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Since social media is increasingly pervasive in modern society, this bibliometric study aims to investigate its educational applications. Using the Scopus database, the bibliometric method analyses publications published between 2010 and 2022. The research indicates that student participation and ease of access are the two main benefits of using social media in the classroom. However, it also spreads misinformation and poses privacy and security risks. Articles that discussed how social media could be used in the classroom were found and organised using a bibliometric analysis based on their subject matter, year of publication, and authors. The research shows that between 2001 and 2020, there was a rise in the number of papers discussing the use of social media in the classroom. In addition, the top five countries in terms of annual publication output include the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia/India, and Canada. To further explore the connections between relevant articles, a co-citation network analysis was performed. Therefore, there must be strict rules and policies for using social media in education to address privacy and security concerns and the spread of false information.

The paper provides an overview of the global research on graduate education. The study applied a combination of a bibliometric and social network analysis methods to bibliographic data from Thompson Reuters' Web of Science. More specifically, a keyword search approach was used to retrieve 2,454 articles on graduate education from 1996 until 2020. The set was processed with the VantagePoint software. The paper reports the findings in the form of lists of top scholars, research centres, and countries contributing to research on graduate education. The findings include similar lists of the key funding agencies, contributing disciplines and publication venues, as well as maps representing collaborative activity in the field between institutions, and countries. Finally, the frequency of utilisation of groups of author-supplied keywords is analysed to determine the basic thematic structure of the research on the topic. The originality of the paper consists in the fact that it represents the first attempt to map the landscape of research on graduate education using bibliographic data. It can be used to supplement the results of literature reviews on the topic, which apply a more in-depth content analysis-based approaches to a limited number of papers to determine the thematic structure of the field.

Purpose: Free and open-source software (FOSS) has been used worldwide because of the advantages of user control, cost-saving, flexibility, openness, freedom, more security and better stability. The purpose of this study is to explore the status quo of educational application of FOSS and the trends from international perspectives and its implications for higher education in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach: The method of cluster analysis was used in this study. The Web of Science database was used as the data source and all relevant literature for the year 2010-2020 on the theme of "FOSS" was collected for analysis. The information visualization software CiteSpace was used for citation visualization analysis, revealing the research results of FOSS worldwide, including hot spots and development trends. Findings: This paper found that FOSS has become an important research area and is playing an important role in the reform and development of education. Meanwhile, the development and application of FOSS have regional imbalances and strong differentiation, including the educational sector. The paper also found that although FOSS has entered the stage of interdisciplinary development, the research and development of FOSS in the field of education is insufficient, which poses a huge challenge to decision-makers, teachers and students. Originality/value: Implications for higher education in Hong Kong including: attach importance to and vigorously promote FOSS research and practice to benefit more teachers and students; teachers and students need to be trained for acquiring the awareness and skills of FOSS applications and formulate different strategies; the government should provide greater support to formulate and implement a short and middle-term development plan to facilitate the application of FOSS; and Hong Kong higher education institutions may strengthen exchanges and cooperation with counterparts around the world to jointly promote the development of FOSS. It is hoped that the findings will provide a reference for the study and application of FOSS in higher education in Hong Kong.

Corporate school reform is a global movement that is gaining a growing momentum. Central to this reform agenda is "personalized learning," presented by its advocates as a better alternative to the traditional model of schooling. In spite of its appealing possibilities for education and society, scholars in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have criticized personalized learning for its reductive conceptualization of education. Focusing critically on the new Education Plan of British Columbia, which places personalized learning at its core, this paper examines the genealogy of the Education Plan and discusses its implications for public education in the province. Through construction of a network of actors and content analysis of key documents produced by the public and private sectors, the paper shows that the vision of the Education Plan is largely influenced by a broader neoliberalism-oriented social imagination reinforced by a network of political, social, and economic actors. The analysis shows that this vision for education promotes a perception of education primarily conceptualized in narrow economic terms. The discourse and practice employed to promote personalized learning contribute to turning education into a customizable consumer product, reduce the notion of "learning" to a list of skills and attributes, disregard the significant importance of socio-cultural contexts in teaching and learning, and minimize the crucial role of the teacher. The article concludes that the Education Plan has created a conducive environment for the emergence of "customized privatization" in public education in the province.

Existing literature on international health partnerships is largely normative, with an evaluative interest in their impacts in terms of learning and knowledge transfer. Rarely has research attended to how learning and knowledge transfer transpire in practice. This paper addresses this gap with a case study of a partnership between two hospitals in Canada and China. Conceptually, drawing on Actor Network Theory, it posits learning and knowledge transfer as a process of translation. Empirically, it traces the assembling of the programme, and identifies the pedagogical features at nodes of associations. It reveals that health professionals in both countries have expanded their clinical and medical knowledge and practices, and professional senses and sensitivities, which were subsequently amplified, deferred or diminished within their respective practices. It argues that the capacity of individuals to translate learning into practice is contingent on institutional and cultural differences that constitute the ecology of work for health professionals.

This paper provides insight into the use of curriculum analytics to enhance learning-centred curricula in diverse higher education contexts. Engagement in evidence-based practice to evaluate and monitor curricula is vital to the success and sustainability of efforts to reform undergraduate and graduate programs. Emerging technology-enabled inquiry methods have enormous potential to inform evidence-based practice in complex curriculum settings. For example, curriculum analytics, including data from student learning outcomes, graduate qualities, course selection and assessment activities, can be mined from various student learning systems and analysed to inform curriculum renewal strategies and demonstrate impact at both the program and course level. Curriculum analytics can serve to foster a culture of inquiry and scholarship regarding program improvements that is characterised by information sharing within and across disciplinary borders. This paper presents an innovative technology that draws on social network methodologies for assessing and visualising the integration and linkages across individual courses that ultimately form a student's complete program of study. Insights are grounded in the literature and curriculum leadership experiences in a Canadian research-intensive university setting.

Purpose: For a university to be a prime mover for sustainability transformation, all units of the university should contribute. However, organizational change in educational institutions is often studied by examining specific domains such as research or operation in isolation. This results in a less-than-complete picture of the potential for university-wide change. In contrast, this paper aims to examine the network of social relations that determine the diffusion and sustainability of change efforts across a university. The authors use McGill University (Canada) as a model system to study the network of actors concerned with sustainability to learn how this network influences the penetration of sustainability throughout the university. Design/methodology/approach: To explore the existing social structure, the authors use an innovative approach to illuminate the influence of social structure on organizational change efforts. Using a mixed methods approach combining social network analysis with qualitative interview data, the authors examine the influence of the social structure on sustainability transformation at McGill University. The authors conducted 52 interviews between January and April 2019 with representatives of different sustainability groups at the university across six domains (research, education, administration, operations, connectivity and students). Findings: The authors find that McGill University has a centralized system with a low density. The network is centralized around the Office of Sustainability. The limited cross-domain interaction appears to be a result of differences in motivation and priorities. This leads to a network that has many actors but only a limited number of connections between them. The quality of the relationships is often utilitarian, with only a few relationships aiming for support and mutual growth. Originality/value: This study brings together social network analysis, sustainability transformation and higher education in a new way. It also illustrates the complexity of guiding a large organization, such as a university, toward a sustainability transformation. Furthermore, it reveals the importance of considering each part of the university as part of an interconnected network rather than as isolated components.

The focus of this paper is to share thinking about networks in action research (AR) and to consider their role, purpose, and how networks' outcomes and impacts might be evaluated. Networks are often a by-product of AR projects, yet research focused on the network itself as part of a project is rare. The paper is one of several associated with the Evaluative Study of Action Research (ESAR) in which we wish to understand how projected outcomes and impacts are realised and why certain approaches are chosen and seen to be effective. Description is provided of the development and function of networks and their connection to, and within, AR. We then explore the first of a series of networks in the ESAR, the core team network, and undertake a formative evaluation of the functioning of this network. The paper concludes with a look ahead to the evaluation of each of the various levels of networks anticipated within the ESAR.

The use of networks in public education is one of many knowledge mobilization (KMb) strategies utilized to promote evidence-based research into practice. However, challenges exist in the ability to mobilize knowledge through networks. The purpose of this paper is to explore how networks work. Data were collected from virtual discussions for an interim report for a province-wide government initiative. A secondary analysis of the data was performed. The findings present network structures and processes that partners were engaged in when building a network within education. The implications of this study show that building a network for successful outcomes is complex and metaphorically similar to finding the "sweet spot." It is challenging, but networks that used strategies to align structures and processes proved to achieve more success in mobilizing research to practice.

This paper uses social network analysis to evaluate how the formation of an interdisciplinary brain research institute affected interaction and collaboration among neuroscientists at one Canadian university. The research institute, formed in 2004, has about 100 members representing ten different departments across the university campus. We conducted a whole network survey of the members in 2010, asking them to report on their professional interactions (advice seeking, co-supervising, co-teaching, co-authorship, holding grants, and organizing conferences together) with each of the other members during the five years before and the five years since the foundation of the Institute. Whole network measures examined include density, isolates, average degree and multiplexity. We compared these measures over time. Our findings indicate that professional interactions among the neuroscientists have increased since the founding of the Institute. The main networks of collaborators are now clustered around the three organizational themes of the Institute, which were formalized in 2010. We also examined how individual-level characteristics of the scientists affected professional interaction. We show that departmental co-membership, office co-location and Institute themes are all significant predictors of interaction among neuroscientists at this university since the foundation of the Institute. Social network analysis is a useful tool for evaluating the impact of the establishment of an interdisciplinary institute on scientists' relationships.

This paper examines the pattern of decision-making, lobbying, and influence that led to the landmark series of federal student assistance policies introduced by Jean Chretien's Liberal government in the late 1990s. The package of new initiatives--dubbed the Canada Opportunities Strategy--not only partially reversed an earlier period of fiscal restraint but also brought a new emphasis on direct forms of student assistance such as grants, bursaries, and tax credits. However, programs such as the Canada Millennium Bursaries and the Canada Education Savings Grants, despite their focused approach and innovative structure, came to be regarded as weak policy tools when measured against their ostensible goals of widening access to post-secondary education and efficiently targeting student assistance on the basis of need. The new policy regime also failed to fulfil nearly two decades of previous efforts by policy-makers to transform Canada's student debt program into a systematic income-contingent loan program. We offer explanations of this pattern of policy inconsistency and incoherence by examining the awkward challenges of intergovernmental relations in the Canadian federal system as well as the fragmentation and competing goals now evident in student assistance policy networks. We contrast the student finance policy regime with the arguably more coherent set of research and innovation policies established by the federal government during the same period. We use policy network analysis as our theoretical framework, and we use data from our extensive interviews with higher education stakeholders and policy-makers to provide empirical support. (Contains 1 table and 12 notes.)

Can mobile technology improve flexibility and quality of interaction for graduate students in distance programs? This paper reports the results of an innovative study exploring the usability, learning, and social interaction of mobile access to online course materials at a Canadian distance education university. Through a system called MobiGlam, students accessed Moodle course materials on a variety of mobile devices. The Framework for the Rational Analysis of Mobile Education (FRAME) model (Koole, 2006) was used to examine the complexities of this mobile system, its perceived usefulness, and potential impact on distance students. The researchers recommend further study of the balance between the controls and constraints of social technologies and the needs of distance students. Is there a way to achieve a balance so as to encourage adaptation to new technologies and a greater sense of "connectedness" among learners? As a result of the study, the researchers remain supportive of "device-agnostic" mobile tools that permit the greatest freedom of choice to distance learners. (Contains 4 figures and 14 tables.)

Knowledge Building is approached in this study from an organizational perspective, with a focus on the nature of school-university-government partnerships to support research-based educational innovation. The paper starts with an overview of what is known about effective partnerships and elaborates a conceptual framework for Knowledge Building partnerships based on a review of literature and two case studies of school-university-government partnerships. In one case, a Ministry of Education wanted to bring more vitality into schools of small remote villages, and in the other case another Ministry of Education wanted to renew its school-based international cooperation profile. Emerging from this work is a three-component model for going to scale with Knowledge Building partnerships: Knowledge Building as a shared vision; symmetric knowledge advancement; and multi-level, research-based innovation. Characteristics of, and conditions for, effective partnerships for Knowledge Building are elaborated, and an emerging model is developed to help communities establish effective partnerships and contribute to this evolving model. (Contains 1 figure.)

This paper describes use of social network analysis to examine student interaction patterns in a Grade 5/6 Knowledge Building class. The analysis included face-to-face interactions and interactions in the Knowledge Forum[R] Knowledge Building environment. It is argued that sociogram data are useful to reveal group processes; in sociological terms, the community lies in the connections among the group. A classroom of unconnected individuals is unlikely to form as a Knowledge Building community; data analyses reported in this study show promise in understanding the dynamics of Knowledge Building in a consistent and measurable way. The strength of the work is not in particular patterns demonstrated but in new forms of assessment and their potential to inform work as it proceeds. The research reported shows that teachers and students are finding social network analysis useful and that through their engagement research-practitioner-engineer teams are better positioned to develop tools to advance Knowledge Building pedagogy. (Contains 5 figures and 1 table.)

The position of small rural schools is precarious in much of rural Canada today. What is to be done about small schools in rural communities which are often experiencing population decline and aging, economic restructuring, and the loss of employment and services? We argue this issue is a classic "wicked" policy problem. Small schools activists have a worldview that is focused on maintaining infrastructure and even community survival, while school boards are mandated to focus on the efficient provision of educational services across wider geographies. Is it even possible to mitigate the predictable conflict and zero-sum games that arise with the decision to close small schools? That is the subject of this paper, which draws on poststructural and actor network theory. We suggest that wicked problems cannot be addressed satisfactorily through formulas and data-driven technical-rational processes. They can only be addressed through flexible, dialogical policy spaces that allow people who have radically different worldviews to create dynamic, bridging conversations. Fundamentally, we argue that what is required are new spaces and modes of governance that are sufficiently networked, open, and flexible to manage the complexity and the mutability of genuinely participatory democracy.

This paper focuses on the implications of two emerging digital technologies on the act of field birding, and the implications of these objects for thinking about wild birds. While the adoption of new immaterial technologies promises to improve the ease with which birding is practiced, their use leads to new ethical considerations. Using the Internet to share bird sightings, for example, lowers the barrier of entry to access this information. Therefore, bird sightings proliferate, often with little thought to the consequences of birders visiting the reported birds' location. A digital image, captured by digital cameras, perhaps marks the greatest change. With the adoption of a digital camera the nature of identification is effectively changed: captured images remove birds from the field and their broader ecological context. Given that birding is proposed as a way for western culture to reconnect with the more-than-human world, these digital objects promise to redefine a relationship with birds and the larger natural world. (Contains 1 note.)

Objective: To conduct a time-cost analysis of formatting in scientific publishing. Design: International, cross-sectional study (one-time survey). Setting: Internet-based self-report survey, live between September 2018 and January 2019. Participants: Anyone working in research, science, or academia and who submitted at least one peer-reviewed manuscript for consideration for publication in 2017. Completed surveys were available for 372 participants from 41 countries (60% of respondents were from Canada). Main outcome measure: Time (hours) and cost (wage per hour x time) associated with formatting a research paper for publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal. Results: The median annual income category was US$61,000–80,999, and the median number of publications formatted per year was four. Manuscripts required a median of two attempts before they were accepted for publication. The median formatting time was 14 hours per manuscript, or 52 hours per person, per year. This resulted in a median calculated cost of US$477 per manuscript or US$1,908 per person, per year. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the cost of manuscript formatting in scientific publishing. Our results suggest that scientific formatting represents a loss of 52 hours, costing the equivalent of US$1,908 per researcher per year. These results identify the hidden and pernicious price associated with scientific publishing and provide evidence to advocate for the elimination of strict formatting guidelines, at least prior to acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In "Operations Research: Topics, Impact and Trends from 1952–2019," A. Calma, W. Ho, L. Shao, and H. Li retrospectively look at 68 years of publication of the Operations Research. Using 5,440 journal articles, they highlight the top contributing countries and authors and top research methods and problems investigated. Mathematical programming is the most common research method, whereas inventory is the most investigated problem. Investigations related to pricing are growing significantly. The United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom publish the most papers, with the United States and Canada having similar publication profiles per capita. Inventory is the most popular research problem studied by North American, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries, whereas European countries focus on scheduling problems. Network visualizations of the journal's last 10 years show dynamic programming as the most used method and pricing as the most studied problem. Coauthor networks on collaborations on both dynamic programming and pricing are also shown. This paper is a retrospective look at 68 years of publication output of Operations Research, revealing changes in its publications, its authors, and their impact over time and how these changes might affect researchers and practitioners in the present. A total of 5,440 journal articles from its inception in 1952 to 2019 are used. The analysis initially focuses on the most studied topics and then continues with the top research methods and research problems investigated. The top contributing countries and authors to the most investigated research problems are also studied. The results indicate that mathematical programming is the most common research method, whereas inventory is the most investigated problem. However, investigations related to pricing are growing significantly. The United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom publish the most papers, with the United States and Canada having similar publication profiles per capita. Inventory is the most popular research problem studied by North American, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries, whereas European countries focus on scheduling problems. In order to understand the latest research trend, we visualize the networks of the last 10 years of Operations Research that show dynamic programming as the most used method and pricing as the most studied problem. We further visualize the coauthor networks on both dynamic programming and pricing to identify the most significant clusters of researchers and the topics these research clusters collaborate on. Finally, we provide researchers information about where Operations Research is and where it is likely heading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Multimorbidity, defined as the coexistence of two or more health conditions, is common in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). Network analysis is a powerful tool to visualize and examine the relationship within complex systems. We utilized network analysis to explore the relationship between 30 secondary health conditions (SHCs) and health outcomes in persons with traumatic (TSCI) and non-traumatic SCI (NTSCI). The study objectives were to (1) apply network models to the 2011-2012 Canadian SCI Community Survey dataset to identify key variables linking the SHCs measured by the Multimorbidity Index-30 (MMI-30) to healthcare utilization (HCU), health status, and quality of life (QoL), (2) create a short form of the MMI-30 based on network analysis, and (3) compare the network-derived MMI to the MMI-30 in persons with TSCI and NTSCI. Methods: Three network models (Gaussian Graphical, Ising, and Mixed Graphical) were created and analyzed using standard network measures (e.g., network centrality). Data analyzed included demographic and injury variables (e.g., age, sex, region of residence, date, injury severity), multimorbidity (using MMI-30), HCU (using the 7-item HCU questionnaire and classified as "felt needed care was not received" [HCU-FNCNR]), health status (using the 12-item Short Form survey [SF-12] Physical and Mental Component Summary [PCS-12 and MCS-12] score), and QoL (using the 11- item Life Satisfaction questionnaire [LiSAT-11] first question and a single item QoL measure). Results: Network analysis of 1,549 participants (TSCI: 1137 and NTSCI: 412) revealed strong connections between the independent nodes (30 SHCs) and the dependent nodes (HCU-FNCNR, PCS-12, MCS-12, LiSAT-11, and the QoL score). Additionally, network models identified that cancer, deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism, diabetes, high blood pressure, and liver disease were isolated. Logistic regression analysis indicated the network-derived MMI-25 correlated with all health outcome measures (p <0.001) and was comparable to the MMI-30. Discussion: The network-derived MMI-25 was comparable to the MMI-30 and was associated with inadequate HCU, lower health status, and poor QoL. The MMI-25 shows promise as a follow-up screening tool to identify persons living with SCI at risk of having poor health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of cooperation depends on the nature of deliberations among and between local stakeholders and the state as well as the context of deliberations, especially whether larger scale governance helps, hinders or overrides deliberative processes. However, the context of deliberations has not been a focus of past research on deliberation. The paper identifies the key context criteria that influenced deliberation and the development of cooperation in a comparative case study of two forest advisory committees in Ontario, Canada. The study uses cognitive mapping and network analysis techniques to identify key context criteria and concludes with five inferences regarding the influence of context on deliberation and cooperation that have implications for deliberation and decentralization theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid urbanisation and infrastructure development projects have increased infinite property regeneration and construction projects in the developed countries. This study aims to examine the current construction waste management literature, including key authors, university networks, and relevant information systems, considering four selected countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This paper uses a set of novel metrics, query-based search, and social network analysis techniques for evaluating a dataset of 2337 papers published in a decade by authors from different countries investigating the topic of recycling and reuse of construction and demolition waste in order to identify prominent researchers, influential universities, collaboration practices, and research trends. The dataset of publications is collected from Scopus and analysed using a set of network analysis techniques and statistical analysis. An additional dataset of keywords was collected from the Twitter pages of engineering firms and other relevant industry organisations to assess any possible connection between industry interests and research trends. In order to present a solid analysis of the current investigations in the field, a scientometric analysis along with a rigor statistical method was adopted to carefully identify trends, detailed sub-topics, and the materials investigated in the literature. A probit regression model for testing differences between countries in recycling practices was utilised in the STATA environment. The findings show a set of network analysis and clusters that can help scholars to set their future studies based on the current advances and limitations identified in the literature. Within the dataset, 42% of publications referred to concrete waste, whilst only 2.2% included glass, 2.5% included brick, 4.3% included steel and none included wood, which shows the most common building materials have not been fully covered in the literature. Only 48 publications, or 7.4% of the dataset, originated from the three selected concrete-focused journals. It was also found that information systems appeared in the database lately; however, there is less discussion in the literature on how the integration of Geographic Information System (GIS), Buidling Information Model (BIM), 3D Printing and geo-spatial data analysis can help waste management in the field of construction. The bibliographic analysis of the selected cases shows that universities in Canada and the US exhibit more evidence of domestic collaboration and industry partnerships than universities in Australia and the UK. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that publications with at least one industry co-author are more likely to address the issue of regulation. The outcome of this paper enables academics, engineers, and regulators to predict research trends, improve industry collaborations and utilise information systems and assign more research resources to address the identified gaps in the literature. • Developed a network of 1408 authors within the dataset and apply Total Publications metrics. • Examined the collaboration of 529 institutions within Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US. • Utilised a probit regression model for testing differences between countries in recycling practices. • Visualised an online GIS-based dashboard of landfills and recycling facilities using geo-spatial data. • Identified gaps in two different directions of material technology and management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate elite studies have for long investigated networks of interlocking directorates to test and corroborate key theoretical expectations regarding the cohesive organization of such an elite and their ability and willingness to act on behalf of general business interests. These studies typically collect data on a list of 50, 100, 200 or 500 corporations ranked by economic size, sometimes stratified in sectors. The sampling approach often follows previous studies in order to increase comparability. These relatively arbitrary sampling practices are problematic because they impact the empirical results and our therefore the conclusions drawn from it. Using a sample of 3251 Canada‐based corporations, we establish that indeed different sampling criteria – that is sample size, proportion of financial firms, inclusion of state‐owned enterprises and so on – significantly impacts network properties of corporate elite networks. We establish rather disturbing differences, especially for smaller sample sizes (<100). Subsequently, we develop alternative demarcation criteria of the corporate elite based on a k‐core decomposition. We conclude by emphasizing that the sampling decisions in interlocking directorate studies should much more be carefully be thought through in future research on the topic, both in corporate elite studies and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested a novel method for studying human experience (thoughts and affect). We utilized Cognitive-Affective Maps (CAMs)–an approach to visually represent thoughts and their affective connotations as networks of concepts that individuals associate with a given event. Using an innovative software tool, we recruited a comparative sample of (n = 93) Canadians and (n = 100) Germans to draw a CAM of their experience (events, thoughts, feelings) with the Covid-19 pandemic. We treated these CAM networks as a series of directed graphs and examined the extent to which their structural properties (latent and emotional) are predictive for the perceived coronavirus threat (PCT). Across multiple models, we found consistent and significant relationships between these network variables and the PCT in both the Canadian and German sample. Our results provide unique insights into individuals' thinking and perceptions of the viral outbreak. Our results also demonstrate that a network analysis of CAMs' properties is a promising method to study the relationship between human thought and affective connotation. We suggest that CAMs can bridge several gaps between qualitative and quantitative methods. Unlike when using quantitative tools (e.g., questionnaires), participants' answers are not restricted by response items as participants are free to incorporate any thoughts and feelings on the given topic. Furthermore, as compared to traditional qualitative measures, such as structured interviews, the CAM technique may better enable researchers to objectively assess and integrate the substance of a shared experience for large samples of participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: La Maison Bleue is a community-based perinatal health and social centre in Montreal that provides services during pregnancy up to age five to families living in vulnerable contexts. The study aimed to describe: 1) the challenges and protective factors that affect the well-being of migrant families receiving care at La Maison Bleue; and 2) how La Maison Bleue strengthens resilience among these families. Methods: We conducted a focused ethnography. Immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants were invited to participate. We collected data from November to December 2017 via semi-structured interviews and participant observation during group activities at La Maison Bleue. Data were thematically analysed. Results: Twenty-four mothers participated (9 interviewed, 17 observed). Challenges to well-being included family separation, isolation, loss of support, the immigration process, an unfamiliar culture and environment, and language barriers. Key protective factors were women’s intrinsic drive to overcome difficulties, their positive outlook and ability to find meaning in their adversity, their faith, culture and traditions, and supportive relationships, both locally and transnationally. La Maison Bleue strengthened resilience by providing a safe space, offering holistic care that responded to both medical and psychosocial needs, and empowering women to achieve their full potential towards better health for themselves and their families. Conclusion: Migrant mothers have many strengths and centres like La Maison Bleue can offer a safe space and be an empowering community resource to assist mothers in overcoming the multiple challenges that they face while resettling and raising their young children in a new country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Vaccine hesitancy” is a concept now frequently used in vaccination discourse. The increased popularity of this concept in both academic and public health circles is challenging previously held perspectives that individual vaccination attitudes and behaviours are a simple dichotomy of accept or reject. A consultation study was designed to assess the opinions of experts and health professionals concerning the definition, scope, and causes of vaccine hesitancy in Canada. We sent online surveys to two panels (1- vaccination experts and 2- front-line vaccine providers). Two questionnaires were completed by each panel, with data from the first questionnaire informing the development of questions for the second. Our participants defined vaccine hesitancy as an attitude (doubts, concerns) as well as a behaviour (refusing some / many vaccines, delaying vaccination). Our findings also indicate that both vaccine experts and front-line vaccine providers have the perception that vaccine rates have been declining and consider vaccine hesitancy an important issue to address in Canada. Diffusion of negative information online and lack of knowledge about vaccines were identified as the key causes of vaccine hesitancy by the participants. A common understanding of vaccine hesitancy among researchers, public health experts, policymakers and health care providers will better guide interventions that can more effectively address vaccine hesitancy within Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To conduct a systematic review of studies of social media platforms used by young people to discuss and view deliberate self-harm. Study Design: 11 electronic databases were searched from January 2000 to January 2012 for primary research; in June 2014 an updated search of Medline was conducted. Grey literature sources were also searched. Search results were screened by two reviewers. Data were extracted by one reviewer and verified by another. Methodological quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results: Due to heterogeneity in study objectives and outcomes, results were not pooled; a narrative analysis is presented. 26 studies were included. Most were conducted in Canada or the UK (30.8% each), used qualitative designs (42.3%), and evaluated discussion forums (73.1%). Participants were most often aged 19–21 years (69.2%), female (mean 68.6%), and 19.2% had a documented history of depression. The social media platforms evaluated were commonly supportive and provided a sense of community among users. Support included suggestions for formal treatment, advice on stopping self-harming behavior, and encouragement. Harms included normalizing and accepting self-harming behavior; discussion of motivation or triggers, concealment, suicidal ideation or plans; and live depictions of self-harm acts. Conclusions: Although this evidence is limited by its descriptive nature, studies identify beneficial and detrimental effects for young people using social media to discuss and view deliberate self-harm. The connections users make online may be valuable to explore for therapeutic benefit. Prospective, longitudinal investigations are needed to identify short- and long-term potential harms associated with use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The negative effects of peer aggression on mental health are key issues for public health. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between cyberbullying and school bullying victimization with suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among middle and high school students, and to test whether these relationships were mediated by reports of depression. Methods: Data for this study are from the 2011 Eastern Ontario Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, which is a cross-sectional regional school-based survey that was conducted among students in selected Grade 7 to 12 classes (1658 girls, 1341 boys; mean±SD age: 14.3±1.8 years). Results: Victims of cyberbullying and school bullying incurred a significantly higher risk of suicidal ideation (cyberbullying: crude odds ratio, 95% confidence interval  = 3.31, 2.16–5.07; school bullying: 3.48, 2.48–4.89), plans (cyberbullying: 2.79, 1.63–4.77; school bullying: 2.76, 2.20–3.45) and attempts (cyberbullying: 1.73, 1.26–2.38; school bullying: 1.64, 1.18–2.27) compared to those who had not encountered such threats. Results were similar when adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, substance use, and sedentary activities. Mediation analyses indicated that depression fully mediated the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and each of the outcomes of suicidal ideation, plans and attempts. Depression also fully mediated the relationship between school bullying victimization and suicide attempts, but partially mediated the relationship between school bullying victimization and both suicidal ideation and plans. Conclusion: These findings support an association between both cyberbullying and school bullying victimization and risk of suicidal ideation, plans and attempts. The mediating role of depression on these links justifies the need for addressing depression among victims of both forms of bullying to prevent the risk of subsequent suicidal behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent studies with the mood rhythm instrument (MRhI) have shown that the presence of recurrent daily peaks in specific mood symptoms are significantly associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders. Using a large sample collected in Brazil, Spain, and Canada, we aimed to analyze which MRhI items maintained good psychometric properties across cultures. As a secondary aim, we used network analysis to visualize the strength of the association between the MRhI items. Methods: Adults (n = 1275) between 18–60 years old from Spain (n = 458), Brazil (n = 415), and Canada (n = 401) completed the MRhI and the self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20). Psychometric analyses followed three steps: Factor analysis, item response theory, and network analysis. Results: The factor analysis indicated the retention of three factors that grouped the MRhI items into cognitive, somatic, and affective domains. The item response theory analysis suggested the exclusion of items that displayed a significant divergence in difficulty measures between countries. Finally, the network analysis revealed a structure where sleepiness plays a central role in connecting the three domains. These psychometric analyses enabled a psychometric-based refinement of the MRhI, where the 11 items with good properties across cultures were kept in a shorter, revised MRhI version (MRhI-r). Limitations: Participants were mainly university students and, as we did not conduct a formal clinical assessment, any potential correlations (beyond the validated SRQ) cannot be ascertained. Conclusions: The MRhI-r is a novel tool to investigate self-perceived rhythmicity of mood-related symptoms and behaviors, with good psychometric properties across multiple cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To model water-pipe breaks a generalization is proposed of an approach where a Weibull exponential model was used for simulation. In this study, a generalization of this approach was performed by developing a general model using three or more probability distributions to describe the time of occurrence of a pipe's failure. The previous two-distribution model constitutes a special case of this new general model. In addition, explanatory variables were incorporated into the proposed model. Finally, from the proposed general model, the Weibull-exponential-exponential (WEE) model was derived to model water-distribution pipe breaks in a small city in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]