Search Results (9,049)

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected the physical activity (PA) patterns of various social groups, including medical students. This study aims to compare the levels of PA, expressed in metabolic equivalent of task minutes per week (MET-m/w), among overweight and obese medical students, during and after the pandemic. The pandemic period was defined as spanning from 2020 to 16 May 2022, while the post-pandemic period covered the second half of 2022 through the end of 2023. PA levels were assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated based on self-reported weight and height. Only individuals with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² were included. In total, 233 medical students from Wroclaw Medical University were assessed during the pandemic, and 217 post-pandemic. PA was categorized into walking, moderate, and vigorous with total MET-m/w calculated. During the pandemic, no significant gender differences were observed in walking, moderate, vigorous, or total PA. Post-pandemic, males demonstrated significantly higher levels of vigorous PA (p < 0.001) and total MET-m/w (p < 0.0001) compared to females. These findings underscore the necessity for targeted interventions promoting PA among overweight and obese medical students, especially among females. Full article

This study investigates the impact of flipped learning (FL) with and without teacher feedback on resilience and perceived professional competence among university students. This quasi-experimental study, conducted over three academic years, involved 255 s-year students (mean age = 20.47 ± 2.63; 60.4% female) enrolled in a Primary Education Teaching degree program at a Spanish public university. Participants were divided into two treatment groups: Feedback FL and Non-feedback FL. Validated scales—the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and the Perceived Competence Scale for Students (PCNS)—were used for pre- and post-intervention assessments. Both groups demonstrated significant improvements in resilience and perceived competence, with no statistically significant differences between the Feedback FL and Non-feedback FL groups. Data analysis included Mann–Whitney U tests for inter-group comparisons, Wilcoxon tests for intra-group comparisons, and 2 × 2 repeated measures ANOVA, which revealed no interaction effects (Time × Treatment) for either variable. These results suggest that FL alone fosters the development of transversal skills such as resilience and perceived competence, regardless of teacher feedback. The findings highlight the effectiveness of active learning models like FL in higher education for promoting essential competencies. Future research should address additional soft skills and employ larger, more diverse samples to further explore the role of feedback and innovative methodologies in enhancing FL’s impact. Full article

Understanding and embracing positive attitudes toward disability are crucial for inclusive practices. Universities play a key role in shaping these attitudes, making higher education critical for promoting inclusion and understanding diversity. This study investigates the influence of career selection and academic progression on university students’ attitudes toward disability and the associated impact on their future professional practices. A total of 446 university students from Extremadura, studying across physical activity and sports science, occupational therapy, and early childhood education, participated in this comparative study. The Spanish Attitudes Toward People with Disabilities Scale for Professionals was administered to students in their first and final years of study. The results revealed significant variations in attitudes toward disability among the different disciplines and academic years. Early childhood education and occupational therapy students exhibited more positive attitudes compared to physical activity and sports sciences students in their first year. The attitudes improved significantly across all the disciplines from the first to the final year, with notable positive changes among early childhood education and occupational therapy students. This study highlights the role of educational pathways and practical experiences in fostering positive attitudes. Tailored coursework and practical training can promote better healthcare and inclusive educational practices in future health and education professionals. Furthermore, this study highlights the need to improve the approach to competences in the analyzed university programs. Full article

During the COVID-19 pandemic; it transpired that there were different influences contributing to the people’s (un)willingness to be vaccinated. In our research, we start from the assumption that religiosity may be one of the reasons for such behaviour. The online snowball sample covered 361 students of the teacher education faculties in Serbia. The questionnaire consisted of questions referring to the attitudes about vaccination and the questionnaire about religiosity. The independent variable was the level of the students’ religiosity, while the dependent variables referred to their attitudes about vaccination. The data were processed with the aid of non-parametric and descriptive statistics and ANOVA. The results showed that there were differences in the students’ attitudes about vaccination and that the level of religiosity had an important role in the shaping of the students’ awareness of the importance of vaccination. Thus, the starting hypothesis was confirmed that religiosity is one of the factors of influence contributing to the formation of the attitudes about vaccination against COVID-19, which affected the health-risky behaviour among young people during the pandemic of this disease. Full article

Traditional In-Person Semester-Length (IP-SL) courses often struggle with inherent time constraints, lack of flexibility, and geographic limitations, delaying effective learning and accessibility for students. Moreover, the extended duration of the Semester-Length (SL) structure reduce focus due to engagement with multiple subjects simultaneously, increased stress, and limited timely feedback and assessment. This study evaluates the Online Real-Time Block Model (ORT-BM), an intensive online model, highlighting its potential to enhance engagement, satisfaction, and inclusivity in project-based programs like construction in higher education. Building surveying as a critical field in construction is selected as the case study since professional surveyors must stay current with rapidly evolving building codes, regulations, and sustainability practices. However, the rigid structure of IP-SL courses often leaves graduates less prepared to meet industry needs. Conducting a comparative analysis of a case study, the Bachelor of Building Surveying program (NBBS) at Victoria University, the research compares three teaching models: IP-SL (2016–2018), In-Person Block Model (IP-BM, 2019–2020), and ORT-BM (2020–2023) using Student Evaluation of Units (SEU) data and Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) metrics. Findings, derived from SEU and QILT, reveal that ORT-BM improves student satisfaction, accelerates course completion rates, and fosters gender equity through inclusive learning environments while enhancing accessibility for geographically dispersed and disadvantaged students. By integrating advanced digital tools like virtual site visits, ORT-BM enhances professional readiness, aligning education with evolving industry standards. Future research may explore developing hybrid models to optimize cognitive load further, improve accessibility, and enhance flexibility. Full article

University student wellbeing, viewed as a crucial factor for academic achievement, has become a significant concern for educational systems worldwide due to the growing incidence of students with increased stress and emotional health problems. Adopting a cross-sectional research design, this study seeks to explore undergraduate students’ academic wellbeing within a Greek academic context by identifying profiles of academic wellbeing as reported by participants in our sample, examine the extent to which these profiles differ by their demographic characteristics, personality traits, and grit, and determine the effects of the big five personality traits and grit on student wellbeing. Data were collected using a convenience sampling method with 206 first-year Greek undergraduate students majoring in Agriculture and Forestry completing an online survey questionnaire. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct academic wellbeing profiles, i.e., low (‘the overwhelmed’), medium (‘the balanced’), and high (‘the resilient’), that statistically differed by gender, age, field of academic studies, grit level, and personality traits. No statistically significant association was found between overall student wellbeing, self-reported grit levels, and personality traits. However, stepwise multiple regression results showed that the grit subscale of consistency of interests negatively predicts certain aspects of student wellbeing outcomes leading to a decline in self-reported levels of wellbeing and increasing levels of negative emotions and meaninglessness. This study further discusses potential initiatives and interventions adopted to enhance student wellbeing in higher education. Full article

Transitioning from being a student to becoming a professional is challenging even though medical education provides periods of clinical practice and clerkships to support the transfer between university and the future work as a doctor. Using an ethnographic approach, we investigated how medical students navigated their clerkship in psychiatry. We applied the concepts from situated learning in the analysis of students’ navigation of discrepancies between course requirements and clerkship routines. The analysis shows different ways of navigating the clerkship, which all beget a parallel practice embedded in the clinical setting, where students choose to engage in tasks that directly prepare them for the university exam. The parallel practice is counterproductive for the student’s development of a professional identity, which is an important element of transitioning from being a student to becoming a medical doctor. Therefore, it is imperative to consider, if this undermines the university’s ambition of delivering doctors prepared for clinical practice. Full article

The undergraduate college years are a critical transition period for young adults in establishing life-long health behaviors. Background/Objective: Within the FRESH Study, we aimed to understand the relationship between perceived physical health, perceived mental health, and specific health metrics (e.g., physical activity, food insecurity, sleep quality) among college students following the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: First-year undergraduate students (n = 271) from an urban university were recruited in three study waves (2021–2022, 2022–2023, and 2023–2024). Participants answered online surveys on demographics, health perceptions, physical activity, dietary patterns, beverage consumption, food insecurity, stress, and sleep quality. Results: Overall, participants rated their physical health better than their mental health (‘good’, ‘very good’, or ‘excellent’; 89.6% vs. 62.2%), even though 30.7% were not of ‘healthy weight’ status, 34.5% did not meet physical activity recommendations, and 42.2% of students consumed some sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Students reporting suboptimal (‘fair’ or ‘poor’) physical and mental health were more likely to report food insecurity (p < 0.001, p = 0.010), poor sleep quality (p = 0.012, p < 0.001), and elevated stress (p = 0.001, p < 0.001). In addition, fast-food consumption (p < 0.001), breakfast consumption (p = 0.031), and food insecurity (p = 0.004) showed changes over three years. Conclusions: These findings call for targeted wellness initiatives addressing nutrition, food insecurity, stress management, sleep improvement, and physical activity among students and in university health programs. The FRESH Study emphasizes the need for continued longitudinal research to track health behaviors and inform future interventions. Full article

Tracking density in universities is essential for planning services like food, transportation, and social activities on campus. However, food waste remains a critical challenge in campus dining operations, leading to significant environmental and economic consequences. Addressing this issue is crucial not only for minimizing environmental impact but also for achieving sustainable operational efficiency. Campus food services significantly influence students’ university choices; thus, forecasting meal consumption and preferences enables effective planning. This study tackles food waste by analyzing daily campus data with machine learning, revealing strategic insights related to food variety and sustainability. The algorithms Linear Regression, Extra Tree Regressor, Lasso, Decision Tree Regressor, XGBoost Regressor, and Gradient Boosting Regressor were used to predict food preferences and daily meal counts. Among these, the Lasso algorithm demonstrated the highest accuracy with an R² metric value of 0.999, while the XGBRegressor also performed well with an R² metric value of 0.882. The results underline that factors such as meal variety, counts, revenue, campus mobility, and temperature effectively influence food preferences. By balancing production with demand, this model significantly reduced food waste to 28%. This achievement highlights the potential for machine learning models to enhance sustainable dining services and operational efficiency on university campuses. Full article

In the context of European migratory flows, the inclusion paradigm gives education the responsibility of welcoming, integrating, and training students in an environment that defends humanistic values of equity, respect and dignity. In higher education, this requires institutions to implement inclusive educational policies, promote supportive cultures, and adopt practices that promote change, development, and individual and social well-being. This study examines inclusion variables and their relationship with well-being in a sample of 256 higher education students, including immigrant (n = 107) and non-immigrant (n = 149) students. Immigrant students reported lower perceptions of inclusion across policies (p < 0.001), practices (p < 0.05), and cultures (p < 0.001) compared to their non-immigrant peers. Furthermore, structural equation modeling analysis revealed that inclusive practices of teachers and institutions are significantly associated with the well-being of all students (β = 0.33, p = 0.032). These results highlight the need to implement inclusive educational strategies in both intervention and research. In this context, innovative approaches to participatory research stand out. These approaches must consider the diversity of students, create conditions that promote the well-being of the entire school community, and promote an academic environment that is agentive, relational, and empathetic, and which supports the integration of immigrant students. Full article

Despite the growing body of research examining the personality traits of individuals with high abilities, little clarity exists about how they differ from the general population, especially within the university context. This study aimed to identify distinct personality traits by examining 268 high-ability university students alongside a matched average-ability group through a retrospective ex post facto design. Results revealed significant differences only in the trait of responsibility (p = 0.037), with lower scores observed among high-ability students. This outcome may be related to specific academic environmental factors, such as insufficient challenges. It can be concluded that, although stereotypes often associate high-ability students with certain personality traits, such as openness to experience, the present results do not reflect such differences. Therefore, it is important to conduct well-designed studies to determine the characteristics of high-ability individuals and how they differ from average-ability students. Full article

Under the pedagogical concept of sustainable development, an increasing number of interdisciplinary pedagogies are being applied in physical education, moving away from traditional face-to-face teaching methods. This study investigated the influence of blended learning on students’ engagement in physical education and the role of attitudes in this process. A questionnaire was used to validate the model based on a comprehensive literature review. PLS-SEM was used to assess the direct relationship between blended learning and learning engagement in physical education and the mediating influence of attitudes toward blended learning on these factors. The findings revealed that face-to-face sessions and students’ attitude toward blended learning positively affect their engagement in physical education. The results also indicated that students’ attitudes significantly mediate course design, learning experience, and face-to-face sessions with learning engagement. Based on the variable relationship, this study proposes a blended learning strategy rooted in the Five-star Teaching Model. By stimulating students’ initiative in learning, their attitude improved, enhancing their engagement in physical education classes. This research holds both theoretical and practical significance by improving the quality of physical education teaching and learning methods, offering novel insights into instruction in this field. Full article

This article presents views and experiences of staff, and learners from two Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)—the University of Nairobi in Kenya and UCL in the UK—on their intuitional structures, support, and education mechanisms related to disability, international and refugee status. Inclusive education is a complex subject and often the focus is particularly placed on learners with disabilities, but this study explored several layers of diversity. The objective of this study was to investigate the views and experiences of students and staff on policies and practices of inclusion and inclusive education using two case studies, one in each university. Data were collected through surveys and interviews. Results are presented in the following areas: (1) capacity building for staff; (2) support and reporting services for all; (3) class sizes; and (4) modes of course delivery. Findings reveal that implementation of inclusion and inclusive education is still a challenge for both HEIs. The gaps identified can be used as a reference point for action. Inclusion and inclusive education are necessary to ensure the needs of every learner and staff are met. The article is structured into five sections: a brief description of inclusive education in the two HEIs, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. Full article

This study investigated the impact of natural compound enrichment, specifically quercetin and trans, trans-farnesol (tt-farnesol), on the physicochemical properties of a universal adhesive system. A preliminary DPPH assay was conducted to determine the optimal concentrations of quercetin (0.24 mg/mL) and tt-farnesol (1.43 mg/mL) based on their radical scavenging abilities. These compounds were then incorporated into the adhesive system. Specimens (n = 5; 7 mm × 1 mm) of the adhesive system, both with and without the added compounds, were prepared and tested for water sorption, solubility, Knoop hardness, and softening percentage. Water sorption and solubility were measured after immersion in deionized water for 7 days, and Knoop hardness was measured before and after immersion in 75% ethanol. Softening percentage was calculated based on changes in hardness. Data on water sorption, solubility, and percentage of softening were submitted to the Student’s t-test (α = 5%) while Knoop hardness values were submitted to the Mann–Whitney test (α = 5%). Both quercetin and tt-farnesol exhibited important antioxidant activity (85.5% and 82%, respectively). Water sorption was similar for both groups (p > 0.05) but the experimental adhesive had a significantly higher solubility, lower hardness, and higher softening. The incorporation of quercetin and tt-farnesol into a universal adhesive system detrimentally affects its essential physicochemical properties, compromising its performance. Full article

As stated by the Goal Orientation Theory, students want to achieve a goal for multiple reasons, with each having a different impact on academic performance. This framework encompasses a three-factor model of goal achievement: a mastery goal, a performance-avoidance (PAv) goal, and a performance-approach (PAp) goal. Students may experience elevated stress levels and burnout due to adopting an ineffective approach to goal achievement. This can lead to a loss of interest in studies and even physical and psychological exhaustion. In severe cases, this may result in students abandoning their studies early. This study aims to integrate these factors into a comprehensive model. A cross-sectional study comprising 1497 Italian university students examined the mediating role of academic burnout (professional efficacy, cynicism, and emotional exhaustion) in the association between achievement goals (mastery, PAv, and PAp goals) and the intention to drop out (ID). The questionnaires were administered from October 2022 to September 2023. Structural equation modeling was employed to evaluate the association between variables. The results of the mediation analysis indicate that cynicism and professional efficacy fully mediate the association between mastery and dropout. Cynicism (β = −0.28, p < 0.001) and professional efficacy (β = −0.17, p < 0.001) were both negatively associated with ID, while they partially mediate the association between PAv goals and ID (cynicism: β = 0.21, p ≤ 0.001; professional efficacy: β = 0.05, p ≤ 0.001), and between PAp goals and ID via professional efficacy (β = −0.04, p ≤ 0.001). This study contributes to the currently limited literature on the relationship between achievement goals, burnout, and ID in a sample of university students. The findings of this study may have useful implications for the application of interventions that impact students’ well-being and academic success, potentially limiting their possible dropout. Full article