Training doctoral students in critical thinking and experimental design using problem-based learning.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, doctoral student education in the biomedical sciences relies on didactic coursework to build a foundation of scientific knowledge and an apprenticeship model of training in the laboratory of an established investigator. Recent recommendations for revision of graduate training include the utilization of graduate student competencies to assess progress and the introduction of novel curricula focused on development of skills, rather than accumulation of facts. Evidence demonstrates that active learning approaches are effective. Several facets of active learning are components of problem-based learning (PBL), which is a teaching modality where student learning is self-directed toward solving problems in a relevant context. These concepts were combined and incorporated in creating a new introductory graduate course designed to develop scientific skills (student competencies) in matriculating doctoral students using a PBL format. METHODS: Evaluation of course effectiveness was measured using the principals of the Kirkpatrick Four Level Model of Evaluation. At the end of each course offering, students completed evaluation surveys on the course and instructors to assess their perceptions of training effectiveness. Pre- and post-tests assessing students' proficiency in experimental design were used to measure student learning. RESULTS: The analysis of the outcomes of the course suggests the training is effective in improving experimental design. The course was well received by the students as measured by student evaluations (Kirkpatrick Model Level 1). Improved scores on post-tests indicate that the students learned from the experience (Kirkpatrick Model Level 2). A template is provided for the implementation of similar courses at other institutions. CONCLUSIONS: This problem-based learning course appears effective in training newly matriculated graduate students in the required skills for designing experiments to test specific hypotheses, enhancing student preparation prior to initiation of their dissertation research.

Why is suicide incidence among doctoral students so high? ---A study of China's doctoral tutorial system.

The annual incidence of suicide among Chinese doctoral students remains high. We reviewed the statistics for doctoral student suicides over the past 12 years and administered a questionnaire survey and interviews to relatives and friends of doctoral students who committed suicide. The results indicated that suicide among doctoral students is closely related to academic pressure, the teacher-student relationship, and the academic environment, reflecting the current condition of China's doctoral tutorial system. This study provides a theoretical basis for society to understand Chinese doctoral student suicide and the Chinese doctoral tutorial system as well as the relationship between the two. Our results may serve as a warning to the academic community to prevent the worsening of the suicide contagion.

Research productivity and training support for doctoral students in the biological and biomedical sciences.

Training of doctoral students as part of the next generation of the biomedical workforce is essential for sustaining the scientific enterprise in the United States. Training primarily occurs at institutions of higher education, and these trainees comprise an important part of the workforce at these institutions. Federal investment in the support of doctoral students in the biological and biomedical sciences is distributed differently than the distribution of students across different types of institutions, for example, public vs private. Institutions in states that historically receive less federal support for research also receive less support for doctoral student training. Doctorates at different types of institution exhibit little difference in research productivity, with the exception of citations, and subsequent receipt of additional NIH awards. Thus, training outcomes, which are related to the quality of the student and training environment, are similar across different institutions. Research productivity of doctoral students does not correlate with the number of F31s awarded to an institution. Factors that correlate with F31 funding include R01 funding levels and program size. The findings suggest strategies for institutions to increase success at securing F31s and modification of policy to promote more equitable distribution of F31s across institutions.

Academic Burnout, Family Functionality, Perceived Social Support and Coping among Graduate Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Academic burnout and the COVID-19 pandemic have greatly impacted the academic life and mental health of graduate students. This study aims to address the mental health issue in graduate students by relating it to family functionality, perceived social support, and coping with academic burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were gathered from a cross-sectional study with 519 graduate students across universities in Hungary and other European countries. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory Student, Family APGAR Index, the brief form of the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire, and the Brief Resilient Coping Scale were used to measure academic burnout, family functionality, perceived social support, and coping, respectively. Structural equations modeling was used for statistical analysis. The results revealed a negative effect of family functionality, perceived social support, and coping on academic burnout. The inverse relationship between perceived social support and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory was identified, and mediated by coping and family functionality. These findings may offer patterns and predictors for future graduate students and higher-education institutions to identify outside factors that are implicated in academic burnout, especially in outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Increasing faculty support, respect, and ability to help doctoral students explore non-academic research career opportunities.

We examined the role of the NIH-funded Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) program at Wayne State University in increasing faculty (1) support for doctoral students exploring non-academic research opportunities, (2) respect for non-academic research, and (3) ability to help students with non-academic research career exploration. Ninety-seven faculty participated in one or more BEST activities over a five-year period. Fifty-three of those faculty (55%) completed an online survey about their participation in the program and their support, respect, and ability to help students explore non-academic research careers. Sixteen of these faculty were also interviewed in depth about their perspectives on the role professional development can play in enhancing faculty perspectives about non-academic research career options for their students. The survey and interview data reveal some changing perceptions of BEST faculty participants in their attitudes toward and respect for non-academic research careers, as well as in their ability to help students in career exploration. These faculty perceptions correlated with their level of participation in BEST activities. Importantly, this study also showed that some faculty believe they lack the experience and connections outside of academia to adequately support doctoral students' career exploration. The results of this NIH-funded BEST program on faculty attitudes underscore the influence of federally funded programs in changing institutional attitudes towards supporting student career choices that have broad societal impact.

Predictors of UK postgraduate researcher attendance behaviours and mental health-related attrition intention.

High rates of postgraduate researchers (PGRs) terminate their studies early. This attrition can have detrimental personal consequences, and results in a loss of productivity, and research and innovation for the higher education sector and society as a whole. PGRs are vulnerable to the experience of mental health problems; a factor that appears to be increasing attrition amongst students in the UK. However, investigation of the determinants of problems with PGRs' attendance and influencing intention to discontinue their studies is rare. Here, we consider the relative predictive validity of a set of putative predictors (mental health symptoms, demographic, occupational, psychological, social, and relational) of attendance behaviours (absenteeism, presenteeism, mental health-related intermission) and early attrition intention amongst UK PGRs. Depression, anxiety, and suicidality predicted attendance behaviours and greater attrition intention. Individual demographic and occupational factors predicted all outcomes. Psychological, social and relational factors had less predictive validity, although individual variables in these conceptual clusters did significantly predict some outcomes. Our results suggest that interventions to reduce high rates of mental health problems are likely to improve attendance behaviours, and reduce the extent to which PGRs intermit or consider ending their PhD studies for mental health-related reasons. Initiatives designed to improve supervisory relationships and reduce loneliness may also reduce absenteeism, intermission and attrition intention.

Tears and cheers: A narrative inquiry of a doctoral student's resilience in study abroad.

The existing literature has revealed many issues related to Ph.D. students' wellbeing, such as anxiety and stress, which are likely to cause Ph.D. student attrition or dropout. As one of the key coping strategies against psychological burnout, resilience has received increasing attention among various teacher groups. However, it still lacks a systematic understanding of students, in particular overseas Ph.D. students. This article explores doctoral students' resilience through a narrative inquiry into the resilience-building process of a Ph.D. student in language and linguistics, Hongxia, in the United Kingdom. Drawing on the research methods and results of resilience from teachers, this study examines Hongxia's lived experience as a Ph.D. student throughout her 3 years of learning and research and uncovers the dynamic and multifaceted process of resilience building as the interplay between Ph.D. students' agency, peers, supervisors, academics, families, and friends. The current research supports the value of narrative inquiry, in particular critical story analysis, as a tool for studying the resilience-building processes in Ph.D. students during their candidature. It also hopes to provide insight for administrators, supervisors, and other related stakeholders on their intervention to support and facilitate the research journey of doctoral students.

BMEntored: Enhancing the First-Year Experience in a BME Doctoral Program.

We describe our experiences with the first offering of a new program, BMEntored, for supporting first-year doctoral students in Biomedical Engineering (BME) during their first semester. The goal of BMEntored was to enhance the first-semester experience of first-year doctoral students in BME with an emphasis on guiding students in selecting a research supervisor and promoting cross-cohort, cross-lab social connections.

The Development and Validation of the Doctoral Student Identity Scale.

Objective: Based on how the identity of doctoral students is recognized and understood in the context of Chinese culture, we developed a doctoral identity scale using both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Methods: The initial project of the Scale was formed through qualitative analyses and expert consultation. Nine hundred and ninety-one doctoral students were officially tested, and 982 valid questionnaires were obtained. They were randomly divided into two parts, and 491 of which were assessed for item Response Theory (IRT) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and 491 of which were assessed for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Subjective Well-Being Scale (SWB), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), and the Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (PSSM) were used to test its the criterion-related validity. One hundred and forty-one students were selected for retesting after 8 weeks. Results: The doctoral student identity questionnaire consisted of two factors identity exploration and identity commitment, explaining 57% of the total variance. The results of CFA showed that the two-factor model fitted the data well. The two dimensions of the Doctoral Student Identity Scale were significantly and positively correlated with the two dimensions of the SWB scale (0.32-0.66), the latent factor of the RSE scale (0.42-0.55), and the latent factor of the PSSM scale (0.52-0.62). Composite reliability values for exploration and commitment were 0.79 and 0.83 respectively, and the values of McDonald's omega for exploration and commitment were 0.81 and 0.85 respectively. The test-retest reliability of the total questionnaire was 0.842. Conclusion: The Doctoral Student Identity Scale was developed with good reliability and validity, and can be used as a reliable tool for measuring the doctoral student identity. In addition, the questionnaire will provide corresponding ideas and methods for studying the identity issues of specific groups.

Cultivating the Interpersonal Domain: Compassion in the Supervisor-Doctoral Student Relationship.

The long-term and complex supervisor-doctoral student relationship is often characterised by tension and frictions. In higher education research, models, and interventions that take the potential beneficial interpersonal effects of compassion into account seem to be scarce. Hence, the aim of this study was to conceptualise the potential role compassion could have in the cultivation of an affiliative and sustainable supervisor-doctoral student relationship. The concept of compassion was investigated and analysed in relation to a contemporary model of supervisor behaviours. Furthermore, a systematic literature search in the scientific databases PubMed, PsychInfo, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar was performed. The conceptual analysis revealed that the interpersonal domain, in which compassion could afford a shared sense of warmth, is neglected in previous definitions. Furthermore, the integration of compassion into a model of adaptive supervisor behaviour indicates a strong case for a salutary role for compassion in the supervisor-doctoral student relationship. However, the literature review showed that empirical data are lacking, and more studies are needed. The role of compassion deserves to be investigated empirically in this particular interpersonal context.

Understanding the Transient Nature of STEM Doctoral Students' Research Self-Efficacy Across Time: Considering the Role of Gender, Race, and First-Generation College Status.

Developing research self-efficacy is an important part of doctoral student preparation. Despite the documented importance of research self-efficacy, little is known about the progression of doctoral students' research self-efficacy over time in general and for students from minoritized groups. This study examined both within- and between-person stability of research self-efficacy from semester to semester over 4 years, focusing on doctoral students in biological sciences (N = 336). Using random intercept autoregressive analyses, we evaluated differences in stability across gender, racially minoritized student status, and first-generation student status. Results showed similar mean levels of self-efficacy across demographic groups and across time. However, there were notable differences in between-person and within-person stability over time, specifically showing higher between-person and lower within-person stability for racially minoritized and first-generation students. These findings indicate that racially minoritized and first-generation students' research self-efficacy reports were less consistent from semester to semester. Such results may indicate that non-minoritized and continuing-generation students' experiences from semester to semester typically reinforce their beliefs about their own abilities related to conducting research, while such is not the case for racially minoritized nor first-generation students. Future research should examine what types of experiences impact self-efficacy development across doctoral study to offer more precise insights about factors that influence these differences in within-person stability.

DNP and PhD scholarship: Making the case for collaboration.

BACKGROUND: The Institute of Medicine calls for meaningful collaboration between doctor of nursing practice (DNP)- and doctor of philosophy (PhD)-prepared nurses to improve health outcomes. PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to answer the questions: 1) how do Colleges of Nursing influence DNP and PhD collaboration for faculty and students? 2) how does DNP and PhD collaboration in an academic setting impact health care practices and patient outcomes? METHODS: Two examples of DNP and PhD collaboration (one faculty and one student) are presented. RESULTS: Shared faculty responsibilities and a supportive organizational culture influenced collaboration between faculty and students. Research and practice roles can complement and strengthen each other while improving health outcomes. CONCLUSION: Colleges of Nursing should build processes and culture that encourage faculty and students to collaborate across doctoral programs. Successful intraprofessional collaboration has the potential to positively impact healthcare quality, and outcomes, while advancing the nursing profession.

Doctoral students' well-being: a literature review.

PURPOSE: Doctoral student well-being is an important matter that shapes the well-being of academics throughout their careers. Given that well-being has been found to be closely related to employee productivity and efficiency, strategies associated with maintaining well-being during PhD studies might be crucial for higher education, its outcomes and-just as importantly-for a balanced life of PhD students.  Method: Based on 17 studies, this literature review critically assesses the literature on doctoral student well-being.  Results: Theoretical models, concepts of well-being, and methods applied are discussed, as are the results of the articles. The reviewed studies are then discussed based on a SWOT analysis addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed research as well as the identified opportunities and threats, which can be used as a basis for future research. Based on the review findings and the SWOT analysis, a multidimensional view of the well-being of doctoral students is proposed.  Conclusions: The study proposes a more student-centred approach to meeting doctoral students' needs, and the enhancement of doctoral student well-being in order, as a long-term goal, to improve academics' well-being and productivity.Doctoral student well-being is an important matter that shapes the well-being of academics throughout their careers. Given that well-being has been found to be closely related to employee productivity and efficiency, strategies associated with maintaining well-being during PhD studies might be crucial for higher education, its outcomes and-just as importantly-for a balanced life of PhD students. Based on 17 studies, this literature review critically assesses the literature on doctoral student well-being. Theoretical models, concepts of well-being, and methods applied are discussed, as are the results of the articles. The reviewed studies are then discussed based on a SWOT analysis addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed research as well as the identified opportunities and threats, which can be used as a basis for future research. Based on the review findings and the SWOT analysis, a multidimensional view of the well-being of doctoral students is proposed. The study proposes a more student-centred approach to meeting doctoral students' needs, and the enhancement of doctoral student well-being in order, as a long-term goal, to improve academics' well-being and productivity.

Reflecting on the learning opportunities of presenting at a conference.

Background Research productivity is a major indicator of higher educational institutions' (HEI) academic performance. The increasing focus on research productivity is resulting in an expectation that academics publish their research initiatives, ideas and developments in their scope of work or area of interest. It can influence academic status and compel nursing academics to undertake higher degrees, including PhDs or other doctoral studies. Aim To articulate a nurse academic's reflection on presenting her doctoral thesis at an international conference and to encourage students to embrace the dissemination of research. Discussion In HEIs, academic work and research compete with each other. For the academic who is also a doctoral student, attending research conferences for knowledge and dissemination can be challenging and emotionally labouring. Conclusion It is important that doctoral students from the nursing professions engage in research dissemination at local and international level. This can improve their confidence, appreciation of research in terms of methodologies, findings, interventions and presenting styles. It can also help to develop confidence in articulating their own research epistemology and ontology while networking. Implications for practice Attendance at conferences contributes to the development of the doctoral student's confidence, knowledge, research capability, ability to identify good research practice and to engage in peer review.

Understanding Doctoral Nursing Students' Experiences of Blended Learning: A Qualitative Study.

The concept of blended learning in the field of nursing and medicine has been accepted. Blended learning has been extensively used thanks to the development of communication technologies and the availability of Internet services. Meanwhile, experiences-based research, by all accounts, can help the expansion of such a learning modality. Therefore, this study was designed to explain nursing doctoral students' experiences of blended learning. To attain this goal, a descriptive phenomenology method was used to illustrate experiences as they are experienced by the participants in the study. With regard to the nature of the investigated phenomena and the existing methods for the inductive analysis, Colaizzi's method of data analysis was used. The findings of the study led to the discovery of three main themes: "failure", "synergy" and "specific interaction". Each of the themes has been further divided into some sub-themes.

Subject Election of TCM Pharmaceutics PhD in the View of Funded Hotspots of NSFC / 中国中医药信息杂志

Objective To statistically analyze financing of subjects of TCM preparation of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC);To guide subject election of TCM pharmaceutics PhD. Methods Investigation and analysis were raised in this article in terms of application projects, amount of money, winning bid, and main responsible units of TCM preparation subjects of NSFC. Results Totally 186 funding projects with 60.58 million yuan were funded in the past 13 years. Liposome, nanoparticle, and micelle appeared frequently as new medicine delivery system. Meanwhile, microdialysis and pharmacokinetics were the hotspots of winning bid. Conclusion Based on the key questions in the development of TCM pharmaceutics and technological means of cross disciplines, subject election of TCM pharmaceutics PhD was suggested to focus on evaluation technique and quality evaluation system of new medicine delivery system. Meanwhile, the balance among basic researches, applied researches, and sustainable researches is also important.

Finding Disseration RAs within a PhD Student's Budget.

Participant recruitment can be a challenge to researchers, especially for those with limited resources and time. Doctoral students may need research assistants to recruit participants and complete data collection in a timely manner, but lack the experience and skills to find appropriate help for hire. By working closely with an adviser or mentor, doctoral students can successfully hire and lead a team of research assistants. This article provides concrete tips for doctoral students when hiring research assistants, and perspectives from a doctoral mentor-student dyad.

Reform practice of medical statistics teaching for medical doctoral students / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Aiming at the cultivation goal and requirements as well as the current status of learning and applying medical statistics for medical doctoral students, a new idea of medical statistics teaching for medical doctoral students that combined theory with practice, science research and paper writing was proposed, with respect to improving the teaching content, teaching with clinical cases, enhancing the teaching material development, paying attention to the computer practice, and providing the writing standard for research papers.

Culture Conditions Optimization of Magnetotactic Bacteria WM-1 / 现代生物医学进展

The culture of Magnetospirillum magneticum WM-1 depends on several control factors that have great effect on the magnetic cells concentration. Investigation into the optimal culture conditions needs a large number of experiments. So it is desirable to minimize the number of experiments and maximize the information gained from them. The orthogonal design of experiments and mathematical statistical method are considered as effective methods to optimize the culture condition of magnetotactic bacteria WM-1 for high magnetic cells concentration. The effects of the four factors, such as pH value of medium, oxygen concentration of gas phase in the serum bottle, C:C (mtartaric acid: msuccinic acid) ratio and NaNO3 concentration, are simultaneously investigated by only sixteen experiments through the orthogonal design L16(44) method. The optimal culture condition is obtained. At the optimal culture condition (pH 7.0, a oxygen concentration 4.0%, C: C (mtartaric acid: msuccinic acid) ratio 1:2 and NaNO3 100 mg l-1), the magnetic cells concentration is promoted to 6.5×107 cells ml-1, approximately 8.3% higher than that under the initial conditions. The pH value of medium is very important factor for magnetic cells concentration. It can be proved that the orthogonal design of experiment is of 90% confidence. The results from the hysteresis of WM-1 shows that Hc = 230 Oe, Ms = 0.9 emu/g dry wt. Cells,and Mr / Ms = 0.50.

On the Cultivation of Doctoral Students in Higher Education Science / 中华医学教育探索杂志

To cultivate doctoral students of higher education science,doctoral supervisors should choose some potential ones,and provide all kinds of condition,create a good academic atmosphere,and inspirit them to self-realization.