The Communication program emphasizes theory, research, and application to examine the ways humans communicate, verbally and non-verbally, across a variety of levels and contexts. This is particularly important as communication shapes our ideas and values, gives rise to our politics, consumption and socialization, and helps to define our identities and realities. Its power and potential is inestimable. From the briefest of text messages to the grandest of public declarations, we indeed live within communication and invite you to join us in appreciating its increasing importance in contemporary society. From Twitter and reality television to family relationships and workplace dynamics, communication is about understanding ourselves, our media, our relationships, our culture and how these things connect.

의사 간호사 communication

Background and aimsOut of a large number of studies on Internet addiction, only a few have been published on the prevention of Internet addiction. The aim of this study is provide a systematic review of scientific articles regarding the prevention of Internet addiction and to identify the relevant topics published in this area of interest.MethodsThe Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were adopted. The EBSCO, ProQuest Central, and PubMed databases were searched for texts published in English and Spanish between January 1995 and April 2016. A total of 179 original texts were obtained. After de-duplication and topic-relevance review, 108 texts were systematically classified and subjected to descriptive analysis and subsequent content analysis.ResultsThe results of the content analysis yielded the following thematic areas: (a) target groups, (b) the improvement of specific skills, (c) program characteristics, and (d) environmental interventions.Discussion and conclus...

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Prevention of Internet addiction: A systematic review

Objective: Despite major advances in research on acute stroke care interventions, relatively few stroke patients benefit from evidence-based care due to multiple barriers. Yet current evidence of such barriers is predominantly from high-income countries. This study seeks to understand stroke care professionals’ views on the barriers which hinder the provision of optimal acute stroke care in Ghanaian hospital settings. Design: A qualitative approach using semistructured interviews. Both thematic and grounded theory approaches were used to analyse and interpret the data through a synthesis of preidentified and emergent themes. Setting: A multisite study, conducted in six major referral acute hospital settings (three teaching and three non-teaching regional hospitals) in Ghana. Participants: A total of 40 participants comprising neurologists, emergency physician specialists, non-specialist medical doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, clinical psychologists and a dietitian. Results: Four key barriers and 12 subthemes of barriers were identified. These include barriers at the patient (financial constraints, delays, sociocultural or religious practices, discharge against medical advice, denial of stroke), health system (inadequate medical facilities, lack of stroke care protocol, limited staff numbers, inadequate staff development opportunities), health professionals (poor collaboration, limited knowledge of stroke care interventions) and broader national health policy (lack of political will) levels. Perceived barriers varied across health professional disciplines and hospitals. Conclusion: Barriers from low/middle-income countries differ substantially from those in high-income countries. For evidence-based acute stroke care in low/middle-income countries such as Ghana, health policy-makers and hospital managers need to consider the contrasts and uniqueness in these barriers in designing quality improvement interventions to optimise patient outcomes.

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/7/4/e015385.full.pdf

Barriers to evidence-based acute stroke care in Ghana: a qualitative study on the perspectives of stroke care professionals.

Recovery and rehabilitation.

There has been a growing interest in the negative influence that the environment of higher education institutions has on the mental health of academics. The current climate of global education-competition places extreme expectations on academics. A number of factors influence academics' mental health, such as teaching, supervising, generating research income, among others, and there is evidence to suggest that the university environment is jeopardising academics' physical and psychological health. This study sought to review the international literature with a view to ascertaining what the most commonly used measures are to investigate this topic, including the main stressors and coping strategies reported/used by academics and their lived experiences. A thorough review of the literature was conducted, and 28 studies were identified and critically analysed. The review concludes that there is compelling evidence that the university environment is triggering high levels of stress and burnout and low levels of well-being for academics. There is extremely limited research on the perceptions and lived experiences of academic staff. It is virtually unknown, what coping strategies academics use to face job demands, and our knowledge about burnout seems to be limited by the use of one particular measure without cultural adaptations. Practical implications and directions for future research are proposed.

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What do we know about university academics' mental health? A systematic literature review.

Introduction:Strategies for improving the publication output of academics are an essential component of research directives at tertiary institutions. The aim of this report was to highlight the effects of a writing retreat as an intervention strategy used by a university faculty to improve academic publication output. The strategy used included a structured programme over a period of three days guided by a facilitator.
Methods:The report uses a qualitative design to report the effects of the writing retreat on the participants.
Results:The major themes that emerged were reviewing and critical reading, writing for publication, personal growth and confidence, dedicated time, peer mentoring, programme structure and facilitation, and future directives.
Conclusion:From the feedback obtained, it is evident that strategies such as a writing retreat, provide academics with an opportunity to produce articles that are a benefit to the authors’ career trajectories as well as the institutional publication profile of their university.

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Staff development strategies for publication in the Faculty of Community and Health Science at UWC: A short report

The need for contextually appropriate and accessible school readiness assessment instruments in South Africa is well documented. The Emotional Social Screening tool for School Readiness (E3SR) screens for emotional and social competencies as a component of school readiness. This competency-based screening instrument was developed as a nine-factor model consisting of 54 items. This research study reports on the psychometric properties and factor structure of the E3SR by exploratory factor analysis. Ten preschool centres registered under the Social Welfare Act in the Cape Town Metropolitan region situated in the high-, middle- and low-socio-economic status (SES) areas constituted the research setting. A pilot study using a survey design was conducted. The E3SR protocols were completed by teachers on Grade R children during the fourth term of the academic year. The data set of 330 protocols satisfied the assumptions for inferential statistics, except for normal distribution. Normality was violated statistically; however, given the time frame, learners were expected to have mastered the competencies measured. Therefore, the violation of normal distribution was supported theoretically. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a six-factor structure, including Emotional maturity, Emotional management, Sense of self, Social skills, Readiness to learn and Communication. All the extracted factors displayed an adequate internal consistency, with a good reliability (α = 0.97). The E3SR can be shortened from 56 to 36 items without losing any important content. The E3SR can supplement formative assessments and enhance communication between role players to build children’s emotional and social competencies.

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Validation of the emotional social screening tool for school readiness

Engagement in health risk behaviours (HRBs) amongst young people is increasing despite numerous programmes to address such behaviours. The active engagement of multiple stakeholder groups, including youth, in articulating the content of youth development programmes, is thought to significantly increase buy-in, participation and success of intervention programmes. This article reports on a modified concept mapping study that used seven interviews with five teachers and two community leaders, as well as three focus groups with 32 learners with three stakeholder groups (youth, youth community programme leaders, and teachers). The stakeholders were asked to identify the content that they believe should be included in youth development programmes in order to succeed in reducing, delaying or preventing engagement in HRBs in the South African context. The findings of a thematic content analysis indicated that programmes aimed at effectively combating HRBs amongst youth should include content on four major aspects or themes: 1) HRBs that the learners engage in; 2) perceived reasons why youth engage in HRBs; 3) places of exposure to health risk behaviour; and 4) specific content or focuses. A concept map with four subsidiary quadrants was distilled and illustrated in a visual-special network representative of concepts and relations between the concepts that create propositions of stakeholders' perceptions of what should be included in the content of proposed programmes.

Concept mapping : stakeholders' perceptions of what should be included in interventions programmes aimed at reducing engagement in health risk behaviour amongst youth : : health and quality of life

Interventions to combat engagement in health risk behaviours (HRB) amongst youth produces mixed results. Engagement in HRBs continues to increase with adverse effects on health and well-being. This manuscript reports on a study that attempted to demonstrate the usefulness of Intervention Mapping (IM) in developing contextually relevant programmes with increased buy-in from stakeholders, and the potential to effect behavioural change. The present study used a modified Intervention Mapping (IM) framework that included the first five IM operational steps: 1) Needs assessment (Survey), 2) Identifying performance objectives (Concept Mapping), 3) Methods and strategies (Systematic review), 4) Programme development (Triangulation of all the components in the preceding steps) and 5) Feasibility of the designed programme (Delphi Study). The manuscript demonstrated how the framework enabled the use of multiple methodologies to develop a programme that was methodologically rigorous and empirically grounded. The focus is not on the results of the various steps, but on demonstrating how the steps were applied to facilitate programme development. Ethics clearance was obtained from the UWC Senate Research Committee and all ethics principles observed. The results demonstrate that IM is an appropriate conceptual framework for collaboration that enhances the resultant programme at various levels: theoretical/ conceptual; methodological and practical application/ intervention.

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What elements are needed to design a comprehensive youth development programme

Retention of postgraduate students is a complex problem at higher education institutions. To address this concern, various forms of academic support are offered by higher education institutions to nurture and develop the pipeline of postgraduate students. The support provided to postgraduate students tends to emphasize academic support at times at the expense of psychosocial or non-academic support. Non-cognitive skills were underscored as integral to determining academic and employment outcomes and thus, may need to be investigated more. This manuscript reports on an attempt to filter and consolidate the literature reporting on interventions for postgraduate students that include the development of non-cognitive skills. A systematic review was conducted, because it enabled rigorous and replicable process of consolidating literature. Covidence software was used as a digital platform for the systematic review. The review was conducted at four levels as per the PRISMA guideline namely, identification, screening, eligibility and final summation. The filtration process attempted to answer the following research questions: (1) How are non-cognitive factors or skills defined? (2) Which non-cognitive skills were included in support for postgraduate (Masters and Doctoral) students in the higher education setting?, and (3) How have non-cognitive skills been included in support interventions provided to retain postgraduate students? Descriptive and theory explicative metasynthesis was used for the summation and data extraction. The primary finding was that the term non-cognitive was not used explicitly in the included studies to describe skills or factors supporting student retention. The discourse centered around support and social support as non-academic factors and skills. This suggested that non-cognitive skills were constructed as co-curricular and not integrated into the postgraduate academic project or core learning outcomes. The findings highlighted the distinction between non-cognitive skills and factors and illustrated how skills and factors operate at different levels with different spheres of influence. The formats of support provide an intersectional space where skills and factors are combined.

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Mario Smith

Papers

Staff development strategies for publication in the Faculty of Community and Health Science at UWC: A short report

Validation of the emotional social screening tool for school readiness

Concept mapping : stakeholders' perceptions of what should be included in interventions programmes aimed at reducing engagement in health risk behaviour amongst youth : : health and quality of life

What elements are needed to design a comprehensive youth development programme

Non-cognitive Support for Postgraduate Studies: A Systematic Review