towards clients amongst undergraduate occupational therapy students at one Australian University. A cross-sectional study was undertaken using a written survey of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) and the Medical Condition Regard Scale. Overall, a strong level of empathy was reported amongst students. Four medical conditions that occupational therapists work with (stroke, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and depression) were held in high regard. Substance abuse, however, was held in comparatively low regard. Overall, the year of study appeared to have no significant impact on the students' empathy. Despite having a lower reported empathy level than found in health professions from other studies using the JSPE, occupational therapy students were found to have a good level of empathy. Of concern, however, was the bias reported against the medical condition of substance abuse, highlighting that the there may be a need to reinforce that patients from this diagnostic group are equally deserving of quality care irrespective of their clinical condition. Recommendations for future research include completing a longitudinal study of occupational therapy students' empathy levels and investigating the empathy levels of occupational therapists working with different client groups. Limitations of the study include the convenience sampling of occupational therapy students enrolled at one university which limits the generalizability of the results to groups of participants with similar characteristics. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]