Search Results (869)

Early clinical exposure (ECE) has been associated with increased confidence, professionalism, and career exploration in undergraduate medical education. Student-run free clinics (SRFCs), such as the Health Outreach Project (HOP) at Drexel University College of Medicine, provide opportunities for preclinical students to engage in patient care and community outreach. This qualitative study explored medical students’ perceptions of participation in HOP. Fourteen third- and fourth-year medical students with prior HOP experience participated in four semi-structured focus groups conducted virtually over Zoom. Data were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Four major themes emerged: (1) early clinical exposure and clinical skills development, (2) community engagement and patient-centered perspectives, (3) professional identity formation and career exploration, and (4) opportunities, limitations, and emotional challenges of outreach work. Participants described HOP as an important source of authentic clinical exposure that increased confidence in patient interactions and broadened awareness of social determinants of health and underserved populations. Students also reflected on the influence of HOP on professional identity formation, career interests, and perspectives on patient-centered care, while acknowledging frustrations related to systemic barriers and limited resources. These findings suggest that students perceive SRFCs as valuable experiential learning environments that support clinical preparedness and professional development early in medical training. Full article

Government-funded teacher education in China links financial support, teacher preparation, employment expectations, and post-graduation service obligations. Understanding how pre-service preschool teachers perceive this policy-based pathway is important for explaining their professional identity development; therefore, this study examined how policy satisfaction and perceived teacher support were associated with the professional identity of government-funded pre-service preschool teachers in Chongqing, Southwest China. Based on paper-based questionnaire data from 620 participants, Latent Profile Analysis identified four profiles: Dissatisfied–Low Support, Moderately Satisfied–Moderate Support, Highly Dissatisfied–Low Support, and Highly Satisfied–High Support. Multinomial logistic regression showed that only-child status and age significantly predicted profile membership, and one-way ANOVA and multiple regression further indicated that professional identity differed significantly across profiles, with lower scores observed in the less satisfied and less supported profiles after controlling for demographic covariates. These findings suggest that strengthening policy communication and accessible teacher support may help promote professional identity development among government-funded pre-service preschool teachers. Full article

Tennis match prediction has been studied extensively, yet the literature offers no controlled comparison of Elo ratings, classical machine learning, and deep neural networks under identical experimental conditions, leaving practitioners without clear guidance on model selection. We address this gap with a unified empirical study on 133,138 professional men’s tennis matches from the Association of Tennis Professionals tour (1968–2024). Four approaches are evaluated on the same temporally split data with a common 16-feature set and an aligned evaluation protocol: an enhanced Elo rating system, ten classical machine learning algorithms, seventeen deep neural network configurations spanning 207,000 to 21,000,000 parameters, and a hybrid Elo–machine learning (ELO-ML) approach that augments classical learners with three Elo-derived features. A tuned Elo baseline alone reaches 65.87% accuracy, the best of ten classical machine learning algorithms reaches 66.30%, seventeen deep neural network configurations cluster at 66.15–66.22%, and the hybrid ELO-ML approach reaches 67.52% (McNemar’s test, $p<0.001$ for all ELO-ML pairwise comparisons). All four approaches sit within a 1.65 pp band whose upper edge lies below the 70–72% accuracy commonly cited for bookmaker odds, indicating that pre-match prediction under universally available features is a difficult task in which Elo alone already captures most of the predictable signal and algorithmic sophistication adds only marginal headroom. Deep neural networks deliver substantially better probability calibration than the other approaches (Expected Calibration Error 0.0077 vs. 0.0142). Model capacity exhibits sharply diminishing returns: all seventeen network configurations, spanning a 100-fold range in parameter count (207,000 to 21,000,000), fall within a 0.07 pp accuracy band. The study establishes a controlled benchmark for tour-level tennis prediction, quantifies how narrow the headroom above Elo actually is, provides modest but consistent empirical support for the statistically enhanced learning framework, and supplies deployment-ready operating points for sports analytics practitioners. Full article

Background: Maternal identity is the perception and recognition of a woman as a mother. Within this emerging identity, the maternal role takes on special importance as a manifestation of the set of responsibilities that a woman assumes in the care and upbringing of her baby. Respectful professional accompaniment during the period of maternal role acquisition is key to perinatal mental health and secure bonding with the baby. The main objective of this systematic review with narrative synthesis was to analyze the effects of psychological support programs aimed at maternal role acquisition during the transition to motherhood. Methods: Studies with experimental and quasi-experimental designs addressing maternal role acquisition in pregnant or postpartum women were included. A systematic search was conducted in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, PubMed and SCOPUS from inception to March 2025 following PRISMA recommendations. Due to the heterogeneity in study designs, interventions and outcome measures, a narrative synthesis was performed instead of a meta-analysis. Results: A total of 11 studies were extracted with a total sample of 1244 women, including five randomized controlled trials and six quasi-experimental studies. Psychological support programs focusing on maternal role acquisition generally showed improvements in maternal identity construction, self-efficacy and maternal competence, although not all findings reached statistical significance. In addition, several studies reported reductions in postnatal depressive symptoms, as well as improvements in subjective well-being and maternal role perception. Conclusions: results suggest that psychological support programs targeting maternal role acquisition may represent a promising approach for supporting perinatal mental health. However, the evidence should be interpreted with caution due to methodological limitations and heterogeneity across studies. In fact, most included studies were conducted in Eastern cultural contexts (Iran, China), limiting generalizability to Western populations without further adaptation and validation. Additionally, incomplete reporting of standardized effect sizes and precision measures across studies limits the quantitative interpretation of the findings. This review was not prospectively registered, and title/abstract screening was conducted by a single reviewer, increasing the risk of selection bias. Further research using rigorous and standardized designs is needed to clarify the effectiveness and generalizability of these interventions. Full article

Background: Prosodic cues play a critical role in marking syntactic boundaries and guiding sentence interpretation. However, Turkish clinical language batteries lack dedicated measures targeting linguistic prosody and the syntax–prosody interface. Consequently, subtle auditory–prosodic comprehension difficulties may go undetected in stroke populations who perform within normal limits on standard aphasia assessments. This study presents the development and initial psychometric evaluation of the Prosodic Comprehension Test (PCT), a Turkish sentence–picture matching tool designed to isolate prosodic contributions to meaning under controlled syntactic conditions. Methods: A total of 440 neurologically healthy native Turkish-speaking adults participated. An initial pool of 80 sentences (40 minimal pairs), identical in segmental and syntactic structure but differing in interpretation through prosodic boundary placement, was created. Audio stimuli were recorded by a professional actor, and corresponding visual stimuli represented alternative interpretations. Following expert review, 32 sentences (16 pairs) were retained and organized into three subcomponents: In situ Prosody, Focus–Topic Marking, and Pragmatic Disambiguation. Administration included fixed-intensity auditory presentation and a structured learning phase. Results: Internal consistency was acceptable (Cronbach’s α = 0.73). Principal component analysis was consistent with the theoretically proposed three-component structure (KMO = 0.74; Bartlett’s test significant, p < 0.001), with the three components collectively accounting for 28.2% of the total variance. Convergent validity was supported by a significant positive correlation with MoCA-TR (r = 0.23, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.14, 0.32]). Conclusions: The PCT appears to be a linguistically grounded and psychometrically promising tool for assessing prosodic comprehension in Turkish. The present findings are based on a healthy adult sample and should be interpreted as preliminary normative evidence. Further research should address test–retest reliability, confirmatory factor analyses, and validation in clinical populations. Full article

Adopted by UNESCO in 2011, the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) Recommendation consolidated earlier traditions of urban heritage conservation into a policy-oriented framework for managing change in historic cities. This embedded heritage management within sustainable urban development agendas, governance, and implementation tools. A review of HUL-related scholarship spanning from 2010 to 2024 sets the main focus of the current paper. The research engages two complementary perspectives: a bibliometric analysis of 172 publications drawn from ScienceDirect and ProQuest, and a bibliographic (thematic) review of 50 works, systematically isolated from the larger corpus, that directly engage with the concept. This study investigates how the HUL concept has evolved conceptually, how it has been interpreted across different research traditions, and to what extent current scholarship reflects or advances its intended methodological and operational scope. Bibliometric mapping was conducted using VOSviewer, supported by metadata generated in Zotero and organised through subsequent Excel classification, while the literature analysis employed a structured interpretive framework. Findings reveal that although direct references to the “HUL approach” remain limited, research frequently aligns with its core principles—sustainability, adaptive reuse, identity, and intangible values. Since 2019, case studies have expanded rapidly, spearheaded by projects carried out in China and Italy, marking a clear shift from theoretical elaboration to practical application. This transition has redirected scholarly attention from conceptual debates to the real-world challenges of participation, integration of local data, and balancing heritage management with urban development. The study concludes that effective HUL practice requires a professional mindset rooted in flexibility, interdisciplinarity, and continuous adaptation rather than prescriptive, checklist-driven methodologies. Full article

Collaboration is increasingly treated as a core capability in contemporary working life, yet leadership-development research suggests that developmental efforts often remain too generic, weakly contextualized, and insufficiently connected to the conditions under which participants must learn and perform. This theory-informed exploratory study examines how Norwegian union representatives define, operationalize, and reflect on collaborative capability development within a semester-long university course. The study adopts a qualitative document design based on 25 written course reports produced by Parat union representatives enrolled in the course Collaboration for the Future Working Life at Kristiania University of Applied Sciences in autumn 2025. The reports are analyzed as structured reflective development documents using cross-case thematic analysis. Conceptually, the article draws on collaboration research, leadership development, self-directed learning, self-leadership, and job demands–resources theory. The findings indicate that participants conceptualized collaborative capability as a multidimensional professional capability combining dialogic competence, trust-building, psychological safety, role-based bridge-building, assertive boundary-setting, and self-regulation under pressure. Development was typically organized through iterative practice cycles of self-evaluation, feedback, goal setting, monitoring routines, micro-practices for attention and stress regulation, environmental redesign, implementation, reflection, and adjustment. At the same time, the reports suggest that collaborative development was constrained by time pressure, emotional exposure, cumulative role demands, and fluctuating energy. Reported outcomes were typically incremental, including clearer communication, increased awareness of triggers, stronger boundary-setting, more sustainable role professionalism, and improved presence under strain. The article contributes a bounded, context-sensitive account of collaborative capability development as a self-directed, self-regulated, and resource-sensitive process of professional becoming. It further develops two connected practical–theoretical models: the Performance Pyramid, which clarifies the developmental architecture from identity awareness to energy and capability regulation and performance enactment, and the Self-Leadership Wheel of Becoming, which functions as an operational scaffold for self-evaluation, goal setting, feasible program design, implementation, reflection, and revision. Rather than presenting these models as universally validated, the article positions them as heuristic and processual contributions for understanding and supporting capability development in collaboration-intensive roles. Full article

This mixed-methods study explores the effectiveness of a semester-long academic development programme in addressing Imposter Phenomenon among Early-Career Academics. This intervention introduced low-technology simulations, allowing consideration of authentic challenges of practice. While experiences of Imposterism in academia are often institutionally driven, most coping strategies remain individualistic. This study responds to a paucity of research, offering an original contribution by providing evidence from a pilot evaluation. Participants (n = 19) completed the Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale pre- and post-intervention, with those reporting moderate to intense Imposterism (scores 41–80) interviewed (n = 10). Quantitative analysis revealed that n = 3 reported less frequent imposter feelings, n = 2 reported more frequent imposter feelings, and n = 14 indicated no change. Qualitative analysis of interview data revealed that perceptions of simulation-based pedagogies were shaped by bi-directional intersections between three domains: understandings of simulation for professional learning; interactions/collaboration with peers; and personal identity/professional context. Findings indicated that sustained peer-interaction within psychologically safe and supportive environments was particularly valued, reducing isolation, enhancing professional belonging, and improving confidence–dimensions closely associated with academic wellbeing. However, contextual factors, including role ambiguity and unclear progression pathways, sometimes intensified imposter feelings, highlighting structural conditions shaping professional identity and educator wellbeing. Full article

Implicit bias, automatic attitudes or stereotypes outside conscious awareness, may influence clinicians’ communication, diagnosis, and treatment decisions, contributing to inequities in care. We conducted a scoping review to map measurement strategies used to assess implicit bias among health professionals and students in healthcare and training settings. Using Joanna Briggs Institute guidance and PRISMA-ScR, we searched PubMed, Embase, BVS, Google Scholar, and institutional repositories for studies to November 2025; two reviewers independently screened and charted data (protocol was developed a priori but submitted internal in organization, and then uploaded in OSF. Of 1864 records, 93 studies from 28 countries were included. We identified 57 bias domains, most often race/ethnicity, weight, and sexual orientation. Across studies, 42 unique instruments were reported; the Implicit Association Test was most common, while psychometric validation and administration details were frequently limited, constraining comparability and interpretation. Evidence gap mapping showed concentration in academic and hospital settings, with fewer studies in primary care or community contexts and limited attention to age, disability, and intersectionality-related biases. The evidence base is growing but fragmented; future work should prioritize standardized administration and reporting, stronger validation, and tools that better capture automatic responding across diverse identities and care settings to support education and equity-oriented interventions. Full article

Background/Objectives: Community-based drug rehabilitation is a key component of public health strategies in China, with anti-drug social workers playing a frontline role in relapse prevention, social reintegration, and long-term recovery. However, the sustainability and effectiveness of this workforce remain uncertain due to complex organisational and structural conditions. This study aims to examine the professional roles, work-related challenges, and coping strategies of anti-drug social workers within community-based rehabilitation systems. Methods: A systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines and was registered in PROSPERO (Registration ID: 1381833). The literature published between 2009 and 2025 was identified through Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Electronic Library. A total of 35 Chinese and English-language studies met the inclusion criteria and were analysed to synthesise evidence on social work practice in drug rehabilitation contexts. Results: The findings identify three core professional roles: information provider, resource linker, and relationship repairer. These roles highlight the multifaceted contribution of social workers in bridging institutional systems and client needs. However, their effectiveness is constrained by fragmented governance structures, role conflict, professional identity ambiguity, administrative burden, limited training, and sustained emotional labour. These conditions contribute to occupational stress, burnout risk, and workforce instability, which weaken service continuity and client-centred care. Conclusions: Strengthening community-based drug rehabilitation requires addressing workforce and system-level constraints. Clearer role definition, targeted interdisciplinary training, reduced administrative demands, and structured organisational support are essential to enhance professional capacity, improve service delivery, and support long-term recovery outcomes. Full article

This study investigates the pedagogical landscape of state language instruction in Hungarian-medium schools in Slovakia. Situated within the wider context of European minority language policies, this study explores the institutional ecosystems, didactic approaches and teaching strategies, and the relationship between teacher- and student-centered methodologies in state language instruction. A questionnaire survey based on a self-developed Multi-Level Diagnostic Model was administered to a representative sample of teachers, accounting for 23% of the total Slovak teacher population working in this distinctive sociolinguistic setting (N = 112). Although the results indicate that the educational process is shaped by various factors and there is an endeavor to promote communicative practice, the competence–use gap persists due to the reliance on conventional teacher-centered teaching approaches. This trend is driven by a methodological vacuum, the absence of specialized L2 teaching materials and the lack of modern digital resources; it also suggests that teachers are forced to prioritize instructional security rather than being resistant to innovation. The findings suggest that the current educational system is ready for change, but it requires systemic investment in resources to promote the balanced development of intercultural communicative competence. Addressing the linguistic distance between Hungarian L1 and Slovak L2 through specialized materials may promote a model of additive bilingualism that ensures professional credibility and the protection of minority cultural identity. Full article

Legal regulation and market-oriented land property rights reforms have long been the mainstream, whereas the role of cultural embeddedness in driving land institutional innovation remains insufficiently explored. This paper develops an analytical framework that integrates institutional logics perspective with cultural embeddedness theory to examine the formation mechanism of homestead institutional innovation through a single-case study. Specifically, this study investigates a tripartite cost-sharing institution of homestead construction, involving the village enterprise, the village collective, and households in M Village, China. In this case, the findings reveal that the collectivist culture plays a facilitative role in institutional innovation of homestead land. First, institutional logics evolved in response to spatial resource constraints, thereby generating the demand for homestead institutional innovation. Second, through cultural embeddedness, institutional logics focus actors’ attention and reshape leadership identity, common goals, and collective action schemas. These processes facilitate decision making, sensemaking, and collective mobilization, thereby activating the formation of homestead institutional innovation. Third, the evolution of collectivist culture enhances the compatibility among multiple institutional logics, including those associated with the state, corporate, community, family, and professional actors. This compatibility consolidates the leadership identity of village elites, routinizes collective action, and ensures benefit sharing, thereby stabilizing homestead institutional innovation. The study suggests that integrating local culture with formal institutional regulations, as well as combining top-down rules with bottom-up practices, can effectively promote institutional innovation in homestead land governance. Full article

This study examines how assurance level and assurer type jointly influence non-professional investors’ reactions to sustainability disclosures in an emerging market context. It employs a controlled 2 × 2 mixed-design experiment that manipulates assurance level (limited vs. reasonable) and assurer type (audit firm vs. non-audit firm). Data were collected from MBA and DBA students in Egypt as proxies for non-professional investors. Investor reaction is captured through multiple measures, including perceived sustainability performance, reliance on sustainability information, investment intention, stock valuation, and decision confidence. Non-parametric statistical techniques are used to test hypotheses, complemented by exploratory machine learning using SHAP values. The results provide strong and consistent evidence that the assurance level is the dominant factor shaping investor reactions. Reasonable assurance significantly enhances investor judgments across all key measures, whereas the type of assurer does not have a statistically significant independent effect. Additional analyses reveal that reasonable assurance from a non-audit firm elicits more favorable reactions than limited assurance from an audit firm, underscoring the primacy of assurance strength over provider identity. Exploratory findings further indicate that assurance influences investment decisions primarily through perceived sustainability performance and reliance on information. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the relative roles of assurance level and assurer type and providing novel evidence from an emerging market setting (i.e., Egypt). The findings offer important implications for firms, assurance providers, and regulators seeking to enhance the credibility and decision usefulness of sustainability reporting. Full article

For students in animal science-related disciplines, animal welfare education may be associated with their understanding of human–animal relationships and willingness to pursue animal-related careers. However, empirical research from developing countries such as China remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted a survey among undergraduates at Northeast Agricultural University to examine the associations of demographic characteristics, educational exposure, and animal-related experiences with animal welfare awareness and career aspirations. A total of 346 valid responses were obtained. The results showed that students who encountered animal welfare through school demonstrated significantly higher levels of self-reported animal welfare awareness (p < 0.001). Binary logistic regression further confirmed that the channel remained significantly associated with the level of awareness (OR = 8.714, p < 0.001). Furthermore, gender and pet-keeping experience were significantly associated with career aspirations in both univariate and logistic regression analysis. In addition, although 50.00% of respondents considered primary school to be the optimal stage for animal welfare education, 81.48% of those exposed through school channels reported their first exposure at university. These findings highlight the need for a progressive animal welfare education framework, transitioning from life education and human–animal relationship training at the primary level to professional practice education in higher education. This approach may help students develop more stable and scientifically informed understanding of animal welfare, as well as a stronger sense of professional identity. Full article

Background/Objectives: Adequate micronutrient intake during pregnancy is critical for fetal development, yet whether pregnant women and healthcare professionals share consistent knowledge, beliefs, and supplementation practices remains poorly characterized. Methods: Two parallel cross-sectional surveys using identical core items were conducted at a German tertiary care center between April and November 2024. Pregnant women (n = 132) and healthcare professionals who initiated the survey (n = 105) completed anonymous QR-code-based questionnaires assessing micronutrient-related knowledge, perceived dietary adequacy, and supplementation practices or recommendation patterns. Comparative analyses were restricted to fully completed healthcare professional questionnaires (n = 80). Group differences were analyzed using chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests. Results: Healthcare professionals demonstrated higher knowledge levels across most micronutrients. Knowledge gaps were most pronounced for vitamin B12, with 53.0% of pregnant women unable to identify any fetal effect compared with 20.0% of providers (p < 0.001). Beliefs about dietary sufficiency were broadly aligned for folic acid (p = 0.452) and vitamin D (p > 0.999), but diverged markedly for vitamin B12, where 79.2% of providers considered dietary intake alone adequate compared with 47.3% of pregnant women (p < 0.001). Substantial differences were observed between patient-reported supplementation practices and provider-reported recommendation patterns: Vitamin B12 (70.0% vs. 3.8%), vitamin D (76.2% vs. 41.3%), omega-3 fatty acids (76.2% vs. 47.5%), and folic acid (98.5% vs. 81.3%; all p < 0.001). The internet was the most frequently cited information source among pregnant women (89.4%), while healthcare professionals reported using both scientific literature (75.0%) and internet-based resources (76.3%), the latter primarily for accessing professional and scientific information. Conclusions: Substantial patient–provider differences in micronutrient knowledge, beliefs, and supplementation practices persist even within a highly educated population at a tertiary care center. These findings suggest potential differences between patient-reported supplementation behavior and provider-reported recommendation practices, particularly for vitamin B12 and vitamin D. These findings suggest that more structured communication regarding micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy is needed. Full article