Beyond work-hour restrictions: a qualitative study of residents' subjective workload

INTRODUCTION: Following the introduction of work-hour restrictions, residents' workload has become an important theme in postgraduate training. The efficacy of restrictions on workload, however, remains controversial, as most research has only examined objective workload. The purpose of this study was to explore the less clearly understood component of subjective workload and, in particular, the factors that influenced residents' subjective workload.

METHOD: This study was conducted in Japan at three community teaching hospitals. We recruited a convenience sample of 31 junior residents in seven focus groups at the three sites. Audio-recorded and transcribed data were read iteratively and analyzed thematically, identifying, analyzing and reporting themes within the data and developing an interpretive synthesis of the topic.

RESULTS: Seven factors influenced residents' subjective workload: (1) interaction within the professional community, (2) feedback from patients, (3) being in control, (4) professional development, (5) private life, (6) interest and (7) protected free time.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that residents who have good interaction with colleagues and patients, are competent enough to control their work, experience personal development through working, have greater interest in their work, and have fulfilling private lives will have the least subjective workload.

‘At First I Saw It as a Toy’: Life Stories, Social Consciousness and Music Ethnography

This article examines the role of life narratives as discursive spaces for the performance of individual resistance. Through the inspection of three interviews with professional musicians in Athens, the essay will illustrate how the recounting of nodal events in their lives and careers facilitates an assertion of their current social ideology and their disillusionment with the popular music industry in which they operate. Ultimately, what follows will suggest a mode of listening to individual utterances and narratives as discursive forms of resistance that need to be appreciated as social acts as opposed to mere ethnographic data.

Prying into the intimate secrets of animal lives; software beyond hardware for comprehensive annotation in 'Daily Diary' tags

BACKGROUND: Smart tags attached to freely-roaming animals recording multiple parameters at infra-second rates are becoming commonplace, and are transforming our understanding of the way wild animals behave. Interpretation of such data is complex and currently limits the ability of biologists to realise the value of their recorded information.

DESCRIPTION: This work presents Framework4, an all-encompassing software suite which operates on smart sensor data to determine the 4 key elements considered pivotal for movement analysis from such tags (Endangered Species Res 4: 123-37, 2008). These are; animal trajectory, behaviour, energy expenditure and quantification of the environment in which the animal moves. The program transforms smart sensor data into dead-reckoned movements, template-matched behaviours, dynamic body acceleration-derived energetics and position-linked environmental data before outputting it all into a single file. Biologists are thus left with a single data set where animal actions and environmental conditions can be linked across time and space.

CONCLUSIONS: Framework4 is a user-friendly software that assists biologists in elucidating 4 key aspects of wild animal ecology using data derived from tags with multiple sensors recording at high rates. Its use should enhance the ability of biologists to derive meaningful data rapidly from complex data.

Supporting Creative, Whole Peacebuilders: An Apprenticeship Program

This chapter has two major sections, one by Lederach and the apprentices, and one by Goldberg. The introduction above represents an amalgam of Lederach’s own writing and Goldberg’s, which summarizes some key information, but loses in written flow what it gains in information. As Goldberg reviewed Lederach’s initial chapter, she became deeply interested and asked Lederach for further materials. She conducted two interviews and collected background and supplementary materials and used them to explore some areas that were touched on by Lederach, but, if expanded, offered greater richness. In order to preserve the clarity of writing, the material will be presented in two sections. The first will include Lederach’s original chapter with the apprentice narratives. We start with an overview provided by John Paul that describes several practices incorporated into the process of the past three years. Each of the four apprentices will then reflect on how they experienced these practices and the impact, if any, they have had on their lives and professional careers. Each segment written by Lederach and the apprentices is written in the first person, starting with Lederach’s practices, below. Following will be Goldberg’s work deepening the information presented in Lederach’s section, and the conclusion.

How to promote professional competence and identity in social work students

Background: Field placement experiences are frequently cited in the literature as having most impact on a student social worker’s learning as they emerge into the profession. Placements are integral to the development of practice competence and in acquiring a sense of social work identity. However research on the effectiveness of educational strategies used to deliver learning and assess competence during placement are scarce. Internationally, pressures to meet increasing numbers of student enrolments have raised concerns about the potential impact on the quality of placements and practice teaching provided. These pressures may also impact on the appropriate transfer and application of learning to the student’s practice.
Aim: To identify learning activities rated most useful for developing professional practice competence and professional identity of social work students.
Method: Data were collected from 396 students who successfully completed their first or final placement during 2013-2014 and were registered at one of two Universities in Northern Ireland. Students completed a self-administered questionnaire which covered: placement setting and service user group; type of supervision model; frequency of undertaking specific learning activities; who provided the learning; which activities contributed to their developing professional competence and identity and their overall satisfaction.
Our findings confirmed the centrality of the supervisory relationship as the vehicle to enable quality student learning. Shadowing others, receiving regular supervision and receiving constructive feedback were the tasks that students reported as ‘most useful’ to developing professional identity, competence and readiness to practice. Disturbingly over 50% of students reported that linking practice to the professional codes, practice foci and key roles were not valued as ‘useful’ in terms of readiness to practice, feeling competent and developing professional social work identity. These results offer strong insights into how both the University and the practice placement environment needs to better prepare, assess and support students during practice placements in the field.