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Getting connected: establishing direct communication between learning developers and PhD Students with teaching responsibilities
Get PDFMany PhD researchers have the opportunity to take up teaching responsibilities during their doctoral studies to enhance their employability and interest in academia. Aside from their formal teaching training, little is known about the types of resources and support from professional services that PhD students (PhDs) use to fulfil their teaching responsibilities. On the other hand, learning development is a relatively new profession within higher education. As such, there are varied perceptions on the necessity for PhDs with teaching responsibilities to engage with learning development support. This opinion piece shares the experience of a STEM UK PhD student with teaching responsibilities and a learning development practitioner when establishing support for modules taught by PhDs. Through a dialogue, the authors explore the challenges faced in the interaction between learning developers (LDs) and PhDs, in two different UK universities, and recommend how to further develop the relationship. Through this dialogue possible solutions like increasing the visibility of available LD support for PhDs with teaching responsibilities within higher education institutions (HEIs) and including LD support in PhDs teaching training were identified.<br/
Change is in the air…
No full textHoda Wassif discusses navigating change in dental practice, from leadership to implementation.
Associations between trajectories of obesity prevalence in English primary school children and the UK soft drinks industry levy:an interrupted time series analysis of surveillance data
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are the primary source of dietary added sugars in children, with high consumption commonly observed in more deprived areas where obesity prevalence is also highest. Associations between SSB consumption and obesity in children have been widely reported. In March 2016, a two-tier soft drinks industry levy (SDIL) on drinks manufacturers to encourage reformulation of SSBs in the United Kingdom was announced and then implemented in April 2018. We examined trajectories in the prevalence of obesity at ages 4 to 5 years and 10 to 11 years, 19 months after the implementation of SDIL, overall and by sex and deprivation.METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data were from the National Child Measurement Programme and included annual repeat cross-sectional measurement of over 1 million children in reception (4 to 5 years old) and year 6 (10 to 11 years old) in state-maintained English primary schools. Interrupted time series (ITS) analysis of monthly obesity prevalence data from September 2013 to November 2019 was used to estimate absolute and relative changes in obesity prevalence compared to a counterfactual (adjusted for temporal variations in obesity prevalence) estimated from the trend prior to SDIL announcement. Differences between observed and counterfactual estimates were examined in November 2019 by age (reception or year 6) and additionally by sex and deprivation quintile. In year 6 girls, there was an overall absolute reduction in obesity prevalence (defined as >95th centile on the UK90 growth charts) of 1.6 percentage points (PPs) (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1, 2.1), with greatest reductions in the two most deprived quintiles (e.g., there was an absolute reduction of 2.4 PP (95% CI: 1.6, 3.2) in prevalence of obesity in the most deprived quintile). In year 6 boys, there was no change in obesity prevalence, except in the least deprived quintile where there was a 1.6-PP (95% CI: 0.7, 2.5) absolute increase. In reception children, relative to the counterfactual, there were no overall changes in obesity prevalence in boys (0.5 PP (95% CI: 1.0, -0.1)) or girls (0.2 PP (95% CI: 0.8, -0.3)). This study is limited by use of index of multiple deprivation of the school attended to assess individual socioeconomic disadvantage. ITS analyses are vulnerable to unidentified cointerventions and time-varying confounding, neither of which we can rule out.CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the SDIL was associated with decreased prevalence of obesity in year 6 girls, with the greatest differences in those living in the most deprived areas. Additional strategies beyond SSB taxation will be needed to reduce obesity prevalence overall, and particularly in older boys and younger children.TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN18042742.</p
“Oh my god that would hurt”: Pain cries in feminist self-defence classes
Get PDFThis study examines response cries produced by student spectators reacting to imagined pain in the setting of feminist self-defence classes. It investigates the vocal, verbal and embodied resources that constitute reactive displays to demonstrations and descriptions of physical techniques that can thwart attacks. It asks what the pain cries accomplish, considering their form and sequential organisation. Video-recordings of the classes were data. Drawing on discursive psychology and using multi-modal conversation analysis, the results detail how the conventionalised composition and positions of the cries make them mutually intelligible as reacting to a painful experience. They functioned to support the progression of the instructional activity that created a make-believe space where girls and women can resist violence. The findings confirm and extend what is known about the interactional environments and activities in which pain figures, further advancing the distinctive insights that an interactional approach brings. Data are in New Zealand English
Toward autism-friendly magnetic resonance imaging: exploring autistic individuals' experiences of magnetic resonance imaging scans in the United Kingdom, a cross-sectional survey
Get PDFBackground: Autistic individuals might undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination for clinical concerns or research. Increased sensory stimulation, lack of appropriate environmental adjustments, or lack of streamlined communication in the MRI suite may pose challenges to autistic patients and render MRI scans inaccessible. This study aimed at (i) exploring the MRI scan experiences of autistic adults in the United Kingdom; (ii) identifying barriers and enablers toward successful and safe MRI examinations; (iii) assessing autistic individuals' satisfaction with MRI service; and (iv) informing future recommendations for practice improvement.Methods: We distributed an online survey to the autistic community on social media, using snowball sampling. Inclusion criteria were: being older than 16, have an autism diagnosis or self-diagnosis, self-reported capacity to consent, and having had an MRI scan in the United Kingdom. We used descriptive statistics for demographics, inferential statistics for group comparisons/correlations, and content analysis for qualitative data.Results: We received 112 responses. A total of 29.6% of the respondents reported not being sent any information before the scan. Most participants (68%) confirmed that radiographers provided detailed information on the day of the examination, but only 17.1% reported that radiographers offered some reasonable environmental adjustments. Only 23.2% of them confirmed they disclosed their autistic identity when booking MRI scanning. We found that quality of communication, physical environment, patient emotions, staff training, and confounding societal factors impacted their MRI experiences. Autistic individuals rated their overall MRI experience as neutral and reported high levels of claustrophobia (44.8%).Conclusion: This study highlighted a lack of effective communication and coordination of care, either between health care services or between patients and radiographers, and lack of reasonable adjustments as vital for more accessible and person-centered MRI scanning for autistic individuals. Enablers of successful scans included effective communication, adjusted MRI environment, scans tailored to individuals' needs/preferences, and well-trained staff
Depression, perceived risk of COVID-19, loneliness, and perceived social support from friends among university students in Poland, UK, and India
Get PDFThe study examines the prevalence of depression among university students in Poland, the UK and India in the face of the second pandemic wave of COVID-19. The paper also examines the protective role of perceived social support, the hypothesis being that social support from friends would reduce depression. The data from university students (N=732) in Poland (N=335), UK (N= 198), and India (N=199) were collected online during of the fall/winter 2021. Participants completed measures of depression (CES-D), COVID-19 risk perception index, loneliness (DJGLS), and perceived social support (MSPSS). Almost 52% of all participants (58.5% in Poland, 62.6% in the UK, and 29.1% in India) met the criteria for major depression. The higher levels of depression symptoms were associated with a higher perceived risk of COVID-19, greater loneliness, female gender, younger students' age, and the lower levels of perceived social support. The greater family support predicted lower levels of depression symptoms in the Polish and Indian samples. Structural equation analyses (SEM) revealed the indirect effect of perceived social support from friends on the association between social loneliness and depression and between age and depression. This result shows that the support from friends significantly reduced depression, regardless of age, the level of social loneliness, and the perceived risk of COVID-19. Our conclusions link to university specialists' enhancement of psychological help for students with depression. We also recommend information campaigns on depression and treatment options
Towards a new history of literary media
Get PDFThis chapter argues that the history of literary media from the early 20th century to today’s immersive fictions should be viewed as three movements. Each movement illustrates a change in the expectations of storytelling within society. Such a history is not a linear timeline of technological development, rather it focuses on the innovative techniques in storytelling. Initially it is a move to increased reciprocation between the author and the reader characterized by a rise of fandom, author celebrity, and the development of audiences who cross-media in the first half of the 20th century. Then in the second movement there is a desire for interaction with the reader with examples from Choose Your Own Adventures stories and analogue games to interactive electronic fictions and gamification of narratives. Thirdly, it discusses the desire for immersion by the reader in the storyworld with examples from trompe-l’oeil architectural illusions to immersive virtual reality. The discussion of each movement references a range of examples which illustrate the key themes and motifs, and discusses the forces within society which have resisted authors’ and readers' attempts to fulfil these aesthetic aspirations. It argues that we need to undertake Christine Gledhill’s ‘micro-analysis of the conditions of historical practice’ to understand the complexity of this history. In two tables, it tabulates the characteristics of each movement and the socio-economic resistances which need to be considered as we trace the origins of literary transmedia storytelling
Book review: The inheritance of narrative and space: ‘Houses in Paris, Houses in Cork: Elizabeth Bowen and the Modernist Inheritance’ by Lauren Elkin in Late Modernism and Expatriation, edited by Lauren Arrington (Clemson University Press, 2022).
Get PDFReview of ‘Houses in Paris, Houses in Cork: Elizabeth Bowen and the Modernist Inheritance’ by Lauren Elkin in Late Modernism and Expatriation, edited by Lauren Arrington (Clemson University Press, 2022)
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