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Evaluation is one of the most difficult areas of educational pursuits. The most common type of evaluation and assessment is through a written examination. The majority of the time, questions is drafted right before the examination without going through a quality control process, which might cause confusion or incorrect interpretation of the questions by the students. Students' self-confidence and self-esteem grow as a result of their increased understanding of the question paper's structure, and they then affirm their ability to complete the task. The design of the question paper is prepared, with consideration given to the objectives, the various forms and types of questions, and the various content areas, a projected time, Level of difficulty anticipated. In order to enhance the standard of student evaluation and assessment, this article focuses on offering instructions and a scientific technique for creating effective question papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluency Assessment and Benchmarking for Literacy in Education (FABLe) is the first mobile application being developed for the assessment of foundational literacy skills in India. FABLe passages are currently available in English for Grades 2, 3 and 4, with plans to expand to other Indian languages. FABLe is designed to administer curriculum-based measures for reading (R-CBMs) that have been validated in the Indian context. This paper describes the preliminary benchmarking procedures being undertaken for the Indian student population and how FABLe screens for students at-risk for reading difficulties. Student performance data based on initial FABLe results are compared with international benchmarks and teacher perception data. Overall, FABLe scores are lower than international benchmarks. FABLe was able to accurately identify students needing additional support, with the majority of students identified at-risk falling below the 19th percentile in FABLe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To design and develop a mobile application for pre-school readiness of children with autism and also to identify their learning pattern. Based on strong foundation of functional academics, we have developed a mobile application for providing an early educational intervention program to the children with autism. Three successive software trials have been conducted among 31 children with autism of age group of three to 10 years. The mobile app has been provided to educators and parents and they have been allowed to supervise the children during their learning phase for eight to 10 weeks. The imprint of learning pattern is recorded and learning progress profile is generated for individual child. Data analysis of learning progress profile shows that 90% of the participants preferred drag and drop or simple touch approach over conventional methods practised during classroom teachings. More than 84% of the children are found to adapt pre-requisite skills for writing like scribbling, tracing, dots joining, copying, etc. after using the app on their tablet who are reluctant to hold pencil and paper otherwise. Twenty-five percent of the participants are reported to reciprocate the greeting etiquettes in class such as greeting teachers and their peers. The mobile application made a valuable contribution to early intervention program for children with autism by imparting appropriate learning opportunities readily available to them. Performance metrics underlying each activity form a strong base of identification of learning patterns and formulation of revised individualized education plan (IEP). Children with autism need the mobile application as an educational intervention program for it is readily available and user friendly. Educators need the mobile application to quantify the performance parameters and there by monitor/evaluate the progress of the child. Overall, the present research has aimed to develop an easy reach app by which educating as well as handling challenging behaviour of the children with autism would be easier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of reflective practice in psychotherapy has long been acknowledged. However, there is a paucity of work that elucidates the process of reflection in the context of therapist development. The current study employs reflexive action research for a supervised group-work in a tertiary mental health hospital carried out by two trainee therapists. Group-work intervention was chosen because it was viewed as a cost-effective method given the client-clinician ratio. It also provided a richer context to boost reflective practices in various interactions- with the participants, the supervisor and the co-facilitator. Reflective notes and discussions among trainees, supervisor, as well as verbatim feedback from clients were the sources of information. The paper describes this process of reflection as well as the critical events in the process that posed a challenge for the therapists and opportunities for reflection in these interactions during the course of therapy. The paper, with its reflective stance, has implications for promoting and documenting reflective practice in psychotherapy training using different methods and modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to a coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patient is challenging for the healthcare providers (HCP). COVID-19 cases have specific CPR requirements, which differ from standard resuscitation efforts. Objective: This paper aims to evaluate whether online learning can be an effective methodology for imparting information on the management of cardiopulmonary arrest in COVID-19 patients due to a novel virus unknown to HCP based on evaluation of knowledge acquisition and satisfaction of the nurses in the new area of medicine and virology. Methodology: In a single-arm, one group before and after design, from a cohort of 160 nurses trained in comprehensive cardiac life support (CCLS) formulated by the Indian Resuscitation Council (IRC), 73 nurses participated in the study. After obtaining informed consent through the email from the nurses, baseline data including demographic profile and knowledge related to CPR in COVID-19 patients were collected. An online intervention spread over 1 week was given using a validated e-learning module. The online intervention was found to be effective (pre- and post-intervention knowledge score 13.65 ± 3.01 vs 19.92 ± 1.94, p = 0.001). The majority of nurses were highly satisfied with the content and the training methodology (37.23 ± 4.70). Conclusion: A well-structured, online study material can be used in imparting knowledge and demonstrating the basic and essential skills to nurses, required for giving CPR to COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper critically examined the available research on role of family and school contribution in academic achievement and explored their social representations. People adaptation with the prevalent notions and thinking beyond the boundary of common sense is required to explain multidimensional picture of any attribute. Previous research applied social representation theory to understand educability, intelligence, academic achievement and failure, and teachership. This article showed a polysemic understanding of family and school contribution where roles and identity matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competency-based medical education curriculum (CBME) has received traction worldwide. However, its adoption and implementation have significantly varied across the globe. The National Medical Commission, India (2019) has adopted CBME to improve the quality and content of training of medical students. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has spawned several challenges implementing the CBME. Therefore, there is a need to reflect on using novel teaching and assessment methods to enrich medical and psychiatric training. In this paper, we aimed to study global trends and characteristics of competency-based psychiatry training programs and how these experiences can be utilized to overcome challenges and facilitate the implementation of CBME in Psychiatry in the Indian context. A literature search was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar databases. The findings are presented narratively. Psychiatry training for medical students greatly vary across the globe. High-income countries mainly have implemented CBME and have incorporated psychiatry training during the foundation/pre-clerkship period itself. There is more reliance on skill development and flexible and learning-based training vs. time-based training. Various enrichment activities have been incorporated into the medical curriculum to promote and strengthen psychiatry training for medical students, particularly in developed nations, which have yielded positive results. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the medical student's training, it has reiterated the significance of skill-based education and opened novel avenues for implementing the CBME. Medical educationists need to adapt themselves to provide CBME to the students. Making structural, curricular changes, orienting teachers, and students about the CBME, mentoring teachers, adopting novel training and assessment methods, utilizing enrichment activities, collaborating with educational institutions and technology providers, periodically evaluating the implementation of the CBME, and making appropriate course corrections are essential. In addition, there is a need to address structural barriers, such as lack of workforce, for better realization of the CBME objectives.eriodically evaluating the implementation of the CBME, and making appropriate course corrections are essential. Additionally, there is a need to address structural barriers, such as lack of workforce, for better realization of the CBME objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Procuring communication skills that enable nurses to be effective yet person-centeredness is increasingly a hallmark of quality cancer care. The growing importance of patient outcomes and experiences in health care may mean that communication skill training is finally getting the attention it so clearly deserves. Objectives The main objectives of the study were to assess the efficacy of communication skill training on knowledge and skills of nursing students in conveying diagnosis to patients with cancer. Materials and Methods Quasi-experimental pretest–posttest with control group research design was adopted for the study. A total of 32 third-year BSc nursing students (intervention group, 16; control group, 16) were selected by nonprobability purposive sampling technique from two selected colleges at Mangaluru. Baseline proforma, self-administered knowledge questionnaire, and breaking bad news assessment schedule were used for data collection. Tools were validated by 11 subject experts. Communication skill training was provided for 8 hours (2 hours of theory and 6 hours of skill training on conveying diagnosis). A blinding method was adopted to assess the skill of the students that enable to avoid subjectivity. Results The mean age of participants in the intervention group was 20.56 and of participants in the control group was 20.94. All participants (100%) of both the intervention and control groups were females. The results showed there was a significant difference found in knowledge scores (t = 8.52, p = 0.000) between the intervention and control groups after the intervention. There was a significant improvement found in conveying diagnosis skills among students between the intervention and control groups in different time periods. There was a slight positive correlation found between pretest knowledge scores and eliciting concerns domain of conveying diagnosis skill (r = 0.57, p = 0.023). Conclusion The study results revealed that communication skill training session was very effective for improving the knowledge and skills of students, and it enables them in providing quality care to patients with cancer through effective communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training of medical students in the domain of clinical skills is an indispensable component of medical education delivery. Moulage in medical training deals with producing genuine simulations of wounds, injuries, and other medical conditions, so that students can relate to lifelike scenarios. Medical students through moulage are exposed to the complexities of real-world clinical practice to bring about an improvement in their confidence and competence levels as healthcare professionals. Integrating moulage into medical training essentially requires systematic planning and implementation to ensure that simulations are effective. The success of moulage, in terms of attainment of the learning objectives, can be enhanced by beginning with a few modules and then based on the experience, success, and acceptance, gradually expanding the process. In conclusion, the introduction of moulage into the existing medical curriculum can prove to be an effective tool to enrich the learning experience and aid in the process of acquisition of clinical skills. However, the success of the same in terms of attainment of the learning outcomes essentially depends on the planning and collaboration between different departments and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Change' is the rule of the disruptive era we are part of. This has been obvious especiallywith regardto the population dynamics of countries and their path towards growth and development. The Demographic Dividend has been upheld as a factor with impeccable potential - that can increase the pace of economic growth for the vast expanse of the developing world if appropriately leveraged. While many East Asian economies seem to have made phenomenal strides in growth owing to the demographic dividend, the same transition has not permeated expected growth outcomes for countries in Latin America. This paper pointshighlights the importance of Governmental Policy making, and developmental programs through upskilling of resource base as a better approachtowards enhancing development in countries like India. The study undertaken among 350 IT skilling graduates in India on their perception of employability potential of the skilling programs and second study parallelly done among 100 trainers on the kind of IT skilling programs rolled out yearly - reveals the existence and the direction of skilling needed in the country by bringing out a measure called the 'propensity to upskilling' in the IT sector. In order to ensure that Development initiatives drive optimum results to economic growth, the need of the hour is an impetus on 'IT Skills' and building up on 'Employability skills' among the people. This undeniable need for change in Development efforts to be able to give the right thrust to IT Skills and to forecast the right kind of Skills to promote employability and productivity increase. This introduces us to the new approach of Community Capacity Building. 'Strengths, Skills and Abilities of masses' - the new direction for governments of developing countries to steer ahead to speedier progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community Re Entry Program (CREP) is a specialized rehabilitation program for individuals with mental disorders, recovering from mental illness. This program is specifically designed to develop and integrate the skills that enable individuals to relearn the skills necessary to fully participate in activities of daily living successfully and return to home or community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Everything has its wonders, including darkness and stillness, and I learn to be satisfied in whatever situation I am in." Research literature illustrates that parents of children with intellectual impairments are exposed to a variety of stressful life events while caring for their children with intellectual disabilities. The pivotal aim is to determine that the parenting intervention has a meaningful impact on parents' care of their intellectual disabled child and also to improve the parenting abilities of intellectual developmentally disabled children. It is indeed crucial to strengthen parenting skills through various means or strategies. Thus, the researcher examined numerous parenting practices that can help the parents in instilling positive attitudes to improve their parenting skills so that they can modify their intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) child's behavioral issues. Researcher has also identified the various strategies and principles to change the inappropriate behavior of IDD child such as acceptance, positive self-beliefs, positive reinforcement, self-efficacy, endurance, consistency, remain calm and be respectful, learn to stand and assertively explore out their feelings, nonjudgmental, and nonpunitive toward their disabled child. Apart from this, behavioral techniques for problematic behavior management such as changing the antecedent, extinction/ignoring, time out, response cost, and overcorrection prove beneficial in making modifications and improvement in child's behavior. It has been found that parenting skill program brings positive motivation, guidance, and zeal in parents and also enhances personal and parental self-efficacy which further helps to improve the family functioning. In addition to this, parenting intervention helps the parents to realize their own potential to manage their daily life stress, thereby living a happy and successful life with the intellectual disability child. It is estimated that disabilities will cross 10 million by 2022 if appropriate skills are not imparted through training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer, a life-altering diagnosis, profoundly affects patients' wellbeing across various aspects. Essential in this regard is social casework intervention, integral to comprehensive cancer care. This intervention draws from the ecological systems theory, viewing individuals as part of interconnected systems, guiding social caseworkers to formulate a social diagnosis for tailored psychosocial intervention. The strengths-based approach complements this, emphasizing patient resilience and strengths alongside challenges. In India, the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare providers (NABH) mandates medical social workers in clinical establishments. These professionals offer crucial emotional support and guidance to patients and families, ensuring psychosocial needs are met. In oncology, medical social workers collaborate with healthcare teams to provide holistic care. Their responsibilities span psychosocial assessments, counselling, discharge planning, resource referrals, and patient education. NABH standards require hospitals to have qualied social workers for psychosocial support, fostering a therapeutic bond and maintaining accurate records. Social caseworkers play a pivotal role in managing emotional distress, aiding healthcare, and nurture psychosocial needs, thereby enhancing coping skills and overall satisfaction. Emphasizing team collaboration, the oncology and palliative medicine sectors prioritize comprehensive cancer care. By uniting various healthcare professionals, they ensure patients receive wellrounded support. The key principles of social casework intervention encompass empathy, active listening, and therapeutic relationship building, essential for understanding patient perspectives. Social casework intervention is indispensable in addressing the multifaceted challenges posed by cancer. Rooted in the ecological systems theory and the strengths-based approach, it fosters collaboration, improves quality of life, and meets patients' diverse needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the market return timing ability of fund managers of actively managed Indian mutual funds of various categories (small-cap, mid-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap funds) for the period of 2014 to 2019. To assess the exposure of different investment factors like market, value, momentum, and size, we use the 4-factor model. Further, we use the Treynor Mazuy and Henriksson Merton models, to study the timing ability of the magnitude and direction of the style, respectively. We observe that value investing has the least style timing, followed by momentum. The extent of size timing is highest, but the direction timing is least in small-cap. Mid-cap funds place second in size factor timing. The market timing factor shows best results for multi and large-cap funds while showing moderately better results for the other two compared to the value factor. Our findings add another dimension to mutual fund performance evaluation and provide a better understanding of the investment style suitable for different funds. These findings could help fund managers in returns maximisation returns by using the right style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Despite strong evidence about the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, that is the baby receiving only breast milk, no other foods or liquids, rates have remained relatively unchanged over the past two decades in low- and middle-income countries. One strategy for increasing exclusive breastfeeding is through community-based programs that use peer counselors for education and support. The use of mobile health applications is also gaining increasing applicability in these countries. Minimal information is available about training peer counselors in the use of mobile technologies to support exclusive breastfeeding. The present article describes our curriculum in the state of Karnataka, India for supporting new mothers to exclusively breastfeed using a mobile health application in rural India. Methods: Twenty-five women from the community surrounding the city of Belgavi, Karnataka, India were trained to be peer counselors and to use a mobile health application to conduct a structured curriculum to support new mothers in exclusive breastfeeding. The three-day interactive training, conducted in March 2018, was based on the WHO breastfeeding course, translated, and adapted to the local culture The curriculum, which included information collected during a formative research process, consisted of eight visits, two during the antenatal period and continuing for six months postpartum. Twelve nursing and obstetric experts validated curriculum content. Pre-post-evaluation of the training focused on breastfeeding knowledge, self-efficacy, skills, and app usability. Results: We observed a significant increase in the mean scores for knowledge (P < 0.0001) and skills (P = 0.0006) from pre- to post-training. Age of the peer counselors and their own breastfeeding experience correlated significantly with the acquisition of knowledge and skills. The mobile health app showed high usability scores. Conclusions: The culturally adapted curriculum presented here, combined with an mHealth app, can be an important educational strategy for training rural women in the acquisition of exclusive breastfeeding knowledge and skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various trainings are designed to educate nurses to become simulation educators. However, there are no good strategies to sustain their learnings and keep them engaged. We developed a series of 10 interactive digital storytelling comic episodes 'The Adventures of Super Divya (SD)' to strengthen simulation educator's facilitation knowledge, skills, confidence, and engagement. This endline evaluation presents results on the change in knowledge after watching the episodes and retention of that knowledge over 10 months. The objectives of this pilot study are to: 1) assess the change in knowledge between the baseline and post-episode surveys; and 2) understand the retention of knowledge between the post-episode and the endline survey. A human-centred design was used to create the episodes grounded in the lived experience of nurse simulation educators. The heroine of the comic is Divya, a 'Super Facilitator' and her nemesis is Professor Agni who wants to derail simulation as an educational strategy inside obstetric facilities. Professor Agni's schemes represent real-life challenges; and SD uses effective facilitation and communication to overcome them. The episodes were shared with a group of nurse mentors (NM) and nurse mentor supervisors (NMS) who were trained to be champion simulation educators in their own facilities. To assess change in knowledge, we conducted a baseline, nine post-episode surveys and an endline survey between May 2021 and February 2022. A total 110 NM and 50 NMS watched all 10 episodes and completed all of the surveys. On average, knowledge scores increased by 7–9 percentage points after watching the episodes. Comparison of survey responses obtained between 1 and 10 months suggest that the gain in knowledge was largely retained over time. Findings suggest that this interactive comic series was successful in a resource limited setting at engaging simulation educators and helped to maintain their facilitation knowledge over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children now participate in audio and video calls with their parents and relatives using smartphones. We assessed if video calls help children to have more expressive conversation. We talked with 60 children aged between four and eight years on audio and video calls using smartphones in a controlled environment. We observed how they participated in the conversation and if they could recall what they heard over a call and solve a problem involving physical artifacts while receiving help on a call. Video calls were found to engage children aged four to six years 32.84% and seven and eight years 47.75% longer than audio calls. The children used bodily gestures and interrupted the person with whom they were having conversation to make a point of their own more often on video calls. The difference in the number of children who could initiate audio and video calls was insignificant. We found that 67% of the children aged four to six years could recall a story they had heard on a video call, while only 27% of them could do so for audio calls. Additionally, 20% of the children aged seven and eight years could solve a problem involving physical artifacts when receiving instructions over video calls, while none of them could do so when receiving instructions on audio calls. Video calls can contribute in child development in several ways including instilling a sense of proximity and security among children. Specialized video chatting apps may be developed for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Leadership skills are vital for efficient delivery of health reforms. India, a low- and middle-income country, is transforming its public health care significantly. The health workforce, particularly doctors, however lacks leadership skills. This study aims to highlight the leadership skills gap and raise concerns about how India might achieve its ambitious health reforms in the lack of formal, prospective leadership training for its workforce. Design/methodology/approach: This study conducted nine management development programmes between 2012 and 2020 and collected data from 416 (N = 444, 94% response rate) health-care professionals using a questionnaire. Participants were asked to inform leadership challenges that they perceived critical. A total of 47 unique challenges were identified, which were distributed across five domains of American College of Healthcare Executives Competency Assessment Tool (2020). Relevant information was also obtained from review of secondary sources including journal articles from scientific and grey literature and government websites. Findings: Majority of participants (85.36%) had never attended any management training and were from public sector (56.1%). Mean total experience was 18 years. Top 5 challenges were lack of motivation (54.26%), communication (52.38%), contracts management (48.31%), leadership skills (47.26%) and retention of workforce (45.56%). Maximum challenges (29) were in domain of business skills and knowledge, followed by knowledge of health-care environment (9), leadership, professionalism, and communication and relationship management (3 each). Originality/value: In absence of the leadership training, senior health professionals particularly doctors in India, suffer leadership challenges. Efforts should be made to strengthen leadership capacity in Indian health-care system to advance the country's ongoing national health reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surgicaltraining programs across the globe have the responsibility of preparing the future generation of surgeons while promoting quality and patient safety. Surgical training differs significantly between countries, which can be based on the requirements of local accrediting bodies, different patient populations, different healthcare delivery systems and cultural and traditional patterns unique to that particular training environment. In this article, we reviewed General surgery residency training in the USA, UK, and India to identify strengths and challenges. We also highlighted salient aspects of training, including duration of the training, resident work-hours, operative opportunities, rotation and supervision, essential skill development, research activity, assessment, and regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fantasy sport has become a digital rage in the US and several European countries, while its presence has started to be felt in India in the 2010s with the expansion of smartphone technology. As the number of Indians playing fantasy cricket has exponentially grown over the last few years, concerns over the game being a front of organized online gambling has surfaced. In this article, I will explore the question whether or not fantasy cricket is a game of skill. I will analyse the extent of knowledge required for excelling in fantasy cricket in view of the 'glorious uncertainty' of cricket and the need to account for luck in any gameplay. Using the methods of autoethnography and phenomenology, I will study fantasy cricket as an object of my experience and offer an interpretive personal account to mediate a discussion about the extent to which knowledge is important in fantasy gaming success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]