Repurposing African teachers for sustainable development: Online global trends

This intellectual piece aims to repurpose African teachers for the achievement of Standard Development Goals (SDG) 2030 target through online global trends. To achieve this, a qualitative review method was adopted to gain insight to previous studies that have established the positive impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills and competencies in teaching and learning processes. The findings show that many African teachers need to be adequately equipped with ICT skills as captured in the UNESCO framework. The study, therefore, concludes that teachers are inevitably becoming reskilled and reequipped with a virtual learning-based framework so that the SDG 4 can be achieved. Hence, the virtual learning space model with potential to equip teachers with necessary and requisite skills and competencies was developed and recommended. This will enable teachers to transit into an online teaching environment, where the teaching and learning processes are sustained without being hampered by any future unprecedented circumstances. © 2022 Birlesik Dunya Yenilik Arastirma ve Yayincilik Merkezi. All rights reserved.

The relationship between cognitive flexibility, depression, and work performance: Employee assessments using cognitive flexibility tests

Background Cognitive flexibility is a frontal lobe function, and some scholars have indicated that it is linked to depression. The Cognitive Flexibility Test (CFT) is a neuropsychological test that can easily and promptly measure cognitive flexibility within a short amount of time. This study focuses on healthy younger workers to determine the associations between their cognitive flexibility, depression, and performance at work. Methods The absolute absenteeism and the absolute presenteeism of a group of 80 regular employees were measured, and the employees were administered the Verbal Fluency Test (VTF), the CFT-A and CFT-B, the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-2), and the World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (WHO-HPQ). Google Forms were used to measure the BDI-2, absolute absenteeism, and absolute presenteeism, and online interviews were conducted on Zoom to collect answers to the CFT and the Verbal Fluency Test (VFT). Results No significant age-related differences appeared in the number of responses obtained for the CFT-A and CFT-B from subjects grouped according to the decades they represented, ranging from the 20s to the 50s. In addition, the CFT-A and CFT-B did not indicate significant correlations between the BDI-2 and absenteeism and presenteeism. Limitations Small sample, online vs. in person assessments due to COVID-19. Conclusion The results suggest that the function of cognitive flexibility is relatively stable and is unaffected by age brackets. The study also found no links between the cognitive flexibility of healthy young workers, the state of depression, or their work performance.

Compassion‐focused therapy group for men with intellectual disabilities who had maladaptive conceptualisations of masculinity

Purpose>The purpose of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of an adapted compassion-focused therapy (CFT) group treatment programme for individuals with an intellectual disability (ID), specifically aimed to help address maladaptive conceptualisations of masculinity.Design/methodology/approach>Outcome measurements were competed at pre- and post-group and the effectiveness of the intervention were assessed using a Wilcoxon signed ranks test.Findings>Findings demonstrated that the treatment group showed significant differences in their “gender role conflict” subscales including the Success, Power, Control and “Restrictive Affectionate Behavior Between Men” subscales;however, no significant differences were found on the Restrictive Emotionality or Conflicts Between Work and Leisure subscales. Furthermore, no significant differences were found on participants psychological well-being, psychological distress, anxiety, self-compassion or quality of life measures.Research limitations/implications>Limitations include that a lack of qualitative information regarding outcomes, a lack of control group and a small number of participants may have impacted the outcome of the research.Practical implications>The Men’s Masculinity group had a positive impact on the participant’s sense of success, power and control, so it could be considered that this group enabled participants to feel more powerful and in control of their difficulties which is associated with the “drive” system of CFT.Originality/value>Overall, this study adds to the small but growing literature that supports using CFT groups as a stand-alone psychological intervention when working with people with an ID.

More severe hypercoagulable state in acute COVID-19 pneumonia as compared to other pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a comprehensive evaluation of coagulation profiles - via traditional and whole blood thromboelastometry tests - in COVID-19 positive vs. COVID-19 negative patients admitted to medical wards for acute pneumonia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We enrolled all consecutive patients admitted to Internal Medicine wards of Padova University Hospital between 7 March and 30 April 2020 for COVID-19-related pneumonia (cases) vs. non-COVID-19 pneumonia (controls). A group of healthy subjects acted as baseline for thromboelastometry parameters. RESULTS: Fifty-six cases (mean age 64±15 yrs, M/F 37/19) and 56 controls (mean age 76±11 yrs, M/F 35/21) were enrolled. Cases and controls showed markedly hypercoagulable thromboelastometry profiles vs. healthy subjects, mainly characterized by a significantly shorter propagation phase of coagulation (Clot Formation Time, CFT) and significantly increased maximum clot firmness (MCF) (p <0.001 in all comparisons). COVID-19 patients with pneumonia had significantly shorter CFT and higher MCF (p <0.01 and <0.05, respectively in all comparisons) vs. controls. CONCLUSION: Patients admitted to internal medicine wards for COVID-19 pneumonia presented a markedly prothrombotic state, which seems peculiar to COVID-19 rather than pneumonia itself.

A call to action: Online learning and distance education in the training of couple and family therapists.

Distance education in couple and family therapy (CFT) has grown in recent years; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many CFT educators find themselves delivering emergency online education out of necessity and for the first time. Despite the growth of distance learning over the last decade, there is virtually no CFT scholarship on the topic. Comparable disciplines, including social work and professional counseling, are further along in researching distance learning. Outside of the counseling disciplines, there is also ample scholarship guiding the delivery of distance education. This article builds on the small body of CFT scholarship on technology in training and supervision, reviewing extant research on distance learning in social work and counselor education. Major themes in this research reveal opportunities and challenges associated with distance learning and offer guidance about ways that CFT education can evolve in order to effectively integrate technology and online learning into our educational landscape.