UNISTEP (University Students Exercise and Physical Activity) Study: A Pilot Study of the Effects of Accumulating 10,000 Steps on Health and Fitness Among University Students.

BACKGROUND: Recent public health initiatives have promoted accumulating 10,000 steps per day. Little previous research has evaluated its effects in young adults. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of taking 10,000 steps per day on fitness and cardiovascular risk factors in sedentary university students. METHODS: Healthy, sedentary students (mean age 21.16 ± SD 6.17) were randomly allocated to take 10,000 steps per day or to a control group who maintained their habitual activity. Members of the 10,000 step group wore a pedometer and reported daily step count in a diary. Outcome measurements (20-meter multistage shuttle run, BMI, and blood pressure) were measured before and after 6 weeks. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the groups at baseline. After 6 weeks, the 10,000 steps group were taking significantly more steps (8824.1 ± SD 5379.3 vs. 12635.9 ± SD 6851.3; P = .03).No changes were observed in fitness, or BMI (P > .05). Significant reductions in blood pressure (P = .04) in the 10,000 step group. CONCLUSIONS: A daily target of 10,000 steps may be an appropriate intervention in sedentary university students to increase their physical activity levels. The positive health benefits of simple everyday physical activity should be promoted among health professionals.

The causal attributions of nursing students towards adolescent survivors of brain injury

Background: The hidden nature of brain injury means that it is often difficult for people to understand the sometimes challenging behaviors that individuals exhibit. The misattribution of these behaviors may lead to a lack of consideration and public censure if the individual is seen as simply misbehaving.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the impact of visual cues indicating the presence or absence of brain injury on prejudice, desire for social interaction, and causal attributions of nursing and computing science students.

Method: An independent-groups design was employed in this research, which recruited 190 first-year nursing students and 194 first-year computing science students from a major university in Belfast, UK. A short passage describing an adolescent’s behavior after a brain injury, together with one of three images portraying a young adolescent with a scar, a head dressing, or neither of these, was given to participants. They were then asked to answer questions relating to prejudice, social interaction, locus of control, and causal attributions. The attributional statements suggested that the character’s behavior could be the result of brain injury or adolescence.

Results: Analysis of variance demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the student groups, where nursing students (M = 45.17, SD = 4.69) desired more social interaction with the fictional adolescent than their computer science peers (M = 38.64, SD = 7.69). Further, analysis of variance showed a main effect of image on the attributional statement that described adolescence as a suitable explanation for the character’s lack of self-confidence.

Discussion: Attributions of brain injury were influenced by the presence of a visible but potentially specious indicator of injury. This suggests that survivors of brain injury who do not display any outward indicator may receive less care and face expectations to behave in a manner consistent with the norms of society. If their injury does not allow them to meet with these expectations, they may face public censure and discrimination.

Developing students’ ability to engage critically with science in the news: identifying elements of the ‘media awareness’ dimension

Worldwide, science education reform movements are stressing the need to promote ‘scienti?c literacy’ among young people. Increasingly, this is taken to include empowering students to engage critically with science-related news reporting. Despite this requirement now featuring in statutory curricula throughout the UK, there has, to date, been a dearth of research-informed advice to assist science teachers as they identify appropriate instructional objectives in this regard and design relevant learning activities through which these might be achieved. In this study, prominent science communication
scholars, science journalists, science educators and media educators were interviewed to determine what knowledge, skills and habits of mind they judged valuable for individuals reading science-related news stories. Teachers of science and of English from nine secondary schools in Northern Ireland addressed the same issue. A striking – and signi?cant – ?nding of the study was the very substantial number of statements of knowledge, skill and disposition o?ered by participants that relate to ‘media awareness’, an issue largely overlooked in the science education literature. The school-focused phase of the research suggests that cross-curricular approaches involving teachers of science collaborating with those of English/media education or media studies may best serve to address this important curricular goal.

Medical Students' views of a career in Geriatric Medicine; Multi-Centre Qualitative Analysis

Medical students frequently have negative preconceptions of a career in Geriatric Medicine. In ta qualitative analysis of the free text from 789 response from Medical students in Scotland and Northern Ireland, we show that clinical attachment seffectively challenge negative student views and more positive statements about future careers in Geriatric Medicine emerged at the end of the attachment.

Does first aid have a place in the medical curriculum? A survey of medical students

Introduction: When a medical emergency occurs in the prehospital environment, there is an expectation from the general public for medical students to offer assistance with a similar level of competence as qualified doctors. However, the question is raised; do medical students have sufficient training in first aid skills to fulfil the role expected of them?

Prior to the publication of the latest version of Tomorrow’s Doctors by the UK General Medical Council, a student selected component (SSC) in first aid was delivered at the medical school in Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), Northern Ireland. The overwhelming popularity of this SSC prompted a desire to investigate and understand students’ experiences of first aid.

Aim: To identify first and second year medical students’ knowledge of, and attitudes towards, first aid and their expectations of the medical curriculum.

Methods: A questionnaire was delivered using TurningPoint Audience Response System® during the second semester of the 2008 - 2009 academic year to all first and second year medical students at QUB.

Results: Less than half of the students felt that they had a good level of first aid knowledge, a third would feel confident helping in an emergency and only 10% would be confident leading an emergency situation. The vast majority of students believed first aid is beneficial, that the general public expect medical students to have the knowledge to handle an emergency situation, and that a full first aid course should be included in the core medical curriculum at an early stage. They did not believe it should be a pre-requisite for medical school.

Conclusion: Only a small proportion believed their first aid knowledge adequate. An overwhelming proportion believed that first aid training is beneficial and that the public expect competency in managing emergencies. This study clearly demonstrates students’ need and desire for first aid training in the core medical curriculum at an early stage and to the highest training level possible.