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Equity crowdfunding has the potential to democratize entrepreneurial finance and provide female entrepreneurs with new and equal access to early-stage financing. In this paper, we present first empirical evidence on gender stereotypes in the context of technology ventures in equity crowdfunding. Drawing on signaling and gender role congruity theory, we hypothesize that quality signals have different effects depending on whether they are sent by male or female entrepreneurs. Results taken from a sample of 263 equity crowdfunding campaigns run by technology ventures confirm our hypotheses. In line with gender stereotypes, management experience is beneficial for male entrepreneurs but detrimental for female entrepreneurs. Interestingly, media coverage as a third-party signal has the oppositive effect, being more effective for female entrepreneurs.

Women's lower career advancement relative to men is sometimes explained by internal factors such as women's lower willingness to make sacrifices for their career, and sometimes by external barriers such as discrimination. In the current research, positing a dynamic interplay between internal and external factors, we empirically test how external workplace barriers guide individuals' internal decisions to make sacrifices for the advancement of their careers. In two high-powered studies in traditionally male-dominated fields (surgery, N = 1,080; veterinary medicine, N = 1,385), women indicated less willingness than men to make sacrifices for their career. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that this difference was explained by women's more frequent experience of gender discrimination and lower perceptible fit with people higher up the professional ladder. These barriers predicted reduced expectations of success in their field (Study 1) and expected success of their sacrifices (Study 2), which in turn predicted lower willingness to make sacrifices. The results explain how external barriers play a role in internal career decision making. Importantly, our findings show that these decision-making processes are similar for men and women, yet, the circumstances under which these decisions are made are gendered. That is, both men and women weigh the odds in deciding whether to sacrifice for their career, but structural conditions may influence these perceived odds in a way that favors men. Overall, this advances our understanding of gender differences, workplace inequalities, and research on the role of “choice” and/or structural discrimination behind such inequalities.

Sexual responding in transgender people has typically been investigated from a medical and functional perspective. Aligning with the biopsychosocial model, it is however equally important to consider psychological aspects of sexuality in this population. We propose that the Sexual Self-Concept (SSC) theory offers a valuable framework to understand (sexual) wellbeing in transgender people, while Self-Concept Discrepancy (SCD) theory could offer an explanation of the mechanisms underlying negative SSCs related to gender dysphoria. We investigated differences in SSC (consisting of sexual esteem, sexual attitudes, and sexual self-efficacy) in 197 binary transgender and 205 cisgender individuals using an online survey and explored the mediating role of actual/ideal self-discrepancies in explaining the relation between gender dysphoria and SSC. Transgender and cisgender individuals differed significantly in seven out of eight components related to sexual esteem and sexual attitudes. Actual/ideal self-discrepancies mediated the relationship between gender dysphoria and the SSC in transgender individuals for the sexual esteem components related to body perception, conduct, and attractiveness, as well as for sexual anxiety. We found no relation between gender dysphoria and the other SSC components in this group. We conclude that SSC discrepancies could be a valuable treatment target to improve transgender individuals' sexual esteem and sexual attitudes.

Conspiracy theories are widespread and have a profound impact on society. The present contribution proposes that conspiracy theories are explanatory narratives that necessarily contain justice judgments, as they include attributions of blame and accusations of unethical or criminal conduct. Conspiratorial narratives also are mental simulations, however, and may elicit genuine feelings of injustice also without evidence of actual malpractice. Indeed, conspiracy theories sometimes describe unfair events that are unlikely to have occurred, unethical authorities that might not actually exist, and so on. Here I propose two complementary processes that stimulate belief in evidence-free conspiracy theories: (1) Existential threats instigate biased mental processing and motivated reasoning, that jointly promote an alternative perception of reality; and (2) group allegiances shape how people perceive, interpret, and remember facts to highlight the immoral qualities of competing outgroups. Due to these processes, conspiracy theories elicit a set of distinct reactions such as poor health choices and rejection of science. Moreover, evidence-free conspiracy theories require interventions beyond traditional approaches to install justice principles, such as debunking falsehoods and reducing polarized intergroup distinctions. I conclude that the scientific study of conspiracy theories is part of, and has a unique place in, social justice research.

The idea of which species are native, based on their biogeographic origin, is central to many policies and programmes. Yet definitions are contested and the meanings of ‘nativeness’ are often complex and confusing for many people. For example, a plant that would be considered 'native' in Australia might have a native bioregion that is thousands of kilometres from a given garden planting. The idea of nativeness is culturally constructed and connotes different meanings in different contexts. As conservation research and practice increasingly incorporate human values and behaviours, operationalising the social dimensions of abstract ecological concepts such as nativeness is needed to generate a more holistic evidence base and improve the management of native and non‐native species. We used a sequential mixed‐methods systematic review approach to review and synthesise literature on people's (including general publics, gardeners, conservationists) perceptions of nativeness of species and landscapes. A meta‐synthesis of qualitative research identified six dimensions that underlie people's perceptions in relation to nativeness: Belonging (a sense that there is a right or wrong place for a species to exist); human influence (the role of humans in moving species outside of their historic ranges); functional compatibility (a species' alignment with the local environment and ecology); amenity (desirable and useful features provided by a species); negative impacts (risk and manageability of detrimental impacts caused by a species); and identity (species forming part of one's place‐based identity). A systematic review of the quantitative urban literature found that most research on perceptions of native and non‐native species and landscapes did not operationalise nativeness in a multidimensional way, focusing predominantly on the ‘Negative impacts’ dimension. This may often be inadequate for meaningfully capturing people's views. Our results also highlight the need to strengthen interdisciplinarity between natural and social sciences, and for better integration of social science theories to improve the interpretability and transferability of research findings. We provide recommendations for future research that operationalises nativeness using a broader range of meanings that will inform a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the human dimensions of conservation issues, especially within the contested and briskly evolving terrain of urban greening. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Purpose Obesity is prevalent in gynecological cancer survivors and is associated with impaired health outcomes. Concerns due to cancer and its treatment may impact changes in lifestyle after cancer. This study aimed to assess the association between cancer-related psychosocial factors and changes in physical activity and diet, 18 months after initial treatment among gynecological cancer survivors. Methods Cross-sectional data from the ROGY Care study were used, including endometrial and ovarian cancer patients treated with curative intent. The Impact of Cancer Scale (IOCv2) was used to assess cancer-related psychosocial factors. Self-reported changes in nutrients/food groups and in physical activity post-diagnosis were classified into change groups (less/equal/more). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess associations. Results Data from 229 cancer survivors (59% endometrial, 41% ovarian, mean age 66 ± 9.5, 70% tumor stage I) were analyzed. In total, 20% reported to eat healthier from diagnosis up to 18 months after initial treatment, 17% reported less physical activity and 20% more physical activity. Health awareness (OR 2.79, 95% CI: 1.38; 5.65), body change concerns (OR 3.04 95% CI: 1.71; 5.39), life interferences (OR 4.88 95% 2.29; 10.38) and worry (OR 2.62, 95% CI: 1.42; 4.85) were significantly associated with less physical activity up to 18 months after initial treatment whereby gastrointestinal symptoms were an important confounder. Conclusion(s) This study underlines the need to raise awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and to provide tailored lifestyle advice, taking into account survivors’ health awareness, body change concerns, life interferences, worry and gastrointestinal symptoms, in order to improve health behavior among gynecological cancer survivors. Trial Registration http://clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01185626, August 20, 2010

OBJECTIVE: To identify what strategies supervisors use to entrust autonomy during surgical procedures and to clarify the consequences of each strategy for a resident's level of autonomy.BACKGROUND: Entrusting autonomy is at the core of teaching and learning surgical procedures. The better the level of autonomy matches the learning needs of residents, the steeper their learning curves. However, entrusting too much autonomy endangers patient outcome, while entrusting too little autonomy results in expertise gaps at the end of training. Understanding how supervisors regulate autonomy during surgical procedures is essential to improve intraoperative learning without compromising patient outcome.METHODS: In an observational study, all the verbal and nonverbal interactions of 6 different supervisors and residents were captured by cameras. Using the iterative inductive process of conversational analysis, each supervisor initiative to guide the resident was identified, categorized, and analyzed to determine how supervisors affect autonomy of residents.RESULTS: In the end, all the 475 behaviors of supervisors to regulate autonomy in this study could be classified into 4 categories and nine strategies: I) Evaluate the progress of the procedure: inspection (1), request for information (2), and expressing their expert opinion (3); II) Influence decision-making: explore (4), suggest (5), or declare the next decision (6); III) Influence the manual ongoing action: adjust (7), or stop the resident's manual activity (8); IV) take over (9).CONCLUSIONS: This study provides new insights into how supervisors regulate autonomy in the operating room. This insight is useful toward analyzing whether supervisors meet learning needs of residents as effectively as possible.

Although feedback has long been recognised as critical to student learning, its potential is often not realised in classroom practice. One factor affecting feedback effectiveness is the discrepancy between how feedback is intended by the provider, and how it is perceived by the recipient. This study examined the nature of teacher and student perceptions of oral classroom feedback. Initial data were gathered using video-recorded classroom observations. Recorded videos were used in individual video-stimulated recall (VSR) interviews and semi-structured interviews with two teachers and five of their Year 8 students in one English and one mathematics class. VSR data were coded and analysed using a purposefully developed scheme. Although some overlap was identified, analysis revealed substantial differences in feedback perceptions of teachers and students, as well as between students. Overall, teachers identified more feedback instances than students, implying that much of their feedback was not recognised by students. In other instances, feedback was not perceived by students as intended by the teacher. Although most students recognised the ‘helping’ function of feedback, their commentary often reflected the notion of feedback as a corrective tool. The results suggest that students’ historic views of their role in feedback processes strongly influenced their feedback perceptions.

Introduction-the perception of tourists is a crucial way to reflect the quality of infrastructure in the World Heritage Sites (WHSs), which would be continually developed to remain the tourism demand and to sustain the WHSs themselves. Aims-the research aims to study the perceptions of foreign tourists pertaining to the infrastructure in the World Heritage Historic Town of Sukhothai, Thailand. Method-this empirical qualitative research uses the structural interview form as a research tool for face-to-face interviews with 41 foreign tourists using purposive sampling. Results and interpretation-the findings show that the access and ease of walkways were the key infrastructure issue that was unpopular amongst tourists; and others crucial factors were unfolded. Tourists from different demographics contributed to the same perceptions, thus indicating a critical issue for the development of this tourist destination.

Background The wellbeing of individuals influences organisational outcomes. Insight into nurses' wellbeing is crucial to a sustaining a high-quality workforce. Aim To describe nurses' perceptions and experiences of wellbeing, work wellbeing, and mental health. Method Using a qualitative descriptive design, semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed verbatim, analysed inductively and thematically, and reported per consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research. Findings Nine Australian nurses were interviewed in 2020, each for 60 to 90 minutes. These nurses had a broad range of clinical roles and years of experience in metropolitan healthcare organisations. Six themes, each related to nurse wellbeing, depicted: (i) value and sense of purpose from nursing, yet also negative consequences of losing sight of oneself within the nursing role; (ii) work nurses did to disengage from their job and create a balance within their life; (iii) significance of the team and senior team as a source of both strength and opportunity for wellbeing; (iv) a range of wellbeing initiatives with a perception these were often developed, and for use, in response to crisis as opposed to preventative or proactive measures; (v) value of additional nurse wellbeing education and promotion of available support; and (vi) novel challenges and ways to wellbeing during times where resources were stretched and usual support systems impacted. Discussion Identified positive and negative consequences of nursing must be addressed when developing targeted wellbeing interventions. Conclusion New ways of working and supporting individual, team and organisational wellbeing are needed for flourishing working environments. Potential strategies to either leverage or mitigate the positive and negative consequences of nursing are offered.

Background Vaccinating children (≤17 years old) is important for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. As parents are primary decision makers for their children, we aimed to assess parents’ perceptions and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination for their children, including for some underserved populations (e.g., newcomers, Indigenous peoples, and visible minority groups). Methods We conducted a cross-sectional national survey of Canadian parents in December 2020, just as COVID-19 vaccines were approved for adults, to assess intention to vaccinate their children (aged 0–17 years) against COVID-19, perceptions of COVID-19 disease and vaccines, previous uptake of influenza and routine vaccines, and sociodemographic characteristics. Binomial logistic regression was used to assess the association between parents' lack of COVID-19 vaccination intention for their children and various independent variables. Results Sixty-three percent of parents (1074/1702) intended to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. Those employed part-time (compared to full-time) had lower intention to vaccinate their children (aOR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.06–2.84), while those who spoke languages other than English, French, or Indigenous languages were less likely to have low intention (aOR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.32–0.92). Low vaccination intention was also associated with children not receiving influenza vaccine pre-pandemic (aOR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.04–2.21), parents having low intention to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19 (aOR = 9.22, 95% CI: 6.43–13.34), believing COVID-19 vaccination is unnecessary (aOR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.72–3.91) or unsafe (aOR = 4.21, 95% CI: 2.96–5.99), and opposing COVID-19 vaccine use in children without prior testing (aOR = 3.09, 95% CI: 1.87–5.24). Interpretation Parents’ COVID-19 vaccination intentions for their children are better predicted by previous decisions regarding influenza vaccination than routine childhood vaccines, and other perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine-related factors. Public communication should highlight the safety and necessity of COVID-19 vaccination in children to support a return to normal activities. Further research should assess actual COVID-19 vaccination uptake in children, particularly for underserved populations.

In March 2018, an Uber-pedestrian crash and a Tesla's Model X crash attracted a lot of media attention because the vehicles were operating under self-driving and autopilot mode respectively at the time of the crash. This study aims to conduct before-and-after sentiment analysis to examine how these two fatal crashes have affected people's perceptions of self-driving and autonomous vehicle technology using Twitter data. Five different and relevant keywords were used to extract tweets. Over 1.7 million tweets were found within 15 days before and after the incidents with the specific keywords, which were eventually analyzed in this study. The results indicate that after the two incidents, the negative tweets on “self-driving/autonomous” technology increased by 32 percentage points (from 14% to 46%). The compound scores of “pedestrian crash”, “Uber”, and “Tesla” keywords saw a 6% decrease while “self-driving/autonomous” recorded the highest change with an 11% decrease. Before the Uber-incident, 19% of the tweets on Uber were negative and 27% were positive. With the Uber-pedestrian crash, these percentages have changed to 30% negative and 23% positive. Overall, the negativity in the tweets and the percentage of negative tweets on self-driving/autonomous technology have increased after their involvement in fatal crashes. Providing opportunities to interact with this developing technology has shown to positively influence peoples' perception.

The purpose of the study was to determine the perceptions that senior high school (SHS) chemistry students and teachers have about organic chemistry as well as to compare organic chemistry topics that are difficult for students and teachers. Simple random sampling (lottery) and purposive sampling methods were used to select a sample of one hundred (100) SHS students who studied elective chemistry and ten (10) chemistry teachers. The research instruments used to collect data for this study were the ‘organic chemistry perceptions questionnaire for students’ (OCPQS) and ‘organic chemistry perceptions questionnaire for teachers’ (OCPQT). Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used to analyze the data collected. The findings revealed that these SHS students have a fairly positive perception of organic chemistry while their teachers had a highly positive perception of organic chemistry. Preparation and chemical reactions of alkenes, preparation and chemical reactions of alkynes, structure and stability of benzene, reactions of benzene, comparison of reactions of benzene and alkenes, petroleum, polymers and naming of alkanes and structural isomerism were perceived by students as difficult to understand. The rest of the Ghanaian SHS organic chemistry topics (26 out of 34 topics) were perceived as easy to understand by students. Also, the teachers perceived all the SHS organic chemistry topics as easy to teach with the exception of reactions of benzene. The insights gained about teachers’ and students’ perceived difficult organic chemistry topics in this study imply that teachers’ perceptions and how these are communicated to students can have significant effects on learning. The authors believe that both teachers and learners could benefit from this increased awareness of perceptions about difficulties in teaching and learning organic chemistry. They therefore suggest that further studies into how teachers’ perceptions influence their teaching and consequently their students’ experiences be carried out. In addition, in future research, a diagnostic test based on the topics in the SHS organic chemistry syllabus could be added to ascertain whether the perceived difficult topics are actually difficult for students to answer questions on. This would help teachers to separate perceived difficulties from the actual difficulties (realities) and be able to address them in their lessons.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine the effect of consumer-based brand authenticity (CBBA) on customer satisfaction (CS) and brand loyalty (BL). The moderating effect of the variable “alternative attractiveness” in the relationship between CS and BL was further investigated. The study compared and analyzed the difference between global sportswear brands and domestic ones and the difference between global chocolate brands and domestic ones in terms of CBBA, CS, BL and attractiveness of alternatives (AA).Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modeling and multigroup analysis were conducted in order to analyze the data collected from 600 consumers via face-to-face survey.FindingsThe results showed that quality commitment and heritage-sincerity, which are subdimensions of CBBA, had a significant positive effect on CS. Additionally, both of them affected CS differently in the comparison of the global brands with the domestic ones. Furthermore, CS had a significant positive effect on BL, and AA had a negative effect on BL.Originality/valueThis study deepens the insights into the effects of antecedents of CBBA on CS and BL, enhancing the research with quantitative analysis through two different product groups. The study provides important cues on which antecedents of CBBA help to strengthen the authenticity of brands of Turkish and global origin, and also differs in that it examines to what extent the effect of CBBA on CS and BL varies across global and domestic brands.

Background: The impact of striae gravidarum (SG), or stretch marks of pregnancy, on quality-of-life is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate how SG impact life-quality in pregnant women. Methods: In this cross-sectional survey study of healthy pregnant women who developed SG during their current pregnancy, we asked about the impact of lesions on emotional, psychological, and life-quality facets. Spearman product-moment correlation coefficients (r) were generated to determine the strength of relationships between variables. Results: We analyzed 116 valid surveys. Participants reported permanency of SG as the top physical concern (n=87, 75%). Regarding severity, nearly three-quarters of participants rated their lesions as “very prominent” (n=24, 21%) or “moderate” (n=57, 49%). Among life-quality facets queried, embarrassment/self-consciousness was the one most frequently associated with SG, with over one-third of participants reporting “a lot” (n=19, 16%) or a “moderate” (n=26, 22%) amount of embarrassment/self-consciousness related to having SG. Lesion severity significantly correlated with the degree of embarrassment/self-consciousness (r=0.543), as well as the impact of SG on other life-quality facets, including overall quality-of-life (r=0.428), clothing choice (r=0.423), self-image/self-esteem (r=0.417), feelings of anxiety/depression (r=0.415), and social activities (r=0.313) (all p≤0.001). Nearly one-quarter of participants felt that emotional distress related to SG was similar or more than that caused by other skin problems, such as acne, psoriasis, or eczema. Conclusion: SG can be associated with a host of negative reactions reflecting increased psychological and emotional distress, including embarrassment and decreased quality-of-life. These consequences may compound the emotional stress of pregnancy, potentially warranting psychological support and adjustment strategies.

With a mission to enhance the quality of EFL teachers, the Regional English Language Office (RELO) of the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia has conducted a pre-service teacher camp where practical teaching innovations are taught alongside reflective practices and the development of social and intercultural competences. This paper aims to examine how the participants, who are pre-service language teachers, perceived their professional identity as potential EFL educators after attending Camp EPIC and to what extent the program contributed to this process of professional identity formation. The study employed a mixed-methods survey where a total of 45 participants of Camp EPIC 2018 were purposively selected. They were asked to provide descriptions of themselves as teachers before and after the teacher camp, which were then analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis. As for the quantitative data, a set of thirty-three Likert-scale items were examined using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The triangulated data indicated that the participants’ perception was positively altered after the camp. While some mentioned that they were more resourceful and creative with teaching ideas, others showed a higher level of self-efficacy concerning their competence. These changes could be attributed to four major features of the camp: reflection, feedback, resource exploitation, and collaboration.

Objective. The objective of this research was to describe and analyze the role of psychological and behavioral factors on perceptions of COVID-19 in France and Quebec at three different times during the pandemic. Design. We conducted three qualitative and quantitative studies (Study 1 N = 255, Study 2 N = 230, Study 3 N = 143). Participants were asked to evaluate psychological and behavioral measures: at the beginning of lockdown (Study 1), during lockdown (Study 2), and during lockdown exit (Study 3). Results. Results of Study 1 show that perceptions of COVID-19 are organized around fear and a sense of threat. During the lockdown, participants mentioned for the first time the health practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Study 2). Psychological and social impacts constitute a central theme in participants’ discourse (Study 2 and 3). Conclusions. The results show that perceptions of risk during a pandemic are socially constructed. Perceptions seem to be influenced by the political and health management of a territory and by the evolution of behavioral and psychological responses.

Wen-Peng Xie,1– 4,* Jian-Feng Liu,1– 4,* Yu-Qing Lei,1– 4 Hua Cao,1– 4 Qiang Chen1– 4 1Department of Cardiac Surgery, Fujian Branch of Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Fujian Children’s Hospital, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Fujian Key Laboratory of Women and Children’s Critical Diseases Research, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Qiang Chen; Hua CaoDepartment of Cardiac Surgery, Fujian Branch of Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail chenqiang2228@163.com; caohua0791@163.comObjective: To investigate the perceptions, attitudes and treatment-seeking intentions of Chinese parents toward charitable assistance for congenital heart disease (CHD).Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, and different questionnaires were used. Data on Chinese parents’ perceptions, attitudes, and treatment-seeking intentions toward charitable assistance for CHD were collected and analyzed.Results: A total of 220 parents of children with CHD were included in the survey, and 201 completed the survey. The results showed that the perception rate of charity assistance for CHD was only 44.8%, and the channels of understanding were narrow. The majority of participants (98.0%) approved of charitable assistance. A total of 79.1% of the parents thought that charity assistance would improve their treatment-seeking intentions, and 62.7% of the parents answered that it would affect their medical institutions’ choice. The results also showed that higher treatment-seeking intention was significantly correlated with higher income and charitable assistance but not with the parents’ education level. Correlation analysis found that parents with different monthly incomes and charitable assistance had statistically significant treatment-seeking intentions. Analyzing the factors of surgical treatment in our hospital, it was found that charitable assistance was an essential factor influencing them to choose treatment.Conclusion: Many Chinese parents of patients with CHD did not know about charity assistance, but most of them approved the project. Charitable assistance could improve parents’ treatment-seeking intentions.Keywords: perceptions, attitudes, treatment-seeking intention, CHD, charitable assistance

Background Well‐trained nurses are required to support dementia patients; however, the quality of the provided dementia nursing care can be impacted by nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards people with dementia. Aim To obtain an overview of the current nursing practice towards people with dementia around the world. Design An integrated literature review was conducted based on Whittemore and Knafl's method. Results A total of 72 articles met the inclusion criteria. Three main themes were identified: (1) nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards dementia; (2) nursing experience of caring for people with dementia in acute and community care settings; and (3) dementia nursing care across health regions. Conclusion Nurses play the role of facilitators in the efficient delivery of quality care for dementia patients. A variety of attitudes and perceptions towards people with dementia were found to be triggered by the severity of dementia, religion, ethnicity and gender. Implications for practice Healthcare organisations and educational settings need to coordinate and function together to improve nurses’ knowledge and encourage positive attitudes towards people with dementia.

Over the past several decades, palliative care has seen tremendous development in Western countries, but there is still inadequate access to palliative care among non-dominant ethnocultural groups. The Chinese have been the largest immigrant group in New Zealand since the 19th century(1). They have unique beliefs and practices around illness, death, dying and filial piety(2). These differ greatly from those in Western cultures and have notable implications for hospice palliative care planning and provision. However, immigrant Chinese community remains a relatively marginalised and under-researched group in palliative care(3-5). This results in limited knowledge about its culture and people among health professionals, as well as the lack of experience in providing terminal care to Chinese immigrants. Through the introduction of New Zealand Palliative Care Strategy and the analysis of Chinese immigrants’ difficulties and preferences for palliative care, this aims to increase understanding of how cultural values of Chinese affect their acceptance and decision-making with respect to palliative care so that for efficiently providing palliative care to this ethnic minority group in New Zealand.

Many higher educational institutions have adopted Learning Management Systems. Blackboard, characterized as one of the technological educational systems, is one of the leading and extensive Learning Management Systems adopted by most universities. However, literature showed that a missing link appears between Blackboard adoption and Blackboard poor usage in teaching and learning. Therefore, this study aims to gauge the perceptions of students toward using Blackboard Collaborate in learning English as a Foreign Language academic writing. Online survey was conducted and distributed to 248 respondents. This study is quantitative in nature, employing Technology Acceptance Model theory to check Learning Management System acceptance at Saudi Electronic University in Saudi Arabia. The findings showed that all the constructs were relatively strong and had positive relationships; they were correlated with each other and the whole six hypotheses were supported as well. In this paper, the proposed model indicates that Attitude toward Use is the strongest predictor of Behaviour Intention. This study offers implications for further studies. https://doi.org/10.34105/j.kmel.2021.13.017

This paper examines disciplinary differences in the combinations of approaches to learning (i.e., learning profiles) among students, and how those combinations are related to academic achievement. In addition, the study focuses on how different learning profiles are related to students' self-efficacy beliefs in different disciplines. Data consist of HowULearn survey responses from 4,294 full-time students from six different disciplines. We used a person-oriented approach; that is, the latent profile analysis (LPA) with various functions. The results showed that it is possible to detect different learning profiles of students in different disciplines. The study highlights that students who struggle in almost every discipline have a dissonant learning profile or the deep unorganised profile. Therefore, special attention should be paid to identifying the students with dissonant learning profiles and to support them in recognising their own learning processes. Moreover, students' time and effort management skills should be fostered during university studies.

Prosodic features are important in achieving intelligibility, comprehensibility, and fluency in a second or foreign language (L2). However, research on the assessment of prosody as part of oral proficiency remains scarce. Moreover, the acoustic analysis of L2 prosody has often focused on fluency-related temporal measures, neglecting language-dependent stress features that can be quantified in terms of syllable prominence. Introducing the evaluation of prominence-related measures can be of use in developing both teaching and assessment of L2 speaking skills. In this study we compare temporal measures and syllable prominence estimates as predictors of prosodic proficiency in non-native speakers of English with respect to the speaker’s native language (L1). The predictive power of temporal and prominence measures was evaluated for utterance-sized samples produced by language learners from four different L1 backgrounds: Czech, Slovak, Polish, and Hungarian. Firstly, the speech samples were assessed using the revised Common European Framework of Reference scale for prosodic features. The assessed speech samples were then analyzed to derive articulation rate and three fluency measures. Syllable-level prominence was estimated by a continuous wavelet transform analysis using combinations of F0, energy, and syllable duration. The results show that the temporal measures serve as reliable predictors of prosodic proficiency in the L2, with prominence measures providing a small but significant improvement to prosodic proficiency predictions. The predictive power of the individual measures varies both quantitatively and qualitatively depending on the L1 of the speaker. We conclude that the possible effects of the speaker’s L1 on the production of L2 prosody in terms of temporal features as well as syllable prominence deserve more attention in applied research and developing teaching and assessment methods for spoken L2.

Aisha Alhofaian, Afnan Tunsi, Marym M Alaamri, Lisa A Babkair, Ghadah Ali Almalki, Safia Mohammed Alsadi, Samaher Saeed Alharthi, Ghadah Ahmed Almarhabi Faculty of Nursing, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Aisha AlhofaianFaculty of Nursing, King Abdul Aziz University, P.O. Box. 80209, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi ArabiaTel +966 505848634Email aalhofaian@kau.edu.saPurpose: The aim of this study was to assess the perception of health care providers about the COVID-19 and its vaccine in Saudi Arabia.Patients and Methods: In this study, we used a quantitative, cross-sectional and descriptive design. We recruited healthcare providers (HCPs) from social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and emails that was distributed from March 15, 2021, to April 14, 2021. Chi-square tests were used to compare categorized data between health care workers.Results: A total of 390 health care providers from different regions of the country began the online survey. A total of 298 respondents (77.8%) accepted the COVID-19 vaccine, whereas 85 (22.2%) HCP disapproved. There was a significant difference in the degree of acceptance of COVID-19 immunization among health care providers (P< 0.001). Moreover, the results showed 200 females (52.63%) were more likely to accept the COVID-19 immunization; 97 (25.5%) males were planning on getting one as soon as possible.Conclusion: As shown in the results, 77.8% of health care providers agreed to receive the vaccine. Since COVID-19 is still ongoing, we must increase the number of HCPs who get vaccinated. In addition, a comprehensive immunization campaign is necessary to achieve maximum acceptance by the general public.Keywords: healthcare providers, vaccination, Saudi Arabia, perceptions, acceptance, COVID-19

Constructive alignment is often promoted as a principle to enhance the quality of learning but the student perspective has often been neglected when exploring its influence on student learning. There is therefore a need to further explore how students’ experiences of the different elements of constructive alignment influence the approach to learning they adopt. Student perceptions and their approaches to learning were analysed. The results show that different elements of constructive alignment had a clear role in guiding student learning. The teaching and assessment related factors appeared to play a crucial role in guiding student learning and studying. Teaching and assessment that required students’ active involvement clearly encouraged students to adopt a deep approach to learning whereas the opposite was true for more traditionally organised courses. The intended learning outcomes did not seem to influence student learning much. The results also imply that the key is to find an optimal level of challenge to support student learning and studying. The study deepens our understanding of the importance and influence of constructively aligned teaching to students’ learning processes.

This study sought to assess the perceptions illiterate mothers on birth control and the control measures practice in Zamfara State using some selected Local Government Area (LGA) as case study. The descriptive survey research design was adopted. The study population consisted of all nursing but illiterate mothers in Zamfara State. Four hundred (400) illiterate mothers were selected sampled out of the study population using stratified simple random sampling technique. Two research questions and four null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the 0.05 levels of significance. The study made use of questionnaire as research instrument. The instrument was subjected to face and content validity by three (3) medical practitioners from Federal Medical Centre Gusau. The data collected from the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and Standard deviation) and the t-test statistical analysis was used to test the null hypotheses. Findings from the study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the Pre-test findings and the findings after being exposed to measures to be taken in birth control; There was a statistically significant difference between the Pre-test findings and the findings after being exposed to factors that contribute to their not utilizing some birth control measures and advised on the way forward.

Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) are less physically active than individuals without ID, and rarely reach the recommended daily level of physical activity (PA). It is understood that both social interaction and the ability to perform physical work affect participation in daily activity as well as PA. Individuals with ID generally have a higher risk of hypertension and obesity-related cardiovascular diseases than individuals without ID. Professional service providers, teachers and parents are often those being asked about potential challenges related to PA, as it is more seldom that this knowledge comes from the target group (ID) themselves. This identifies a lack of knowledge about PA and sports for individuals with ID. The aim of this study was to identify perceptions of, and motivation for, PA and sports among adolescents with ID. Twelve Swedish male and female adolescents with ID participated in the study, which comprised one semi-structured interview. The interviews identified three main categories: Activity, Surroundings and Body- and health awareness. Adolescents with ID seemed intrinsic motivated to participate in PA, organised sports and activities in general. Support from significant others, teachers, family and friends and support as well as the feeling of joy are connected to normative beliefs which all seem crucial. The participants were aware of their limitations, but sometimes feel bullied and afraid of being excluded, which relates to their normative beliefs. Participation in PA and organised sports may be positively associated with health, but limitations such as lack of awareness and support from society challenge the perception of ‘fitting in’. This research has raised the voice of adolescents with ID and identified the need for increased knowledge of their perceptions for a more inclusive world. School PE is an arena where adolescents can still be reached regarding PA and thereby should be prioritised.

Two principal strands of scholarship analyse the material roots of European Union (EU) discontent. Some focus on the effects of regional decline, while others examine the role of individual socioeconomic factors. This paper brings these two perspectives together. We argue that EU discontent is a multifaceted phenomenon structured by the spatially-rooted interplay between individual and regional material conditions and subjective perceptions. We apply PLS-SEM to Eurobarometer public opinion data (2018–2019) and find that the geographical location and the socioeconomic position shape EU discontent directly. However, material factors’ relevance for EU discontent is the greatest in structuring individual future expectations. Furthermore, democratic dissatisfaction turns out to be a key factor, pointing to the importance of institutional perceptions in the geography of discontent.

Background: Studies have shown that adolescents find diabetes management difficult and struggle with incorporating diabetes management into their daily life. A focus on issues adolescents perceive as important is necessary when designing high quality interventions aimed at improving health outcomes for adolescents with T1D. The present study aimed to provide: (1) a broad comprehensive reflection on issues adolescents with diabetes perceive as important, (2) a basis for developing a ‘Family Mirror’, specifically designed to generate dialogue in families with an adolescent with T1D. Methods: The qualitative data originate from 11 workshops with a total of 47 adolescents with diabetes between 8 and 18 years of age. Data were systematically analyzed. Results: Seven overarching, empirical themes were identified that provided an outline of aspects important to adolescents living with T1D: (1) Support, (2) Understanding, (3) Worries, (4) Limitations, (5) Independence, (6) Perceptions, and (7) Management. Several empirical indicators elaborated on the themes, thus creating a comprehensive reflection of life with T1D during adolescence. Conclusions: Given our comprehensive and broad approach to uncovering key aspects adolescents with diabetes perceive as important, we trust that the findings can be used as a basis for designing interventions intended for adolescents with T1D.

Background: Fatigue is highly prevalent in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or sarcoidosis. However, the difference in fatigue perceptions for these patients is unknown and this may be important to better understand what fatigue means to the individual patient. Methods: This cross-sectional quantitative study aims to determine the different perceptions of fatigue as 'frustrating', 'exhausting', 'pleasant', 'frightening' using the Fatigue Quality List and to assess determinants related to these perceptions of fatigue. Beside the fatigue quality connotations, demographics, lung function, fatigue severity (Checklist Individual Strength subscale Fatigue), dyspnea (modified-Medical Research Council), fatigue catastrophizing (Fatigue Catastrophizing Scale), anxiety/depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and general health status (EuroQoL 5-dimension 5-level) were assessed. Results: Mean frequency score of fatigue-related perceptions in patients with IPF was 3.4 points and in patients with sarcoidosis 4.0 points. Severely fatigued patients with IPF reported their fatigue less 'pleasant' significantly more often than patients without severe fatigue. Fatigue severity, dyspnea, catastrophizing and general health were significantly correlated with the negative connotation categories of the Fatigue Quality List in patients with IPF. Severely fatigued sarcoidosis patients reported their fatigue perceptions significantly more often as 'frustrating', 'exhausting', 'frightening' and less 'pleasant' than patients without severe fatigue. Moreover, in patients with sarcoidosis fatigue severity, dyspnea, catastrophizing and depression were significantly associated with all four categories of the Fatigue Quality List that describe the experienced fatigue (P

Aim To assess the perception of nursing students on medical errors. Design A descriptive cross-sectional survey. Method Data were collected from March-April 2019 in a university in Ghana from two hundred (200) students using simple random sampling and analysed with SPSS version 21. Results Mean age of respondents was 22.64 years. Medication error was perceived as the most common medical errors (MEs; 76%). Negligence was perceived as the most common cause of MEs (80.5%); nurses and doctors (84.5%-89.5%) were considered as staff who make most MEs. Respondents perceived that students commit MEs due to less knowledge about procedures (79%) and inadequate supervision (77%) in the clinical setting. Conclusion Medication errors were observed as the most common of MEs that can affect patients' safety. Taking prudent measures in addressing this can reduce MEs in health facilities. Enhanced supervision and effective ways of teaching drug administration are recommended.

The COVID-19 disease was declared a global pandemic by the 11th of February 2020, presenting a major threat to public health worldwide. Success in the battle against COVID-19 depends on public adherence to control measures. Their adherence is greatly affected by their knowledge, perceptions, and practices, therefore, the aim of this study was to assess and understand the knowledge, perceptions, practices, and trusted information sources of COVID-19 among Irish residents. A quantitative survey was performed by means of an online questionnaire, which comprised five sections to collect data regarding demographics, knowledge, perceptions, practices, and information sources. A total of 1007 participants completed the online survey between February and March 2021. The majority of respondents (69.4% female and 30.3% male) had a correct rate of knowledge (88%) and practices (68.1%), with health organisations being the most trusted information source (70.7%), 87.4% understand good mask etiquette. Only 53.7% agreed that closing schools or mass gathering events are an effective way to reduce the spread of the virus, while 81.3% are aware that COVID-19 is more severe than the flu, 64% of respondents said that the pandemic has negatively affected their mental health. It was observed that a higher level of knowledge is positively correlated with good practices. The study concludes that most of the respondents have shown a good level of knowledge and right practices towards the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the higher the level of knowledge of individuals, the better the COVID-19 safety practices are that they perform. It has been observed that the continuous improvement on an individual’s level of knowledge of COVID-19 is essential to maintain good safety practices and reduce the spread.

This paper examines the perceptions of integrated report preparers. Using a case study approach, perceptions of integrated reporting were analysed in six organisations. The study found that preparers operating in different industries held similar perceptions about integrated reporting. It was commonly perceived that integrated reporting is a flexible tool to communicate organisations’ value creation story, as it includes both financial and non-financial information, and overall performance information. It was found that the case study organisations were committed to addressing the broader sustainability aspects of their organisation’s impacts instead of having a narrow investor-focused value creation emphasis. This has implications for policy makers, suggesting the need for sustainability issues and a broad range of stakeholders to be at the heart of the transition to integrated reporting. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic impacted various lines in the international world, including Indonesia. Pandemic COVID-19 in Indonesia has also changed multiple performances in multiple sectors, one of which is education. The concept of learning from home changes lecturers' paradigm as educators in tertiary institutions applying online learning. This study aims to identify students' perceptions of the implementation of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses a qualitative research approach with the type of phenomenology. The subject of this study was 22 students in Indonesia who experienced the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research instrument uses semi-structured interview guidelines. Students perceive online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic as (1) ineffective learning activities;(2) unpleasant learning activities;(3) limit self-actualization in education;(4) helping to become an independent person in learning;and (5) fun learning activities. Higher Education should create innovative and creative online learning strategies. Thus, students have a high enthusiasm for online learning. © 2021 Eurasian Society of Educational Research. All rights reserved.

Background This study explored cultural and community perceptions of optimal diet for maternal and child health in northern Ghana. Methods This was an exploratory cross-sectional study using qualitative methods for data collection. Data were collected between March and April 2019 consisting of 10 focus group discussions with men and women community members between 18 and 50 years in the Kassena-Nankana districts of Ghana. Data were organised using QSR NVivo 12 qualitative software to facilitate thematic analysis. Results All study participants recognised the importance of an optimal diet for mother, child and better pregnancy and breastfeeding outcomes. However, there were different cultural beliefs and taboos about what foods are healthy and non-healthy for women at different stages of the reproductive period. Foods perceived to be unhealthy for pregnant women were fatty foods and fresh meat (uncooked or unprocessed meat) due to the belief that they can lead to delivery complications, which many women feared. In addition, some participants relayed the cultural belief that pregnant woman should not eat eggs because it would make the child a thief. Lactating mothers are not to eat foods such as vigna subterranean known locally as bambara bean and “gari” (local meal made from cassava) because it is believed to inhibit breastmilk production. Participants emphasised that food insecurity and economic constraints meant women could not achieve optimal diet and could not afford to be selective in food choices. Conclusion Community members recognized the importance of optimal nutrition but were constrained by poverty and cultural barriers. A dual approach which targets improvements of local food production and economic empowerment in combination with community-based discussion and education of the impacts of food taboos on health, should facilitate improvement in the diets of women and future generations.

Avoidance job crafting refers to employees proactively changing work boundaries by reducing tasks and/or interactions with others. Although avoidance job crafting may help employees to address work demands, if noticed by others, specifically supervisors, it may trigger negative reactions from them. While previous research posits that job crafting is largely unnoticed by supervisors, using a dyadic supervisor‐employee study (N = 141 dyads), we found that supervisors were in fact aware of their employees’ avoidance job crafting, which related to a reduction in supervisor support. This relationship was moderated by employee political skill (but not approach job crafting), such that high avoidance job crafting in combination with high political skill resulted in fewer negative outcomes, presumably because supervisors were less likely to notice their employees’ avoidance job crafting. In a second, vignette study (N = 92 supervisors), we experimentally replicated the relation between observed avoidance job crafting and negative supervisor reactions, and found that this relation can be explained by supervisors perceiving avoidance job crafting as destructive work behavior. Our findings introduce the supervisor perspective to the job crafting literature and highlight the importance of engaging in avoidance job crafting in a skillful way that aligns with the external context.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to carry out a systematic review of intervention programs that have addressed affective learning outcomes within physical education and to explore pedagogical practices in alignment with teaching, lesson content, and learning outcomes. Method: The literature search was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Included were 26 peer-reviewed pedagogical studies of physical education programs that addressed affective outcomes and reported fidelity of implementation. Results and Discussion: Affective outcomes were grouped into four themes: motivation, emotional responses, self-concept, and resilience. The findings showed that offering choice, encouraging peer feedback, asking deductive questions, focusing on personal improvement, and differentiating are effective teaching strategies that were widely used to support affective learning in children and adolescents. This review highlights the importance of fidelity of implementation to understand how intervention programs are delivered.

Surveys show that, in the United States, Americans have a less favorable view of Muslims due to various reasons as opposed to American Muslims who conversely favor the American state and population. In line with this fact, this study tries to understand whether the Turkish community living in the US has different views about Americans than American Muslims do. This study makes a comparison because not all ethnic groups in the American Muslim community have the same views about Americans. While analyzing the Turkish community's perceptions, this study also analyzes the views Americans and Muslim Americans have towards each other. The study compares previous surveys with the survey conducted among Turks living in the US and concludes that Muslims generally have the same perceptions regarding Americans. It also reveals that aside from the basic reasons which result in a negative view towards Muslims, being a small community and fragmented are two significant factors that damage the image of Muslims. In addition, it reveals that a lack of knowledge about each other increases negative perceptions. WOS:000667738400007

This article looks globally at the motivations behind attitudes to immigration. Such motivations have been typically conceptualised by academics either in terms of the ‘economic competition’ or ‘cultural threat’ that immigrants are perceived to pose to the individual or their ‘in-group’. We propose and test a third possibility: that support for or opposition to immigration is determined by one's perceptions of immigration's effects on social conflict. Using the 2017–2020 World Values Survey (WVS) for forty-nine countries, we show that: in most countries, globally, citizens are more likely to agree than disagree that immigration leads to social conflict; levels of concern about the effects of immigration on social conflict are higher than those regarding unemployment or culture in sixteen—disproportionately economically developed—countries; concern about social conflict is conceptually and distributionally distinct; belief that immigration leads to social conflict predicts immigration policy preferences; but, uniquely, is positively predicted by higher education. Our findings highlight the importance of institutional conflict resolution capacity, including those related to integration, for the politics of migration.

The aim of this study is to analyze, evaluate and validate the NSE (National Student Enquiry) as a service quality measure helping both higher education institutions (HEIs) and students in their decision making. Every year the Dutch foundation ‘Studiekeuze123’ sends out a survey (the NSE) to collect data on service quality regarding education at HEIs in the Netherlands. We used the 2019 NSE-data from the only e-learning university in the Netherlands, the Open Universiteit (OUNL), containing a sample of 1287 students. PLS-SEM was used to analyze a conceptual model in order to understand the service quality factors that promote students’ level of satisfaction and willingness to recommend the HEI. Overall, the findings reveal that the quality of the NSE is sufficient to be used for performance analysis. Nine out of twelve service components taken into account for the OUNL are found statistically significant affecting students’ satisfaction and willingness to recommend. The results help HEIs promoting and managing students’ perceptions of the quality of education and support students in their decision making process. Since many HEIs had to make a transition from onsite to online education within a short period of time, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, service quality became a major concern for HEIs. As online learning systems are expected to stay, analyzing the service quality of the OUNL as a reputed online HEI can help other HEIs getting their online learning systems on track.

Background The present study aimed (i) to assess changes in dietary intake (DI), physical activity (PA) and body weight (BW) in breast cancer patients during chemotherapy; (ii) to describe how women explained, experienced and dealt with these potential changes; and (iii) to eventually develop lifestyle intervention strategies tailored to the women's personal needs during chemotherapy. Methods A longitudinal parallel mixed‐method design was used with quantitative assessment of changes in dietary intake (24‐h recall, Appetite, Hunger, Sensory Perception questionnaire), physical activity (Short Questionnaire to Assess Health‐enhancing physical activity, Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory) and BW (dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry), in addition to qualitative interviews with 25 women about these potential changes during chemotherapy. Results Most women who perceived eating less healthily with low energy intake (EI) and being less active before diagnosis continued to do so during chemotherapy, according to quantitative measurements. They struggled to maintain sufficient energy intake. Despite a lower than average reported EI, they unexpectedly gained weight and explained that fatigue made them even more inactive during chemotherapy. Active women usually managed to stay active because exercise was very important to them and made them feel good, although they also suffered from the side‐effects of chemotherapy. They found more ways to deal with taste, smell and appetite problems than women with a lower energy intake. Conclusions The combination of the quantitative and qualitative data provided more insight into the changes in dietary intake, physical activity and BW during chemotherapy. The women's explanations showed why some women remain active and others need support to deal with changes in lifestyle factors such as healthy nutrition and fatigue., In this longitudinal mixed‐method study, we quantitatively assessed changes in diet, physical activity and body weight, and qualitatively assessed how individual women with breast cancer experienced, explained, and responded to these changes during chemotherapy, enriching and clarifying the quantitative data. The findings showed that some women remained active with fewer dietary problems, while others struggled with adequate food intake, opportunities to be active, and experienced unexpected weight gain. Women with breast cancer need support to be active and to cope with fatigue, and they need help with their eating habits to develop lifestyle intervention strategies tailored to their personal needs during chemotherapy.

This study investigates the perceptions shaped by media towards trust, crisis management, healthcare system, and solidarity, as well as willingness to support and travel intention across two groups of countries with higher and lower COVID-19 case fatality rates. The findings showed more positive perceptions towards trust, crisis management, healthcare system, and solidarity in those countries with lower case fatality rate. The results also demonstrated the positive effects of trust and solidarity on willingness to support a destinations and indirect effects on travel intention for the countries with higher rate of case fatality. Theoretical and practical implications post pandemic are also discussed.

Families play an important role in the lives of people with intellectual disability as they do for everyone. However, little research has addressed the views of people with intellectual disability about their families by using self-report. Individual family members may hold different views about their family relationships. Therefore, we used a social capital theoretical perspective to examine (a) how perceptions of people with mild intellectual disability (MID) about their family support networks compare to those of their family members and (b) what factors are associated with any diverging perceptions. Randomly selected participants with MID (n = 111) and their family members (n = 111) were interviewed individually at their homes using the Family Network Method-Intellectual Disability (FNM-ID). The FNM-ID examines how people define their family groups and how they perceive existing supportive relationships within this group. The findings showed that participants with MID perceived that they had somewhat denser family networks (i.e., bonding social capital) than family members perceived them to have and were more likely to report bridging social capital. They reported more relationships that involved them providing support to family members. This difference in estimation was greater when the participant with MID displayed higher levels of externalizing behaviour problems. They also perceived more reciprocity in their relationships with family. No differences were found in the estimated numbers of significant family members and relationships in which support was received. It is concluded that people with MID and their family members have different perceptions on several aspects of the family support network. Family professionals and services should seek the views of people with intellectual disability and their family members when carrying out assessments or organizing supports. [Abstract copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Health and Social Care in the Community published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.]

Rural communities in West Africa have long adopted a variety of coping and adaptation strategies to periods of climate variability and risks. These strategies have mostly been shaped by prevailing indigenous knowledge systems and shared understandings of the underlying causes of climate events. Despite the increasing scientific and policy attention to climate perceptions and integration of indigenous knowledge in climate governance, there is still a lag in going further to probe and consider the socio-cultural and cognitive systems that shape local appreciation of climate change risks and responses. Based largely on qualitative interviews, and complementary household surveys, the paper draws on the concepts of ‘mental’ and ‘cognised’ models to examine drought and climate change risk perceptions and responses in the rural savannah of North-eastern Ghana. Local farmers generally allude to changes in rainfall patterns and prolonged intra-seasonal dry spells. Based on subscriptions to local models of blame in explaining climate risks and impacts, it is also seen that prevailing socio-cultural beliefs and understandings of environmental events tend to inform the responses of farmers in addressing these perceived risks and impacts. The paper advocates for ongoing climate action and policy processes to consider the complexity of different actors and context (socio-cultural, institutional, power structures) in enhancing sustainable adaptation and mitigation measures in vulnerable rural communities.

As governments and international bodies worldwide sought to prevent the spread of Covid-19, underdeveloped countries have been particularly challenged as they have little or no technological models and frameworks in place and the literature offers little guidance. The current research applied a quantitative approach to researching educational practitioners’ perceptions of e-learning acceptance, using a sample of 4,024 educators and students from a range of Kuwaiti educational institutions. Findings indicate that respondents were slightly supportive of e-learning adoption, with a majority acknowledging its advantages. However, respondents also mention the need for development in the technological competencies required to operate the proposed e-learning programs and a range of challenges that may impact e-learning. Hence, the authors propose a distance and blended learning model (DBLM) to enhance the implementation, utilisation, and evaluation of e-learning within the Kuwaiti educational system. Also, an e-learning teacher capability maturity model (eTCMM) was proposed to foster educators’ competencies and enable their active use of e-learning platforms.

Despite a relationship between gender and support for populist causes in cross-national research, including in the 2016 US Presidential election, the role of gender has been missing in analysis of support for Brexit, most likely because women and men showed no average aggregate-level differences in voting Leave or Remain. This misses an important explanation for Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. We demonstrate how gender-based resentment motivated Leave votes in the EU referendum through perceptions of discrimination against men, among men. Using novel survey measures, we demonstrate (i) the distinct nature of perceptions of discrimination towards men in comparison with discrimination towards women; (ii) the sociological sources of perceptions that men are discriminated against; and (iii) the role of these perceptions in Brexit support. Our findings reveal that the Brexit referendum provided an opportunity to express broader social grievances than have, to date, been identified as relevant. The paper therefore offers a novel contribution to understanding the cultural backlash behind Britain’s vote to leave the EU, and by so doing, insight into the potential for gender-based backlash effects in elections where gender isn’t significantly primed, unlike the 2016 US presidential election where gender was a major political focus.

الملخص: أهداف البحث: تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى فهم تصور منسوبي القطاع الصحي والإداري لخصخصة القطاع الصحي في المملكة العربية السعودية. طرق البحث: استخدم الباحثون دراسة نوعية في أحد مستشفيات التجمع الصحي الأول في المنطقة الشرقية بالمملكة العربية السعودية. تم عقد مقابلات مع ٢١ شخصا من منسوبي القطاع الصحي والإداري. إضافة إلى ذلك تم تحليل وثائق ومستندات رسمية ذات صلة بخصخصة القطاع الصحي. النتائج: كشف التحليل عن ثلاثة محاور رئيسة. المحور الأول ناقش التغييرات في هيكل الحوكمة مع زيادة استقلالية المستشفى عن الحكومة. أما المحور الثاني فقد عكس ضرورة تقديم مفهوم المساءلة في داخل المستشفيات. وصف المحور الأخير العلاقة التعاونية بين مستشفيات التجمع وكذلك العلاقة التنافسية مع القطاع الخاص. الاستنتاجات: أشارت نتائج الدراسة إلى التضارب بين المفاهيم التي أدخلت حديثا داخل نظام الرعاية الصحية السعودي مثل الاستقلالية والمساءلة. فهم هذه المفاهيم والتمييز بينها يعد أمرا ضروريا لتنفيذ عملية الخصخصة. يناقش الباحثون أهمية النتائج في توجيه السياسات الصحية والدراسات البحثية ذات العلاقة. وبذلك تساهم الدراسة في توثيق تصور الجهات الفاعلة والرئيسة في القطاع الصحي لعملية خصخصة الرعاية الصحية في المملكة العربية السعودية. Abstract: Objectives: This study aims to explore the perceptions of different stakeholders about the privatisation of the Saudi health care system. Methods: Using a qualitative case study design, we interviewed 21 administrators and clinical staff of a public hospital in the Eastern Province of the KSA and analysed all official documents relevant to this study. The analysis followed a thematic approach to provide an in-depth interpretation of the data. Results: Our analysis generated three main themes. The first was pertinent to the changes in the governance structure, with gradually increased autonomy from the government. The second reflected the necessity to introduce accountability within hospitals. The third described the cooperative relationship among the E1-Cluster hospitals as well as its competitive relationship with the private sector. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates the interplay between newly introduced concepts of autonomy and accountability within the Saudi health care system. The findings of this study and their implications for research, practice, and policy are elaborated. Such an understanding is essential to improve the implementation process of privatisation and to recognise new dynamics that are shaping the health care system. The study contributes to the current scarce literature on health care reforms in KSA by reporting perceptions and experiences of key stakeholders.

Background Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) lack trained child mental health professionals. While teachers’ child development experience potentially positions them to fill the gap as lay mental health counselors, they have rarely delivered indicated child mental health care in LMICs. As part of assessing the feasibility of teachers serving as lay counselors, we explored teachers’ perceptions of serving as lay counselors and their mental health attitudes and knowledge. Methods In 2018, with training and supervision, 19 primary school teachers from five rural, low cost private schools in Darjeeling, India, served as lay counselors in their classrooms. Using mixed methods, we examined teacher perceptions of serving as lay counselor and mental health attitudes and knowledge through a survey (n = 15), a summative assessment (n = 14), and semi-structured interviews (n = 17). For the survey and summative assessment, pre-training, post-training, and post-intervention mean scores were compared using paired t tests. Post-intervention interviews were coded for teachers’ perceptions of serving as lay counselor and mental health attitudes and knowledge. Results Qualitatively, teachers expressed being willing to serve as lay counselor, having more inclusive mental health attitudes, and retaining mental health knowledge as applicable to use during instructional time or incorporation into the knowledge transfer process, their primary duty. By contrast, quantitatively, teachers’ attitudes appeared to become more inclusive on the study-specific survey pre versus post-training, but reverted to pre-training levels post-intervention. Teachers’ mental health knowledge on the summative assessment did not change pre-training versus post-training versus post-intervention. Conclusions Training, supervision, and serving as lay counselors led to teachers’ willingness to serve as lay counselors. Teachers served as lay counselors by utilizing therapeutic techniques during class time and incorporating them into their typical instruction, not through delivering traditional office-like care. Teacher practices may be pointing to the potential emergence of an “education as mental health therapy” system of care. Their changes in attitudes and knowledge reflected their emerging practices. Quantitative measures of knowledge and attitude changes did not capture these nuanced changes. Trial Registration The parent feasibility trial was registered on January 01, 2018 with Clinical Trials Registry – India (CTRI), reg. no. CTRI/2018/01/011471, ref. no. REF/2017/11/015895. http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/pdf_generate.php?trialid=21129&EncHid=&modid=&compid=%27,%2721129det%27..

Objective To explore the experiences of parents with an integrated maternity and neonatal ward designed to empower parents by providing family-integrated care (FICare) to mother–newborn couplets in single-family rooms. Design A qualitative analysis with a contextual constructivist approach. Setting An integrated maternity and neonatal level 2 ward designed to empower parents in a teaching hospital in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Maternity and neonatal care, up to and including highly complex care, is provided to mother–newborn couplets in single-family rooms according to the principles of FICare. Participants Twenty-seven mothers and nine fathers of newborns who were hospitalized for at least 7 days. Methods We held four focus group discussions and eight semistructured interviews 1 to 3 months after discharge of the newborn to explore which experiences (mechanisms) facilitated or impeded aspects of parent empowerment (outcomes) under which specific conditions of the integrated infrastructure (contexts). We used the realist evaluation model to analyze the data. Results Our analysis revealed five themes of parent empowerment (outcomes): Feeling Respected, Gaining Self-Management Tools, Insights Into the Newborn’s Condition, Perceived Control, and Self-Efficacy. For each theme, participants reported facilitating and impeding experiences (mechanisms) that were initiated and influenced by the combination of single-family rooms, couplet care, rooming-in, and FICare (contexts). Unrestricted physical proximity to their newborns, 24 hours per day, in a safe private environment offered parents intensive learning experiences through active participation in care. It helped them to achieve independent parenthood at the time of discharge, but it also generated challenges such as power conflicts with the staff; prioritizing care for themselves, siblings, or the newborn; feelings of isolation; and lack of sleep. Conclusion Providing FICare to mother–newborn couplets in single-family rooms offers parents an intensive learning context for independent parenthood at the time of discharge. Health care professionals should be aware of the challenges and facilitators experienced by parents in the context of close physical proximity to their newborns 24 hours per day in single-family rooms. This awareness will allow them to better support parents in their empowerment process toward independent parenthood at the time of discharge.

The implementation of technology in higher education is highly considered in research conducting during Covid-19 crisis in Morocco. This article examines students’ perceptions and the degree of satisfaction in online classes for one semester during the emergency of Covid-19 pandemic. The research design for this study is quantitative in which a questionnaire was used to collect data from thirty-two (32) respondents who are enrolled in two Master Programs of ‘Applied Language Studies and Research in Higher Education’ and ‘Language, Communication, and Society’ at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences of Dhar Mehraz of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Morocco as a convenient sampling. The SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was used to analyze the retrieved data via e-mails. The findings of this study demonstrate that the majority of Master students would like to resort to hybrid education instead of online classes per se. They also show that online learning satisfaction does not receive high levels of agreement among the respondents. The paper ends up with some recommendations for the implementation of online education in higher education.