"Being in the digital box". Academic staff experiences in online practical teaching: A qualitative study from six universities and countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused radical changes in education, as in everything else, bringing many challenges. Despite all the difficulties, the COVID-19 pandemic has enormous opportunities for online teaching and the use of digital technologies. A comprehensive understanding of this period is needed to investigate these opportunities. Thus, this study aims to explore the academic staff's experiences of online teaching and the use of digital technologies in practical skills-based courses in health care education. This study was conducted at six universities from six countries (Türkiye, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania). Data were collected between June 17, 2021 and November 30, 2021 via a focus group with an in-depth interview technique. 22 focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 117 participants. Colaizzi's method was used to evaluate the data to discover, comprehend, and define the experiences of academic staff. The analysis of the interview data resulted in 6 themes, 25 subthemes and 56 categories that captured participants' experiences regarding online teaching of practical skills and using digital technologies in health care education. The findings of the study provide crucial information that will help online teaching and digital technology for practical skills be successfully integrated.

Exploring the activities and outcomes of digital teaching and learning of practical skills in higher education for the social and health care professions: a scoping review.

Higher education for health care professionals faces numerous challenges. It is important to develop and apply methods supporting education, especially the practical skills. This scoping review aimed to explore the activities and learning outcomes of digital technology in practical skills teaching and learning in higher education for the social and health professions. Scoping review recommendations and the PRISMA-ScR checklist were applied. Randomized controlled trials published between 2016 and 2021 involving students in higher education who were taking courses in the social sciences and health care and reported interventions with digital technology activities and practices in practical teaching and learning were included. The CINAHL Plus, PubMed, Scopus, ERIC, and Sociological Abstracts/Social Services Abstracts databases were searched. Teaching methods were blended, e-learning or other online-based, and digital simulation-based activities. Teaching and learning environments, methods, resources, and activity characteristics varied, making a summary difficult. Interventions were developed in a face-to-face format prior to digitalization. The outcomes were measured at the knowledge level, not at the performance level. One-third of the studies showed a significant improvement in practical skills in the intervention group in comparison to the control conditions. The use of digital technology in the learning and teaching process have potential to develop of students' skills, knowledge, motivation, and attitudes. The pedagogy of technology use is decisive. The development of new digital methods for teaching and learning practical skills requires the engagement of students and teachers, in addition the researchers.

Challenges and needs of informal caregivers in elderly care: Qualitative research in four European countries, the TRACE project.

BACKGROUND: Providing informal care may affects caregivers' life in different ways. Determining the needs of caregivers and supporting them can improve both the quality of life of the caregivers, as well as the elderly they take care of. OBJECTIVE: To explore the experiences and needs of the informal caregivers in four countries. DESIGN: Qualitative research method was used in the study. METHODS: The qualitative data was collected through focus groups and individual interviews between December 2016-May 2017. In all countries interviews were conducted in the mother language of the informants. Informants of the qualitative research were adult people who take primary care of an individual with chronic diseases, aged 65 years or older. Data were collected from 72 informal caregivers from four European countries. Inductive content analysis was performed. RESULTS: Informal caregivers identified 2 themes, 5 subthemes, 19 categories and 7 subtcategories. The themes highlighted two major issues: informal caregiver's challenges and needs related to the management of care of elderly and caregivers' personal needs. CONCLUSION: The important and charming results of the present study are, difficulties of managing caregiver's own life, and coping with emotions are common in four countries. Identifying challenges and needs of informal caregivers enable healthcare professionals to develop care strategies and plan interventions focused to support and help to reduce the burden of care for elderly with chronic diseases.

Is training for informal caregivers and their older persons helpful? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The steady increase in the number of people suffering from chronic diseases and increasing life expectancy raises new demands on health care. At the same time, the need for informal caregivers is increasing. This study aims to perform a systematic review of the methodologies used to identify effect of different types of training on informal caregivers and their older persons. METHODS: MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL and Ovid were searched from December 2016 and April 2017. The following keywords were used; "informal caregiver", "training" "elderly", older persons". Identified publications were screened by using the following inclusion criteria; systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, prospective cohort and multicentre studies, English language full text journals, samples or interventions that included caregivers of older persons and published in last 10 years. RESULTS: Twenty four studies (12 randomised control trials, 8 intervention studies and 4 systematic reviews) were included. Most of the randomized controlled trials involved both caregivers and elderly. Pretests and post-tests were used in intervention studies (5 out of the 8 studies). ICT-based, psychosocial interventions on family caregivers' education program for caregivers were applied. Caregivers following a supportive educative learning had a significantly better quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this systematic review suggest that support interventions for caregivers can be effective in reducing caregivers' stress, with a consequent improvement of the quality of care. However, results are based on relatively small studies, reporting somewhat controversial findings supporting the need to perform further research in this field.

Attitudes of fertile and infertile woman towards new reproductive technologies: a case study of Lithuania.

BACKGROUND: This article analyzes several key issues in the debate: the acceptability of in vitro fertilization; regulation of assisted reproduction and the possibilities of reimbursement for assisted reproduction treatment in Lithuania. METHOD: Two groups of respondents participated in the survey: fertile women and women with fertility disorders. 93 completed questionnaires from women with fertility problems and 146 from women with no fertility problems were analysed. RESULTS: Fertile respondents more frequently perceived the embryo as a human being (Fertile Individuals - 68.5%; Infertile Individuals - 35.5%; p < 0.05) and more frequently maintained that assisted reproduction treatment should be only partly reimbursed (Fertile Individuals - 71.3%; Infertile Individuals - 39.8%; p < 0.05). Respondents with fertility disorders more frequently thought that artificial insemination procedure could also be applied to unmarried couples (Fertile Individuals - 51.4%; Infertile Individuals - 76.3%; p < 0.05), and more frequently agreed that there should be no age limit for artificial insemination procedures (Fertile Individuals - 36.3%; Infertile Individuals - 67.7%; p < 0.05). The majority of respondents in both groups (Fertile Individuals - 77.4%; Infertile Individuals - 82.8%; p < 0.05) believed that donation of reproductive cells should be regulated by law. Fertile respondents more frequently considered that strict legal regulation was necessary in case of the number of transferred embryos (Fertile Individuals - 69.2%; Infertile Individuals - 39.8%; p < 0.05) and freezing of embryos (Fertile Individuals - 69.9%; Infertile Individuals - 57.0%; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Fertile respondents were statistically more likely to believe that the IVF procedure should be applied only to married couples or women who had a regular partner, the age limit should be defined and the psychological assessment of the couple's relationship and their readiness for the IVF procedure was necessary. In contrast, infertile couples were statistically more likely than fertile respondents to maintain that the IVF procedure should be fully reimbursed by the state. Fertile respondents were statistically more likely to be categorical with respect to the number of embryos and the freezing of embryos. Meanwhile there is a statistically significant difference in opinions of infertile respondents who were in favour of stricter regulation on donation of reproductive cells.

[Needs of parents with premature newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: parents' and nurses' perceptions]. / Neisnesiotu naujagimiu tevu poreikiai naujagimiu intensyviosios terapijos skyriuje tevu ir slaugytoju poziuriu.

UNLABELLED: The aim of the study was to compare parents' and nurses' perceptions of parents' needs in the neonatal intensive care unit. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted in the Kaunas Perinatal Center, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Hospital of Kaunas University of Medicine. The sample consisted of 181 parents and 37 nurses. The NICU Family Needs Inventory was used for data collection. The instrument included the following five dimensions (subscales) of needs: proximity, information, assurance, support, and comfort. Reliability of the scale was identified as 0.94 using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: The parents' needs perceived by both the groups were compared within the subscales. Using the Mann-Whitney rank test, the significant differences between the parents' and nurses' assessments of individual statements were identified. The majority of statistically significant differences between parents and nurses have been found assessing the proximity (75.0%) and informational (72.7%) needs related to the possibility for parents to be close to their newborns and to receive timely and adequate information about their newborns' health condition. Parents, if compared to nurses, rated these needs as more important. The assessment of support needs showed the lowest number of differences (38.9%). There was a statistically significant difference assessing the support in decision-making related to the newborn care, which was identified by parents as being more important. Nurses perceived the needs related to parent-to-parent support and possibility to share feelings as being more important. CONCLUSION: The comparison of parents' and nurses' perceptions of parents' needs in the neonatal intensive care unit showed that there are statistically significant differences in the assessment of individual statements within all five subscales.

[Assessing needs of families with premature newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit]. / Neisnesiotu naujagimiu, gydomu Naujagimiu intensyvios terapijos skyriuje, tevu poreikiai.

UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to identify needs of families with premature newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, perceived by parents and nurses. The study was conducted in the Kaunas Perinatal Center, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Hospital of Kaunas University of Medicine. The sample consisted of 181 parents and 37 nurses. The NICU Family Needs Inventory was used for data collection. The instrument included five dimensions of needs. Reliability of the scale was identified as 0.94 using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: The importance of the needs by parents was prioritized as following: assurance, proximity, information, support, and comfort, and by nurses--assurance, information, proximity, support, and comfort. The needs for assurance, proximity, and information were significantly more important for parents as compared with nurses. Needs for support were significantly more important for nurses. Forty-seven (83.9%) items (out of 56) were identified as important by parents and 49 (87.5%) items--by nurses. Both parents and nurses identified the same 7 items within the group of 10 most important. Parents and nurses identified the same 7 items within the group of 10 least important. CONCLUSIONS: Both groups of respondents identified needs for assurance as the most important for parents. The needs for comfort were perceived as the least important by parents and nurses. All groups of needs, except the needs for support, were significantly more important for parents as compared with nurses. Both parents and nurses identified the same 44 items (out of 56) as important for parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The 10 most important need statements and 10 least important need statements were identified by parents and nurses.