Learning in Health and Social Care最新文献

Background Web-based e-learning methods are increasingly used in higher education to support learning in pre- and post-registration healthcare subjects. Although new technologies are central to teaching and learning strategies, e-learning is not currently accepted universally by academic staff.

Aim The aim of the study was to determine the attitudes towards and use of e-learning among academic staff in nursing and midwifery.

Methods A questionnaire survey was completed by 102 teaching staff to determine their opinions towards and use of e-learning in teaching.

Results Staff opinions were divergent with most acknowledging the benefits of e-learning but many also expressing concerns over barriers such as lack of time, resources or technical support. Staff did not fully utilize the range of technologies available.

Conclusion Most staff exhibited positive attitudes towards the pedagogical value of technology in teaching and learning, though some remained hesitant or lacking in confidence to embark on e-learning teaching developments or delivery. Barriers exist that may be partially addressed through better understanding of e-learning tools and their potential application, and additional support and resources. E-learning strategies need to focus on improving staff awareness of e-learning methods to supplement rather than replace traditional teaching methods, while providing ongoing support and mentoring for development and delivery, technological training and incentives for staff involvement.

The social work education literature on the preparation of students for their first practice learning placement, and the support needs of such students once in placement, tend to include implicit assumptions that the students being placed are novice practitioners, with little experience of working in social welfare agencies. Although there are some students for whom these assumptions are undoubtedly correct, another common phenomenon is that practice experience often leads to practitioners enrolling in professional degrees to qualify as a social worker. As credit for prior work experience in social welfare settings has only recently become possible for Australian social work students, we routinely work with aggrieved students who believe they should be exempted from placements, some of whom subsequently find the transition from experienced practitioner to student on placement somewhat difficult. This paper reports on a study which sought to explore the specific needs of experienced practitioners who become social work students on practice learning placements, with the aim of developing procedural recommendations for the placement and support of such students in the future. One of our findings was that several of the students continued to identify as practitioners, albeit in a different agency or programme from their normal place of employment, rather than take on the student identity. The implications of this for the development of practice learning opportunities for students who are experienced practitioners will be discussed.

In this paper, the role of the mentor in supporting student learning and development in clinical practice areas and promoting their socialization into their occupational roles is discussed and explored. Examining the literature relating to the mentor, the essential nature of this role is investigated and related to the socialization process of student nurses; with the importance of maintaining and developing an effective learning environment for the students being examined and considered. The paper concludes that the mentor role is essential in preparing students for their professional role and in ensuring that they reach the competencies required of a registered practitioner.

This article presents a framework of strategies by which to foster the expertise of therapists who work in community-based clinical service organizations. The framework is based on theories of competence development and learning, and amalgamates strategies identified in a review of the expertise literature in the fields of physical therapy, occupational therapy, medicine, nursing, education, and counselling and psychotherapy. The framework outlines three main types of strategies: (i) personal experience to develop skills and knowledge (personal level strategies), (ii) the provision of supports and resources (person–environment ‘fit’ strategies), and (iii) work-place opportunities (environmental strategies). Together, these strategy groups provide a comprehensive understanding of ways to facilitate experiential, instructional and observational learning for practicing therapists. Implications for managers and therapists are discussed, including the importance of acquiring ‘soft’ competencies, ensuring various forms of feedback, and establishing supportive, learning-oriented work environments.

Pre-licensure interprofessional education (IPE) is often cited as an important foundation in promoting collaboration between healthcare professionals. Due to administrative and attitudinal challenges that can arise in delivering IPE, pre-licensure healthcare students are rarely given the opportunity to learn together. As a result of the lack of opportunity in the formal curricula, an interprofessional student group developed and coordinated a 10-week, extracurricular seminar series on global health for medicine, nursing and occupational and physical therapy students at a Canadian university in 2006. This seminar series featured multi-disciplinary experts in global health and integrated interprofessional problem-based learning. Using qualitative methods, including focus groups, student reflections and pre- and post-course surveys, specific areas were evaluated as follows: participants’ attitudes towards IPE; the appropriateness of using global health as a vehicle for IPE; and the perceived obstacles and benefits of the IPE experience provided by this seminar series. The evaluation findings highlight the unique benefits and drawbacks of using global health as a vehicle for IPE, the value of sharing a common interest between professions in delivering IPE, perceived practice implications resulting from this seminar series and recommendations in delivering such an initiative. Also, while providing many of the same benefits in the promotion of collaboration between professions as recognized in formal IPE, this student-run, extracurricular model was shown to limit administrative obstacles, facilitate self-directed learning and integrate a diverse population of students. Overall, the model and content described was shown to serve as a beneficial and unique means of delivering IPE.

This paper discusses a unique experiential teaching method in the context of training for art psychotherapists and raises issues relevant to teaching for all workers in health and social care. The art therapy large experiential group of all the students and all the staff (80+), which is held six times a year on the 2-year full-time/3-year part-time programme, is identified with three educational components: learning about art therapy processes, learning about the educational process of becoming a professional, and learning about institutional and political issues relevant for the work-place. This educational method engages the unconscious dynamics of both students and staff and brings this together, through creative activity, with a critical engagement in social and political issues. The group has implications for all health workers in its attention to non-verbal communication, activity as a means to learning and agency in institutional issues in the work-place. The paper brings together a case example in which students were able to process the impact of a nationwide, union strike in the university, with relevant literature from large group theory, small art therapy group theory and performance art. Discussion is given to the process by which the art therapy large group meets its learning objectives.

The authors offer a critical account of interprofessional learning and working within the spheres of health and social care. The ‘joined up’ imperatives promoted by central government are compared to the somewhat contradictory findings of research exploring the effectiveness of interprofessional working. The role of practice educators in developing attitudes, learning and experiences around interprofessional working is heralded as an under-researched area while being of particular significance in the formation of professional identity. This paper uses the term ‘practice educators’ to capture the shared functions of nurse mentors and social work practice teachers. The authors draw on a small-scale piece of focus group-based research with professional practitioners from health and social care. The authors stress throughout the need to retain a localized approach to research in this area where differences emerged even among teams located closely to each other. The focus groups explored the experiences and attitudes of a variety of field-based practice educators within two profession-specific focus groups. The findings are coded, summarized and presented using a matrix. An analysis is offered which suggests that across both professional groups, two distinct categories of practice educators are emerging. The ‘doves’ appear to be more accepting of changes around professional boundaries where blurring is taking place. Although they do not ignore the potential conflict that can exist for themselves and their students, the doves largely seek to manage this conflict and look to a consensus approach. In contrast, the ‘hawks’ are more concerned with issues of professional erosion and look to develop more combative strategies around the maintenance of the existing boundaries and their current professional identity. It is argued that this approach has more of a conflict base.

The purpose of this cross-cultural study was to compare the level of moral judgement between two groups of students over the period of their professional physical therapy educational programmes as measured by the Defining Issues Test (DIT). Students from two entry-level physical therapy programmes volunteered to participate. The DIT was completed at entry and exit of their respective programmes. DIT mean scores were compared using ancova controlling for age and grade point average. Thirty-eight female, second baccalaureate degree students of diverse religious backgrounds, living in a Western culture and 13 female, first baccalaureate degree students of Islamic religious backgrounds living in an Arabic culture participated. At both entry and exit of their programmes, students from the Western group scored significantly higher on the DIT than the Arabic group (average: 51.1 and 29.9 respectively, P < 0.001). An initial score difference was anticipated given the different levels of education between the groups. Over the period of their studies, the DIT scores of the Western group increased significantly while the scores of the Arabic group remained constant. The DIT appears to not measure moral judgement uniformly across cultures. The moral dilemmas are based in Western values and offer limited insight into Arabic, Muslim moral judgement. With increasingly diverse student populations, physical therapy programmes may need to re-examine the nature of moral judgement and adapt their curricula.