Prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses in Scotland: A cross-sectional study using the Scottish Health Survey.

Background Increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity represents a global pandemic. As the largest occupational group in international healthcare systems nurses are at the forefront of health promotion to address this pandemic. However, nurses own health behaviours are known to influence the extent to which they engage in health promotion and the public's confidence in advice offered. Estimating the prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses is therefore important. However, to date, prevalence estimates have been based on non-representative samples and internationally no studies have compared prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses to other healthcare professionals using representative data. Objectives To estimate overweight and obesity prevalence among nurses in Scotland, and compare to other healthcare professionals and those working in non-heath related occupations. Design Cross-sectional study using a nationally representative sample of five aggregated annual rounds (2008-2012) of the Scottish Health Survey. Setting Scotland. Participants: 13,483 adults aged 17 to 65 indicating they had worked in the past 4 weeks, classified in four occupational groups: nurses (n = 411), other healthcare professionals (n = 320), unqualified care staff (n = 685), and individuals employed in non-health related occupations (n = 12,067). Main outcome measures: Prevalence of overweight and obesity defined as Body Mass Index ≥ 25.0. Methods Estimates of overweight and obesity prevalence in each occupational group were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A logistic regression model was then built to compare the odds of being overweight or obese with not being overweight or obese for nurses in comparison to the other occupational categories. Data were analysed using SAS 9.1.3. Results 69.1% (95% CI 64.6,73.6) of Scottish nurses were overweight or obese. Prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in nurses than other healthcare professionals (51.3%, CI 45.8,56.7), unqualified care staff (68.5%, CI 65.0,72.0) and those in non-health related occupations (68.9%, CI 68.1,69.7). A logistic regression model adjusted for socio-demographic composition indicated that, compared to nurses, the odds of being overweight or obese was statistically significantly lower for other healthcare professionals (Odds Ratio [OR] 0.45, CI 0.33,0.61) and those in non-health related occupations (OR 0.78, CI 0.62,0.97). Conclusions Prevalence of overweight and obesity among Scottish nurses is worryingly high, and significantly higher than those in other healthcare professionals and non-health related occupations. High prevalence of overweight and obesity potentially harms nurses’ own health and hampers the effectiveness of nurses’ health promotion role. Interventions are therefore urgently required to address overweight and obesity among the Scottish nursing workforce.

The perceptions of postgraduate international students of examinations.

The increasing internationalisation of higher education means that many students in the UK are not native English speakers, possibly putting them at a disadvantage in an examination environment. However, exams continue to be used even though although they are often deprecated as an assessment instrument in postgraduate courses. This article explores the implications from these observations for module leaders and for higher education institutions. Three themes emerge: the impact of internationalisation, the use of exams at postgraduate level and the language and cultural issues faced by international students. A review of university policy and quality documents revealed a general commitment to internationalisation but some gaps in policy support, for students with English as a second or foreign language. A survey of students in two computing programmes evaluated these themes. The results did not show up any major issues, though there were a number of suggestions to improve the exam process to address feelings of bias to UK or native-English-speaking students. The research therefore established that the university’s internationalisation and diversity strategy is broadly reflected in students’ experiences, with the possible exception of students who were recruited with insufficient English to be able to engage successfully with the material. The contrast in responses when analysed by home country or English proficiency suggest that Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) practice in this context should be clear whether and when language or culture are the main barrier to students. Pragmatic recommendations are made for improvement in examination practice, and to assessment processes generally in this context. Areas for further work are identified.