Smartphone ownership, digital literacy, and the mediating role of social connectedness and loneliness in improving the wellbeing of community-dwelling older adults of low socio-economic status in Singapore.

INTRODUCTION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, safe-distancing measures resulted in many community-dwelling older adults being socially isolated and lonely, with its attending negative impact on wellbeing and quality of life. While digital technology may have mitigated this, older adults of low socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to be digitally excluded and hence susceptible to the adverse effects of social isolation and loneliness. This study aims to understand the factors that affect digital literacy, smartphone ownership, and willingness to participate in a digital literacy program (DLP), and to test the hypothesized relations between digital literacy, social connectedness, loneliness, wellbeing, and quality of life amongst community dwelling older adults of low SES. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire assessing digital literacy, social connectedness, wellbeing and quality of life was administered. Socio-demographic variables, pre-existing internet-enabled, and willingness to participate in a home-based DLP was also collected. Logistic regression was used to identify demographic factors associated with digital literacy, smartphone ownership, and willingness to enroll in a DLP. Serial mediation analysis was also performed using a structural equation model framework. RESULTS: A total of 302 participants were recruited. Female gender, older age, lower education levels were associated with lower digital literacy. Those who owned a smartphone tended to be younger and better educated. Older adults who were better educated, of Chinese descent (the ethnic majority in Singapore), and who had lower digital literacy, were most willing to enroll in the digital literacy education program. Social-use digital literacy had a positive indirect effect on well-being ([Formula: see text]) and Quality of life ([Formula: see text]), mediated by social connectedness and loneliness. In contrast, instrumental-use digital literacy had a negative indirect effect on well-being ([Formula: see text]) and Quality of life ([Formula: see text]), mediated by social connectedness and loneliness. DISCUSSION: The results suggest there are demographic barriers to participation in DLPs and highlight the benefit of focusing on enhancing social-use digital literacy. Further study is needed to evaluate how well specific interventions to improve social-use digital literacy help to reduce social isolation and loneliness, and ultimately improve wellbeing and quality of life.

Exploration and reflection on theeffect of formative assessment in medical immunology teaching / 中华医学教育探索杂志

To achieve better results of the goal of training students' abilities in medical education,formative assessment has been implemented in medical immunology teaching for grade 2014 clinical medicine students.The evaluation indexes of medical immunology teaching have been constructed.Formative assessment has been implemented in classroom teaching,self-learning and group discussion,experimental teaching and network exams by following the principles of feedback,guidance and encouragement.Compared with summative assessment,formative assessment can dynamically reflect the learning progress of immunology and improve the learning effect.The deficiencies andpuzzlesin implementing the formative assessment have also been rethought and discussed deeply.

Using Mind Maps to Improve Medical Student Performance in a Pharmacology Course at Kunming Medical University.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether students using mind maps would improve their performance in a final examination at the end of lecture-based pharmacology course. STUDY DESIGN: Aquasi-experimental study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Kunming Medical University, from September 2014 to January 2015. METHODOLOGY: One hundred and twenty-two (122) third year undergraduate medical students, starting a 48-hour lecturebased pharmacology course, volunteered to use mind maps as one of their study strategies (intervention group), while the remaining 100 students in the class continued to use their usual study strategies (control group) over the duration of the course. The performance of both groups in the final course examination was compared. Students in the intervention group also completed a questionnaire on the usefulness of mind maps during the course and in preparation for the final examination. RESULTS: The students' performance of intervention group was superior to performance of the control group in all parts of a multi-modal final examination. For the multiple choice questions and comprehensive scores, average marks of 45.97 ±7.22 and 68.07 ±12.77, respectively were acquired by the control group, and 51.77 ±4.95 (p<0.01) and 80.05 ±7.54 (p<0.01), respectively by the intervention group. The median IQR scores for "filling in the blanks" questions, short answers questions and case analyses, were 6.00 (6.00), 8.00 (3.50), 8.75 (5.88), respectively for the control group, and were all significantly higher at 8.00 (4.00) (p=0.024), 10.00 (2.00) (p<0.001), and 11.00 (3.25) (p=0.002), respectively for the interventiongroup. Questionnaire responses showed that 95.45% thought that mind maps helped them to prepare more efficiently for the final exam; 90.91% believed that mind maps helped them to better understand all of pharmacology. Ninety-one percent also thought that mind maps would help them to better understand other disciplines, and 86.36% students would like the lecturers to utilize mind mapping as an alternative to conventional teaching formats, such as the use of Power Point. CONCLUSION: The addition of mind maps to students' study of pharmacology at Kunming Medical University improved their performance in all aspects of a multi-modal final examination.