Ethnicity and the prostate cancer experience: a qualitative metasynthesis

class="MsoNormal">Background:  Most qualitative studies exploring the impactof prostate cancer on men and their partners consider the dominant ethnicgroups in the USA, UK, Scandinavia and Australia, with generally concordantfindings.  Other ethnic groups are likelyto have different experiences.

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class="MsoNormal">Aims: To explorethe impact of prostate cancer and its treatment on men and their partners fromthe less studied ethnic groups.

class="MsoNormal">Methods: Using meta-ethnographyand textual narrative we synthesised peer reviewed qualitative interview-based studiesdated 2000-2015 focused on less well reported ethnic groups, as a sub-synthesisof a comprehensive metasynthesis on the impact of prostate cancer.

class="MsoNormal">Results: Twenty-twopapers (15 studies) covering 11 ethnic groups were analysed.  Nine studies considered black and minorityethnic groups in the UK and USA, with the remainder in Brazil, the PacificIslands, Israel, Turkey and Japan. We collected first and second order themesfrom the studies to develop conceptual third order themes with the following specificto the US and UK minority groups andPacific Islanders: A spiritual continuum: from the will of God to God ashelpmate; One more obstacle in the lifelong fight against adversity; Developingsensitive talk with a purpose (on disclosingthe cancer to informal networks in culturally appropriate ways). Themes from theother studies were similar to those in the overall metasynthesis.

class="MsoNormal">Conclusions: Healthcare for prostate cancer should takeaccount of contextually and culturally specific coping mechanisms andpsychosocial factors in minority ethnic groups. More studies are needed indiverse ethnic groups.

Care home managers’ knowledge of palliative care: a Northern Irish study

class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 12pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Aim: The aim of this study was to determine care home managers' knowledge of palliative care using the palliative care quiz for nursing (PCQN). Background: Palliative care is strongly advocated for all people living with advancing incurable illness. Within acare home setting there should be a particular emphasis on the importance of palliative care, particularly for those residents who, because of their advancing age, are likely to live with non-malignant diseases such as dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or heart failure to name a few. Methods: Before the beginning of a workshop on optimising palliative care for people living in care homes, 56 care home managers (all nurses) completed the PCQN, a validated questionnaire that is used to assess a nurse's knowledge of palliative care, as part of a learning exercise. Results: The quiz consisted of 20 questions for which participants could answer true, false or don't know. The average score was 12.89 correct answers out of a possible 20 (64.45%). Conclusion: This study highlights the need to develop the knowledge and competence of care home managers in relation to palliative care. This is particularly important given the increasing number of people who are living with non-malignant disease within a care home setting.

‘I don’t think I’d be frightened if the statins went’: a phenomenological qualitative study exploring medicines use in palliative care patients, carers and healthcare professionals

Background

class="Para" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: medium; line-height: 25px;">There is a growing body of evidence suggesting patients with life-limiting illness use medicines inappropriately and unnecessarily. In this context, the perspective of patients, their carers and the healthcare professionals responsible for prescribing and monitoring their medication is important for developing deprescribing strategies. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of patients, carers and healthcare professionals in the context of medication use in life-limiting illness.

class="Para" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: medium; line-height: 25px;">In-depth interviews, using a phenomenological approach: methods of transcendental phenomenology were used for the patient and carer interviews, while hermeneutic phenomenology was used for the healthcare professional interviews.

class="Para" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;">The study highlighted that medication formed a significant part of a patient’s day-to-day routine; this was also apparent for their carers who took on an active role-as a gatekeeper of care-in managing medication. Patients described the experience of a point in which, in their disease journey, they placed less importance on taking certain medications; healthcare professionals also recognize this and refer it as a ‘transition’. This point appeared to occur when the patient became accepting of their illness and associated life expectancy. There was also willingness by patients, carers and healthcare professionals to review and alter the medication used by patients in the context of life-limiting illness.

class="Para" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;">There is a need to develop deprescribing strategies for patients with life-limiting illness. Such strategies should seek to establish patient expectations, consider the timing of the discussion about ceasing treatment and encourage the involvement of other stakeholders in the decision-making progress.

class="Para" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: medium; line-height: 25px;">

Correlation between the photocatalysed oxidation of methylene blue in solution and the reduction of resazurin in a photocatalyst activity indicator ink (Rz Paii)

class="MsoNormal">The initial rate of the photocatalysed oxidation of methylene blue, MB, by dissolved oxygen in solution, r_i(MB), is measured for a series of titania on glass samples exhibiting a wide range of activities.  The samples used include two different types of commercial self-cleaning glass and a lab-made sol-geltitania film.  The activities of these samples are also assessed using a resazurin-based photocatalyst activity indicator ink, i.e. Rz paii, for which the initial rates of the photocatalysed reduction of Rz were measured, r_i(Rz).  A plot of r_i(MB)vs. r_i(Rz) reveals a goodstraight line, thereby demonstrating a linear correlation (for TiO₂films on glass at least) between the slow (usually hours) photocatalysed oxidation of organic materials, such as MB, and the fast (typically minutes) photocatalysed irreversible reduction of a dye, like Rz, in a paii.  The possible use of paii technology for assessing, in a simple, quick and inexpensive manner, photocatalytic films both in the laboratory and in situ is discussed briefly.  

Investigating high-achieving sixth grade students' erroneous answers on the angle concept in Yozgat

The angle concept is a multifaceted concept having static and dynamic definitions. The static definition of the angle refers to “the space between two rays” or “the intersection of two rays at the same end point” (Mitchelmore & White, 1998), whereas the dynamic definition of the angle concept highlights that the size of angle is the amount of rotation in direction (Fyhn, 2006). Since both definitions represent two diverse situations and have unique limitations (Henderson & Taimina, 2005), students may hold misconceptions about the angle concept. In this regard, the aim of this research was to explore high achievers’ knowledge regarding the definition of the angle concept as well as to investigate their erroneous answers on the angle concept.

104 grade 6 students drawn from four well-established elementary schools of Yozgat, Turkey were participated in this research. All participants were selected via a purposive sampling method and their mathematics grades were 4 or 5 out of 5, and. Data were collected through four questions prepared by considering the learning competencies set out in the grade 6 curriculum in Turkey and the findings of previous studies whose purposes were to identify students’ misconceptions of the angle concept. The findings were analyzed by two researchers, and their inter-rater agreement was calculated as 0.91, or almost perfect. Thereafter, coding discrepancies were resolved, and consensus was established.

The angle concept is a multifaceted concept having static and dynamic definitions.The static definition of the angle refers to “the space between two rays” or“the intersection of two rays at the same end point” (Mitchelmore & White, 1998), whereas the dynamicdefinition of the angle concept highlights that the size of angle is the amountof rotation in direction (Fyhn, 2006). Since both definitionsrepresent two diverse situations and have unique limitations (Henderson & Taimina, 2005), students may holdmisconceptions about the angle concept. In this regard, the aim of thisresearch was to explore high achievers’ knowledge regarding the definition ofthe angle concept as well as to investigate their erroneous answers on theangle concept.

class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:0cm;line-height:normal">104grade 6 students drawn from four well-established elementary schools of Yozgat,Turkey were participated in this research. All participants were selected via a purposive sampling method and their mathematics grades were 4 or 5 out of 5,and. Data were collected through four questions prepared by considering the learning competencies set out in the grade 6 curriculum in Turkey and the findings of previous studies whose purposes were to identify students’ misconceptions of the angle concept. The findings were analyzed by two researchers, and their inter-rater agreement was calculated as 0.91, or almost perfect. Thereafter, coding discrepancies were resolved, and consensus was established.

class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:0cm;line-height:normal">In the first question, students were asked to answer a multiple choice questions consisting of two statics definitions and one dynamic definition of the angle concept. Only 38 of 104 students were able to recognize these three definitions. Likewise, Mitchelmore and White (1998) investigated that less than10% of grade 4 students knew the dynamic definition of the angle concept. Additionally,the purpose of the second question was to figure out how well students could recognize 0-degree angle. We found that 49 of 104 students were unable to recognize MXW as an angle. While 6 students indicated that the size of MXW is0, other 6 students revealed that the size of MXW is 360. Therefore, 12 of 104students correctly answered this questions. On the other hand, 28 of 104students recognized the MXW angle as 180-degree angle. This finding demonstrated that these students have difficulties in naming the angles.Moreover, the third question consisted of three concentric circles with center O and two radiuses of the outer circle, and the intersection of the radiuses with these circles were named. Then, students were asked to compare the size of AOB, GOD and EOF angles. Only 36 of 104 students answered correctly by indicating that all three angles are equal, whereas 68 of 104 students incorrectly responded this question by revealing AOB<GOD< EOF. These students erroneously thought the size of the angle is related to either the size of the arc marking the angle or the area between the arms of the angle and the arc marking angle. These two erroneous strategies for determining the size of angles have been found by a few studies (Clausen-May,2008; Devichi & Munier, 2013; Kim & Lee, 2014; Mithcelmore, 1998;Wilson & Adams, 1992). The last question, whose aim was to determine how well students can adapt theangle concept to real life, consisted of an observer and a barrier, and students were asked to color the hidden area behind the barrier. Only 2 of 104students correctly responded this question, whereas 19 of 104 students drew rays from the observer to both sides of the barrier, and colored the area covered by the rays, the observer and barrier. While 35 of 104 students just colored behind the barrier without using any strategies, 33 of 104 students constructed two perpendicular lines at the both end of the barrier, and colored behind the barrier. Similarly, Munier, Devinci and Merle (2008) found that this incorrect strategy was used by 27% of students.

class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:0cm;line-height:normal">Consequently, we found that although the participants in this study were high achievers, they still held several misconceptions on the angle concept and had difficulties in adapting the angle concept to real life.

class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:0cm;line-height:normal">Keywords: the angle concept;misconceptions; erroneous answers; high achievers

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Clausen-May, T. (2008). AnotherAngle on Angles. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 13(1),4–8.

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Devichi, C., & Munier, V.(2013). About the concept of angle in elementary school: Misconceptions andteaching sequences. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 32(1),1–19. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2012.10.001

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Fyhn, A. B. (2006). A climbinggirl’s reflections about angles. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 25(2),91–102. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2006.02.004

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Henderson, D. W., & Taimina,D. (2005). Experiencing geometry: Euclidean and non-Euclidean with history(3rd ed.). New York, USA: Prentice Hall.

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Kim, O.-K., & Lee, J. H.(2014). Representations of Angle and Lesson Organization in Korean and AmericanElementary Mathematics Curriculum Programs. KAERA Research Forum, 1(3),28–37.

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Mitchelmore, M. C., & White,P. (1998). Development of angle concepts: A framework for research. MathematicsEducation Research Journal, 10(3), 4–27.

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Mithcelmore, M. C. (1998). Youngstudents’ concepts of turning and angle. Cognition and Instruction, 16(3),265–284.

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Munier, V., Devichi, C., &Merle, H. (2008). A Physical Situation as a Way to Teach Angle. TeachingChildren Mathematics, 14(7), 402–407.

class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal">Wilson, P. S., & Adams, V.M. (1992). A Dynamic Way to Teach Angle and Angle Measure. ArithmeticTeacher, 39(5), 6–13.