11237 research outputs found
Sort by
Expanding access to adult community choirs: a scoping review to identify facilitators and barriers to choir membership
No full textChoir singing is increasingly recognised for its potential health and wellbeing benefits, with amateur adult community choirs offering accessible opportunities for participation. However, a lack of member diversity highlights the need to identify facilitators and barriers to address equitable access. To do this, we conducted a scoping review of international literature, identifying 24 relevant articles. Previous findings often focused on personal motivations for participation, such as enjoyment of singing and fulfilment of personal, relational and community needs. Factors that affect access despite personal motivation were also identified: facilitators included previous musical experiences, audition-free entry, word-of-mouth recruitment and effective leadership, while barriers included negative relationships and time constraints. Some literature noted a gender imbalance, lack of ethnic diversity and generally older membership, indicating broader access issues; however, specific factors for underrepresented groups were not identified. The literature indicates important considerations for increasing access, engagement and retention in amateur adult community choirs, but further research is needed to address barriers for underrepresented groups.</p
Quality of life measurement tools for heavy menstrual bleeding: a systematic review and critical appraisal
No full textObjectives: Accurate and reliable heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) specific quality of life (QoL) tools can offer a holistic assessment of HMB impact and response to treatment. We systematically reviewed published disease-specific QoL assessment tools for HBM to assess their methodological quality.Methods: We searched PubMed and EMBASE until March 2024 complemented by a search of PROQOLID database and reference lists for studies reporting on the development or validation of HMB specific QoL instruments for adult women. We assessed them against the COSMIN checklist. We scored tools for their methodological quality to make recommendations for use in practice.Results: We identified 2621 citations and included 17 studies reporting on the development and validation of 10 HMB specific QoL tools. All the studies were conducted in the USA and western Europe, and all were available in the English language except one. Three tools were in digital format, while seven were in paper format (7/10, 70 %). The median of QoL tool items was 21 (range 3–72) with a recall period of 1–3 months in 7/10 (70 %) tools. The overall quality was low to medium and none of the tools met all the COSMIN requirements to be recommended in clinical practice. The UFS-QOL and SAMANTA tools showed high quality for validity, responsiveness and interpretability but require further validation.Conclusion: None of the available QoL tools for HMB are appropriate for use in practice. There is a need to invest in developing and validating reliable tools that offer high quality qualitative and quantitative assessment.</p
Role of managers in mitigating workplace stress in the healthcare sector: a case of EHS hospitals in the UAE
No full textPurpose: The study investigates the dynamics of workplace stress in EHS hospitals in the UAE, focusing on how management practices influence stress levels among healthcare professionals. The primary objective is to identify effective strategies managers can implement to alleviate workplace stress, contributing to academic understanding and practical solutions in the healthcare sector.Design/Methodology/Approach: A pragmatic philosophical approach was adopted, utilising a mixed methods design combining quantitative and qualitative data. The research employed a convergent parallel design, collecting data through structured survey (n=549) and semi-structured interviews (n=23). Quantitative data were analysed using statistical methods such as correlation and regression analysis, while qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis.Findings: The study revealed that workplace stress is pervasive among healthcare professionals in EHS hospitals, with significant stressors including excessive workload, low job satisfaction, and ineffective management practices. A critical finding was that managerial effectiveness significantly predicts lower stress levels, with a negative correlation. Additionally, stable work shifts, clear role definitions, reducing staff shortages, providing career advancement, managing accreditation, streamlining work distribution, and engaging in effective communication were key managerial strategies for mitigating stress.Practical Implications: The study offers practical insights for healthcare managers in the UAE, emphasising the importance of managerial practices in reducing workplace stress. By focusing on effective management, healthcare organisations can enhance employee well-being, which may lead to improved job satisfaction and patient care quality.Originality/Value: This study reframes workplace stress as an organisational issue rather than an individual one, offering a fresh perspective on stress management in healthcare. It integrates the JD-R model and P-E Fit theory, highlighting the dynamic interplay between job demands, resources, and person-environment fit. The study also provides context-specific, actionable strategies for managers, such as improving leadership skills, stabilising work shifts, and clarifying roles, filling a critical gap in the UAE healthcare workplace stress literature.</p
Climate change in anthropo-temporal quasi-fantasy and new weird fiction
No full textEcocritics including Tim Clark, Amitav Ghosh, Erin James, and Marek Oziewicz have remarked upon the challenges facing narrative when engaging with the climate crisis. In this project I offer a detailed comparative analysis of the ways in which the SFF subgenres Cli-fi, Anthropo-Temporal Quasi-Fantasy, and New Weird respond to the climate crisis. I argue that subtler, indirect engagements with climate change can be particularly impactful. In Chapter One, I introduce Timothy Morton’s theory of ‘Hyperobjects’ as well as the concept of defamiliarization. Both are central to my emphasis on the effectiveness of indirection. I then briefly explain the parameters for Anthropo-Temporal Quasi-Fantasy and New Weird fiction. In Chapter Two I seek to demonstrate some shortcomings identifiable in cli-fi’s direct engagement with climate change. While useful, cli-fi can over-fictionalize this legitimate existing threat for narrative purposes, ultimately misrepresenting the climate crisis itself. In Chapter Three I introduce a subgenre which I have named Anthropo-Temporal Quasi-Fantasy; its texts interweave elements of fantasy throughout otherwise non-fantasy narratives. These texts, including novels by Anthony Doerr, David Mitchell, and Emily St. John Mandel, utilize fantasy tools and expansive timescales to depict the changing climate. Rather than engaging with the climate crisis effectively despite their fantasy elements, these texts do so largely because of them, partly because they force the reader to confront their own failure to identify climate change as the novels’ true focus. Finally, I explore New Weird’s depiction of climate change through garbage and the pursuit of energy, as well as this subgenre’s experimentation with characters’ states of consciousness and memory. These New Weird texts, by China Miéville, Jeff VanderMeer, and Chris Beckett, move the climate signposts from the reader’s unconscious to the forefront of their attention. Climate change is undoubtedly omnipresent in twenty-first century life and its presence in twenty-first century SFF literature therefore deserves attention and analysis. Anthropo-Temporal Quasi-Fantasy and New Weird works draw on defamiliarizing fantasy components to provoke readers to confront their complicity in the climate crisis.</p
Advocating for professional advocates in nursing and midwifery
No full textThis article discusses the development of professional advocacy in the U.K. nursing and midwifery professions. Initially established in midwifery, the discourse of professional advocacy has gradually shifted from a patient focus to advocating for the professionals in their professional roles. This move is driven by the need to influence the health, well-being, and efficacy of the health professions, thereby positively impacting patient care. The concept of advocacy is thus expanding from advocacy focussing on patients/social groups, to incorporating advocating for health professionals by health professionals. However, it is unclear if literature and evidence is keeping pace with this potential conceptual shift taking place in the practice setting, and it is unclear if past patient-centered conceptualizations of advocacy are relevant to the context of professional-oriented advocacy. This article aims to initiate this discussion specific to the nursing profession.</p
The use of 360-degree video to reduce anxiety and increase confidence in mental health nursing students: a mixed methods preliminary study
No full textBackground According to the 2022 NHS Survey, stress affects 45% of staff. More research is needed to explore how to develop resilient mental health nurses, who face multiple workplace stressors including interacting with a distressed client group. Higher Education Institutions are uniquely placed to introduce skills for coping to pre-registration nurses that help reduce their anxiety and increase their confidence, before entering placements for the first time. Methods In this study, we used a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) scenario alongside a cognitive reappraisal strategy and supportive clinical supervision technique to explore student mental health nurses’ experiences of VR as an educative tool and to help build emotional coping skills. Results Student’s behavioural responses to the distressed patient scenario were varied. There was some indication that the VR influenced how students responded. If students had prior experience in health work, they were more likely to feel detached from the distress of the service user. Although for some students VR provided a meaningful learning experience in developing emotional awareness, other students felt more like a ‘fly on the wall’ than an active participant and empathetic and compassionate responses were strongest in those who perceived a strong immersive effect. Overall, the supportive supervision decreased the anxiety of the small sample involved, but confidence was not affected. Conclusion The use of 360-degree VR technology as an educative, classroom-based tool to moderate anxiety and build confidence in pre-placement mental health nursing students was partially supported by this study. The effectiveness of such technology appeared to be dependent on the degree to which ‘immersion’ and a sense of presence was experienced by students. Our cognitive reappraisal intervention proved useful in reducing anxiety caused by ‘the patient in distress scenario’ but only for those students who achieved a deep immersive effect. Students with prior exposure to distressing events (both in their personal lives and in clinical setting) might have developed other coping mechanisms (e.g., detachment). These findings support the idea that ‘presence’ is a subjective feeling experienced by the user and can vary among users.</p
Self-compassion around the world: measurement invariance of the short form of the self-compassion ccale (SCS-SF) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups
No full textObjectives: The 12-item Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS–SF) is a widely used instrument for the assessment of self-compassion. To date, there have been few examinations of this instrument’s psychometric properties, particularly across nations and languages. Therefore, we used data from the Body Image in Nature Survey (BINS) to assess measurement invariance of the SCS–SF across nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups. Methods: Participants (N = 56,968) from 65 nations completed the SCS–SF in 40 languages. Using these data, we tested various hypothesised models of the SCS–SF in the total sample and, using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, tested for invariance of the optimal model across national groups, languages, gender identities, and age groups. Results: In the total dataset, we found that an 11-item, 2-factor model (i.e., SCS-11) provided best fit to the data, with the two factors tapping distinct constructs of compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding. The SCS-11 was found to be partially scalar invariant across national groups and languages, and fully scalar invariant across gender identities and age groups. There was wide variation in latent means for the two factors, particularly across national groups and languages. Further analyses showed negligible associations between the two factors and sociodemographic variables, including marital status, financial security, and urbanicity. Conclusions: Our results suggest that it may be possible to derive a stable 2-factor model of the SCS–SF for use in cross-cultural research, but also highlight the likelihood of cross-national and cross-linguistic variations in the way that self-compassion is understood.</p
Communicating contested science in a polarized world: portrayals of scientists, experiences with science communication, and recommendations to increase engagement
No full textRecently, societal polarization over science has increased markedly and scientists communicating about their research risk being drawn into controversies. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is on science communication of contested science (climate change, vaccines, or GMOs). The thesis comprises three qualitative studies all applying thematic analysis. Through 84 articles and their associated comment sections, the first study investigates how journalists and their readers perceive scientists and their science. Two dominant groups were observed: A pro-science group (commentators and journalists) and a contra-science group (nearly exclusively commentators). How these groups represent scientists and their science are used to justify either support or opposition. Understanding how non-experts perceive scientists could help improve science communication, which may be the first step toward decreasing societal polarization over contested science. The second study investigates scientists’ views on and experiences of collaborating with journalists and engaging in science communication about contested science. 27 interviews were conducted. The identified themes highlight perceived benefits and challenges of engaging in science communication and working with journalists, as well as perspectives on training, motivations, and the public. Understanding scientists’ experiences and views is needed before more effective science communication interventions can be formulated and science communication engagement can be increased. The last study builds on the findings from the two prior studies and crystalizes the main barriers impacting science communication engagement. Themes were identified after conducting a second exploration of the two datasets and present scientists, journalists, and readers’ views of science communication output and scientists’ skills as communicators. This study also shows how harassment and threats highlight the need for a safety net and support. Finally, the insights gained from the three studies enabled the formulation of eight recommendations aimed at enhancing science communication preparedness and engagement</p
Auditory acclimatization in new adult hearing aid users: A registered systematic review of magnitude, key variables, and clinical relevance
No full textObjectives: Auditory acclimatization is a systematic change in auditory performance over time linked to alterations in acoustic information provided by hearing aids, involving an improvement in performance that cannot be attributed solely to task, procedural, or training effects. This pre-registered systematic review aimed to comprehensively examine the presence of auditory acclimatization among new adult hearing aid users, quantify its magnitude when observed, and explore the factors that may influence acclimatization.
Design: A systematic literature search was conducted across the CINAHL, PubMed, and Web of Science databases in March 2024. The selected reports for the study included behavioural (such as speech recognition in quiet and noise), self-reported (e.g., hearing aid benefits/ satisfaction), and electrophysiological outcomes. The review protocol was registered on PROSPERO and followed PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines. A meta-analysis was attempted but excluded due to large missing data.
Results: The systematic review identified 43 studies on auditory acclimatization following hearing aid use, with 25 including control groups and 18 without. This review focused on the 25 controlled studies, as they provide stronger evidence for attributing changes to acclimatization rather than confounding factors like practice effects. Among these, 18 studies examined behavioural speech recognition outcomes: 10 reported acclimatization, 1 showed mixed results, and 7 reported no acclimatization. Of the 8 self-reported studies, 3 provided evidence supporting acclimatization, 3 showed mixed results with some measures indicating acclimatization while others did not, and 2 found no evidence of acclimatization. For electrophysiological outcomes, 4 of 7 studies reported acclimatization, while 3 did not. Evidence on influencing factors suggests that consistent hearing aid use, hearing loss severity, and device features may influence acclimatization, while cognitive abilities and age showed no significant impact.
Conclusion: This review offers a comprehensive analysis of studies involving both bilateral and unilateral hearing aid users, with a focus on controlled trials, providing an up-to-date overview of the field. While evidence suggests that acclimatization occurs, its impact on new adult hearing aid users is generally modest and inconsistently observed across studies and outcomes. Some studies have identified a link between consistent hearing aid use, more severe hearing loss, and certain device features with improved acclimatization. However, factors such as cognitive abilities and age do not show a clear association. Future research should prioritize studies with rigorous control groups, incorporate longitudinal studies with early baseline measurements to capture initial acclimatization effects, and assess progress at key intervals.</p
Music therapy embedded in the life of dementia inpatient care to help prevent and manage distress: a feasibility study to inform a future trial
No full textIntroduction: Mental health dementia wards in the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK provide specialist care for people with dementia experiencing acute levels of distress. There is little research into these settings, but music therapy may reduce distress in the short term. This co-designed, complex intervention
development study aimed to test the feasibility of delivering a standardised music therapy protocol (MELODIC: Music therapy Embedded in the Life Of Dementia Inpatient Care) on these wards and the suitability of the research methods.
Methods: The MELODIC intervention aims to support the personalised use of music to prevent and manage distress through: 1) embedding a music therapist in
the multidisciplinary team, 2) delivering clinical music therapy sessions, 3) developing musical care plans for each patient, 4) and training and support for
staff and families to implement care plans. Two NHS mental health dementia wards with differing experience of music therapy were recruited purposively. All
patients, families and staff were eligible to participate subject to written consent. The intervention was delivered over four weeks. The interventionist kept a diary recording all interactions with patients, staff and families to measure treatment adherence. Questionnaires reporting patient, family and staff outcomes were collected twice before and twice after intervention delivery. Routinely collected data were gathered and interviews conducted post-intervention.
Results: The MELODIC intervention was acceptable with high levels of treatment adherence. The research methods were feasible with recruitment targets met (including 28 patients, 13 family members, 48 staff members) and all requested data collected with high levels of data completeness. Quantitative data showed
no increase in distress symptoms or reported safety incidents during the intervention period. Interventionist diaries and qualitative data supported intervention refinement.
Conclusion: In a highly complex setting caring for some of the most vulnerable patients in the NHS it was possible to co-design and deliver a novel music therapy
intervention. The research methods were feasible and acceptable. This protocolised intervention should be tested for clinical effectiveness in a controlled trial.
Registration: ISRCTN86317609</p
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Open Research Online? Become a CORE Member to access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard! 👇