Participation value of undergraduate students leading STEM outreach: evaluation of academic, personal, and professional effects.

This study explores the academic, professional, and personal career benefits of leading science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach, from the perspective of undergraduate student leaders. We consider traditional and nontraditional STEM university students, gender, and type of position (paid or volunteer) in this evaluation. Data were collected through an online survey completed by 30 former student STEM outreach leaders from the University of British Columbia. Self-reported survey data indicated that STEM outreach had a moderately strong average impact of 6.89 ± 1.55 out of 10 on participants' personal, academic, and professional development, with no significant differences between these areas. Outcomes did not differ between genders, and paid work was found to contribute to greater personal and professional impact. The positive influence of outreach on academic and professional decision making was higher in traditional STEM fields than STEM-based health-science studies. The outcomes of this research adds insight into positive impacts of STEM outreach on university student instructors.

The Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder (QoL.BD) Scale: Validation of a French Cross-Cultural Adaptation.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to validate the French version of the Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder (QoL.BD) scale, a condition-specific measure for bipolar disorder (BD). METHOD: The QoL.BD scale was translated into French in accordance with the recommendations for transcultural adaptation. It was administered to 125 participants with BD living in Quebec, Canada. Construct validity was evaluated through correlations with other measures of self-reported quality of life (QoL), functioning, and symptoms. Factorial structure was examined through an exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS: Internal reliability and test-retest reliability standards were met. Correlations in expected directions with other QoL, functioning, and depressive symptom scales supported convergent validity. The item loadings structure of the French QoL.BD largely replicated the original English version, with some modifications. CONCLUSION: The French version of the QoL.BD (full and brief) is comparable in its psychometric properties to the English version. It is a valid and sound measure for the evaluation of the QoL of French-speaking patients with BD.

Sex-specific effects of sitting vs standing on upper body muscle activity during text typing.

Standing computer work is increasingly popular. However, despite the higher rates of computer work-related disorders in women, no studies have compared how standing work affects men and women. Twelve males and 12 females completed 90-min typing tasks in each posture while electromyography (EMG) data was recorded from eight muscles of the upper body. Results show that females had significantly higher EMG root-mean-squared (RMS) values in the anterior deltoid than males when seated, but higher EMG RMS in the medial trapezius than males when standing (SBC ≤ 0.05). In standing, they also had lower values than males in the erector spinae. Overall, standing elicited less activity in the upper trapezius, wrist extensors and erector spinae than sitting. Results suggest that the standing posture is generally less muscularly demanding than the seated one, although men and women's neck/shoulder musculature responds differently to the same task performed while seated or standing.