Minimal effects of reduced teaching hours on undergraduate medical student learning outcomes and course evaluations.

Introduction: Various pressures exist for curricular change, including economic forces, burgeoning knowledge, broadening learning outcomes, and improving quality and outcomes of learning experiences. In an Australian 5-year undergraduate medical course, staff were asked to reduce teaching hours by 20% to alleviate perceived overcrowded preclinical curriculum, achieve operating efficiencies and liberate time for students' self-directed learning.Methods: A case study design with mixed methods was used to evaluate outcomes.Results: Teaching hours were reduced by 198 hours (14%) overall, lectures by 153 hours (19%) and other learning activities by 45 hours (7%). Summative assessment scores did not change significantly after the reductions: 0.4% increase, 1.5% decrease and 1.7% increase in Years 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The percentage of students successfully completing their academic year did not change significantly: 94.4% before and 93.3% after the reductions. Student evaluations from eVALUate surveys changed little, except workload was perceived to be more reasonable.Conclusions: Teaching hours, particularly lectures, can be moderately reduced with little impact on student learning outcomes or satisfaction with an undergraduate medical course.

COVID-19 Preventive Measures in Northern California Jails: Perceived Deficiencies, Barriers, and Unintended Harms.

Background: Carceral facilities are high-risk settings for COVID-19 transmission. Little is known about the hidden burden of infection or practical barriers to infection control in these settings, especially in jails. There is also limited research on the mental health impacts of the pandemic among people living and working in carceral facilities. Methods: Between July 8, 2020 and April 30, 2021, we performed SARS-CoV-2 rapid antibody testing and administered a questionnaire among residents and staff of four Northern California jails. We utilized multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for demographic and carceral characteristics, to analyze factors associated with prior infection, including perceived likelihood of prior infection and access to new masks. We additionally assessed the implementation of, perceptions toward, and impacts of COVID-19 policies in practice. We engaged stakeholder representatives, including incarcerated individuals, to guide study design, procedures, and results interpretation. Results: We enrolled 788 jail residents and 380 jail staff. Nearly half of residents and two-thirds of staff who were antibody-positive had not previously tested positive for COVID-19. Among residents without a prior COVID-19 diagnosis, antibody positivity was significantly associated with perceived likelihood of prior infection (adjusted OR = 8.9; 95% CI, 3.6-22.0). Residents who had flu-like illness in jail cited inadequate responses to reported illness and deterrents to symptom reporting, including fears of medical isolation and perceptions of medical neglect. Residents also disclosed deficient access to face masks, which was associated with antibody positivity (adjusted OR = 13.8, 95% CI, 1.8-107.0). Worsened mental health was pervasive among residents, attributed not only to fear of COVID-19 and unsanitary jail conditions but also to intensified isolation and deprivation due to pandemic restrictions on in-person visitation, programs, and recreation time. Conclusion: Carceral settings present significant challenges to maintaining infection control and human rights. Custody officials should work diligently to transform the conditions of medical isolation, which could mitigate deterrents to symptom reporting. Furthermore, they should minimize use of restrictive measures like lockdowns and suspension of visitation that exacerbate the mental health harms of incarceration. Instead, custody officials should ensure comprehensive implementation of other preventive strategies like masking, testing, and vaccination, in conjunction with multisector efforts to advance decarceration.

Corrigendum: COVID-19 preventive measures in Northern California jails: Perceived deficiencies, barriers, and unintended harms.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.854343.].

A Structured Approach Using the Systematic Review Data Repository (SRDR): Building the Evidence for Oral Health Interventions in the Population With Intellectual and Developmental Disability.

BACKGROUND: This review describes the methods used for a systematic review of oral health intervention literature in a target population (people with intellectual and developmental disability (I/DD)), which spans a broad range of interventions and study types, conducted with specialized software. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to demonstrate the review strategy, using the free, online systematic review data repository (SRDR) tool, for oral health interventions aimed at reducing disparities between people with I/DD and the general population. RESEARCH DESIGN: Researchers used online title/abstract review (Abstrackr) and data extraction (SRDR) tools to structure the literature review and data extraction. A practicing clinician and an expert methodologist completed the quality review for each study. The data extraction team reported on the experience of using and customizing the SRDR. RESULTS: Using the SRDR, the team developed four extraction templates for eight key questions and completed extraction on 125 articles. CONCLUSIONS: This report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using an electronic tool, such as the SRDR, in completing a systematic review in an area of growing research. This review provides valuable insight for researchers who are considering the use of the SRDR.

Sexuality-related attitudes significantly modulate demographic variation in sexual health literacy in Tasmanian university students.

BACKGROUND: It has previously been shown that there is a significant demographic variation in sexual health literacy (SHL) in university-level students in Tasmania, Australia. AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of statistical adjustment for sexuality-related attitudes on this demographic variation in SHL. METHODS: Iterated principal-factor analysis was used to evaluate latent variable grouping of responses to 21 attitudinal questions regarding sexuality and sexual behaviour. Linear regression was used to evaluate the distribution and determinants of attitudinal patterns and thence the relationship of these patterns to SHL. RESULTS: Three patterns - conservative, anti-persons-living-with-HIV and sexually responsible - were identified as explaining variation in sexual attitudes; the former two being associated with significantly lower SHL and the latter associated with significantly higher SHL. Adjustment for these patterns significantly attenuated much of the differences in SHL by birthplace/ethnicity and religion, including among South and South-East Asian and Protestant, Islamic and Hindu students. However, some differences in SHL persisted, suggesting they are partly or fully independent of the attitudinal questions. CONCLUSIONS: As hypothesised, differences in attitude significantly explained much of the demographic differences in SHL found previously. These results suggest that sexual education and orientation efforts need to bear cultural framing in mind to enhance uptake by students.

Sexual health literacy of the student population of the University of Tasmania: results of the RUSSL Study.

UNLABELLED: Background Evidence suggests a varied level of sexual health literacy (SHL) among university student populations, so we evaluated the SHL among students at the University of Tasmania. METHODS: Students were invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire during August/September 2013. SHL was assessed using the ARCSHS National Survey of Australian Secondary Students & Sexual Health (ARC) and the Sexual Health Questionnaire (SHS). Predictors of literacy scores were evaluated by linear regression. RESULTS: The study recruited 1786 participants (8.2% of 2013 student population), of similar composition to the general university population. Female sex, older age, sexual education, and sexual experience were significant predictors of SHL. As hypothesised, students in medical/nursing disciplines had the highest SHL. Less expected were the significant differences by birthplace and religious affiliation, many of which persisted on adjustment for confounders. Compared with Australian/New Zealander students, overseas-born students had significantly lower ARC (-3.6%, P<0.001) & SHS (-4.2%, P<0.001); this was driven by Malaysian, Indian, and Chinese students. Compared with agnostic/atheist-identifying students, those of Buddhist (ARC: -5.4%, P=0.014; SHS: -6.7%, P=0.002), Hindu (ARC: -8.8%, P=0.098; SHS: -12.2%, P=0.027), Muslim (ARC: -16.5%, P<0.001; SHS: -13.4%, P=0.001) and Protestant (ARC: -2.3%, P=0.023; SHS: -4.4%, P<0.001) identifications had markedly lower SHL. CONCLUSIONS: This study, one of the first among university students in Australia, found a varied SHL by sex, age, sexual education and sexual experience, as well as by birthplace and religious affiliation. These findings have applications in orientation and education programs at Australian universities.