Search Results (993)

This study investigates the factors influencing school trip mode choice among senior high school students in the Chiang Rai urban area, Chiang Rai, Thailand, under normal and adverse weather conditions. Utilizing data from 472 students across six extra-large urban schools, a Multinomial Logit (MNL) regression model was applied to examine the effects of socio-demographic attributes, household vehicle ownership, travel distance, and spatial variables on mode selection. The results revealed notable modal shifts during adverse weather, with motorcycle usage decreasing and private vehicle reliance increasing, while school bus usage remained stable, highlighting its role as a resilient transport option. Car ownership emerged as a strong enabler of modal flexibility, whereas students with limited access to private transport demonstrated reduced adaptability. Additionally, increased waiting and travel times during adverse conditions underscored infrastructure and service vulnerabilities, particularly for mid-distance travelers. The findings suggest an urgent need for transport policies that promote inclusive and climate-resilient mobility systems, particularly in the context of Chiang Rai, including expanded school bus services, improved first-mile connectivity, and enhanced pedestrian infrastructure. This study contributes to the literature by addressing environmental variability in school travel behavior and offers actionable insights for sustainable transport planning in secondary cities and border regions. Full article

The rapidly changing dynamics of the digital age reshape the addiction relationship that high school students establish with technology. While smartphones remove boundaries in terms of communication and access to information, their usage triggers a source of anxiety and nomophobia. The increase in students’ anxiety levels because of their over-reliance on mobile phone use leads to significant behavioral changes in their mental health, academic performance, social interactions and financial dependency. This study examined the nomophobia levels of high school students according to selected socio-demographic indicators. Using the relational screening model, the multistage sampling technique was used to select a sample of 884 participants: 388 from Science High School and 496 from Anatolian High School (459 female, 425 male, Mage = 16.45 ± 1.14 year). Independent sample test and One-way ANOVA were applied. Depending on the homogeneity assumption of the data, Welch values were considered, and Tukey tests were applied as a second-level test from post hoc analyses. Comprehensive analyses of nomophobia levels revealed that young individuals’ attitudes towards digital technology differ significantly according to their demographic and behavioral characteristics. Variables such as gender, physical activity participation, grade level and duration of smartphone use are among the main factors affecting nomophobia levels. Female individuals and students who do not participate in physical activity exhibit higher nomophobia scores. Full article

Students, particularly those in the medical field, are exposed to various stressors that can affect their health-related behaviors, including smoking habits, with implications for oral health and quality of life. Background and Objectives: to analyze the relationship between smoking, oral health, perceived stress level, and self-assessed quality of life in a sample of dental students. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study included 338 students, who completed validated questionnaires and were clinically examined. Lifestyle was assessed using a smoking behavior questionnaire, stress levels were measured with the Student Stress Inventory (SSI), and quality of life was evaluated using the EQ-5D-5L instrument. The DMFT index was calculated to determine oral health status. Results: Among the 338 participating students, 53.8% were smokers. The lifestyle analysis revealed slightly higher average scores among non-smokers across all domains—social (3.26 vs. 3.09), attitudinal (2.75 vs. 2.97), and behavioral (3.82 vs. 3.49), but without statistically significant differences (p > 0.25). The mean DMFT score was 12.48, with no significant differences between smokers and non-smokers (p = 0.554). The SSI total score averaged 83.15, indicating a moderate level of perceived stress, again with no statistically significant differences between the groups (p > 0.05). However, slightly higher average stress scores among smokers may suggest the use of smoking as a coping mechanism. In contrast, quality of life as measured by EQ-5D-5L showed significantly worse outcomes for smokers across all five dimensions, including mobility (78.6% vs. 95.5%, p = 0.000) and self-care (93.4% vs. 100%, p = 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression identified smoking (OR = 1.935; p = 0.047) and moderate stress levels (OR = 0.258; p < 0.001) as independent predictors of oral health status. Conclusions: The results obtained suggest that smoking may function as a stress management strategy among students, supporting the relevance of integrating specific psychobehavioral interventions that address stress reduction and oral health promotion among student populations. Full article

At the Politecnica Salesiana University (UPS) in Guayaquil, Ecuador, urban mobility challenges were addressed with the aim of improving students’ quality of life and promoting sustainability. This study evaluated the technical, economic, and social feasibility of implementing a shared transportation (carpooling) system using a quantitative-descriptive approach. Surveys were applied to a stratified sample of 256 students to analyze transportation habits. Route planning was performed using ArcGIS software, and costs were calculated with Microsoft Excel. Social impact assessment involved focus groups and analysis of variables such as changes in mobility patterns, system acceptance, and perceived safety, comfort, and accessibility. Key indicators included the percentage of students willing to participate in the pilot (82.7%), satisfaction with travel time savings (85.7% fully satisfied), and positive perceptions of safety and comfort. The results suggest that the proposed system is not only economically viable but also widely accepted by students, contributing to reduced stress, travel time, and single-occupancy vehicle use. This study demonstrates the feasibility of shared transport in urban universities and provides a replicable model to guide sustainable mobility policies that improve safety, comfort, and efficiency in student commuting. Full article

The incorporation of digital health into the medical curricula is becoming more important to better prepare doctors in the future. Digital health comprises a wide range of tools such as electronic health records, health information technology, telemedicine, telehealth, mobile health applications, wearable devices, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. The present study aimed to explore the medical and biomedical students’ perspectives on the integration of digital health in medical curricula. A cross-sectional study was conducted on the medical and biomedical undergraduate students at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The response rate was 37%. The majority of respondents were in the MD (Doctor of Medicine) program (84.4%), while 29 students (15.6%) were from the BMS (Biomedical Sciences) program. A total of 55.38% agreed that they were familiar with the term ‘e-Health’. Additionally, 143 individuals (76.88%) reported being aware of the definition of e-Health. Specifically, 69 individuals (37.10%) utilize e-Health technologies every other week, 20 individuals (10.75%) reported using them daily, while 44 individuals (23.66%) indicated that they never used such technologies. Despite having several benefits, challenges exist in integrating digital health into the medical curriculum. There is a need to overcome the lack of infrastructure, existing educational materials, and digital health topics. In conclusion, embedding digital health into medical curricula is certainly beneficial for creating a digitally competent healthcare workforce that could help in better data storage, help in diagnosis, aid in patient consultation from a distance, and advise on medications, thereby leading to improved patient care which is a key public health priority. Full article

Background/Objectives: Effective teamwork is crucial for minimizing human error in healthcare settings. Medical teams, typically composed of physicians and nurses, supported by auxiliary professionals, achieve better outcomes when they possess strong collaborative competencies. High-quality teamwork is associated with fewer adverse events and complications and lower mortality rates. Based on this background, the objective of this study is to analyze the perception of non-technical skills and immediate learning outcomes in interprofessional simulation settings based on E-CRM items. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted involving participants from the official postgraduate Medicine and Nursing programs at the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM) during the 2024–2025 academic year. Four interprofessional E-CRM simulation sessions were planned, involving randomly assigned groups with proportional representation of medical and nursing students. Teams worked consistently throughout the training and participated in clinical scenarios observed via video transmission by their peers. Post-scenario debriefings followed INACSL guidelines and employed the PEARLS method. Results: Findings indicate that 48.3% of participants had no difficulty identifying the team leader, while 51.7% reported minor difficulty. Role assignment posed moderate-to-high difficulty for 24.1% of respondents. Communication, situation awareness, and early help-seeking were generally managed with ease, though mobilizing resources remained a challenge for 27.5% of participants. Conclusions: This study supports the value of interprofessional education in developing essential competencies for handling urgent, emergency, and high-complexity clinical situations. Strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration contributes to safer, more effective patient care. Full article

Blended and virtual learning have become an integral part in international higher education, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the European Union’s Digital Education Action Plan. These modalities have enabled more inclusive, flexible, and sustainable forms of international collaboration, such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and Blended Intensive Programs (BIPs), reshaping the landscape of global academic mobility. This paper introduces the INVITE Learning Design Framework (LDF), developed to support higher education instructors in designing high-quality, internationalized blended and virtual learning experiences. The framework addresses the growing need for structured, theory-informed approaches to course design that foster student engagement, intercultural competence, and motivation in non-face-to-face settings. The INVITE LDF was developed through a rigorous scoping review of existing models and frameworks, complemented by needs-identification analysis and desk research. It integrates Self-Determination Theory, Active Learning principles, and the ADDIE instructional design model to provide a comprehensive, adaptable structure for course development. The framework was successfully implemented in a large-scale online training module for over 1000 educators across Europe. Results indicate that the INVITE LDF enhances educators’ ability to create engaging, inclusive, and pedagogically sound international learning environments. Its application supports institutional goals of internationalization by making global learning experiences more accessible and scalable. The findings suggest that the INVITE LDF can serve as a valuable tool for higher education institutions worldwide, offering a replicable model for fostering intercultural collaboration and innovation in digital education. This contributes to the broader transformation of international higher education, promoting equity, sustainability, and global citizenship through digital pedagogies. Full article

Society’s adaptation to shared mobility services is a growing topic that requires detailed understanding of the local circumstances of potential and current users. This paper focuses on analyzing barriers to the adoption of urban bike-sharing systems in post-industrial cities, using a case study of the Silesian agglomeration in Poland. Methodologically, the article integrates quantitative survey methods with multivariate statistical analysis to analyze the demographic, socioeconomic, and motivational factors that underline the adoption of shared micromobility. The study highlights a detailed segmentation of users by income, age, professional status, and gender, as well as the observation of profound disparities in access and perceived usefulness. Of note is the study’s identification of a highly concentrated segment of young, low-income users (mostly students), which largely accounts for the general perception of economic and infrastructural barriers. These include the use of factor analysis and regression to plot the interaction patterns between individual user characteristics and certain system-level constraints, such as cost, infrastructure coverage, weather, and health. The study’s findings prioritize problem-specific interventions in urban mobility planning: bridging equity gaps between user groups. This research contributes to the current literature by providing detailed insights into the heterogeneity of user mobility behavior, offering evidence-based recommendations for inclusive and adaptive options for shared transportation infrastructure in a changing urban context. Full article

Introduction: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs), especially those from underserved communities, often face barriers to sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This pilot study evaluated the implementation of mobile health technologies to promote SRH care, including the integration of the Rapid Adolescent Prevention Screening^TM (RAAPS) and the Health-E You/Salud iTu^TM (Health-E You) app at a School-Based Health Center (SBHC) in Los Angeles using the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) framework. Methods: This multi-method pilot study included the implementation of an integrated tool with two components, the RAAPS electronic health screening tool and the Health-E You app, which delivers tailored SRH education and contraceptive decision support to patients (who were sex-assigned as female at birth) and provides an electronic summary to clinicians to better prepare them for the visit with their patient. Quantitative data on tool usage were collected directly from the back-end data storage for the apps, and qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews and in-clinic observations. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify implementation barriers and facilitators. Results: Between April 2024 and June 2024, 60 unique patients (14–19 years of age) had a healthcare visit. Of these, 35.00% used the integrated RAAPS/Health-E You app, and 88.33% completed the Health-E You app only. All five clinic staff were interviewed and expressed that they valued the tools for their educational impact, noting that they enhanced SRH discussions and helped uncover sensitive information that students might not disclose face-to-face. However, the tools affected clinic workflows and caused rooming delays due to the time-intensive setup process and lack of integration with the clinic’s primary electronic medical record system. In addition, they also reported that the time to complete the screener and app within the context of a 30-min appointment limited the time available for direct patient care. Additionally, staff reported that some students struggled with the two-step process and did not complete all components of the tool. Despite these challenges, clinic staff strongly supported renewing the RAAPS license and continued use of the Health-E You app, emphasizing the platform’s potential for improving SRH care and its educational value. Conclusions: The integrated RAAPS and Health-E You app platform demonstrated educational value and improved SRH care but faced operational and technical barriers in implementing the tool. These findings emphasize the potential of such tools to address SRH disparities among vulnerable AYAs while providing a framework for future implementations in SBHCs. Full article

The development of stock markets is pivotal for economic growth, particularly through the mobilization of idle resources into productive investments. Despite recent reforms to enhance Uzbekistan’s capital market, public engagement remains limited. This study examines the behavioral determinants of stock market investment intention and participation among university students, employing the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The model investigates the influence of digital literacy, financial literacy, social interaction, herding behavior, overconfidence bias, risk tolerance, and financial well-being on investment intention and behavior. A survey of 369 university students was conducted to assess the proposed relationships. The results reveal that risk tolerance, overconfidence bias, and herding behavior significantly and positively affect investment intention, while digital literacy demonstrates a notable negative effect, suggesting caution in assuming technology readiness automatically translates to investment readiness. Investment intention, in turn, strongly predicts actual participation and mediates several of these effects. Conversely, financial literacy, financial well-being, and social interaction showed no significant direct or mediating influence. Additionally, differences according to gender and academic background were observed in how intention translates into behavior. The findings underscore the need for integrated financial and behavioral education to enhance market participation and contribute to policy discourse on youth financial engagement in emerging economies. Full article

Analyses of student mobility are typically conducted in an urban environment and are informed by socio-demographic or trip attributes. The prevailing focus is on individual modes of transport, different groups of commuters travelling to campus, students’ behavioural perceptions, and the totality of student trips. This paper starts with the identification of the determinants of student mobility that have received insufficient research attention. Utilising surveys, the study captures the mobility patterns of a sample of 1014 students and calculates their carbon footprint (CF; in kg/academic year) to assess whether the factors neglected in previous studies influence differences in the actual environmental load of student commuting. A regression analysis is employed to ascertain the significance of these factors as predictors of sustainable student mobility. This study exclusively focuses on the group of student commuters to campus and analyses the trips associated with compulsory activities at a suburban campus that is distant from the university centre and student facilities, which changes the mobility context in terms of commuting options. The under-researched factors identified in this research have not yet been quantified as CF. The findings confirm that only some of the factors neglected in previous research are statistically significant predictors of the local environmental load of student mobility. Specifically, variables such as student employment, frequency of class attendance, and propensity for ride-sharing could be utilised to forecast and regulate students’ mobility towards more sustainable patterns. However, all of the under-researched factors (including household size, region of origin (i.e., past experiences), residing at term-time accommodation while studying, and the availability of a family car) have an influence on the differences in CF magnitude in the studied campus. Full article

In Korea, the Public Health Center Mobile Healthcare Project was implemented in 2016. This project utilizes Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and big data to establish a health-related service foundation and a healthcare service operation system. Equipment and methods: This study recruited 1261 adolescents (660 males (13.40 ± 1.14 years, 156.12 ± 10.59 cm) and 601 females (13.51 ± 1.23 years, 154.45 ± 7.48 cm)) from 22 public health centers nationwide. Smart bands were provided, and the ‘Future Health’ application (APP) was installed on personal smartphones to assess body composition, physical fitness, and physical activity. Results: A paired sample t-test revealed height, 20 m shuttle run, grip strength, and long jump scores significantly differed after 24 weeks in males. Females exhibited significant height, 20 m shuttle run, grip strength, sit-ups, and long jump differences. Moderate physical activity (MPA, p < 0.001), vigorous physical activity (VPA, p < 0.001), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA, p < 0.001) were significantly different after 24 weeks in adolescents. These results establish that an ICT-based health promotion service can provide adolescent students with individual information from a centralized organization to monitor health behaviors and receive feedback regardless of location in South Korea. Full article

Promoting behavioral change in mobility is essential for sustainable urban development. This study evaluates the effectiveness of gamified challenges in fostering sustainable travel behaviors among high school students and teachers within the High School Challenge (HSC) 2024 campaign in Lecco, Italy. Over a 13-week period, participants tracked their commuting habits via gamified mobile application, Play&Go, that awarded points for sustainable mobility choices and introduced weekly challenges. Using behavioral (GPS-based tracking) and self-report data, we assessed the influence of challenge types, player characteristics (HEXAD Player Types, Big Five traits), and user experience evaluations on participation, retention, and behavior change. The results show that challenges, particularly those based on walking distances and framed as intra-team goals, significantly enhanced user engagement and contributed to improved mobility behaviors during participants’ free time. Compared to the 2023 edition without challenges, the 2024 campaign achieved better retention. HEXAD Player Types were more predictive of user appreciation than Personality Traits, though these effects were more evident in subjective evaluations than actual behavior. Overall, findings highlight the importance of tailoring gamified interventions to users’ motivational profiles and structuring challenges around SMART principles. This study contributes to the design of behaviorally informed, scalable solutions for sustainable mobility transitions. Full article

Over a three-year R&D project, the perception of mobile phone use in Spanish secondary schools shifted from initial tolerance to increasingly prohibitive policies. Drawing on the Actor–Network Theory, this study examines how mobile phones—alongside institutional discourses and school and family concerns—acted as dynamic actants, shaping public and political responses. The research adopted a qualitative design combining policy and media document analysis, nine semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, ten regional case studies, and twelve focus groups. The study concluded with a public multiplier event that engaged the broader educational community. The Madrid region, among the first to adopt a restrictive stance, contributed two school-based case studies and three focus groups with teachers, students, and families. Findings suggest that the turn toward prohibition was motivated less by pedagogical evidence than by cultural anxieties, consistent with what it conceptualizes as a techno-pessimistic shock. This shift mirrors the historical patterns of societal reaction to disruption and technological saturation. Rather than reinforcing binary framings of promotion versus prohibition, such moments invite critical reflection. The study argues for nuanced, evidence-based, and multilevel governance strategies to address the complex role of mobile technologies in education. Full article

With the rise in short-term intercultural mobility programs, enhancing students’ adaptive capacity through structured experiential learning has become a key concern. Using constructivist grounded theory, this study draws on extending the situated learning and embodied cognition theories as analytical frameworks to explore international students’ cross-cultural adaptation within the context of study tours. It develops a three-phase framework (pre-departure, on-site immersion, and post-tour reflection) to trace their transition from cultural distance to adaptation. The findings reveal that the process through which international students shift from cross-cultural distance to multidimensional adaptation can be further accelerated by environmental settings, situational behaviors, and short-term emotional responses within study tour contexts. Moreover, culture-led and nature-led environments evoke distinct patterns of participation and emotional responses, facilitating varying degrees and dimensions of adaptation across psychological, social, and cultural domains. The study extends situated and embodied learning perspectives by conceptualizing study tours as dynamic, context-sensitive learning sites. By considering adaptation processes context-dependent, this study deepens the understanding of how learning, emotion, and environment interact to shape intercultural development and offers practical insights for designing responsive, stage-sensitive study tour programs. Full article