Your search found 772 results.

Descriptors:
Health Services; Continuing Education; Research and Development; Theory Practice Relationship; Patients; Safety; Improvement; Differences; Stakeholders; Methods; Problems; Integrated Activities; Cooperation; Interdisciplinary Approach; Holistic Approach

Abstract:
Public and professional concern about health care quality, safety and efficiency is growing. Continuing education, knowledge translation, patient safety and quality improvement have made concerted efforts to address these issues. However, a coordinated and integrated effort across these domains is lacking. This article explores and discusses the similarities and differences amongst the four domains in relation to their missions, stakeholders, methods, and limitations. This paper highlights the potential for a more integrated and collaborative partnership to promote networking and information sharing amongst the four domains. This potential rests on the premise that an integrated approach may result in the development and implementation of more holistic and effective interdisciplinary interventions. In conclusion, an outline of current research that is informed by the preliminary findings in this paper is also briefly discussed. The research concerns a comprehensive mapping of the relationships between the domains to gain an understanding of potential dissonances between how the domains represent themselves, their work and the work of their "partner" domains. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Learning Processes; Business; Performance; Improvement; Personnel Management; Multivariate Analysis; Structural Equation Models; Factor Analysis; Foreign Countries

Abstract:
The primary purpose of this research is to examine the structural relationships among several workplace-related constructs, including strategic human resource management (HRM) practices, organizational learning processes, and performance improvement in the Korean business context. More specifically, the research examined the mediating effect of the organizational learning processes at three levels--individual, group, and organizational--to explain the relationship between strategic HRM practices and performance improvement. A total of 640 cases were used for data analysis, with general multivariate analyses and structural equation modeling. The results suggest that the learning processes at the three levels have a significant direct impact on organizational performance and that they also serve as a mediating interaction construct to maximize the effect of strategic HRM practices. The article provides conclusions, discusses the limitations of the research, and makes further recommendations. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Teaching Methods; Intimacy; Moral Values; Philosophy; Improvement; Human Dignity; Humanism; Freedom; Humanization; Religion

Abstract:
What are the conditions required for becoming better human beings? What are our limitations and possibilities? I understand "becoming better" as a combined improvement process bringing persons "up from" a negative condition and "up to" a positive one. Today there is a tendency to understand improvement in a one-sided way as a movement up to the mastery of cognitive skills, neglecting the negative conditions that can make these skills mis-educative. I therefore tell six stories in the Western tradition about conditions for a combined improvement process. The first three stories belong to our cultural ABC: an Aristotelian story about moral wisdom which brings people up from being enslaved by passions and up to a good life of virtues; a Biblical story about God's word bringing listeners up from a self-centred life and up into creative work as God's fellow workers, and a short Cave story by Plato about liberation--up from living by common illusions and up to enlightenment from what is perfectly good. The subsequent three stories interpret and actualise these basic stories in different ways: a story about moral wisdom and divine love (Thomas Aquinas), a story about individual freedom and rationality (Immanuel Kant), and a story about the love that builds us up as equal human beings (Soren Kierkegaard). These stories may directly guide us adults--and indirectly the children and youth who learn from our examples--when we struggle to become better human beings. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Undergraduate Students; Student Experience; Outcomes of Education; College Administration; School Holding Power; Student Personnel Services; Improvement; Academic Achievement; Graduation; Time to Degree

Abstract:
Focusing on the student experience broadly defined and, in particular, on the quality of student encounters in and out of the classroom is of critical importance to improving student outcomes. Improving learning, satisfaction, retention, time to degree, and graduation outcomes is not predicated simply on improving entering characteristics or adding institutional resources, but rather on how student services are integrated and whether supportive resources are deployed in ways that motivate and inspire students to effectively engage with them. This article offers several principles to consider and several institutional examples of how improvements in selected processes can enhance students' experiences and outcomes by ensuring that the processes are more student-centered and more focused on ensuring student progress toward degree completion. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Athletics; Physical Activities; Friendship; Innovation; Ethnography; Cooperation; Creativity; Group Dynamics; Commercialization; Social Theories; Social Influences; Improvement; Communities of Practice; Professional Development; Collegiality; Social Environment

Abstract:
Farrell's (2001) theory of collaborative circles provides a useful frame for analyzing the interpersonal dynamics that enable creative collaboration in small groups, but it leaves contextual factors of collaboration undertheorized. Using ethnographic data on freestyle BMXers in Greenville, North Carolina, this article demonstrates how resource mobilization theory's conception of resources can specify the enabling and constraining aspects of a circle's environment in a theoretically satisfying way. Specifically, I find that the enabling interpersonal dynamics found by Farrell rely on distinct arrangements of material, moral, and what I term locational resources. During the formation stage, a welcoming skatepark and moral support from the local community afforded the group the space and time it needed to unite, articulate a common vision, and produce dramatic innovations in their sport. During the separation stage, increased resources from the commercialization of freestyle BMX influenced both the separation of the circle and the production of the scene that followed. (Contains 3 figures and 9 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Program Evaluation; Program Effectiveness; Failure; Enrollment; Fidelity; Improvement; Outcome Measures; Logical Thinking; Models; Evaluation Problems

Abstract:
Background: Recent reviews suggest that many plausible programs are found to have at best small impacts not commensurate with their cost, and often have no detectable positive impacts at all. Even programs with initial rigorous impact evaluation (RIE) that show them to be effective often fail a second test with an expanded population or at multiple sites. Objective: This article argues that more rapid movement to RIE is a partial cause of the low success rate of RIE and proposes a constructive response: process evaluations that compare program intermediate outcomes--in the treatment group, during the operation of the program--against a more falsifiable extension of the conventional logic model. Conclusion: Our examples suggest that such process evaluations would allow funders to deem many programs unlikely to show impacts and therefore not ready for random assignment evaluation--without the high cost and long time lines of an RIE. The article then develops the broader implications of such a process analysis step for broader evaluation strategy. (Contains 2 figures and 20 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Assistive Technology; Team Sports; Psychomotor Skills; Visual Perception; Perceptual Motor Learning; Expertise; Athletes; Males; Improvement; Training; Pretests Posttests; Foreign Countries

Abstract:
We examined the effects of visual control training on expert wheelchair basketball shooting, a skill more difficult than in regular basketball, as players shoot from a seated position to the same rim height. The training consisted of shooting with a visual constraint that forced participants to use target information as late as possible. Participants drove under a large screen that initially blocked the basket. As soon as they saw the basket they shot. When training with the screen, shooting percentages increased. We conclude that visual control training is an effective method to improve wheelchair basketball shooting. The findings support the idea that perceptual-motor learning can be enhanced by manipulating relevant constraints in the training environment, even for expert athletes. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Children; Reliability; Court Litigation; Memory; Individual Development; Age Differences; Improvement; Semantics; Evidence

Abstract:
A hoary assumption of the law is that children are more prone to false-memory reports than adults, and hence, their testimony is less reliable than adults'. Since the 1980s, that assumption has been buttressed by numerous studies that detected declines in false memory between early childhood and young adulthood under controlled conditions. Fuzzy-trace theory predicted reversals of this standard developmental pattern in circumstances that are directly relevant to testimony because they involve using the gist of experience to remember events. That prediction has been investigated during the past decade, and a large number of experiments have been published in which false memories have indeed been found to increase between early childhood and young adulthood. Further, experimentation has tied age increases in false memory to improvements in children's memory for semantic gist. According to current scientific evidence, the principle that children's testimony is necessarily more infected with false memories than adults' and that, other things being equal, juries should regard adults' testimony as necessarily more faithful to actual events is untenable. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Quality of Life; Children; Adolescents; Injuries; Literature Reviews; Research; Child Health; Improvement; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Research Methodology; Attrition (Research Studies); Longitudinal Studies

Abstract:
This paper comprehensively reviews the published literature investigating health-related quality of life (HRQOL) following general traumatic injury in individuals between birth and 18 years. Studies were not considered if they primarily compared medical treatment options, evaluated physical function but not other aspects of HRQOL, or focused on non-traumatic wounds. Specific injury types (e.g., burn injury) were also not included. A total of 16 studies met criteria. Participants were age 1-18 years, with 12 studies considering children 5 years of age or older. Males were overrepresented. Injury severity averaged mostly in the moderate range. HRQOL deficits were noted in injured samples in all studies except the two with the longest time to follow-up (6-11 years). Some improvement was seen 6 months to 2 years after injury. Factors associated with HRQOL deficits were investigated, with acute and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms showing the strongest relationship. Research to date in this area is impressive, particularly the number of studies using prospective longitudinal investigations and validated measures. Challenges remain regarding methodologic differences, assessment of preinjury status, retention of participants, and management of missing data. Suggested future directions include extension of follow-up duration, utilization of pediatric self-report when possible, inclusion of younger children, and development of intervention programs. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Nursing Homes; Accreditation (Institutions); Regression (Statistics); Improvement

Abstract:
Purpose of the Study: This study examines the association between nursing home accreditation and deficiency citations. Design and Methods: Data originated from a web-based search of The Joint Commission (TJC) accreditation and On-line Survey Certification of Automated Records from 2002 to 2010. Deficiency citations were divided into 4 categories: resident behavior and facility practices, quality of life, quality of care, and the most severe citations. Data were analyzed through negative binomial regression, where the number of residents at risk for each measure was the exposure level for that measure. Results: TJC-accredited nursing homes had fewer deficiency citations in all 4 deficiency categories examined. Comparing citations in the year of accreditation with the first year after accreditation, 3 of the 4 deficiency categories were significant. In comparing deficiency citations after 8 years of accreditation, all 4 categories of deficiencies were significant. In all cases, accreditation was associated with fewer deficiency citations. Implications: Our results indicate that TJC-accredited nursing homes improve their quality immediately after accreditation and continue to maintain these improvements over the long-term. These findings support the need for further discussion and facilitation of voluntary accreditation in nursing homes. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website