Standing together at the helm - how employees experience employee-driven innovation in primary care.

Primary care needs to find strategies to deal with today's societal challenges and continue to deliver efficient and high-quality care. Employee-driven innovation is increasingly gaining ground as an accessible pathway to developing successful and sustainable organisations. This type of innovation is characterised by employees being engaged in the innovation process, based on a bottom-up approach. This qualitative study explores employees' experiences of employee-driven innovation at a primary care centre in Sweden. Data are collected by focus group interviews and analysed by inductive qualitative content analysis. The result is presented with the overarching theme "Standing together at the helm" followed by three categories: "Motivating factors for practising employee-driven innovation", "Challenges in practising employee-driven innovation" and "Benefits of employee-driven innovation", including nine subcategories. The study found that employee-driven innovation fosters organisational innovation, empowers employees, and enhances adaptability at personal and organisational levels. This enables individual and collective learning, and facilitates the shaping, development, and adaptation of working methods to meet internal and external requirements. However, new employees encountered difficulty grasping the concept of employee-driven innovation and recognising its long-term advantages. Additionally, the demanding and task-focused environment within primary care posed challenges in sustaining efforts in innovation work. The employees also experienced a lack of external support to drive and implement some innovative ideas.

Voices used by nurses when communicating with patients and relatives in a department of medicine for older people-An ethnographic study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To describe how nurses communicate with older patients and their relatives in a department of medicine for older people in western Sweden. BACKGROUND: Communication is an essential tool for nurses when working with older patients and their relatives, but often patients and relatives experience shortcomings in the communication exchanges. They may not receive information or are not treated in a professional way. Good communication can facilitate the development of a positive meeting and improve the patient's health outcome. DESIGN: An ethnographic design informed by the sociocultural perspective was applied. METHODS: Forty participatory observations were conducted and analysed during the period October 2015-September 2016. The observations covered 135 hours of nurse-patient-relative interaction. Field notes were taken, and 40 informal field conversations with nurses and 40 with patients and relatives were carried out. Semistructured follow-up interviews were conducted with five nurses. RESULTS: In the result, it was found that nurses communicate with four different voices: a medical voice described as being incomplete, task-oriented and with a disease perspective; a nursing voice described as being confirmatory, process-oriented and with a holistic perspective; a pedagogical voice described as being contextualised, comprehension-oriented and with a learning perspective; and a power voice described as being distancing and excluding. The voices can be seen as context-dependent communication approaches. When nurses switch between the voices, this indicates a shift in the orientation or situation. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that if nurses successfully combine the voices, while limiting the use of the power voice, the communication exchanges can become a more positive experience for all parties involved and a good nurse-patient-relative communication exchange can be achieved. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Working for improved communication between nurses, patients and relatives is crucial for establishing a positive nurse-patient-relative relationship, which is a basis for improving patient care and healthcare outcomes.

What are they talking about? Content of the communication exchanges between nurses, patients and relatives in a department of medicine for older people-An ethnographic study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore and describe the content of the communication exchanges between nurses, patients and their relatives in a department of medicine for older people in western Sweden. BACKGROUND: Information, messages and knowledge are constantly being communicated between nurses, older patients and relatives in the healthcare sector. The quality of communication between them has a major influence on patient outcomes. A prerequisite for good care to be given and received is that there is mutual understanding between the parties involved. DESIGN: An ethnographic study was informed by a sociocultural perspective. METHOD: Data were collected through 40 participatory observations of meetings between nurses and older patients and/or relatives which covered 135 hr of nurse-patient-relative interaction, field notes, 40 field conversations with 24 nurses and 40 field conversations with patients (n = 40) and relatives (n = 26). Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses. An ethnographic analysis was performed. RESULTS: The analysis identified three categories of content of the communication exchanges: medical content focusing on the patient's medical condition, personal content focusing on the patient's life story and explanatory content focusing on the patient's health and nursing needs. The content is influenced by the situation and context. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses would benefit from more awareness and understanding of the importance of the communication content and of the value of asking the didactic questions (how, when, what and why) to improve the patients' and relatives' understanding of the information exchanges and to increase patient safety. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses can use the communication content to create conditions enabling them to obtain a holistic view of the patient's life history and to develop an appropriate person-centred care plan.

Meaning-Making Coping Among Cancer Patients in Sweden and South Korea: A Comparative Perspective.

The present study compared meaning-making coping among cancer patients in Sweden and South Korea, with a focus on the sociocultural context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 51 Swedes and 33 Koreans. The results showed significant differences between the two countries as well as similarities in existential, spiritual, and religious coping. For example, Swedes primarily used meaning-making coping as a means of meditation or relaxation, whereas Koreans relied on coping with prayer and using healthy foods as a means to survive. The present study confirms the significance of investigating cultural context when we explore the use of meaning-making coping among people who have experienced cancer.

The emergence of remote laboratory courses in an emergency situation: University instructors' agency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study examines and describes how various online remote laboratory courses, necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, were implemented at Hankuk University in Korea in 2020. We compared four general undergraduate laboratory courses, one each for physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science, and two major-level laboratory courses taught during the spring and fall of 2020. Employing a sociocultural perspective, we examined how the changes in structures at the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels shaped the responses of educational authorities and impacted the agency of university instructors. Instructors implemented various remote laboratory courses in each content area dependent upon availability and access to material resources, including access to video of laboratory activities, and also based on the nature of experimental data associated with each content area. Drawing from survey responses and in-depth interviews with instructors and students, we share findings about how instructor practices impacted the interactions of students, the processes for evaluation, and student learning. We discuss how the global pandemic has re-ignited the debate about the role and value of experimental laboratory activities for undergraduate science majors and about the significance of hands-on versus minds-on science learning. Implications for how universities approach laboratory coursework in the post-COVID-19 are discussed, and questions for university science instruction are raised for future research.

Obesity, Mediterranean Diet, and Public Health: A Vision of Obesity in the Mediterranean Context from a Sociocultural Perspective.

Obesity is a disease that straddles medico-nutritional, psychological, and socio-cultural boundaries. There is a clear relationship between lifestyle and obesity, and today the Mediterranean diet in the Mediterranean area may represent an interesting corrective asset. However, we should not be under any misapprehension about the model's capacity for action in non-nutritional terms. Our societies are experiencing a process of rapid change, and the Mediterranean area is no exception. The aim of this article is to present a view of obesity in the Mediterranean context from an open, mainly socio-cultural perspective, but from different points of view (medical, nutritional), seeking points of convergence and elements that contribute to the understanding of and approach to the disease in the context of the Mediterranean diet. As a public health and a multidimensional social problem, obesity must be dealt with in a holistic, open, and cross-disciplinary manner to ensure that it can be understood coherently. The only way to keep the usefulness of the Mediterranean diet within desirable limits will be our societies' vitality and interest in rapidly adapting the Mediterranean diet to social change, thus providing valid answers to today's needs.

Problematic, disturbing and non-conforming children's behaviors: the concepts and care demands related to agitation in children in Santos and Campinas, Brazil / Comportamentos infantis problemáticos, perturbadores e não conformes: conceitos e demandas de cuidado relacionados à agitação em crianças em Santos e Campinas, Brasil

Abstract This article discusses the social consequences of the impossibility of specifically defining the boundaries of the concept of mental disorder, which seems to be a "vague" term with no satisfactory definition, especially when referred to children's behaviors. We argue that when discussing children's problematic, disturbing or non-conforming behaviors it is necessary to understand how these concepts are related to the classificatory categories of children's behaviors and presented as care demands, whether in common sense or in biomedical discourses. Data were collected in qualitative research developed in three different child mental health services (CMHS), one in Santos (2012) and two in Campinas (2009-2010; 2017-2018), Brazil. Based on what seems to be a relation between biological-psychological dysfunction and social-cultural expectation or response, our starting point is that agitation is also a multidimensional and vague category, presenting a description and theoretical reflection about the various concepts regarding agitation. The analysis focuses on the different uses of the concepts of agitation; the social actors and institutions involved in care demands and how they are interdependently connected; then revealing, from a sociocultural perspective, the implications of classifying and defining children's behavior from this vague category.

Resumo Este artigo se inicia com um questionamento sobre as consequências sociais da impossibilidade de delimitar o conceito de transtorno mental, o qual parece ser um termo "vago", sem definições satisfatórias, sobretudo quando associado a comportamentos infantis. Argumenta-se que, para pensar os comportamentos infantis problemáticos, perturbadores ou não conformes, é necessário entender quais são os conceitos relacionados às categorias classificatórias dos comportamentos infantis e apresentados como demandas de cuidado, tanto no discurso do senso comum quanto no discurso biomédico. Os dados foram coletados a partir de pesquisas qualitativas desenvolvidas em três diferentes serviços de saúde mental infantil, um em Santos (2012) e dois em Campinas (2009-2010 e 2017-2018). Baseado no que parece ser uma relação entre disfunção biológico-psicológica e expectativa ou resposta sociocultural, toma-se como ponto de partida a agitação como uma categoria multidimensional e vaga, apresentando-se uma descrição e reflexão teórica sobre os vários conceitos relativos à agitação. A análise é centrada nos diferentes usos dos conceitos de agitação, os atores sociais e instituições envolvidos nas demandas de cuidado e as formas como eles estão interdependentemente conectados. Por fim, revela, a partir de uma perspectiva sociocultural, as implicações de classificar e definir o comportamento infantil com base em uma categoria vaga.

MIRADA A LA MENTORÍA EN INVESTIGACIÓN DESDE LA PERSPECTIVA SOCIOCULTURAL DE VYGOTSKY.

In this article the authors illustrate the mentoring process through the framework of Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective regarding education and human development. To achieve this goal, they describe their experience as mentor and mentees in a research training mentoring program for undergraduate students. The authors argue that this theoretical and philosophical perspective offers a solid background to mentoring as a real option that contributes to the learning process. They recommend these programs to be encouraged by academic institutions in order for more students and professors to benefit from this process.

Interacciones docente-estudiantes y maltrato infantil: análisis microgenético desde la perspectiva sociocultural 2 / Teacher-Student Interactions and Child Abuse: Microgenetic Analysis from a Sociocultural Perspective

Resumen Esta investigación tiene como objetivo caracterizar las significaciones sobre el maltrato infantil, que emergen en el contexto de un salón de clases de primero de primaria, en un colegio público de la ciudad de Bogotá. Este estudio se sustenta en la perspectiva sociocultural. Desde un enfoque idiográfico y por medio de análisis microgenéticos, se profundizó en el estudio de caso de Martina, quien, a partir de su práctica pedagógica, proporcionó elementos para caracterizar las significaciones que ha construido sobre el maltrato infantil y la manera en cómo estas son comunicadas a los niños. Metodológicamente, se solicitó a la profesora preparar un taller para sus estudiantes orientado hacia la prevención del maltrato infantil. También, se llevó a cabo una entrevista con la docente para complementar los análisis. Los resultados indican que las significaciones del maltrato infantil, que emergen en la práctica educativa de la educadora, están permeadas por un sistema cultural más amplio, a saber, la religión católica, y que a través de lo religioso se comunica con sus estudiantes para alinear sus objetivos a los de ellos. Futuras investigaciones podrían centrarse en el estudio de la práctica docente, de manera detallada, y considerar la cultura como elemento fundamental de la organización escolar.

Abstract This research aims to characterize connotations regarding child abuse from teacher-student interactions and relationships that occur inside a first grade classroom, located in a public school in the city of Bogotá. Theoretically, we support our work on the sociocultural perspective. We used the idiographic approach to characterize the case study of Martina, a first-grade teacher, through microgenetic analysis; who from her pedagogical practice and the design of a workshop aimed at preventing abuse provided us with elements to characterize the significations she has built on child abuse. The analysis of the results shows that the meanings and beliefs that emerge in her pedagogical practice are influenced by a cultural system, especially her religious beliefs, which are rooted in the Catholic religion. Finally, we find that it is necessary for future investigations and research to focus on pedagogical practices, taking into consideration culture as an important element in the school context.

O bullying na perspectiva sociocultural construtivista / Bullying from a sociocultural constructivist perspective

Crenças e valores orientados para acirrada competição e para o individualismo têm sido promovidos de forma recorrente em diversos contextos sociais. Situações onde competição e individualismo são valorizados promovem a progressiva desvalorização da ética e a emergência de agressões e violência. A incidência crescente do bullying nas escolas retrata a necessidade de mudar o paradigma educacional. Segundo a Psicologia científica, não existem fórmulas mágicas e o fenômeno precisa ser analisado considerando o papel da cultura, do sujeito construtivo e da causalidade múltipla. Prevenir o bullying implica que a escola assuma intencionalmente o trabalho dos valores sociais positivos com alunos e professores, de forma a incluir a paz como eixo transversal no currículo escolar. As instituições educativas podem e devem atuar no campo da promoção concreta da paz, de interações humanas saudáveis, éticas e respeitosas, promovendo valores como justiça, dignidade e responsabilidade social.(AU)

Values and beliefs oriented toward fierce competition and individualism have been persistently promoted in a variety of social contexts. Where competition and individualism prevail, ethics become less and less important, and aggression and violence easily appear. The increasing occurrence of bullying at schools points to the need of a paradigm shift in education. According to scientific Psychology, there are no magic recipes, and the phenomenon needs to be analyzed taking into account the role of culture, the constructive subject, and the existence of multiple causes. To prevent bullying entails that schools deliberately promote the work of positive social values among students and teachers, in such a way that peace would become a transversal guiding principle across the curriculum. Schools can and should be active in encouraging peace, as well healthy, ethical, and respectful human interactions, fomenting values such as justice, dignity and social responsibility.(AU)

O bullying na perspectiva sociocultural construtivista / Bullying from a sociocultural constructivist perspective

Crenças e valores orientados para acirrada competição e para o individualismo têm sido promovidos de forma recorrente em diversos contextos sociais. Situações onde competição e individualismo são valorizados promovem a progressiva desvalorização da ética e a emergência de agressões e violência. A incidência crescente do bullying nas escolas retrata a necessidade de mudar o paradigma educacional. Segundo a Psicologia científica, não existem fórmulas mágicas e o fenômeno precisa ser analisado considerando o papel da cultura, do sujeito construtivo e da causalidade múltipla. Prevenir o bullying implica que a escola assuma intencionalmente o trabalho dos valores sociais positivos com alunos e professores, de forma a incluir a paz como eixo transversal no currículo escolar. As instituições educativas podem e devem atuar no campo da promoção concreta da paz, de interações humanas saudáveis, éticas e respeitosas, promovendo valores como justiça, dignidade e responsabilidade social.

Values and beliefs oriented toward fierce competition and individualism have been persistently promoted in a variety of social contexts. Where competition and individualism prevail, ethics become less and less important, and aggression and violence easily appear. The increasing occurrence of bullying at schools points to the need of a paradigm shift in education. According to scientific Psychology, there are no magic recipes, and the phenomenon needs to be analyzed taking into account the role of culture, the constructive subject, and the existence of multiple causes. To prevent bullying entails that schools deliberately promote the work of positive social values among students and teachers, in such a way that peace would become a transversal guiding principle across the curriculum. Schools can and should be active in encouraging peace, as well healthy, ethical, and respectful human interactions, fomenting values such as justice, dignity and social responsibility.