HEALTH COUNSELING FOR OLDER PEOPLE IN HONG KONG

The benefits of a health counseling service within the Adult Health Promotion Centre (AHPC) in Hong Kong are described and offered as evidence of the benefits of self‐education in health for older people. The health complaints of clients of the AHPC are identified through health checks and screening. In 1980, on the basis of screening and the results of a survey of clients at a health education seminar on what topics they would like information on, health counseling small groups were planned for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, high serum cholesterol, and obesity. Clients were invited to join these health counseling groups, which were led by volunteer nurses. The main focus of the health counseling service was to enhance clients’ knowledge of health and preventative care through individual counseling and peer learning. In line with health promotion and empowerment concepts, clients were encouraged to monitor and record their own health. Health counseling focused on wellness, teaching clients skills that enabled them to take responsibility for their health, increasing their nutritional awareness, teaching them stress management techniques, and promoting physical fitness. The implications for the training of health professionals and the role of older people in health policy development are discussed. Ways of improving health promotion services for older people are suggested.     

EVALUATION OF A DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE IN GERIATRIC INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMING

approach are advantageous in a rapidly changing health care system where managed care and integrated services are of increasing importance. A statewide Geriatric Education Center, in cooperation with faculty from multiple disciplines at a state-supported major medical college and other nationally known experts in this area, developed a graduate level distance learning course to enhance awareness of the importance of interdisciplinary teaming. Evaluation results documented an increase in the skills important to effective interdisciplinary team functioning. Greater improvements in attitude toward health care teams occurred among students employed in jobs where they worked primarily with older adults. Pre-training and post-training motivational differences were also found to distinguish students engaged in direct care, geriatric employment. Results are discussed in relation to other evaluation studies in this area and the advances likely to be documented with increased recognition of the benefits in employing geriatric interdisciplinary teams.     

Users’ evaluation of digital libraries (DLs): Their uses,their criteria,and their assessment

Millions of dollars have been invested into the development of digital libraries. There are many unanswered questions regarding their evaluation, in particular, from users’ perspectives. This study intends to investigate users’ use, their criteria and their evaluation of the two selected digital libraries. Nineteen subjects were recruited to participate in the study. They were instructed to keep a diary for their use of the two digital libraries, rate the importance of digital library evaluation criteria, and evaluate the two digital libraries by applying their perceived important criteria. The results show patterns of users’ use of digital libraries, their perceived important evaluation criteria, and the positive and negative aspects of digital libraries. Finally, the relationships between perceived importance of digital library evaluation criteria and actual evaluation of digital libraries and the relationships between use of digital libraries and evaluation of digital libraries as well as users’ preference, experience and knowledge structure on digital library evaluation are further discussed.     

Mother–child joint writing and storybook reading and their effects on kindergartners’ literacy: an intervention study

This study assessed the effects of three different intervention programs on low-SES mother?Cchild joint activities and on their kindergarten-age children??s progress in early literacy and language. Parents in three groups (119 mothers, 5 fathers) were coached to mediate child learning, respectively, in: interactive storybook reading, writing, or visuomotor skills. A group-specific workshop was followed by 7?weeks of tri-weekly structured dyadic interactions and weekly tutorial home visits. A fourth group (control) received no intervention. Results showed implementation success: Mothers coached in interactive storybook reading or writing mediation improved in the coached activity from pretest to immediate posttest and to delayed posttest. Interactive storybook reading improved less for older than younger children, whereas writing mediation improved more for older than younger children. No transfer emerged from one activity to the other: Coaching on reading had no effect on writing or visuomotor skills, and coaching of writing had an effect only on writing. Children??s alphabetic skills were enhanced in the writing mediation-coached group, whereas linguistic competencies, unexpectedly, were not enhanced in the interactive storybook reading-coached group. The significance of writing mediation as a dyadic activity promoting literacy is emphasized.     

Drivers and barriers to the utilisation of gamification and game-based learning in universities: A systematic review of educators' perspectives

While gamification and game-based learning have both been demonstrated to have a host of educational benefits for university students, many university educators do not routinely use these approaches in their teaching. Therefore, this systematic review, conducted using the PRISMA guidelines, sought to identify the primary drivers and barriers to the use of gamification and game-based learning by university educators. A search of multiple databases (Web of Science, Scopus and EBSCO (Business Source Complete; ERIC; Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts)) identified 1330 articles, with 1096 retained after duplicates were removed. Seventeen articles (11 quantitative, two mixed-methods and four qualitative) were included in the systematic review. The primary drivers described by the educators that positively influenced their gamification and game-based learning usage were their beliefs that it encourages student interactions and collaborative learning; provides fun and improves engagement; and can easily be used by students. Alternatively, the university educators' major barriers included a lack of time to develop gamification approaches, lack of proven benefits and classroom setting issues. Many of these and other less commonly reported drivers and barriers can be categorised as attitudinal, design-related or administrative in nature. Such categorisations may assist university educators, teaching support staff and administrators in better understanding the primary factors influencing the utilisation of gamification and game-based learning and develop more effective strategies to overcome these barriers to its successful implementation.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Gamification and game-based learning may have many benefits for university students.
• The majority of university educators do not routinely use gamification and game-based learning in their teaching.

What this paper adds

• University educators' major drivers that positively influence the use of gamification and game-based learning include their perceptions that it encourages student interactions and collaborative learning, provides fun and improves engagement and can easily be used by students.
• University educators' major barriers that negatively influence the use of gamification and game-based learning include their perceptions of a lack of time to develop gamification approaches, lack of proven benefits and classroom setting issues.
• These drivers and barriers may be classified as attitudinal, design-related and administrative, with these categories providing a useful way for universities to develop strategies to better support educators who wish to use these approaches in their teaching.

Implications for practice and policy

• Attitudinal factors such as university educators' intention to use gamification and game-based learning are influenced by a host of their perceptions including attitude, perceived usefulness and ease of use.
• A range of design-related and administrative barriers may need to be overcome to increase the use of gamification and game-based learning in the university sector.