Search results for "Focu"

Enhancing the SCIROCCO tool using quantitative and qualitative methods

2018

Background: The SCIROCCO tool, developed as part of the SCIROCCO project, incorporates the Maturity Model for the adoption of Integrated Care developed by the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (B3 Action Group on Integrated Care). The online self-assessment tool can be used to facilitate scaling-up of integrated care across different health and care sectors, at different levels in health or care systems, and in a range of communities. Currently, more than 30 European regions are involved in testing the SCIROCCO tool. Since the project launch in April 2016, the tool underwent two iterations. Each of the iterations of the tool was followed by a round of refinement t…

Bioethics and power: Informed consent procedures in post-socialist Latvia

2013

This paper explores two lines of development in the donor consent procedures in post-Soviet Latvia. The paper is based on secondary analysis of interview, focus group discussion data, and media and legal text material collected throughout three previously conducted research projects on organ transplantation, population genome project and xenotransplantation focusing on the historical development of the issues of donor consent across these three fields of medical technologies. The paper argues that the quality of consent depends not as much on political and legal change per se as on the strengthening of the position of both medical specialists and donors, facilitating bonds between the two.

Women’s knowledge and attitudes towards cervical cancer prevention: A qualitative study in the Spanish context

2021

Aims and objectives To explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices related to cervical cancer and its prevention in Spain. Background Worldwide, women's knowledge about cervical cancer is low, and their attitudes towards its prevention are good, but they do not correlate with the screening uptake. Although the rates of Spanish women performing cervical cancer screening are mostly acceptable, their knowledge and attitudes about it have not been explored. Design Qualitative descriptive study. Methods Three focus groups were conducted, with 21 women aged 25 to 65 years. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling. For intragroup homogeneity, women participated in age groups. Th…

“They make a diference” : a qualitative study of providers’ experiences of peer support in outpatient clinics for people living with HIV

2022

Abstract Background Although the life expectancy of people living with HIV has increased, they are still often disconnected from society through stigma and discrimination. Peer support has been found to increase social support. Given the limited research on peer support from the providers’ perspective, this study explored how peer supporters experience their roles and contributions in outpatient clinics (OPCs). Additionally, healthcare professionals’ perceptions of working with peer supporters in OPCs were examined.  Methods This qualitative study included purposively selected peer supporters (n = 10) and healthcare professionals (n = 5) from five OPCs in Norway in 2020. In-depth interviews…

Perception of Medical Humanities among Polish Medical Students: Qualitative Analysis

2022

Medical humanities (MH) courses are a critical element of the medical curriculum influencing the establishment of a physician in the medical profession. However, the opinion about MH among medical students remains unknown. Interviews from seven focus groups were analysed. The students attended one of three Polish medical schools in Gdansk, Krakow, and Warsaw and were recruited to the discussion focused on the impact of drug manufacturers’ presence at medical universities on socialization in the medical profession. Thematic analysis was conducted using the theoretical framework of social constructivism. The students’ opinions about the MH classes arose during the analysis. In six…

2020

Physical activity parenting (PAP) is consistently correlated with children’s physical activity (PA). Children’s perception of PAP has garnered little attention given that it mediates the relationship between PAP and child PA outcomes. This study aimed to examine 7–10-year-old children’s perspectives on PAP practices and how they relate to their motivational regulation of PA. A total of 79 children 7–10 years of age participated in 19 semi-structured focus group interviews. Through qualitative theory-guided content analysis, using frameworks of parenting dimensions and self-determination theory (SDT), we found that children’s perceptions of high responsiveness and low demandingness in PAP—ac…

Fostering dignity in the care of nursing home residents through slow caring

2016

Background: Physical impairment and dependency on others may be a threat to dignity. Research questions: The purpose of this study was to explore dignity as a core concept in caring, and how healthcare personnel focus on and foster dignity in nursing home residents. Research design: This study has a hermeneutic design. Participants and research context: In all, 40 healthcare personnel from six nursing homes in Scandinavia participated in focus group interviews in this study. Ethical considerations: This study has been evaluated and approved by the Regional Ethical Committees and the Social Science Data Services in the respective Scandinavian countries. Findings: Two main themes emerged: dig…

The Bologna Process in Finland

2007

The aim of this chapter is to analyse how the Bologna Process influences Finnish higher education by examining what changes are related to or caused by it. The study focuses first on the social field of national higher education policy-making, and second on the study of higher education institutions examined from the perspective of academic basic units. The study is based on critical analysis of national policy documents and on a qualitative case study conducted at the University of Jyvaskyla in the spring term of 2004. The qualitative case study was based on thematic focus group interviews. The themes of the interview can be found in the Appendix 1. In order to reach a more comprehensive u…

Contemporary art in higher education: creative pedagogies in political economy

2019

Abstract We propose that contemporary art, which reflects the problems and attitudes of our times, can be used as a way of promoting creativity in disciplines that are not traditionally associated with the arts. Whilst contemporary art is being used as a learning and teaching aid in higher education in a small number of disciplines, it is not normally used in disciplines dominated by rational discourse; an example is economics, on which we focus. We begin by reviewing the literature on art, education and creativity. We then perform an activity with students taking political economy. Students are given the task of selecting a work of contemporary art which “speaks” to them about political ec…

Career practitioners' conceptions of social media in career services

2013

This article reports the outcomes of a study, undertaken from a phenomenographic perspective, of career practitioners' conceptions of social media usage in career services. Fifteen Finnish career practitioners – representing comprehensive, secondary and higher education as well as public employment services – were interviewed in focus groups. The analysis of the interview data revealed five distinct descriptive categories reflecting the career practitioners' conceptions of social media's use in career services. Social media in career services was conceived as (1) unnecessary, (2) dispensable, (3) a possibility, (4) desirable and (5) indispensable. The results indicated associations between …