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Background There is a need to appropriately train, support and remunerate pharmacists for their expanding roles in mental healthcare. Pharmacists often care for people experiencing mental health crises, including suicidal thoughts and behaviours, but little is known about pharmacists’ suicide care experiences. Aim This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the impact of professional experiences with people at risk of suicide and support accessed, among community pharmacists. Method A survey exploring pharmacists’ experiences with people at risk of suicide and post-intervention support-seeking was disseminated through Australian and Canadian professional associations, conferences and social media (June 2016-May 2017). Quantitative data were analysed using Chi-squared, Fisher’s exact and independent t-tests, where appropriate. Qualitative data exploring the impact of these experiences were thematically analysed, and reasons for not seeking help post-intervention were identified. Results Among 378 respondents, 84% had encountered patients at risk of suicide and 28% had lost patients to suicide. Some were negatively affected personally and/or professionally (11%), of which 88% did not seek professional support, mainly due to uncertainty about available services. Pharmacists were significantly more negatively affected if they had a personal mental health diagnosis (p = 0.017) and previous suicide care experiences (p = 0.001). Qualitative themes included: expanding knowledge and skills, role limitation and emotional impact and response. Conclusion A large proportion of pharmacists have interacted with suicidal patients and are impacted by these experiences, yet few seek help due to lack of awareness and access. There is a need to recognize pharmacists’ roles in suicide care, and develop pharmacist-specific post-intervention support.

Previous studies have associated L2 teachers’ use of motivational strategies with learners’ motivated behaviours in class such as raised attention and participation. The after-class effects of L2 m...

In higher education, ‘disciplines’ is a construct that demarcates knowledge and academic identities. Individual disciplines commonly have their own practices, and thus the idea of disciplinary specificity has recently attracted research attention although less so within the area of learning styles and preferences. Drawing on the notion of academic tribes and taxonomy of academic disciplines, we investigate how different disciplinary preferences and learning styles manifest among students attending an academic English course. A questionnaire survey was administered to first-year students at a Hong Kong university, and 278 completed questionnaires were returned by students spanning four disciplines: the soft-pure, soft-applied, hard-pure and hard-applied disciplines. Interviews were conducted with 19 participants to triangulate the questionnaire data. The results show that the respondents had some distinct preferences with regard to the disciplinary characteristics of academic English learning. For example, the soft-pure respondents favoured a solitary mode of learning, while the hard-pure respondents had a predilection for collaborative learning. Moreover, the soft-applied respondents had the strongest commitment to and belief in learner autonomy. These disciplinary variations have strong implications for the design and delivery of academic English courses which recognize this specificity.

This paper reports on a study of prior and current experiences with English of non-local Asian international students and of their language expectations when commencing their studies at an English-...

Internationalisation of higher education greatly facilitates cross-border student mobility, which has been extensively researched. This comparative study focuses on the relatively under-explored fi...

This paper reports on the findings of a study looking at students' motivation to engage in self-access language learning (SALL) while taking an English for Academic Purposes course which contains a substantial integrated SALL component. To-date there has been limited research into the motivation of such students but it is an important area of research because the extent to which students will make use of and benefit from SALL is likely to be strongly influenced by the type of motivation they experience. Using the framework of the L2 Motivational Self System and data from a questionnaire survey and interviews, this paper categorises the kinds of motivation seen among the students and then discusses the relevance of the findings for promoting and supporting the use of SALL among these and similar students.

This paper reports on a study examining the attitudes and perceptions of a group of in-service teachers who are new or relatively new to facilitating self-directed learning (SDL) before and after they taught a course with an integrated SDL component. The study also investigates the impact on those teachers' attitudes of an orientation package designed to familiarise teachers with the concept of SDL and support them in promoting it to students of the course. The study took place in a university setting with teachers of English for Academic Purposes course with an integrated SDL component.

This paper investigates changes in the role of managers of self-access language learning (SALL) over a 15-year period in a number of tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. This is achieved by revisiting two research projects undertaken at the beginning and end of the period and looking only at the data which relates to SALL management. Through a re-analysis and comparison of the data sets, changes are seen over the 15-year period in the role of SALL managers. The paper identifies the managers' membership of multiple overlapping communities of practice (as defined by Lave and Wenger, 1991 ) and an increasing complexity in the management role. There is clear evidence for a community of practice for all SALL practitioners and also for a distinct and more tightly focused fledgling community of practice of SALL managers. The former has been developing throughout the period but the latter is only now emerging. By restricting itself to a specific geographical context and educational level this paper is able to eliminate variables which might occur in a wider-ranging study.

Introduction/Context: Critical appraisal training of pharmacy students is important in the development of knowledge and skills necessary for the application of evidence-based practice post-licensure. The objectives of this study were to evaluate critical appraisal skills of students in Qatar and to compare performance across applicable academic years. Description of Assessment: Pharmacy students in third year, fourth year, and Doctor of Pharmacy students at Qatar University completed an application-based critical appraisal exam developed by faculty from a Canadian University. Results were categorised according to Bloom's taxonomy and compared by academic year. Evaluation: The median score of students was 30.5%. Students performed best on questions categorised as comprehension and lowest on evaluation questions. A significant improvement in performance as students progressed through the curriculum was observed. Implementation and Future Plans: Findings will be used to refine the current critical appraisal course series to increase emphasis on application of critical appraisal skills. 2016 FIP. Scopus

This paper is based on a research project looking at the management of self-access language learning (SALL) from the perspective of the managers of self-access centres. It looks at the factors which influence the practice of seven managers of self-access language learning in tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. The discussion centres around five themes: how managers interpret key concepts within the field of learner autonomy and self-access learning, the managers’ beliefs about self-access language learning and the factors which influenced them, the purpose of a self-access centre, and the factors which influence the implementation of self-access learning. Our conclusion is that managing self-access language learning is a complex process and unique to each context but there are underlying principles for effective management of SALL. We identify five of these principles.

This paper examines the degree to which the beliefs of stakeholders in self-access language learning in tertiary institutions in Hong Kong have changed during a 15 year period. To identify changes a comparison is made between the findings of a research study conducted in the mid-1990s in five self-access centres (Gardner and Miller, 1997) and the current situation. The following four key areas are examined: materials for self-access learning, integration of self-access centres and language learning courses, motivation and the effectiveness of a self-access centre. The comparison reveals that the degree of change in these four areas vary. We reflect on the causes of change.

Vacuum samples were collected from 1025 randomly selected urban Canadian homes to investigate bioaccessible Pb (Pb(S)) concentrations in settled house dust. Results indicate a polymodal frequency distribution, consisting of three lognormally distributed subpopulations defined as "urban background" (geomean 58 μg g(-1)), "elevated" (geomean 447 μg g(-1)), and "anomalous" (geomean 1730 μg g(-1)). Dust Pb(S) concentrations in 924 homes (90%) fall into the "urban background" category. The elevated and anomalous subpopulations predominantly consist of older homes located in central core areas of cities. The influence of house age is evidenced by a moderate correlation between house age and dust Pb(S) content (R(2) = 0.34; n = 1025; p < 0.01), but it is notable that more than 10% of homes in the elevated/anomalous category were built after 1980. Conversely, the benefit of home remediation is evidenced by the large number of homes (33%) in the background category that were built before 1960. The dominant dust Pb species determined using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy were as follows: Pb carbonate, Pb hydroxyl carbonate, Pb sulfate, Pb chromate, Pb oxide, Pb citrate, Pb metal, Pb adsorbed to Fe- and Al-oxyhydroxides, and Pb adsorbed to humate. Pb bioaccessibility estimated from solid phase speciation predicts Pb bioaccessibility measured using a simulated gastric extraction (R(2) = 0.85; n = 12; p < 0.0001). The trend toward increased Pb bioaccessibility in the elevated and anomalous subpopulations (75% ± 18% and 81% ± 8%, respectively) compared to background (63% ± 18%) is explained by the higher proportion of bioaccessible compounds used as pigments in older paints (Pb carbonate and Pb hydroxyl carbonate). This population-based study provides a nationally representative urban baseline for applications in human health risk assessment and risk management.

This study investigated the use of metal impurities in single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) as potential tracers to distinguish engineered nanomaterials from background aerosols. TEM and SEM were used to characterize parent material and aerosolized agglomerates collected on PTFE filters using a cascade impactor. SEM image analysis indicated that the SWCNT agglomerates contained about 45% amorphous carbon and backscatter electron analysis indicated that metal impurities were concentrated within the amorphous carbon component. Two elements present as impurities (Y and Ni) were selected as appropriate tracers in this case as their concentrations were found to be highly elevated in the SWCNT parent material (% range) compared to ambient air particles (μg/g range), and background air concentrations were below detection limits for both elements. Bioaccessibility was also determined using physiologically-based extractions at pH conditions relevant to both ingestion and inhalation pathways. A portable wet electrostatic precipitation system effectively captured airborne Y and Ni released during sieving processes, in proportions similar to the bulk sample. These observations support the potential for catalysts and other metal impurities in carbon nanotubes to serve as tracers that uniquely identify emissions at source, after an initial analysis to select appropriate tracers.

E-learning has become increasingly popular in English learning programmes. This article attempts to answer a question about a particular type of e-learning namely web-conferencing: is it a viable tool for encouraging adult students of English to communicate across cultures? The article explores the effectiveness of this tool to help two nationalities of learners, Thai and Vietnamese, practise speaking, discussion and presentation skills in English. The two groups were located in Thailand and Singapore; web-conferencing enabled them to meet in the virtual world. Participants| feedback on their learning and on the technical aspects of the event was collected. The overall assessment was that web-conferencing was indeed a useful e-learning tool to help accomplish learning objectives, although several problems were encountered. It is important to seek solutions if web-conferencing is to be used again. After discussing the participants| feedback and evaluating the effectiveness of web-conferencing, the article proposes a number of solutions.

The prevalence of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the North of England (population 3.07 million) was 4.0 × 10 −5 in 1968, 3.6 × 10 −5 in 1979 and at least 2.3 × 10 −5 in 1988. The incidence in males was 31.2, 22.4 and at least 17.8 × 10 −5 in successive decades since 1952. Thirty-five percent of cases over the last 35 years have been preventable; but recently major additional educational programmes and routine screening tests for pre symptomatic cases would have been required to improve prevention. The mortality has not changed in the last 20 years. Previously published criteria for the diagnosis of autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy in childhood have been tested prospectively. Seven new children fitting these criteria and 6 other girls with muscular dystrophy are described. Only 5 appear to have the autosomal recessive disease. Two boys had DNA deletions and 2 girls were severely manifesting carriers of the Duchenne gene.