Search Results (34)

Background/Objectives: Growing pains are a common cause of recurrent limb pain in children, but their etiology remains unclear. Physical activity and nutrition are important factors for musculoskeletal health, but their specific relationship with growing pains has not been well established in young athletes. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of growing pains in child and adolescent athletes and evaluate their adherence to the Mediterranean Diet. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 916 athletes aged 8–17 years from sports academies in Alicante, Spain. Data were collected via an online survey assessing demographics, pain types, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Results: Self-reported pain was highly prevalent, affecting 78.5% of children and 93.5% of adolescents. Musculoskeletal and nocturnal pain increased with age, with nocturnal pain significantly more frequent in girls among children (p < 0.001). Additionally, 32.6% of children and 51.9% of adolescents had received a formal diagnosis of growing pains. Despite this, only 13.7% reported using analgesics, with no significant gender differences. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was mostly moderate, with children reporting higher fruit and vegetable intake than adolescents, while adolescents consumed more healthy fats and carbohydrates, and participants without pain showed overall healthier dietary patterns. Conclusions: Idiopathic musculoskeletal pain is highly prevalent among young athletes, and their adherence to a healthy diet is suboptimal, challenging the assumption that physically active children maintain well-balanced diets. This underscores the importance of early nutritional education as a strategy to support musculoskeletal health and reduce pain in physically active youth. Full article

Background: Proper nutrition is crucial for optimizing performance and recovery in elite young football players. This study aimed to assess sports nutrition knowledge, adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), and carbohydrate intake across different training phases, evaluating their relations with match performance. Methods: Thirty-three male HNK Hajduk academy players (15–19 years) completed a nutrition questionnaire and a seven-day food diary, while performance metrics were analyzed using GPS tracking. Results: The results showed that sports nutrition knowledge was generally low (43.0 ± 17.0%), with significant misconceptions about carbohydrate fueling strategies. Players significantly overestimated their MD adherence, with a self-reported KIDMED index (6.06 ± 2.41) notably higher than the corrected score derived from food diaries (4.21 ± 2.53, p < 0.001). Carbohydrate intake was suboptimal on match-related days (3.64 g/kg on match day, 4.45 g/kg on the day before), failing to meet the recommended minimum of 6 g/kg per day. Regression analysis predicted that energy (β = 0.83; p = 0.02) and carbohydrate intake (β = 0.69; p = 0.03) on match day significantly predicted distance covered per minute, with a positive relationship observed for both outcomes, highlighting its impact on endurance. However, no significant relationship was found between carbohydrate intake and maximum sprint speed. Conclusions: These findings underscore the need for structured nutrition education within football academies to enhance players’ dietary habits and performance outcomes. Future research should focus on longitudinal interventions to assess how improved nutrition knowledge influences dietary adherence and athletic performance over time. Although knowledge of sports nutrition is fundamental, practical training and education to improve dietary competencies are crucial for athletes to effectively apply this knowledge in daily training and match preparations. Full article

Background/Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate practice patterns among pediatric dentists for the management of permanent teeth needing endodontic treatment. Methods: An electronic nationwide survey was sent to all members of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). The survey assessed provider training on and confidence (0–100, with 100 = “most confident”) in treating pediatric patients needing endodontic treatment on permanent teeth, referral patterns, and preferred educational resources. A logistic regression identified significant predictors of confidence levels. Results: The final sample included 259 respondents, with 71% having over 10 years of experience in practice. A total of 47% of respondents reported performing endodontic treatments on permanent teeth in pediatric patients, with direct pulp capping (70%) and partial or full pulpotomy (62%) being the most common procedures. Although the respondents moderately agreed (53 ± 32) that they received sufficient training during their residency to perform endodontic treatment on permanent teeth, their reported comfort levels with performing these procedures were low (0.001 ± 33). The adequacy of the training received during their residency was identified as a significant predictor of a higher level of confidence (p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.437, 0.667). The respondents highlighted additional continuing education courses and training, dedicated lectures at the AAPD Annual Session, and annual joint symposia or meetings between the AAPD and the American Association of Endodontists as the most valuable educational resources for the endodontic management of permanent teeth in pediatric patients. Conclusions: The findings suggest that enhancing residency training and expanding access to targeted continuing education opportunities are critical for improving pediatric dentists’ confidence and competence in the endodontic management of permanent teeth in pediatric patients. Full article

If global higher education is truly committed to decolonization, there will have to be some radical changes. A decolonized university would increase the freedom of students and staff through undoing the legacy of the past, a past which was exclusive and homogenous. In order for this to materialize, universities must adopt a different consciousness. They must move away from the current culture that has privileged global north epistemic and pedagogical frameworks that serve to alienate the student from the global south. For universities to be able to undo the effects of the epistemic injustice that indigenous students have faced, the academy must approach education with a new mindfulness of whom it is that it is designed to serve. When we approach higher education with a consciousness of decolonization and a recognition of the identity of whom the education system is meant to serve, then management systems and epistemic and pedagogical frameworks in our universities cannot remain abstract in nature. Rather they must be fully cognizant of the students’ backgrounds, their social needs, and their academic needs. These cannot be mere considerations but must be the information which directs what is taught and how it is taught, for a just education system is not and can never be decontextualized. As Afro-communitarianism prescribes, decontextualization disregards the necessity of, and integral relationships to, others and the world. Any just pedagogical system must acknowledge the legitimacy of, and draw from, contributions in culture, knowledge, and perspective that come from the students themselves—both as individuals and as insiders of a particular class, culture, and indigenous group. It is in this symbiotic relationship where both the student and the educator can begin to be humanized again. Full article

The contemporary American university largely operates as an agent of domestication, tasked more with enforcing the social and economic order than with expanding the horizons of possibility. The dawn of the Anthropocene, however, demands that we reconceive of the humanities not as self-sufficient, hierarchical, or divided away from other modes of seeking knowledge but as core to what human being and responsibility ought to mean in the more-than-human world. The present essay makes a case for reworking—and rethinking—the American university along the lines of Mark C. Taylor’s prompt to reconceive of the academy as a multidisciplinary forum for the “comparative analysis of common problems”. I suggest that religious teachings—and religious traditions themselves—can offer models for the intertwining of the humanities (literature, poetry, philosophy, the expressive and applied arts), the social sciences (the study of governance, political thought, the study and formulation of law), and the natural sciences as well as mathematics and engineering. Further, I argue that when faced with radical and unprecedented changes in technological, social, economic, and environmental structures, we must, I believe, engage with these traditional texts in order to enrich and critique the liberal mindset that has neither the values nor the vocabulary to deal with the climate crisis. We must begin to sow new and expansive ways of thinking, and I am calling this work the “rewilding” of our universities. Parallel to the three Cs of rewilding as a conservation paradigm, I suggest the following three core principles for the rewilding of higher education: creativity, curriculum, and collaboration. Though I focus on the interface of religion, ecology, and the study of the environmental, social, and moral challenges of climate change, I suggest that these categories of activity should impact all domains of inquiry to which a university is home. Full article

Background/Objectives: The importance of family carer dementia education is highlighted in research, practice guidance, and policy. Less attention is paid to how facilitators learn and prepare for their role. This research aimed to explore and describe facilitator learning experiences within a bespoke Scottish Carers’ Academy designed around a theory-guided approach called Care Empathia. A healthcare and university partnership ensured integration with services and the fusion of dementia higher education know-how with clinical practice expertise. Methods: Nineteen facilitator questionnaires were completed from two Carer Academy hubs; thirteen participated in online focus groups. Results: The questionnaire findings highlighted the learning gained from being a facilitator, observing expert facilitators in action, and listening to the testimonies of family carers. The framework analysis of the focus group data identified six themes, including safe learning approaches, the art of facilitation, emotional work, team learning, and leadership. These findings highlight the importance of facilitator preparation and the advantages of co-delivery models that combine clinical and practice education expertise. Conclusion: Facilitators need to understand how to walk the talk of theory-guided educational models, be open to reciprocity in learning, and be prepared for the emotional work of delivering trauma-informed practical dementia care education to family carers. Full article

Used in higher education for many decades, seed grants are now beginning to be applied as a strategy to advance diversity, equity and inclusion goals, including rebuilding community post-pandemic. There is little research on the effectiveness of seed grants for such communal goals. This work is innovative in two key ways. First, these seed grants focus on promoting a strong sense of community at the institution rather than promoting individual investigators and research projects. Second, engaging students and staff as principal investigators (PIs) disrupts power structures in the academy. We present a systematic analysis of seed grant project reports (n = 45) and survey data (n = 56) from two seed grant programs implemented at the same institution. A diverse set of projects was proposed and funded. Projects had a positive impact on awardees and their departments and colleges. Seed grant program activities were successful at building community among awardees and recognizing individual efforts. Most noteworthy are the career development opportunities for graduate students, postdocs and staff, which are afforded by changes to PI eligibility. We conclude that seed grant programs have the potential for organizational learning and change around community building in higher education. Full article

Improper solid waste management (SWM) has resulted in an environmental and epidemiological catastrophe, emphasizing the urgency of SWM due to escalating solid waste generation. Over the past few decades, there has been significant growth in publications studying the relationship between SWM and the environment. Higher education institutes (HEIs) also have a social responsibility to promote public understanding of SWM and to increase awareness among students about SWM. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to provide an overview of research on student awareness of SWM in HEIs over the past 35 years. Data on publication output are identified based on the Scopus database (from 1989 to 2024). A total of 634 articles on SWM awareness and practices among students in HEIs were identified. VOSviewer was used to map the current studies and visualize the current trends in this area. The analysis of keywords used in the publications highlights recurring terms such as “recycling”, “environmental awareness”, and “waste management”, indicating the primary research focus. The results show a significant increase in publications in this area over the last 35 years. China, the US, and the UK emerge as the countries with the highest number of publications with 115, 82, and 44 publications, respectively, where China alone contributed 18.14% of the total publications on the topic, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University being the leading institutions in this research field. The results also highlight the top researchers in the field of student awareness of SWM in HEIs. It identifies influential journals in this field, such as Sustainability (MDPI) and the Journal of Cleaner Production (Elsevier). Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the current state of research on student awareness of SWM in HEIs, identifying research hotspots. It serves as a valuable resource for academics and practitioners interested in this area. The findings of the study are intended to guide researchers planning to conduct further research on the issue. Full article

The call for papers for this Special Issue Iidentifies contemporary humanity as experiencing a global “biogeochemical … political, economic, technological, ethical, and therefore, biocultural” crisis and asks scholars to consider how “religion may function as an adaptive or maladaptive presence” in response. Unasked is the adaptive capacity of scholarship as a crisis response. When buildings fall in earthquakes, or cities burn in wildfires, or second stories flood, few people just keep on doing what they were doing, “with a change of focus”. This is “studying Rome while it burns”. It’s time to put out the fire if we can and survive it if we cannot. We scholar/teachers can’t go on doing the same things and expecting different results. Unprecedented circumstances call for unprecedented actions in response. What would actual crisis responses on our part look like? What steps do we need to take as human beings in response to this crisis? How will that affect us as professionals? Seeking an ecology, rather than unanimity, of action and thought, and guided by Brian Walker’s resilience theory and a number of Indigenous scholars, I suggest a process of reintegration, analogous to regenerative agriculture, which is at once both socio-cultural and ecological. This process, necessarily rooted in place, progressively situates us experientially in a dynamic, creative, and relational world characterized by connection, collaboration, and relation. As scholars, we will find forms of discovery, discussion, and dissemination that share these qualities. As teachers, we will model this world to our students and embody it in our classrooms and curricula. Full article

Background: The role of mindful eating (ME) and intuitive eating (IE) in improving eating behavior, diet quality, and health is an area of increasing interest. Objective: The objective of this review was to identify the instruments used to assess ME and IE among higher education students and outcomes related to these dimensions. Methods: This review was carried out according to the PRISMA statement, through systematic searches in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and Scopus. The inclusion criteria selected for higher education students, levels of ME and/or IE reported, and observational and clinical studies. The exclusion criteria selected against reviews, qualitative studies, and case studies. Quality was assessed using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Quality Criteria Checklist. Results: A total of 516 initial records were identified, from which 75 were included. Cross-sectional studies were the most common research design (86.7%). Most studies were conducted with samples that were predominantly female (90.7%), White (76.0%), aged 18 to 22 years (88.4%), with BMI < 25 kg/m² (83.0%), and in the United States (61.3%). The Intuitive Eating Scale (IES), the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ), and their different versions were the most used instruments. The outcomes most studies included were eating behavior and disorders (77.3%), anthropometric assessments (47.8%), mental health (42.0%), and body image (40.6%). Regarding the quality of studies, 34.7% of studies were assigned a positive, 1.3% a negative, and 64.0% a neutral rate. Conclusions: IES and MEQ were the most used instruments. RCT and cohort studies are scarce, and future research with a higher level of quality is needed, especially on the topics of food consumption, diet quality, and biochemical markers. Full article

The present quantitative, non-experimental comparative study, delves into the long-term effects of the collaborative practicum model (specifically the “academy-class” model) on novice teachers. The research aims to discern disparities in the professional self-efficacy of novice educators who underwent training within the collaborative practicum model as opposed to those who adhered to the conventional teaching model. This comparative analysis is based on three variables: perception of the teaching profession, professional self-efficacy, and socio-economic security. Furthermore, the study examines whether the collaborative model contributes to cultivating more favorable attitudes toward the teaching profession and a greater inclination to continue teaching for an extended period exceeding three years. The study encompasses a cohort of 436 Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) graduates from 22 Israeli Higher Education Institutions who completed their degrees within the past five years. The research findings underscore a higher level of teaching efficacy, socio-economic security, and a more positive outlook among those who participated in the collaborative practicum and expressed their intent to persist in the teaching profession. These outcomes underscore the vital role of the collaborative practicum model, hinting at its potential to positively influence the retention rate within the teaching profession. Furthermore, it underscores the crucial connection between comprehensive and meaningful training within a collaborative practicum framework and the sustainable professional growth of educators. This robust training approach can potentially secure the continued presence of dedicated and enthusiastic educators in the field over the long term. Full article

This paper investigates the correlation between oral grades and final written examination grades in a higher education military academy. A quantitative, correlational methodology utilizing linear regression analysis is employed. The data consist of undergraduate telecommunications and electronics engineering students’ grades in two courses offered during the fourth year of studies, and spans six academic years. Course One covers period 2017–2022, while Course Two, period 1 spans 2014–2018 and period 2 spans 2019–2022. In Course One oral grades are obtained by means of a midterm exam. In Course Two period 1, 30% of the oral grade comes from homework assignments and lab exercises, while the remaining 70% comes from a midterm exam. In Course Two period 2, oral grades are the result of various alternative assessment activities. In all cases, the final grade results from a traditional written examination given at the end of the semester. Correlation and predictive models between oral and final grades were examined. The results of the analysis demonstrated that, (a) under certain conditions, oral grades based more or less on midterm exams can be good predictors of final examination scores; (b) oral grades obtained through alternative assessment activities cannot predict final examination scores. Full article

This piece brings together the experiences of four Chilean researchers and one Spanish researcher with different professional backgrounds (psychology, sociology, nursing, and education), who conduct qualitative inquiry from other approaches, moments, and gender-sensitive topics of interest in the border regions of Arica and Parinacota, and Tarapacá, both in northern Chile; the capital Santiago; and in Andalucía, southern Spain. In this paper, the authors problematize their research experiences by focusing on their condition as academics conducting qualitative research in the context of neoliberal higher education and with a pandemic affecting all spheres of life. Finally, they explore what their experiences have been like in leading government-funded research projects and representing the voices of underrepresented people in different spheres of life in the field of education and health. Voices are shared to identify challenges and assess implications for qualitative research in these difficult times in the academy. Full article

Universities play a significant role in the economic development of society as they provide knowledge and skills that are essential for social sustainability. In recent years, universities shifted their focus towards student-centered education and need to reconsider their sustainable strategies to become more competitive by encouraging student co-creation behaviors. To create a unique experience, universities aim to involve students in creating and delivering their educational experiences. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the perceived quality of educational service and the institutional image of a university influence students’ value co-creation behavior, and the role of loyalty in this process. The study is based on two complementary studies conducted in an Italian public university. The first study involved 720 undergraduate students with one business management bachelor’s degree who completed a questionnaire to collect primary data. The second study used six focus groups to identify which specific students’ experiences and university activities stimulated co-creation behaviors. The results show that student loyalty plays an important mediating role between university image, students’ quality perception, and co-creation behavior. Additionally, only three dimensions of quality, namely quality non-academy aspects, quality reputation, and quality access have an impact on students’ loyalty. Therefore, only two dimensions of brand image, university brand knowledge (UK), and university brand prestige (UPR) have a direct effect on value co-creation behavior. These findings have important implications for higher education institutions (HEIs) to develop managerial strategies that increase students’ co-creation behavior. The co-creation process should be considered as part of HEIs’ image-building and quality policy-enhancing strategy. Despite the value co-creation approach being overlooked in studies on HEIs governance, this study highlights its potential as a strategic approach for improving service quality and university image. Full article

Digital storytelling is one of the teaching methods that aims to improve motivation of students, critical thinking and learning outcomes. The results of previous research show the successful use of this method in education, but its use in some subjects is still questionable. The aim of the pedagogical experiment, which was conducted in 2021 at six business academies in the Czech Republic, was to discover whether or not digital storytelling contributes to better study results in business subjects taught at high school. A total number of 856 students were randomly divided into two independent groups. In the experimental group, the digital storytelling method was used in the process of teaching. The students in the control group were taught with the standard teaching method—the teacher’s explanation with the support of the presentation. By comparing the results from the pre-tests and post-tests of the experimental and control groups, the findings reveal that the students from the experimental group reached higher mean values in the post-test than the students from the control group did. Full article