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Post-COVID-19: can digital solutions lead to a more equitable global healthcare workforce?
No full textAn unintended consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the exponential growth of telemedicine, with automation of healthcare becoming more common. Face-to-face meetings and training events have been replaced relatively seamlessly with online versions, taking clinical or academic expertise to distant parts of the world and making them more accessible and affordable. The wide reach of digital platforms offering remote healthcare offers the opportunity of democratising access to high-quality healthcare, However, certain challenges remain: (a) clinical guidance developed in one geographical area may need adaptation for use in others; (b) regulatory mechanisms from one jurisdiction need to offer patient safety across other jurisdictions; (c) barriers created by disparity in technology infrastructure and the variation in pay for services across different economies, leading to brain drain and an inequitable workforce. The World Health Organization's Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel could offer the preliminary framework on which solutions to these challenges could be built
Critical commentary. Understanding the effects of subtle abuse in intimate relationships: contributions to counselling psychology.
No full textThe research area of this study examines the impact of the authors’ contribution to the field of counselling psychology, specifically in the area of psychological abuse.Despite its overwhelming prevalence worldwide, psychological abuse has largely been a neglected area of study, with little understanding surrounding the complexities and mechanisms behind emotionally abusive dynamics. Psychological violence is estimated to be the most prevalent form of intimate partner violence (IPV) and yet, there is very little research on the individual impact of psychological abuse on mental health (Dokkedhal et al., 2019). Most victims of psychological abuse often do not know that they are experiencing abuse, even though there is a strong link between psychological abuse alone and a range of mental health disorders and physical conditions.In an effort to address this significant gap in knowledge, the author has written the book, “If He’s So Great, Why Do I Feel So Bad? Recognizing and Overcoming Subtle Abuse”, which has been translated and published in twelve languages. Primary objectives of the book include:- Helping women to accurately identify the more covert forms of psychological abuse.- Learning personality traits of an abuser and of victims of abuse.- Characteristics of abusive relationships that are often overlooked.- How to recover from an abusive relationship.Additionally, the author has written courses that have been taken by nearly 17,000 students, as well as helping clients through clinical practice. The author’s mission is to change the field of counselling psychology to accurately identify psychological abuse and effective intervention strategies, rather than continuing to neglect this subject and in doing so, reinforcing the problem and causing further traumatization.In this retrospective analysis, a selective review of the literature on psychological abuse will examine the effects of psychological abuse on physical and mental health, why research is lacking, the effects of subtle psychological abuse, and how to best support patients in clinical practice. This critical commentary will also demonstrate how the author’s professional practice in counselling psychology has led to enhanced understanding of the effects of subtle abuse in intimate relationships, subsequently resulting in the book and courses. A final critical reflection highlights the methods used to investigate evidence of this, including the Hayes (1995) model of countertransference, which serves as a reflective practice to review and evaluate the validity of the efforts and to explore biases. This work is supported by a portfolio of evidence, which contains additional work by the author
Teacher Education in Slovakia: Recent Joys and Challenges for the Future
No full textThis chapter describes the trajectory of teacher education in Slovakia, capturing three decades of significant political, social, and cultural transformation. To chart and analyse the development of Slovak educational policy in relation to teacher education during this period, a two-part historical framework was applied. The first covers the 1990s, when the Soviet Union fell, and ends with the year 2004, when Slovakia joined the EU. The second describes the subsequent period of decisive changes brought to teacher education through the acceptance of the Bologna Process and the introduction of key legislation—including the acts that defined the roles, responsibilities, and status of teachers across all education sectors—as well as school and national curriculum reforms
The relationship between physical exercise, depressed mood, and strength of craving in drug misuse. Utilizing a group exercise intervention.
No full textThis study employed a mixed methods design to explore whether physical exercise influenced depressed mood and craving in people, who are undergoing therapy for drug misuse. Ninety participants who attended therapeutic communities, took part in this study, and were separated into control and intervention groups. Participants in the intervention group were involved in group exercise on a weekly basis for a period of three months. All participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the Obsessive-Compulsive Drug Use Scale three times (pre, post, post 2). In addition, 26 participants were interviewed about their experiences with exercise. The quantitative data was analysed using Pearson Correlations, MANOVA, and T-TESTS. The qualitative data was assessed using thematic analysis.The present study is characterized by conflicting results between quantitative and qualitative methodology. The main reasons for this discrepancy are the differences before the start of the study between the two groups. On one hand, quantitative results indicated that there were no differences between the two groups after the intervention of physical exercise on depressed mood and craving. They also indicated that the two groups seemed to differ prior the intervention of physical exercise. On the other hand, qualitative results indicated that physical exercise helped participants in the intervention group to improve their depressed mood, reduce their drug cravings, and adapt better in the therapeutic community. Additionally, physical exercise helped participants in the intervention group enhance other psychological elements such as group cohesion, better body image perceptions, and improved their confidence. Finally, intervention group participants’ subjective experiences of the usefulness of physical exercise, reveal a strong argument that physical exercise can be used as a therapeutic tool in drug addiction treatment.A primary discovery of the present study that was found by both quantitative and qualitative results, is the relationship between depressed mood, and craving, regardless of the intervention of physical exercise. This is a major finding as it will allow future research to better explore the different elements around the relationship between depressed mood and craving and can contribute in the generation of future hypotheses
A high secured Steganalysis using QVDHC model
No full textData compression plays a vital role in data security as it saves memory, transfer speed is high, easy to handle and secure. Mainly the compression techniques are categorized into two types. They are lossless, lossy data compression. The data format will be an audio, image, text or video. The main objective is to save memory of using these techniques is to save memory and to preserve data confidentiality, integrity. In this paper, a hybrid approach was proposed which combines Quotient Value Difference (QVD) with Huffman coding. These two methods are more efficient, simple to implement and provides better security to the data. The secret message is encoded using Huffman coding, while the cover image is compressed using QVD. Then the encoded data is embedded into cover image and transferred over the network to receiver. At the receiver end, the data is decompressed to obtain original message. The proposed method shows high level performance when compared to other existing methods with better quality and minimum erro
Getting a PhD by professional practice: autoethnographic accounts by two mental health nurses and their supervisor
No full textChanges in PhD regulations at several universities mean that there are a number of routes available to study for a PhD, other than the traditional PhD by research. Many offer a PhD by publication, which can either be via a retrospective route or a prospective route. Others offer a PhD by public works or professional practice, which are both retrospective. Both options may be available to mental health nurses, who may have contributed greatly to the development of the profession, but never had the time or encouragement to pursue PhD studies before. This paper features two autoethnographic accounts by two highly experienced mental health nurses, who achieved their PhDs in the last year. They reflect on their own backgrounds in mental health nursing and what persuaded them to study for a PhD. If you thought your own academic journey was finished, maybe you may need to think again
An international validation of the Bolton Unistride Scale (BUSS) of tenacity
No full textAcademic success at University is increasingly believed to be a combination of personal characteristics like grit, resilience, strength-use, self-control, mind-set and wellbeing. The authors have developed a short 12-item measure of tenacity, the Bolton Uni-Stride Scale (BUSS) which incorporates these elements. Previous work in the UK had established the reliability and validity of the BUSS. The present paper reports the findings of an International validation of BUSS across 30 countries (n = 1043). Participants completed the BUSS alongside other recognised scales. Factor analysis revealed an almost identical two-factor solution to previous work and the reliability and validity of the scale were supported using an international sample. The authors recommend however that the scale be used as a single score combining all 12 items. In the light of this, the authors suggest that the BUSS will be a useful measure to incorporate in studies of academic attainment
Positive psychology: humour and its role within mental health nursing
No full textThis is the eleventh article in a series that explores the meaning of positive psychology and the importance it has on the wellbeing of the mental health workforce. It focuses on positive psychology interventions that help to develop humour and considers how the uplifting effect of humour can be experienced through contemporary use in the field of mental health nursing. This article will connect theories of humour that link to wellbeing. It introduces the concept of positive psychology and its links with humour. Finally, it follows with the application of humour within the nursing context. The practical activities provided in the article will help the reader increase their own awareness of their own character strength of humour, observe the type of humour they use and consider ways to develop its use and transferability within their own lifestyle
Highly Efficient Removal of Nitrate and Phosphate to Control Eutrophication by the Dielectrophoresis-Assisted Adsorption Method
No full textThe removal of excessive amounts of nitrate and phosphate from water sources, especially agricultural wastewater, has been of high significance to control eutrophication in aquatic systems. Here, a new method is reported for the removal of nitrate and phosphate simultaneously from wastewater based on the combination of the solution-phased adsorption (ADS) and dielectrophoresis (DEP) techniques. The plant ash was first selected as the adsorbent by screening tests, followed by a systematic investigation of using the adsorbent to remove nitrate and phosphate from wastewater under various experimental conditions, including the testing of adsorbent dosage, pretreatment time, water flow rate, and electrode voltage. The analysis of the adsorbent particles was also performed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis, the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) test, and the measurement of Zeta potentials. Compared with the ADS method alone, the introduction of DEP into the purification process has greatly increased the removal rate by 66.06% for nitrate and 43.04% for phosphate, respectively. In the meantime, it is observed that the processing time has been greatly reduced by 92% with the assistance of DEP