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Research involving international research communities has been advocated in the field of behavior analysis (Dymond et al., 2000; Martin et al., 2016). The purpose of the present study was to report the status of behavioral research in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, in terms of number of publications, types of research, and frequency of collaboration with international researchers. Fifteen behavioral journals were selected from the list by Cooper et al. (2020). These were searched by hand to find publications conducted in or authored by researchers from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan dating from each journal's inception to December 2021. The earliest publication we found appeared in 1980 in The Psychological Record. Over the following four decades (1980–1989; 1990–1999; 2000–2009; 2010–2021), the number of publications per decade increased dramatically and continues in recent years to rise. Publications include research reports, review papers, and conceptual articles, with the majority being basic research reports published in Behavioral Processes. Approximately half the publications involve collaboration with international researchers, mostly in North America. Implications for behavioral research, practice, and policy in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article presents a collaborative initiative of members of the Committee of the International Representatives of the International Cluttering Association (ICA) upon celebrating the 10th anniversary of the ICA. Such collaborative efforts are designed to improve communication skills, enlighten lives of people with cluttering, and serve as models for speech therapists and other health care professionals in countries around the globe. Method: This initiative began with a seminar at the Inaugural Joint World Congress in Japan in 2018 and continues with an article on cluttering based on the contents of the papers presented at the Congress. Sixteen researchers and speech therapists from 15 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe (East and West), America (North and South), and the Middle East have explored the following themes related to cluttering: cluttering awareness, research, professional preparation, intervention, and self-help groups. Results: This article adds to the body of international literature on cluttering and illustrates that, for the past 10 years, hypothesis-testing research in cluttering continues to be conducted across language barriers and national boundaries, and interventions that are implemented in some locales are being tested and taught in other parts of the world; furthermore, new cluttering treatments are being disseminated for professional preparation and clinical practices. Conclusions: This article demonstrates how global engagement of the ICA's international representatives has led to the exchange of ideas about awareness of cluttering and professional preparation and the best strategies for the treatment of this communication disorder in countries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project-based learning is among the most common learning approaches aimed at conveying professional standards and best practices to students in programming courses. However, team projects commonly impose problems related to responsibility sharing, such as low effort or inequality in contributions. This paper presents a collaborative programming assessment system featuring a code quality assessment function with specific metrics to measure individual contributions. Student engagement data is used to detect nonconformities in collaboration using a learning analytical approach. Latent profile analysis was used to detect four theoretical team profiles differentiated by team effort (2 levels) and within-team collaboration (2 levels). We demonstrated the efficacy of assessing code to evaluate team dynamics and student behaviour, wherein efforts to resolve coding style failures can be used as a proxy by which to estimate the taskwork awareness of team members. Submission data from 146 students in 41 web-programming projects revealed four behavioural patterns that could potentially hinder the effective functioning of programming teams: free-riding, social loafing, the bystander effect, and lone wolves. We also demonstrated the applicability of automated programming assessment systems to the monitoring of learning progress, thereby facilitating timely interventions to correct difficulties at the team level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social network awareness (SNA) enables students to know the online learning context of peers in computer‐supported collaborative learning (CSCL) and it has been used to improve peer interaction and participation in collaborative learning tasks. Mobile learning enables students to access learning content and discuss content with peers regardless of location or time. Because almost every college student has their own mobile device and social networks are ubiquitous in their daily lives, a mobile learning application with social networking is promising for promoting effective learning if students are willing to continually use the application. However, few studies have investigated this. Objectives: In this study, SNA was integrated into a mobile‐based assessment (MBA–SNA). The study investigated whether students were willing to persist in the use of MBA–SNA and the factors influencing this intention. Methods: A 1‐month experiment was conducted to investigate the research question on the basis of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). Results: The results demonstrated that (1) students were willing to continue using the MBA–SNA, (2) the incentives influencing behavioural intention (BI) in initial use and continual use differed, and (3) social influence (SI) and perceived playfulness (PP) were the two key determinants of continual use. Implications: The SNA increases the positive impact of SI and PP on MBA continual use so that continual use can be assured. Future research should integrate SNA into other mobile learning apps (e.g., mobile collaborative writing or discussion apps) to enhance continued system use and learning effectiveness. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: A number of studies have investigated the use of mobile devices to collaborate digitally within small teams and larger classes whilst providing knowledge‐sharing features.Social network awareness (SNA) mechanism can enhance the participation of collaborative learning task and knowledge sharing.However, few research explores the potentials and benefits of the combination of SNA with mobile apps. What this paper adds: This study firstly integrates the SNA into a mobile collaborative APP, namely mobile‐based assessment with SNA (MBA‐SNA).Students are willing to continuously use the MBA‐SNA.The incentive factors influencing behavioural intention at the initial use and continuous use slightly differ.Social influence (SI) and perceived playfulness (PP) are the most crucial determinants to continuous use. Implications for practice and/or policy: It should be investigated whether students are willing to continuously use a new e‐learning system and the factors influencing this intention.SNA increased the effects of SI and PP on MBA continual use, thereby ensuring MBA continual use.Future studies can combine SNA with other mobile learning apps (e.g., mobile collaborative writing or discussion apps) to enhance continued system use and learning effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Collaborative computer simulations are available on some online platforms which support students at distributed locations to synchronously collaborate on the simulations to learn sciences. However, how students collaborate with each other in collaborative simulations is not clear. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether functional interdependency would influence learning. Methods: Two collaborative learning models with different functional interdependencies were examined (the synchronous model and the distributed accountability model). Multiple data sources obtained from 64 students were collected and analyzed. We discuss the collaborative learning with two levels of factors: the individual‐level factors (i.e., individual perceptions of teamwork quality, visual attention and learning performance before and after a simulation activity) and the pair‐level factors (i.e., discourse data and joint attention). Given that the pair‐level factors in the collaborative learning environment may affect the individual‐level factors, we further discuss the interactions of the two levels of factors in different collaborative learning models with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis. Results and Conclusions: The analytical results of the individual‐level factors found participants in the distributed accountability model demonstrated more frequent and longer attention to the learning activity. Furthermore, the results indicated that the two simulation learning activities would enhance the participants' learning performance except in Q2. For the pair‐level factors, the results demonstrated that the participants in the distributed accountability model showed more active discourse segments but similar joint attention patterns in the learning activity. The results of the HLM analysis indicated that the students in the distributed accountability model had to collaborate with their partners through more constructive dialogue, and focused on the same areas of interest to enhance their learning performance, as the complexity of the distributed accountability design was implemented in a simulation learning activity. Major takeaways: We found that the increase of functional interdependency cannot guarantee students' learning effect in collaborative learning and may hinder the communication that is needed during collaboration. Researcher may need to consider other collaboration tools to enhance the reciprocal reflection. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Collaborative simulations are helpful in making the learning process cohesive.The learning effects of functional interdependence in collaborative learning are under debate. What this paper adds: We examined collaborative learning models with different functional interdependencies.We discuss the collaborative learning with the individual‐, the pair‐level factors and their interactions Implications for practice and/or policy: The importance of decreasing cognitive load induced by simulation with high functional interdependency.It is necessary to increase participants' transactive and constructive engagement in collaborative models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have suggested that flipped learning can be enhanced by designing effective in‐class learning activities to improve students' higher order thinking skills. Problem posing has been recognized as such a learning strategy that has great potential for improving students' higher order thinking skills. However, it has been reported as a challenging task for most students. Research evidence has indicated the potential of engaging students in group learning with step‐by‐step hints when conducting problem‐posing activities. Therefore, this study proposed a multilevel concept mapping‐based problem‐posing strategy to assist students in completing the problem‐posing tasks in flipped learning. To understand the effectiveness of the proposed strategy, a flipped learning system was developed and adopted in the science class of an elementary school. Seventy‐five fifth graders from three classes were divided into experimental group A, experimental Group B and a control group. Students in Group A used the concept map‐guided problem‐posing strategy for flipped learning (CMPP‐FL), students in Group B used the problem‐posing strategy‐based flipped learning, while students in the control group used the conventional flipped learning strategy. The results showed that the CMPP‐FL was effective in terms of improving students' learning performance, especially for students with higher levels of critical thinking tendency. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Flipped learning enabled teachers to have more class time to engage students in applying knowledge.Scholars have suggested that the value of flipped learning can be enhanced by designing effective in‐class learning activities to improve students' higher order thinkingProblem‐posing has been recognized as such a learning strategy that has great potential for improving students' higher order thinking. What this paper adds: This study proposed a multilevel concept mapping‐based problem‐posing strategy to assist students in completing the problem‐posing tasks in flipped learning.A flipped learning system was developed and adopted in the science class of an elementary school.It was also found that the results showed that the concept map‐guided problem‐posing strategy was effective in terms of improving students' flipped learning performance, especially for those with higher levels of critical thinking tendency. Implications for practice and/or policy: Employing concept maps as a guidance for problem posing is a promising approach.It is worth investigating the impacts of the concept map‐guided problem posing approach on the students with different personal characteristics, such as knowledge levels or motivational levels.It is worth applying the approach to other courses in the future to further explore its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robotics education has received an increasing attention in recent years as a means to build students' motivation, team collaboration skills, and other valuable 21st century competencies. Yet there is a lack of experimental studies to investigate and identify strategies to facilitate robotics education. This study adopted a 2 × 2 quasi‐experimental design to investigate two strategies: the incorporation of augmented reality (AR) and the introduction of competition in robotics activities. Students' robotics task performance, team collaboration processes, 21st century learning competencies and learning motivation were measured as dependent variables. The results indicated that AR significantly improved students' motivation, team processes, and 21st century competencies. Moreover, the effects of AR were more pronounced with the competition groups. Implications are drawn to provide guidelines on the use of AR and competition in robotics education. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter?Robots in education have been recognized as an effective approach to enhance learning competencies.The benefits of AR in learning gains and motivation. What their paper adds to this?To design robotics curricula that can be used in middle schools.To understand what middle school students can learn from the robotics curricula. The implications of study findings for practitionersHow to utilize AR in robotics education.What are the structure and pace of robotics curricula for middle school students? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study investigated how students designed English academic oral presentations via a blended language learning environment. Data were collected from focus group interviews, observations of students, and instructor perspectives to explore how students develop academic presentation skills. In addition, a total of 36 oral presentations were assessed by a rubric and frequency counts of presentation language and features. By adopting an ecological approach, we identified the interactions between different factors that influenced learning. Interview findings and observations suggested students welcomed the immediacy of the technology and demonstrated signs of autonomous learning by self‐selecting the chat application Line for group collaboration. Participants preferred both online and face‐to‐face collaboration, as students discovered the limits of online communication. Results indicated that group oral presentations improved, with stronger introductions, linking devices, and visual elements. However, students had problems constructing conclusions and trouble linking the main ideas to the content. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic? Group oral presentation projects train students in 21st century competencies such as multimedia skills, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration.Cloud computing collaborative environments have the potential to help students develop language and communication skills.Users are aware of some of the affordances of mobile devices for language learning. What this paper adds? A description of the design and development of a blended language learning environment (BLLE) for English undergraduate oral presentations.Identified improvements in oral presentation introductions, cohesion, and visual elements from using this BLLE.Provides deep, qualitative insights on student perspectives for collaborative, mobile‐based learning from an ecological approach. Implications for practice and/or policy Oral presentation skills can be developed in a BLLE providing the instructor involves students in the design process.Instructors need to discover the right blend for language learners between online and face‐to‐face collaboration to facilitate project development.Collaboration, instruction, effective learning technology, and convenience are the four main factors that interact and influence how students develop and perform group oral presentations in a BLLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to provide some current information on the topic of the underserved and unserved populations including modern-day slaves, stateless/displaced persons, refugees/migrants and indigenous populations. Method: Speech-language pathology education and services for the underserved as well as unserved populations are discussed. Three case studies which demonstrate knowledge transfer and exchange as potential models for future development are presented. Conclusion: These case studies lead to more inquiries, studies, innovations and involvement from individuals and groups who are concerned about the underserved and unserved populations. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at several meetings held between March 18-30, 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Taiwan on topic related to health ageing is presented. Topics include management of education and research by World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFTO), Taiwan Occupational Therapy, and long term plans to meet the needs of WFOT members. The meeting featured several members of WFOT including Nathan Vytialingam, Anne Carswell and Marilyn Pattison.

Background: To explore the response and management experiences of nurses and nurse aides in dementia special care units when caring for residents with sundown syndrome based on the person-centered care model. Methods: Focus group interviews were conducted among nurses and nurse aides from four dementia special care units that have been accredited by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan. Content analysis was used for data analysis. Results: The 29 nurses and nurse aides were recruited to participate in the study. Analysis of interview content revealed six themes, identifying the intra-individual, inter-individual, and organizational dimensions. The central topic was commitment. Under the umbrella of commitment, six themes including self-preparation, non-suppression, diversion, pacification, continuity of meeting, and collaboration, which had 18 subthemes, emerged as responsive care practices for person-centered care when supporting residents with sundown syndrome. Conclusions: The findings provide responsive care practices based on person-centered care for people living with dementia who develop sundown syndrome. The study can inform practices for quality of care for dementia in long-term care institutions and contribute to the development of materials for nursing training and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate how differently co-located users perform and interact while solving problems by using existing and newly developed interaction mechanisms of a multi-touch tabletop system on a large-size tabletop display. Furthermore, this study aimed to investigate users’ perceived situation awareness due to the system. This study conducted one experiment and introduced three newly developed interaction mechanisms:two-way rubber band, drag-and-response,andcentre collection area.Two-way rubber band enables users not only to send but also to request digital objects. Drag-and-response allows users to accept or to reject digital objects sent by others; therefore, it eliminates conflicting situations and interference. Centre collection area stores, organises, and manages shared digital resources on a surface of a tabletop display, so that users have an overall picture of available resources. This paper discusses results of an experiment, research findings, and implications along with conclusions and several suggestions for future development and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite the importance of research in the discipline of nursing, current trends in nursing research have rarely been discussed across countries. The purpose of this article was to identify current trends in nursing research across five countries, including the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong, in order to provide directions for future global nursing research. Organizing Construct: A discussion article. Methods: To identify the current trends, seven leaders from the five countries had discussions through a series of workshops and conference presentations. After the most recent conference, all the leaders reflected for a month on their presentations and compiled the exemplars and cases from their experience and the existing literature in individual countries into a table. The tables and supporting references were collected at the completion of the reflection period. Then, the PowerPoint (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA) slideshows of the conference presentations by the leaders and the collected tables were analyzed using a content analysis. Findings: Six themes reflecting the current trends in nursing research were extracted: (a) demographic alterations; (b) increasing diversities and globalization; (c) technology innovation; (d) individualized or personal care and population health initiatives; (e) health policies and regulations; and (f) nursing workforce changes. Conclusions: Future directions for nursing research across the countries were proposed: (a) cost‐effectiveness research; (b) implementation science; (c) data science; (d) training of the future generation of nurse researchers; (e) population health; and (f) team science. Clinical Relevance: This topic could be applied to any clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An aging society is on the rise, leading to a variety of caregiving issues. The Taiwanese government has been implementing a home healthcare integration plan since 2015, aimed at integrating and forming interdisciplinary care teams with medical institutions. This study explores the internal conflict factors among hospital home healthcare team members at a district teaching hospital in Taichung, Taiwan, and it seeks a better collaboration model between them. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with seven hospital home healthcare team members. Data analysis was based on grounded theory, with research quality relying on the triangulation and consistency analysis methods. The results show that "work overload", "resource overuse", "inconsistent assessment", "limited resources", "communication cost", and "lack of incentives" are the major conflicts among the team. This study proposed the following collaboration model, including "identifying the internal stakeholders of a home healthcare team" and "the key stakeholders as referral coordinators", "patient-centered resource allocation", and "teamwork orientation". The study recommends that within a teamwork-oriented home healthcare team, its members should proactively demonstrate their role responsibilities and actively provide support to one another. Only through patient-centered resource allocation and mutual respect can the goal of seamless home healthcare be achieved. The content of the research and samples were approved by the hospital ethics committee (REC108-18). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper is a report of a study conducted to compare levels of job satisfaction and perceptions of the quality of patient care, collaboration and teamwork among healthcare professionals in four acute care hospitals and to determine the factors associated with job satisfaction for physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals., Background: Positive inter-professional relationships improve quality of patient care and staff job satisfaction. Understanding how healthcare professionals perceive their relationships with each other, and identifying factors that affect their job satisfaction and perceptions of the quality patient care, inform quality improvements., Method: This cross-sectional survey study was conducted in four hospitals in Taiwan. Data were collected in 2007 and analysed using descriptive statistics, one-way anova with the Games-Howell post hoc test and stepwise regression analysis., Results: The survey was completed by 1475 respondent, giving a response rate of 52.2% (180 physicians, 1019 nurses and 276 other healthcare professionals). Physicians were more satisfied with their jobs (F = 26.75, P < 0.05) than either nurses or other healthcare professionals. Conversely, nurses perceived more positive collaborative relationships than did physicians or other healthcare professionals (F = 279.51, P < 0.05). Stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that perceptions of quality of patient care and collaborative relationships were the most important predictors of job satisfaction for healthcare providers., Conclusion: These findings provide important clues for improving interdisciplinary collaboration and ensuring quality patient care through good job satisfaction and teamwork among healthcare professionals in acute care hospitals.

chang h.-y., teng c.-i., chu t.-l., chang h.-t. & hsu w.-h. (2012) Impact of nurse agreeableness and negative mood of nursing supervisors on intention to help colleagues. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(3), 636-646. Abstract Aims. This paper is a report of a correlational study of the relations of nurse agreeableness and negative supervisor mood to nurses' intentions to help their colleagues. Background. Nursing collaboration is important to high quality care. Previous studies have identified agreeableness and negative mood of supervisors as influential factors in the workplace. In nursing, however, exactly how these factors and their interactions influence nurses' intention to help their colleagues remains unknown. Methods. A cross-sectional design and questionnaires were used to collect data in December 2007. Each sample set comprised of one supervisor and three nurses. A total of 53 sets of questionnaires were distributed, and 46 complete sets of responses were received, yielding a response ratio of 86·8%. Results. The analytical results indicate that nurse agreeableness is positively related to nurses' intentions to help colleagues (path coefficient = 0·54, P < 0·01). However, negative supervisor mood is negatively related to nurses' intentions to help colleagues (path coefficient = −0·13, P < 0·05). Moreover, the analytical results indicated that for highly agreeable nurses, the relationship between negative supervisor mood and nurses' intentions to help colleagues is significantly stronger than for less agreeable nurses. This demonstrates that nurse agreeableness amplifies the negative impact of negative supervisor mood on nurses' intentions to help colleagues. Conclusion. The study findings suggest the pivotal importance of managing negative supervisor mood to increase nurses' intentions to help colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Leadership is crucial in disease outbreak management to ensure successfulness of control and prevention programme. Leadership theories explain the rational of management action during an outbreak. This paper aims to examine various applications in diseases outbreak management. Materials and Methods: Adopting a scoping review method, articles were identified using four databases namely Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed and Science Direct through the keywords "leadership" and "outbreak management". Only articles written and published in English within the last 15 years were included. 20 articles were reviewed after the filtering process. Result: Four Participative Leadership Theory themes with various examples were identified. These include "Encouragement to the staff" by hospital administration to control SARS outbreak in Taiwan, "Partnership" between international agency in managing polio outbreak in Africans, "Communication with external factor" between health authorities and external general practitioners in controlling meningococcal outbreak in England and "Collaboration between government agencies" between local hospital and clinic in conducting tuberculosis screening. Three Contingency Theory themes that emerged include "Positional power" "Leader-member relation", "Task-structure" in various outbreak management scenario comprising of various leadership skills. For Transformational Theory, three themes recognised include "Inspirational Motivation" involving a hospital CEO in Taiwan managing the SARS crisis, "Idealized Influence" among the health leaders in Papua New Guinea during a Cholera outbreak and "Individualized Consideration" seen through the management of Ebola outbreak in Liberia. Conclusion: The participative leadership theory, contingency theory and transformational leadership theory is identified as equally prominent leadership theories in effective management of diseases outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can governing digital health for infectious disease outbreaks be enhanced? In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously represented both the potential and marked limitations of digital health practices for infectious disease outbreaks. During the pandemic's initial stages, states along with Big Data and Big Tech actors unleashed a scope of both established and experimental digital technologies for tracking infections, hospitalisations, and deaths from COVID-19 – and sometimes exposure to the virus SARS-CoV-2. Despite the proliferation of these technologies at the global level, transnational and cross-border integration, and cooperation within digital health responses to COVID-19 often faltered, while digital health regulations were fragmented, contested, and uncoordinated. This article presents a critiquing reflection of approaches to conceptualising, understanding, and implementing digital health for infectious disease outbreaks, observed from COVID-19 and previous examples. In assessing the strengths and limitations of existing practices of governing digital health for infectious disease outbreaks, this article particularly examines 'informal' digital health to build upon and consider how digitised responses to addressing and governing infectious disease outbreaks may be reconceptualised, revisited, or revised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing Oliver's disconfirmation theory as a theoretical basis, we examined the relationships between school teachers' attitudes, expectations and satisfaction with collaborating with school counsellors. Also, structural equation modelling was used to determine the effects of counsellors' professional traits on teacher satisfaction. Stratified sampling yielded a sample of 395 homeroom teachers from 26 public schools in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, representing a 94.4% response rate. We found: (1) teachers were highly satisfied with their collaborations with school counsellors, (2) teachers' collaborative attitudes and expectations were significant predictors of their satisfaction, supporting Oliver's theory, and (3) counsellor's professional traits significantly affected teachers' collaborative attitudes, expectations, and satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Healthy aging with dignity and aging in place are important for Taiwanese individuals. Although Taiwan did not experience COVID-19 outbreaks prior to May 2021, many older adults have been encouraged to stay at home since the beginning of the global pandemic in January 2020. Such shelter-in-place recommendations have resulted in significant lifestyle changes, limiting activities associated with aging with dignity such as exercise and community engagement. Few studies have explored how to promote or maintain holistic health practices and physical fitness in older adults residing in rural communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This pilot study aimed to establish an interdisciplinary collaboration with community care workers (CCWs) and evaluate the impact of an innovative summer camp (ISC) program for older adults residing in rural areas. Methods: A quasi-experimental pre-post-test design with an interdisciplinary collaborative approach was implemented. The ISC program was based on a standardized protocol of modified Baduanjin exercise combined with three recreational breathing games. Participants were recruited from three community centers around the western coastal region of Yunlin County between June and August 2020. The ISC program was designed and executed by a nurse-led health promotion research team that collaborated with trained CCWs for 90 min per day, five days per week, for 12 weeks. Participants and CCWs wore facemasks during all activities. Paired t-test was used to measure changes in physical biomarkers, pulmonary lung function, and health-related fitness changes. Results: Sixty-eight participants completed the ISC program. The ISC program significantly improved the participants' physiological biomarkers and health-related fitness, including reduced body weight, waistline, and systolic blood pressure, and increased forced vital capacity, biceps arm flexion, and ability to sit and stand from a chair, step with a knee up in situ, and stand on one foot with eyes open. Most participants reported that they felt happy, satisfied, and hoped that this program would be continued in their community center. Conclusions: This interdisciplinary, collaborative ISC program improved physical biomarkers and health-related fitness in older adults. Despite limitations, results strongly suggested that primary healthcare providers and CCWs can employ the described ISC program to promote wellness in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on the development of a scale to assess community capacity. The concept of community capacity has become a core concept in governmental community-based programs in recent years. Community capacity is also considered to be the foundation for promoting community health service programs. Although some scholars have engaged in the study of community capacity issues, the discussion pertaining to a community capacity scale remains nascent. Thus, in order to develop a community capacity scale, this research followed a methodology consisting of reviewing relevant literature, conducting expert focus groups and employing the Delphi technique. Finally, the six-dimensional modified draft scale, which consisted of 24 indicators in total was tested in 97 community organizations across seven Taiwanese counties in July and August 2016. The developed community capacity scale includes six dimensions, namely leadership and organization, administrative management, resource mobilization, residents' participation, collaborative work and network and public relations and initiatives. Each dimension includes four indicators, and each indicator has clear descriptions to aid assessment and evaluation. The tested data was evaluated for its reliability, content validity, criterion validity and examined by factor analysis. The results show that the developed scale is highly reliable, valid and is suitable for professional community work. The scale could be used as a reference tool in developing community service plans and reviewing the effects of community programs. Undeniable, this scale still has limitations in Taiwan context, and the test with a limitation for its sample size and characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an investigation into the effects of collaborative concept mapping in a digital learning environment, in terms of students' overall learning gains, knowledge retention, quality of student artefacts (the collaboratively created concept maps), interactive patterns, and learning perceptions. Sixty-four 12-year-old students from two 6th grade classes (32 from each class) participated in the study. Guided by the methodology of quasi-experimental research, group scribbles 1.0 was adopted in which students carried out collaborative concept mapping activities for social studies in two different settings: (1) 1:1 (one-device-per-student) - students working in pairs with one Tablet PC assigned to each of them; and (2) 1:m (one-device-to-many-students) - multiple students sharing a Tablet PC. Both settings were evaluated and the interactional patterns of the student groups' concept mapping were identified. The results indicated that in both 1:1 and 1:m settings, students had improved their learning results and retention. Nevertheless, while 1:1 groups had demonstrated more consistency in group participation, improved communication and interaction, the 1:m groups had instead generated superior artefacts as all the notes were well discussed among the group members. The findings suggest that a higher quality of collaborative processes does not necessarily lead to improved student artefacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health in All Policies (HiAP) is an effective approach to promote population health through addressing comprehensive social determinants of health. In 1997, the World Health Organization designed a 20-step protocol for developing a Healthy Cities (HC) project to build healthy public policies. Taiwan adopted the concept of HC in 2002 and established the first demonstration project in Tainan City in 2003. This study explores the impact of the HC initiative on the development of HiAP, as well as how a window of opportunities for HiAP was opened through the HC movement, using Tainan City as an example. Tainan was selected as the case for this study because of its relative maturity in the development of an HC initiative. A theory-driven thematic analysis was conducted in the study with archived documents between 2003 and 2010. We first adopted a Multiple Streams Approach to examine how the city government opened a window for HiAP through the HC initiative and then drew on the Maturity Model to evaluate the stage of HiAP in the Tainan HC project. After analyzing all related documents, we concluded that HiAP in the Tainan HC project had reached Stage V Institutionalization after 7 years. Key contexts, factors, challenges and strategies were identified. This study suggests that the HC initiative can indeed contribute to the development of HiAP and that the window was opened for HiAP through a concurrence of the three streams of problem, policy and politics along with the HC movement process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health professions students will invariably confront professionalism dilemmas. These early encounters significantly influence future professional attitudes and behaviours. Heretofore, studies concerning professionalism dilemmas experienced by health professions students across disciplines have been limited. To address this issue, we recruited 56 students with clinical experience from the National Taiwan University College of Medicine in the nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, medical technology, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy programs to participate in this research to compare health professions students' understandings of professionalism and their experiences of professionalism dilemmas. We used group interviews to uncover students' experiences of professionalism dilemmas. We identified the six most commonly reported professionalism dilemmas and found that interprofessional dilemmas were the dominant workplace professionalism dilemma for health professions students. We also identified significant disciplinary differences regarding dilemma types and frequencies. We employed the framework of dual identity development to better understand the role of professional and interprofessional identities in interprofessional dilemmas. The professionalism dilemmas that individual students encountered were shaped by disciplinary differences. Our findings suggest that the development of a sense of belonging to both their own profession and a broader interprofessional care team in health professions students can increase the effectiveness of interprofessional healthcare teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To identify issues and challenges of genomics education in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. Background: The use of genetics/genomics in health care, such as genetic testing, pharmacogenomics and tumour profiling in the context of cancer, is increasing. The rapid application of genetics/genomics in clinical practice requires healthcare providers to be competent to practise genetics‐related patient care. Sources of evidence: We reviewed current practices in genomics education in nursing in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, including the opportunities for nurses to advance their knowledge and recommendations to incorporate genomics education in the nursing curriculum in these regions. Findings: While many citizens and health professionals recognize the importance of new and exciting research areas of genomics/genetics, there are still many gaps in the translation of genetic/genomic medicine into clinical practice. There is also a similar lack of genetics professionals in China. Conclusion: Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China face challenges in promoting genetic education in nursing. A strategic approach in a coordinated effort ineffectively translating genomic knowledge into healthcare practice should be established in these three regions. Implications for nursing and policy: Nursing educators in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China should link with the international nursing community (e.g. Global Genomics Nursing Alliance) and form closer networks to improve education in the area of genetics and genomics. From a policy level, genomics education is suggested to be incorporated in nursing curriculum to enhance nurses' competency in incorporating genetics/genomics service into patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech language pathologists (SLPs) play a leading role in overall augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) service delivery. Several changes (e.g., the provision of university AAC courses) related to AAC occurred in Taiwan in the past. However, little information of AAC services provided by SLPs in Taiwan is available. The purpose of the article is to review the evolution of AAC service delivery by SLPs in Taiwan. Findings from Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong served as a reference. A questionnaire was mailed to 302 participants registered with the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Taiwan (SLHA) as SLPs. A response rate is 33%. Most SLPs work in a department of rehabilitation in a hospital setting which is in northern Taiwan. Workshops held by the SLHA were the major resources for obtaining professional knowledge in AAC. Collaboration with an AAC team and training in the use of high-tech communication devices were the most desired forms of information and/or training. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fracture liaison services (FLS), implemented in different ways and countries, are reported to be a cost-effective or even a cost-saving secondary fracture prevention strategy. This presumed favorable cost-benefit relationship is encouraging and lends support to expanded implementation of FLS per International Osteoporosis Foundation Best Practice Standards. This study summarizes the economic impact and cost-effectiveness of FLS implemented to reduce subsequent fractures in individuals with osteoporosis. This systematic review identified studies reporting economic outcomes for FLS in osteoporotic patients aged 50 and older through a comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central, and PubMed of studies published January, 2000 to December, 2016. Grey literature (e.g., Google scholar, conference abstracts/posters) were also hand searched through February 2017. Two independent reviewers screened titles and abstracts and conducted full-text review on qualified articles. All disagreements were resolved by discussion between reviewers to reach consensus or by a third reviewer. In total, 23 qualified studies that evaluated the economic aspects of FLS were included: 16 cost-effectiveness studies, 2 cost-benefit analyses, and 5 studies of cost savings. Patient populations varied (prior fragility fracture, non-vertebral fracture, hip fracture, wrist fracture), and FLS strategies ranged from mail-based interventions to comprehensive nurse/physician-coordinated programs. Cost-effectiveness studies were conducted in Canada, Australia, USA, UK, Japan, Taiwan, and Sweden. FLS was cost-effective in comparisons with usual care or no treatment, regardless of the program intensity or the country in which the FLS was implemented (cost/QALY from $3023-$28,800 US dollars (USD) in Japan to $14,513-$112,877 USD in USA. Several studies documented cost savings. FLS, implemented in different ways and countries, are reported to be cost-effective or even cost-saving. This presumed favorable cost-benefit relationship is encouraging and lends support to expanded implementation of FLS per International Osteoporosis Foundation Best Practice Standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the challenges in clinical teaching that are encountered by clinical instructors and to foster the relevant training. Methods Focus group methodology was used. The participants were 54 clinical nursing instructors who were recruited from middle Taiwan and participated in one of five focus groups of 2-3 h each. The data transcripts were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. Results Five challenges emerged: (i) teaching outside one's area of expertise; (ii) building cooperative relationships with the clinical staff; (iii) the unit's use of students as nursing staff; (iv) inappropriate clinical practices by the clinical staff; and (v) clinical staff members' negative comments toward the students. These challenges revealed clinical nursing instructors' difficulties in balancing clinical teaching quality and their relationships with the clinical staff members. Conclusion The identified challenges reflect the need to support clinical instructors and assist them to prepare for their role through training programs or policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The recurrence of menstrual symptoms markedly interferes with the daily life, social functioning, work disability and quality of life of women. Patient perception of healthcare services is underexplored but crucial for understanding how to efficiently develop healthcare practices. Aims To identify and describe the different patterns of treatment expectation and physician-patient relationships perceived by women receiving traditional Chinese medicine treatment for menstrual symptoms. Methods A two-stage data collection design was used. In the first stage, in-depth interviews with 40 participants were conducted; the interview data were used for content analysis. Q statements were developed on the basis of the content analysis results. In the second stage, a series of Q sorts was performed by 60 other participants to subjectively rank the Q statements. Results The results of factor analysis revealed that four factors retained in the final model accounted for 56% of total variance. Women associated with Factor 1 had experienced few negative physician-patient interactions; these women were relatively young (31.6 years) and had mild perimenstrual mood discomfort (6.4). Women who loaded on Factor 2 preferred physician guidance and encountered few barriers to adherence; these participants were older (38.6 years) and had the most severe perimenstrual mood discomfort (9.5) among the four groups. The women in agreement with Factor 3 tended to patiently wait for treatment effects; these participants had the highest scores for both cyclic pelvic pain (4.9) and perimenstrual physical discomfort (8.8). The women associated with Factor 4 demanded effective treatment and had the lowest scores for both cyclic pelvic pain (3.8) and perimenstrual physical discomfort (6.8). Conclusions The exploration of clustering patients according to their perspectives could influence healthcare providers to acknowledge patient expectations and enable effective communication between physicians and patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technology (ICT) tools are being increasingly used to facilitate teaching in educational institutions. This study examined the attitudes of students and instructors towards using ICT tools in management education. Immediately after conducting workshops that introduced 11 ICT tools used in classroom settings, questionnaires were administered to students and instructors from three public universities in Taiwan. Responses of 242 students and 46 instructors regarding 5 domains of ICT tools – feedback, classroom mobility, publishing, collaboration, and social media – were analysed to investigate their attitude towards the use of ICT. The results revealed that students perceived the ICT tools of collaboration and social media to be helpful in learning and in increasing their future employment; in addition, the teachers found these ICT tools to be useful. Therefore, by integrating collaboration and social media in teaching and course design, teachers can enhance student participation and link students’ learning to their future employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online collaborative communities become particularly influential in contemporary Internet economy. However, these communities are often characterised by limited liability. Following the perspective of social influence, this study examines the impacts of three social influence modes in online collaborative communities of a famous online game. The moderating role of a player’s game achievement is also explored. Our results show that community identification is the most influential on online game continuance intention, especially for high achievement players. Community value congruence is likely to affect online game continuance intention for low achievement players. The impact of community normative influence on online game continuance intention appears to be curvilinear. This is more obvious for low achievement players. Implications for research and practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of interprofessional collaboration is to bring better services for sexual assault victims. In order to avoid secondary victimisation and improve the quality of forensic examination and prosecution rate, a one-stop service has been developed recently in Taiwan. However, whether the collaboration is successful may depend on participants’ professional backgrounds and personal experiences and can be influenced by a number of factors. This study used the Index of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to examine the different perceptions of collaboration in team members and the related influences on collaboration. Surveys were conducted in 140 team members including social workers, doctors, nurses, and police officers. The result indicated that collaboration was perceived differently in different professionals and significantly lower by social workers in the domain of interdependence and reflection on process. Factors such as professional roles, structural characteristics, personal characteristics, and history of collaboration were positively associated with the overall perception of collaboration. Only structural and personal characteristics predicted the type of profession. This study highlights the importance to acknowledge different experiences. Additional efforts and investments for improving mutual help and trust by the organisations are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The English language has been recognised as an international language, enabling the globalisation of education and work opportunities. An institute in Taiwan has committed to strengthening English teaching by implementing a student-centred teaching and learning activity using role play. In addition, the involvement of a visiting teacher from Australia has been established. Method: Data collection consisted of a questionnaire that collected qualitative and quantitative data that revealed student perceptions and attitudes towards learning English including nursing terminology, teamwork and communication. Results: Fifty five of sixty students participating in the activity completed the questionnaire. Students regarded this as a positive experience for learning English, collegiality and teamwork. Conclusion: This project revealed that students who are not generally exposed to English-speaking people enjoyed this experience. They gained confidence in their ability to learn English in a collegial atmosphere where teamwork and supportive relationships were developed, despite the perception that learning English was difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wiki bears great potential to transform learning and instruction by scaffolding personal and social constructivism. Past studies have shown that proper application of wiki benefits both students and teachers; however, few studies have integrated wiki and collaborative learning to examine the growth of science teachers' T echnological, P edagogical and C ontent K nowledge ( TPACK). This study introduced a wiki-based TPACK growth model and examined nine elementary and middle science teachers' knowledge growth in a graduate-level course. Data sources included reflective journals, wiki data and interviews. Results showed that with wiki, science teachers learned to design more understandable and lively science teaching content, and they collaboratively generated creative instructional strategies. Furthermore, wiki and collaborative learning helped in-service teachers exchange and elaborate ideas related to the development of TPACK. Implications, suggestions and future research directions were put forward regarding wiki, TPACK and in-service teachers' professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperative learning has many pedagogical benefits. However, if the cooperative learning teams become ineffective, these benefits are lost. Accordingly, this study developed a computer-aided assessment method for identifying ineffective teams at their early stage of dysfunction by using the Mahalanobis distance metric to examine the difference between the sequential test scores of the unknown team and the test scores of a reference group of functioning teams. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by conducting field experiments over an 18-week engineering course in Taiwan. Forty-eight students were randomly assigned to cooperative learning teams. The students' learning performance was evaluated by means of unit tests and homework tests. The functioning of the cooperative teams was examined at seven different points during the course of the study. The ineffective teams were identified with quantified type I errors. It was found that some teams failed persistently. Such teams require some form of external intervention to remedy the group dynamics. The results also showed that teams can become ineffective at any stage of the cooperative learning process. Thus, continuous monitoring is required to ensure that appropriate remedial actions are taken in a timely manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving students' reading comprehension is of significance. In this study, collaborative learning supported by Group Scribbles ( GS), a networked technology, was integrated into a primary reading class. Forty-seven 10-year-old students from two 4th grade classes participated in the study. Experimental and control groups were established to investigate the effectiveness of GS-supported collaborative learning in enhancing students' reading comprehension. The results affirmed the effectiveness of the intervention designed. In the experiment group, students' learning attitudes, motivation and interest were enhanced as well. Further analyses were done to probe students' interaction processes in the networked collaborative classroom and different collaboration patterns and behaviours were identified. Based on the findings obtained, implications for future learning design to empower L1 learning were elaborated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern business environments, work and tasks have become more complex and require more interdisciplinary skills to complete, including collaborative and computing skills for website design. However, the computing education in Taiwan can hardly be recognised as effective in developing and transforming students into competitive employees. In this regard, the author adopted collaborative learning (CL) with initiation and self-regulated learning (SRL) with feedback to develop students' collaborative skills and regular learning habits and further contribute to practical computing skills for website design. This study comprised an experiment that included 279 second-year university students from five class sections, including four experimental groups (CISF group,n = 57; CIS group,n = 53; CI group,n = 68; C group,n = 68), and a control group (T group,n = 33). The results reveal that students who received the combined treatment of online CL with initiation and SRL with feedback attained the best grades for their computing skills for website design among the five groups. The author further discusses the implications for teachers, schools and educators who plan to design practical scenarios and online learning activities for their students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mobile computers are now increasingly applied to facilitate face-to-face collaborative learning. However, the factors affecting face-to-face peer interactions are complex as they involve rich communication media. In particular, non-verbal interactions are necessary to convey critical communication messages in face-to-face communication. Through gathering discourse and non-verbal interaction records, this study explores the peer interactions supported by two collaborative applications: one with mobile computers and the other with shared-display groupware ( SDG). The results show that the students tended to interact with each other according to a distributed and an unsocial interaction pattern when using the application with mobile computers. In contrast, the students who learned with the SDG demonstrated a shared interaction pattern, whereby they often jointly focused on and referred to the shared work. The analysis of the students' work further found that a higher level of discussion was generally associated with the shared interaction pattern. The results seem to support SDG as being useful in augmenting face-to-face peer interaction supported by mobile computers. The implications derived from the findings also support the argument that non-verbal interaction records are useful for quantitatively and qualitatively analysing face-to-face peer interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among the self-efficacy, professional commitment, and job satisfaction of diabetic health-care personnel. The research design was cross-sectional. Three teaching hospitals, one from each of northern, middle and southern parts of Taiwan, were selected for data collection and used questionnaires to collect data; 202 participants were recruited. The demographic data for job title and job satisfaction were not significantly different (F = 2.13, P = 0.090). Self-efficacy was significantly positively correlated with professional commitment (r = 0.29, P = 0.000) and with job satisfaction (r = 0.14, P = 0.041). A total of 34.1% of the variance in job satisfaction was explained by age, years of service in the medical or nursing field, the actual number of years caring for patients with diabetes, self-efficacy, and professional commitment. Understanding the self-efficacy and professional commitment of medical and nursing personnel can help increase job satisfaction and improve the quality of medical and nursing care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the concept of communities of practice (CoPs) has been applied to many fields, the application within the context of the senior citizens' interaction must be different from those in the vocational arena. In Toy Clinic Shops (TCSs) in Taiwan, senior volunteers together sharpen their skills of repairing toys for school children, which can be viewed as a kind of CoP. Wenger (1998) has highlighted three factors for building a CoP. These include mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire. Mutual engagement is known to be the foundation of the other two elements. However, what are the keys to constructing senior citizens' mutual engagement? The author of this study has attempted to explore senior citizens' interactions by studying TCSs in Taiwan to reveal keys to facilitating members' mutual engagement. The findings will, hopefully, contribute to our understanding about gerontology education and provide know how to organize CoPs for senior citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated how differently elementary school students participate in synchronous online collaborative learning by analysing their discussions with their partners. Two hundred and seventy-eight Taiwanese students, ranging in age from 11 to 12 years old, were involved in this study. The students were randomly arranged within-class into three-member groups. Each group used a collaborative learning system to discuss and accomplish a group assignment (creating a shared concept map). The textual discussions by each individual student were collected, categorised and accumulated. Cluster analysis was adopted to statistically classify students based on their discussion characteristics. We found that a student, while participating in online collaboration and communication, exhibited a distinct style: less contributing, coordination emphasising, communicative or task-oriented. In addition, students exhibiting the task-oriented pattern and students predominantly showing communicative behaviours were found to have better learning performance and retain more knowledge than students observed to be coordination emphasising or less contributing within group collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Primary Community Care Network (PCCN) Demonstration Project, launched by the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) in 2003, is still in progress. Partnership structures in PCCNs represent both contractual clinic-to-clinic and clinic-to-hospital member relationships of organizational aspects. The partnership structures are the formal relationships between individuals and the total network. Their organizational design aims to ensure effective communication, coordination, and integration across the total network. Previous studies have focused largely on how contractual integration among the partnerships works and on its effects. Few studies, however, have tried to understand partnership disengagement in PCCNs. This study explores why some partnerships in PCCNs disengage. Methods: This study used a qualitative methodology with semi-structured questions for in-depth interviews. The semi-structured questions were pre-designed to explore the factors driving partnership disengagement. Thirty-seven clinic members who had withdrawn from their PCCNs were identified from the 2003-2005 Taiwan Primary Community Care Network Lists. Results: Organization/participant factors (extra working time spend and facility competency), network factors (partner collaboration), and community factors (health policy design incompatibility, patient-physician relationship, and effectiveness) are reasons for clinic physicians to withdraw or change their partnerships within the PCCNs. Conclusions: To strengthen partnership relationships, several suggestions are made, including to establish clinic and hospital member relationships, and to reduce administrative work. In addition, both educating the public about the concept of family doctors and ensuring well-organized national health policies could help health care providers improve the integration processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]