Advancing nursing students' transition to scholarship: embedding a librarian into the Advanced Nursing Research course.

Background: Nursing students often prioritize learning clinical skills rather than research skills, possibly inhibiting their growth as scholars. Supporting nursing students' learning of information literacy skills has been shown to impact nurses' involvement with research after graduation. This suggests a need for developing innovative information literacy teaching strategies that can enable nursing students to better understand the process of research and how to apply research to practice. Case Presentation: This article describes the implementation of the embedded librarian project at the course level at the University of Memphis. A librarian was integrated into the Advanced Nursing Research course, a semester-long course for graduate nursing students, for the fall 2020 semester. This case shares the embedded librarian project's implementation and evaluation strategies. Conclusions: The embedded librarian project aided students' acquisition of information literacy skills at the University of Memphis. Students reported that the embedded librarian project helped them complete assignments for their research course. Using an embedded librarian service within the graduate nursing curricula model may enhance scholarship among future nurses.

Impact of a community health conversation upon advance care planning attitudes and preparation intentions.

Background: Advance care planning conversations and preparations do not occur as frequently as they should. Framing advance care planning as a health behavior and an opportunity for community engagement can help improve community-dwellers' intentions to have discussions and preparations regarding facing serious illness, death and dying.Methods: A multi-setting confidential pre/post paper survey assessing advance care planning discussions and preparation intentions was given to community-dwelling citizens residing in the New York metropolitan area. Survey items were adapted from a previous end of life survey to include questions on chronic illnesses, important conversations, comfort levels and concerns about end of life. The intervention was a 1-hour presentation on advance care planning (importance, laws, effective communication and audience questions)Results: Our study found significant interest in discussing advanced care planning across age groups. There were significant changes for participant intentions regarding: having conversations with loved ones, a health care proxy or similar document and none; as well as differences in participant intentions for discussions with caregiver, family, friends, primary physician and no-one.Conclusion: Educating individuals on the importance of advance care planning may be effective in changing community dwellers' intentions to start the conversation and put advanced care planning measures in place.Abbreviations: ACP: Advance Care Planning; CHAT: Conversations Health and Treatments; EoL: End of Life; HCP: Health Care Proxy; MOLST: Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatments; PCP: Primary Care Physician.

When more is less in financial decision-making: financial literacy magnifies framing effects.

In recent years, the financial world has become more complex and intricate. In this context, numeracy and, particularly, financial literacy, are seen as paramount in providing consumers with the knowledge and confidence required to take part in financial markets. Despite some indicative empirical findings, it is still to be ascertained how the two competences differentially contribute to the quality of decision-making in financial contexts. Furthermore, it is still unknown to what degree financial literacy and numeracy, taken as relevant mind-ware for financial decision-making, are effective in guarding against well-documented biases such as loss aversion and framing effects. This study aims to clarify these issues by employing an experimental task, conceived as an approximation to real-world decision-making involving the sale of shares. Our results suggest that numeracy and financial literacy affect decision-making differently in a pattern that, in part, runs counter to conventional economic theory. The data indicate that numeracy promotes a pattern of choices closer to economic rationality, while financial literacy can prove counterproductive and may amplify cognitive biases, namely framing effects and loss aversion. The outcomes are interpreted in light of dual-process theories, and the political implications discussed.

Letramento funcional em saúde de idosos hipertensos e diabéticos atendidos na Estratégia Saúde da Família / Alfabetización en la salud de ancianos hipertensos y diabéticos atendidos en la Estrategia Salud de la Familia / Functional health literacy among hypertensive and diabetic elderly assisted by the Family Health Strategy

Resumo Objetivo avaliar o letramento funcional em saúde de idosos hipertensos e diabéticos adscritos a Estratégia Saúde da Família. Método estudo transversal, desenvolvido com 78 idosos acometidos por Diabetes Mellitus tipo II e Hipertensão Arterial Sistêmica, residentes em município do interior do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Para a coleta dos dados foi aplicado questionário com informações sociodemográficas e de saúde e o instrumento S-TOFHLA. Para análise dos dados foram utilizados os testes qui quadrado de Pearson; Medidas de Tendência Central (média e mediana) e dispersão, α=5% e p≤0,05. Resultados o nível de letramento funcional em saúde demonstrou-se inadequado em 55,1% (N=43) dos participantes, e limítrofe em 30,8% (N=24). Identificou-se o predomínio de hipertensão arterial e tempo de tratamento superior a 10 anos. Os resultados mostraram associação entre baixa escolaridade e inadequado letramento funcional em saúde (p<0,002). Conclusão e implicações para a prática o letramento funcional em saúde inadequado em idosos portadores de doenças crônicas, muitas vezes responsáveis pelo seu autocuidado, pode contribuir para agravos na condição de saúde e doença dessa população, sendo relevante seu reconhecimento para o estabelecimento de estratégias e ações que visem melhores resultados na produção do cuidado.

Resumen Objetivo evaluar la alfabetización funcional en la salud de ancianos hipertensos y diabéticos inscritos en la Estrategia Salud de la Familia. Método estudio transversal, desarrollado en 78 ancianos afectados por Diabetes Mellitus tipo II e Hipertensión Arterial Sistémica, residentes en un municipio del interior del estado de Rio Grande del Sur. Para la recolección de datos fue aplicado un cuestionario con informaciones sociodemográficas y de salud y el instrumento S-TOFHLA. Para el análisis de los datos fueron utilizadas, las pruebas Chi-cuadrado de Pearson, Medidas de Tendencia Central (media y mediana) y de dispersión; con α=5% y p≤0,05. Resultados el nivel de alfabetización funcional en salud se demostró inadecuado en 55,1% (N=43) de los participantes, y limítrofe en 30,8% (N=24). Se identificó el predominio de hipertensión arterial y del tiempo de tratamiento superior a 10 años. Los resultados mostraron asociación entre baja escolaridad e inadecuada alfabetización funcional en salud (p<0,002). Conclusión e implicaciones para la práctica la alfabetización funcional en salud inadecuada en ancianos afectados por enfermedades crónicas, muchas veces responsables, por su propio autocuidado, puede contribuir para agravar la condición de la salud y de las enfermedades de esa población, siendo relevante su reconocimiento para el establecimiento de estrategias y acciones que tengan por objetivo obtener mejores resultados en la producción del cuidado.

Abstract Objective to assess functional health literacy among hypertensive and diabetic elderly individuals enrolled in the Family Health Strategy. Method cross-sectional study conducted among 78 elderly individuals with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Systemic Arterial Hypertension, residing in a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data were collected using a questionnaire addressing sociodemographic and health information and the S-TOFHLA. Data analysis included Pearson's Chi-square, Central Tendency Measures (mean and median), and measures of dispersion, α=5% and p≤0.05. Results inadequate functional health literacy was found among 55.1% (N=43) of the participants, while 30.8% (N=24) presented marginal literacy skills. Hypertension was the most frequent disease with duration of more than 10 years. The results show an association between schooling and inadequate functional health literacy (p<0.002). Conclusion and implications for practice inadequate health literacy among elderly individuals with chronic diseases who are often responsible for self-care may worsen this population's health conditions and diseases. Thus, identifying literacy levels among these individuals is vital to devise strategies and implement actions intended to promote care.

Bootstrapping of compliance to anti-Tuberculosis medication: South Africa, 2014.

BACKGROUND: Although, Tuberculosis (TB) is curable if the treatment is adhered to and completed it is still a major cause of death globally including South Africa. The success rate for TB treatment was 77.2% in 2014, of which more than 37 000 lives were lost because of it in South Africa. Several studies have been carried out on this subject, but the difference between the present study and the previous work done is the methodology proposed to establish the determinants of anti-TB medication compliance. Understanding the determinant of anti-TB medication compliance will help the policymakers on the appropriate decision to reduce the menace of the disease. METHODS: In this study, we proposed logistic regression to a sample of individuals taken from the National Income Dynamics Survey data that self-reported to have been TB diagnosed. A comparison of the classical logistic regression and parametric bootstrap estimation methods was done for this data to determine the model that best describes the data. RESULTS: The results obtained from the two methods were similar and identified gender, language, alcohol, English literacy, belief in religion and household SES as the determinants of TB patients on medication. The standard errors for the bootstrap logistic model were bigger than the standard errors of the classical model. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the classical model is better and for this scenario, there was no need to resample. The outcome of this study supports the existing findings that controlling the social and economic determinants of health will help eradicate TB.

Application of a Blended Assessment Strategy to Enhance Student Interest and Effectiveness in Learning: Case Study With Information Security Literacy.

In the Internet era, information security literacy is a global imperative for nursing students. This study combined an audience response system and an online system to formulate an assessment strategy based on the concept of blended learning. The participants of this study comprised two college nursing classes of an introductory computer science course in Taiwan. With information security as the teaching content, we adopted a quasi-experimental approach to conduct a 5-week teaching experiment. A blended assessment model was adopted for the experiment group, while slide presentation and verbal assessment were used for the control group. Pretests and posttests were administered for information security literacy and learning environment stimulation. The study results indicate the following: (1) the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in information security literacy, with statistically significant differences in scores regarding information security knowledge and information security skills; (2) the experimental group also presented higher learning motivation than the control group, with statistically significant differences in scores regarding self-efficacy, achievement goals, and learning environment stimulation.

Risk literacy assessment of general practitioners and medical students using the Berlin Numeracy Test.

BACKGROUND: The responsibility for helping patients understand potential health benefits and risks, especially regarding screening tests, falls largely to general practitioners (GPs). The Berlin Numeracy Test (BNT) specifically measures risk literacy (i.e., the ability to understand different aspects of statistical numeracy associated with accurate interpretation of information about risks). This study explored the association between risk literacy levels and clinical experience in GPs vs. medical students. Additionally, the effect of GP risk literacy on evaluation of the predictive value of screening tests was examined. METHODS: The participants were 84 GPs and 92 third-year medical students who completed the BNT (total score range 0-4 points). The GPs received an additional case scenario on mammography screening as a simple measure of performance in applying numeracy skills. RESULTS: Despite having an average of 25.9 years of clinical experience, GPs scored no better than medical students on risk literacy (GPs: 2.33 points, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.08-2.59; students: 2.34, 95% CI 2.07-2.61; P = .983). Of all GPs, 71.6% (n = 58) greatly overestimated the real predictive value. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found no difference in risk literacy between current students and current GPs. GPs lack risk literacy and consequently do not fully understand numeric estimates of probability in routine screening procedures.

Pharmacy students' level of financial literacy and its differences among students with various career intentions.

BACKGROUND: Many pharmacy students will work at managerial positions after graduation, so policymakers' awareness from their level of financial literacy and intentions regarding their future career field and path might be helpful to identify existing gaps and needed interventions. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of financial literacy among pharmacy students and their intentions regarding career path and field. METHODS: Data were gathered in early 2018 using a questionnaire which consisted of three parts: questions on financial literacy, career intentions, and participants' characteristics. Data analysis included descriptive analysis, comparison of the level of financial literacy and career intention among different demographic groups, as well as the comparison of the level of financial literacy among students preferring various career fields and paths. RESULTS: A total of 173 usable questionnaires were gathered. Significant differences were observed in terms of the level of financial literacy between various groups of students' personal income, term of education, and history of receiving finance-related information from people around them. Students showed more weakness in responding to questions related to investment. It was also revealed that students with higher scores in financial literacy gave priority to fast entrance to the job market compared to other suggested career paths. CONCLUSIONS: Although improvement in all aspects of financial literacy seem required for the studied population, more weakness was observed in terms of investment questions. Community pharmacy and rapid entrance to the work market were the preferred career field and path, respectively.

An Assessment of Factors Related to Ocean Literacy Based on Gender-Invariance Measurement.

This study sought to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the factors of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean influence the ocean literacy of students in Taiwan after establishing measurement invariance across genders. The analyzed data were collected from self-reported questionnaires filled out by students aged 16-18 years old. The students' ocean literacy was used as the outcome variable, while parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean were employed as the independent variables. The effects of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean on ocean literacy were estimated with a multi-group structural equation model. Of the final total of 945 valid respondents in this study, 58.1% were male and 41.9% were female. The results from the multiple-group analysis supported measurement invariance across the genders. After establishing gender invariance, it was further found that higher degrees of parental education level and student attitude toward the ocean were positively related to ocean literacy. A considerable contribution was detected between parental education level and ocean literacy that was indirectly related through student attitude toward the ocean in the female student.

Financial and health literacy discrepancies with cognition in older adults.

OBJECTIVE: Greater financial and health literacy are associated with better cognition; however, research suggests that some individuals exhibit differences, or discrepancies, in these abilities in old age. We investigated discrepancies between literacy and cognition and factors associated with such discrepancies in older adults without dementia. METHOD: Participants (N = 714; Mage = 81.4; education: M = 15.4; 75.4% female; 5.2% non-White) from the Rush Memory and Aging Project completed cognitive assessments and a financial and health literacy measure that yielded a total literacy score. Participants were characterized into three groups: (a) total literacy scores that are more than one standard deviation (1 SD) above cognition (L > C), (b) total literacy scores falling more than 1 SD below cognition (L < C), and (c) total literacy within 1 SD of cognition (L = C). Logistic regressions were employed to investigate associations between demographic and psychosocial variables and discrepancy group status. RESULTS: Of the 714 participants, 24% showed significant discrepancies. In fully adjusted models, in reference to the L = C group, male sex was associated with greater odds of being in the L > C group (odds ratio [OR] = 2.32, 95% CI [1.33, 4.03], p = .003) and lower odds of being in the L < C group (OR = 0.31, 95% CI [0.14, 0.66], p = .002), higher income was associated with lower odds of being in either discrepancy group (L < C OR = 0.87, 95% CI [0.79, 0.96], p = .004; L > C OR = 0.86, 95% CI [0.76, 0.96], p = .007), and higher trust was associated with lower odds of being in the L > C group (OR = 0.92, 95% CI [0.85, 0.99], p = .030). CONCLUSIONS: Findings support literacy and cognition as partially dissociable constructs and highlight important factors associated with discrepancies between literacy and cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-perfection or self-selection? Unraveling the relationship between job-related training and adults' literacy skills.

Can participation in job-related training contribute to the formation and maintenance of adults' literacy skills? Although evidence suggests that participation in training is related to higher literacy skills, it remains unclear whether this association reflects a causal effect of training participation on literacy (training effects), results from the self-selection of more high-skilled individuals into training (selection effects), or is due to other sources of endogeneity (e.g., omitted variable bias). To unravel these possibilities, we used data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and its German follow-up, PIAAC-Longitudinal (PIAAC-L). As these unique data offer repeated measures of literacy skills, spaced three years apart, in a large and representative sample, they allowed us to disentangle training effects from selection effects and to account for potential endogeneity. Analyses revealed that, even after taking account of formal education and a host of job characteristics, individuals with higher literacy skills were more likely to participate in training. By contrast, no evidence for effects of training on literacy skills emerged in any of our models, which comprised lagged-dependent, fixed effects, and instrumental-variable models. These findings suggest that, rather than job-related training contributing to literacy development, individuals with higher literacy skills are more likely to participate in training.

Using information literacy to teach medical entrepreneurship and health care economics.

OBJECTIVE: Entrepreneurship and innovative product design in health care requires expertise in finding and evaluating diverse types of information from a multitude of sources to accomplish a number of tasks, such as securing regulatory approval, developing a reimbursement strategy, and navigating intellectual property. The authors sought to determine whether an intensive, specialized information literacy training program that introduced undergraduate biomedical engineering students to these concepts would improve the quality of the students' design projects. We also sought to test whether information literacy training that included active learning exercises would offer increased benefits over training delivered via lectures and if this specialized information literacy training would increase the extent of students' information use. METHODS: A three-arm cohort study was conducted with a control group and two experimental groups. Mixed methods assessment, including a rubric and citation analysis, was used to evaluate program outcomes by examining authentic artifacts of student learning. RESULTS: Student design teams that received information literacy training on topics related to medical entrepreneurship and health care economics showed significantly improved performance on aspects of project performance relevant to health care economics over student design teams that did not receive this training. There were no significant differences between teams that engaged in active learning exercises and those that only received training via lectures. Also, there were no significant differences in citation patterns between student teams that did or did not receive specialized information literacy training. CONCLUSIONS: Information literacy training can be used as a method for introducing undergraduate health sciences students to the health care economics aspects of the medical entrepreneurship life cycle, including the US Food and Drug Administration regulatory environment, intellectual property, and medical billing and reimbursement structures.

Lessons learned from multisite implementation and evaluation of Project SHARE, a teen health information literacy, empowerment, and leadership program.

BACKGROUND: This case study describes the implementation and evaluation of a multisite teen health information outreach program. The objectives of the program were to increase health knowledge, health information literacy, interest in health careers, community engagement, and leadership skills of teens in disadvantaged communities. CASE PRESENTATION: Teens at six sites across the country participated in a multi-week curriculum that focused on various aspects of health literacy, information literacy, and leadership. Lesson topics addressed personal health, social determinants of health, information quality, and communication and advocacy skills. Program evaluation included both quantitative and qualitative components and focused on multiple knowledge and skills outcome variables. Results suggested that while teens at all sites showed improvement, particularly with respect to engagement and interest in the topics, the degree of gains in knowledge and information literacy measures varied significantly from site to site. CONCLUSION: On-site implementation planning, cohesive integration of added activities, and emphasis on retention can contribute to implementation and evaluation effectiveness. This work also underscores the limitation of a purely quantitative approach to capturing the impact of health information and stresses the importance of supplementing numerical scores and statistics with qualitative data.

Gender, financial literacy, and preretirement planning in the UK.

This study uses a two-stage logistic regression model to explore the determinants of retirement planning behavior. A survey of 516 UK women and men of prestate retirement age was used to establish interrelationships between gender, retirement planning, and financial literacy, taking account of attitudinal and expectational variables. Findings confirm lower levels of planning among women, but contrary to previous studies, this study reveals that financial literacy is not significantly related to planning. Furthermore, when attitudinal and expectational variables are incorporated as independent variables, gender becomes statistically insignificant as a determinant of planning.

Information Literacy Assessment with a Modified Hybrid Differential Evolution with Model-Based Reinitialization.

Information literacy assessment is extremely important for the evaluation of the information literacy skills of college students. Intelligent optimization technique is an effective strategy to optimize the weight parameters of the information literacy assessment index system (ILAIS). In this paper, a new version of differential evolution algorithm (DE), named hybrid differential evolution with model-based reinitialization (HDEMR), is proposed to accurately fit the weight parameters of ILAIS. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: firstly, an improved contraction criterion which is based on the population entropy in objective space and the maximum distance in decision space is employed to decide when the local search starts. Secondly, a modified model-based population reinitialization strategy is designed to enhance the global search ability of HDEMR to handle complex problems. Two types of experiments are designed to assess the performance of HDEMR. In the first type of experiments, HDEMR is tested and compared with seven well-known DE variants on CEC2005 and CEC2014 benchmark functions. In the second type of experiments, HDEMR is compared with the well-known and widely used deterministic algorithm DIRECT on GKLS test classes. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of HDEMR for global numerical optimization and show better performance. Furthermore, HDEMR is applied to optimize the weight parameters of ILAIS at China University of Geosciences (CUG), and satisfactory results are obtained.

Linking Education to Action: A Program to Increase Research Participation Among African American Women.

BACKGROUND: Underrepresentation of African American women as research participants contributes to health disparities. Contemporary studies have focused on clinical trial (CT) participation; epidemiologic and genetic studies utilizing medical records and/or biological samples have received less attention. In partnership with The Links, Incorporated (The Links), a national service organization of professional African American women, this study sought to examine attitudes regarding chart review (CR) studies, genetic studies/biobanking (GEN), and CTs; develop; and evaluate an online education-to-action program. METHODS: In phase 1, focus groups were convened with members of The Links to inform the content and format of the program. Phases 2 and 3 involved designing and evaluating the program, respectively. RESULTS: Thirty-four women across three focus groups shared attitudes and perceptions regarding research and provided guidance for program development. Subsequently, 244 women completed the program (77% response rate), including pre- and post-assessments. Participants indicating that they "definitely" or "probably" (responses combined) intend to participate in research increased from 36.5% to 69.3% (pre/post-program). Agreement with the statement "research in the U.S. is ethical" increased (52.9% to 74.4%) as did factual knowledge regarding each of the study types. There was a decrease in reporting "little or no understanding" of study types (Pre/Post: GEN: 66%/24.9%, CR: 62.9%/18.4%, CTs: 40.7%/15.5%). Pre-program, few were "very positive" about the study types (14.3% GEN, 15.0% CR, 28.6% CTs); post-program ratings increased and equalized (42.8% GEN, 43.0% CR, 42.5% CTs). CONCLUSIONS: An online education-to-action program targeting professional African American women improved knowledge, perceptions of ethics, and intent to participate in biomedical research.

Librarians Promoting Changes in the Health Care Delivery System through Systematic Assessment.

Patient engagement in health care decisions largely depends on a patient's health literacy and the health literacy attributes of the health care organization. Librarians have an established role in connecting patients with health information in the context of their care. However, librarians can play a larger role in helping to make changes in their organization's health literacy attributes. This article discusses one medical library's process of leading systematic assessment of their organization's health literacy attributes. Included in this discussion is the institutional support, timeline, assessment tool, the results for five areas of health literacy, marketing and the event-planning process to disseminate results. The systematic assessment process described employs the Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers document, which provides assessment tools for Print Communication, Oral Communication, Navigation, Technology, and Policies and Protocols.

Assessment of knowledge and skills in information literacy instruction for rehabilitation sciences students: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVE: This scoping review investigates how knowledge and skills are assessed in the information literacy (IL) instruction for students in physical therapy, occupational therapy, or speech-language pathology, regardless of whether the instruction was given by a librarian. The objectives were to discover what assessment measures were used, determine whether these assessment methods were tested for reliability and validity, and provide librarians with guidance on assessment methods to use in their instruction in evidence-based practice contexts. METHODS: A scoping review methodology was used. A systematic search strategy was run in Ovid MEDLINE and adapted for CINAHL; EMBASE; Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) (EBSCO); Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA); Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA); and Proquest Theses and Dissertations from 1990 to January 16, 2017. Forty articles were included for data extraction. RESULTS: Three major themes emerged: types of measures used, type and context of librarian involvement, and skills and outcomes described. Thirty-four measures of attitude and thirty-seven measures of performance were identified. Course products were the most commonly used type of performance measure. Librarians were involved in almost half the studies, most frequently as instructor, but also as author or assessor. Information literacy skills such as question formulation and database searching were described in studies that did not involve a librarian. CONCLUSION: Librarians involved in instructional assessment can use rubrics such as the Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) when grading assignments to improve the measurement of knowledge and skills in course-integrated IL instruction. The Adapted Fresno Test could be modified to better suit the real-life application of IL knowledge and skills.