Empathy in UK pharmacy students: assessing differences by gender, level in the degree programme, part-time employment and medical status

Background: Empathy is an important aspect of patient–healthcare professional interactions.Aims: To investigate whether gender, level in the degree programme, employment and health status affected empathy scores of undergraduate pharmacy students.Method: All undergraduate pharmacy students (n=529) at Queen’s University Belfast were invited via email to completean online validated empathy questionnaire. Empathy scores were calculated and non-parametric tests used to determine associations between factors.Results: Response rate was 60.1% (318/529) and the mean empathy score was 106.19. Scores can range from 20 to 140,with higher scores representing a greater degree of empathy. There was no significant difference between genders (p=0.211). There was a significant difference in scores across the four levels of the programme (p<0.001); scores were lowest at Level 1 and greatest at Level 4 (final year). There were no significant differences in scores for respondents who had a part-time job, a chronic condition, or took regular medication in comparison to those who did not (p=0.028,p=0.880, p=0.456, respectively).Conclusion: A reasonable level of empathy was found relative to other studies; this could be further enhanced at lower levels of the degree pathway.

Best of the old alongside the new: training for part-time youth workers

Set against the dearth of published research into the effectiveness of youth leadership training programmes, the present study describes how a comprehensive evaluation model was utilised to evaluate one such programme in Northern Ireland over a 3-year period. The training welds together a traditional curriculum approach and a competence-based methodology to provide an integrated experience for the part-time youth worker participants (n = 128). Self-completion questionnaires and follow-up interviews with a random sample of these youth workers and their supervisors were used to collect data. Outcomes suggest that the synthesis of these two training strategies is not only effective in meeting the learning needs of youth workers, but also leads to identifiable improvements in the range and quality of youth work programmes available to young people

Adolescent part-time work and heavy drinking in Finland

Aims To examine the relationship between part-time work and heavy drinking among Finnish adolescents.

Student's journey through a Trauma Studies Educational programme: A Northern Irish perspective.

This paper presents findings of a qualitative research study which explored the experiences of part time students who completed a BSc(Hons) Trauma studies programme in Northern Ireland. Data collection involved semi structured interviews with seven students. Findings indicate a journey through the programme, during which students experienced both challenges and opportunities for development. Such challenges included responses to emotive content and barriers to sharing in classroom based dialogue. Moreover, participants felt the programme enhanced their knowledge as well as the supportive services they provided to those who have experienced a trauma. Findings suggest participants who had experienced a personal trauma appeared drawn to this programme.

The use of natural health products (NHP) by Ontario seniors

A random dialing telephone survey in 4 Ontario communities obtained data on the use of natural health products (NHP) from 1,071 persons 60 years and older. 553 (52%) respondents were users of NHP. Prevalence of use was similar for females (53%) and males (48%). In this population modal users were of European descent, high school graduates and employed at least part-time. Half the users received recommendations about NHP from friends or relatives; another 22% learned about NHP through self-experimentation. Most users (81 %) decided by themselves whether they would buy an NHP rather than rely on input from another source (herbalist, physician, store owner/employee). 38% of NHP users had not informed their physician that they were using an NHP. When users had discussed NHP with their physician, less than 5% of physicians responded negatively. Some users felt natural health products were safer (15%) and less expensive (4%) than prescription drugs. 30% used NHP as a last resort for the treatment of a chronic disease. Nearly half (49%) of the users believed that if the government pays for prescription drugs, it should also pay for herbal remedies; 36% said the consumer should pay. In light of the extensive use of NHP by seniors, there is a need for clinical pharmacology studies of these products.

Teachers' and teacher educators' lives: the role of emotion

This paper reports research which focuses on ways of enhancing understandings by teachers of the key role that emotions play in their personal professional growth. It combines the narrative, autobiographical accounts of teachers attending part-time masters degree programmes in England (Continuing Professional Development and School Improvement) and Northern Ireland (Personal and Social Development) with an interrogation of the underlying values which affect the practices of their tutors. It reveals the effects of powerful and often unacknowledged interaction between personal biography and professional and social contexts upon teachers in schools and higher education.

Challenge of culture, conscience, and contract to general practitioners' care of their own health: qualitative study

Objective: To explore general practitioners' perceptions of the effects of their profession and training on their attitudes to illness in themselves and colleagues. Design: Qualitative study using focus groups and indepth interviews. Setting: Primary care in Northern Ireland. Participants: 27 general practitioners, including six recently appointed principals and six who also practised occupational medicine part time. Main outcome measures: Participants' views about their own and colleagues' health. Results: Participants were concerned about the current level of illness within the profession. They described their need to portray a healthy image to both patients and colleagues. This hindered acknowledgement of personal illness and engaging in health screening. Embarrassment in adopting the role of a patient and concerns about confidentiality also influenced their reactions to personal illness. Doctors' attitudes can impede their access to appropriate health care for themselves, their families, and their colleagues. A sense of conscience towards patients and colleagues and the working arrangements of the practice were cited as reasons for working through illness and expecting colleagues to do likewise. Conclusions: General practitioners perceive that their professional position and training adversely influence their attitudes to illness in themselves and their colleagues. Organisational changes within general practice, including revalidation, must take account of barriers experienced by general practitioners in accessing health care. Medical education and culture should strive to promote appropriate self care among doctors.

The Cost of Drug Use in Adolescence: Young People, Money and Substance Abuse.

It is now common for young people in full-time compulsory education to hold part-time jobs. However, whilst the 1990s experienced a rise in illicit drug use particularly among young people and an increase in the level of interest for identifying factors associated with drug use, little attention has been paid to the influence of the money young people have to spend and its potential links with drug use. Four thousand five hundred and twenty-four young people living in Northern Ireland completed a questionnaire in school year 10 (aged 13/14 years). The findings suggested there was a positive association between the amount of money (and its source) young people received and higher rates of drug use. The study concludes that money, and how it is spent by young people, may be an important factor for consideration when investigating drug use during adolescence. The findings may help inform drug prevention strategies particularly through advice on money management, and taking responsibility for their own money.

'An aid to mental health': natural history, alienists and therapeutics in Victorian Scotland

In the nineteenth century natural history was widely regarded as a rational and ‘distracting’ pursuit that countered the ill-effects, physical and mental, of urban life. This familiar argument was not only made by members of naturalists’ societies but was also borrowed and adapted by alienists concerned with the moral treatment of the insane. This paper examines the work of five long-serving superintendents in Victorian Scotland and uncovers the connections made between an interest in natural history and the management of mental disease. In addition to recovering a significant influence on the conduct of several alienists the paper explores arguments made outside the asylum walls in favour of natural history as an aid to mental health. Investigating the promotion of natural history as a therapeutic recreation in Scotland and elsewhere reveals more fully the moral and cultural significance attached to natural history pursuits in the nineteenth century.

High tech start-ups in University Science Park incubators: The relationship between the start-up’s lifecycle progression and use of the incubator’s resources

University Science Park incubators (USIs) have emerged as a means by which Government, academia and business can develop high technology business firms (spin out HTBFs) from initial conception through to becoming established small firms, which are ready to move beyond the Science Park confines. Although there is considerable literature on how USIs can be improved and developed there is a paucity of studies, which explore how lifecycle development within HTBFs in USIs can affect how they use the unique resources and opportunities of the USI. Moreover, there is a focus on single point in time studies, which do not adequately investigate the longitudinal dynamics of HTBF lifecycle development within USIs. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the longitudinal use of the unique resources of the USI by HTBFs at different lifecycle stages. The research methodology involved 18 HTBFs within two separate USIs. A series of longitudinal interviews and focus groups were conducted with HTBFs and USI staff over a 36-month period. NUD*IST software was used in developing the coding and analysis of transcripts. The results show that a HTBF's propensity to make effective use of the USI's resources and support increases as the lifecycle stage of the company increases and the small-firm searches for independence and autonomy. Therefore, further research is required to investigate the following two outstanding questions; firstly, which usage pattern is associated with the HTBF's ultimate success or failure in the marketplace? And secondly, are there any services missing from the observed array that the USI could provide to enhance the HTBF's degree of ultimate success? © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.