Migrant doctors’ narratives about patients

Narratives of personal and vicarious experience are part and parcel of being a doctor, as doctors routinely (re)interpret and (re)tell patients’ narratives when reflecting on clinical cases. Taking an interest in migrant doctors’ self-initiated narratives about patients in doctor-researcher interviews about cultural transitions, this study examines over thirty hours of audio-recordings of forty semi-structured interviews conducted as part of a collaborative project in Chile and Hong Kong. The study explores how migrant doctors construct their professional ‘self’ through narratives about patients, and how these narratives help migrant doctors legitimise their arguments and professional stance in criticizing cultural and societal attitudes towards health and illness, and the professional practices of local doctors. Finally, the paper reflects on the ways in which migrant doctors’ identity positionings provide space for the creation of a “symbolic territory” in which the practices of migrant doctors co-exist within the boundaries of the practices of local doctors in the host culture.

Sexuality education and early childhood educators in Ontario, Canada: A Foucauldian exploration of constraints and possibilities

Open conversations regarding sexuality education and gender and sexual diversity with young children in early childhood education settings are still highly constrained. Educators report lacking professional training and fearing parental and community pushback when explicitly addressing these topics in their professional practices. As such, gender and sexual diversity and conversations of bodily development are left silenced and, when addressed, filtered through heteronormative and cisnormative frameworks. Through a Foucauldian post-structural lens, this article analyses data from open-ended qualitative questions in a previous research study regarding early childhood educators’ perceptions on discussing the development of sexuality in early learning settings in an Ontario, Canada context. Through this Foucauldian post-structural analysis, the authors discuss forms of surveillance and regulation that early childhood educators experience in early learning settings regarding the open discussion of gender and sexuality. The authors explore how both the lack of explicit curricula addressing gender and sexuality in the early years in Ontario and taken-for-granted notions of developmentally appropriate practice, childhood innocence, and the gender binary – employed in discourses of sexuality education in the early years – regulate early childhood educators’ professional practices. The authors provide recommendations which critique the developmentalist logics – specifically, normative development – that are used to silence non-heterosexual and non-cisgender identities in the early years, while articulating the need for explicit curricula for educators in the early years regarding gender and sexuality in young children.

Adapt or Perish: How Forced Transition to Remote Simultaneous Interpreting during the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Interpreters’ Professional Practices

This article discusses the results of a survey carried out among 132 simultaneous interpreters with Polish as their working language, summarising their professional experience during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of the forced transition to the remote mode of simultaneous interpreting and the related technical and organisational challenges, this survey captured the early experience of working remotely (mostly from home), as well as the adaptations necessitated by the new situation in terms of changes in working modalities and tools, particularly in the home environment. The article also presents the surveyed interpreters’ expectations regarding the role and place of remote simultaneous interpreting in their future professional practices.

Examining the Range and Scope of Artists’ Professional Practices With Individuals With Palliative Care Needs: An International, Cross-Sectional Online Survey

Background: Internationally, it is recognized that artists facilitate arts engagement with individuals with palliative care needs. There is a gap in the literature describing the range and scope of artists’ professional practices in palliative care. The aim of this study was to examine an international range of professional practices among artists who work in palliative care including key professionals’ perceptions of these practices.Methods: An international, cross-sectional, online survey was conducted with health professionals, artists, and program coordinators with experience with artists working in palliative care. This survey was part of a larger mixed methods study. An instrument was systematically developed to examine artists’ professional practices. Descriptive statistics were reported for the total sample including frequencies, means and standard deviations and open-ended items were analyzed thematically.Results: 101 valid surveys were analyzed. Findings outlined: (1) who delivers the arts; (2) where and with whom; (3) practice descriptors; and (4) perceptions of practice. Themes identified from open-ended items on benefits and risks of practice revealed impacts on patients and artists alike, including: (1) enhanced well-being; (2) vulnerabilities; and (3) facilitators and barriers.Conclusion: Findings demonstrated a wide range of artists’ practices in palliative and end-of-life care, featuring notable consistencies in international practice worth further exploration. Ongoing and international efforts examining artists’ practices in palliative care contribute to the development of future research, policy and practice.

Perceptions about special education and giftedness between psychologists and psychology students: some reflections

Due to the different possibilities of psychology in special education, an exploratory study was carried out on the perception of psychologists (n = 64) and psychology students (n = 70) about this area. Participants answered a questionnaire containing two parts. The first had six open questions, and the second, 14 myths associated with giftedness. The results indicated, in general, gaps in training to work in the subject, to demonstrate little preparation to work in this area due to the limited presence of disciplines and, consequently, the lack of knowledge of professional practices. Professionals and students indicated the belief in false myths. Participants also reported that they do not feel prepared to work with this audience, especially gifted individuals. Overall, the study indicated the importance of reformulating psychology training to work in ​​special education so that its professionals feel prepared to deal with this specific audience that they may be asked to attend in their professional practice.

Experiences and perceptions of academics about student engagement in higher education

This article examines the experiences and perceptions of academics about student engagement and how their professional practice in a professional community enhances students’ persistence and success in a university in South Africa. While previous research has widely focused on students’ perception of how student engagement enhances student success and persistence, there is a paucity of research on the position of academics who constitute a professional community on how they could enhance student engagement in higher education. To address this knowledge gap, a qualitative research approach was used to gather and analyse data from a sample of 26 academics who shared their perceptions and experiences about how they contribute to enhancing student engagement in the university. Consequently, four main themes were explored to provide conceptual and empirical structure to the notion of engagement among academics in an expert community: institutional structure and culture, affective, behavioural and cognitive engagement. The results revealed that the cognitive, behavioural and affective features of student engagement as well as institutional structure and culture explain how academics experience and perceive how their professional practices enhances student persistence and success in relation to engagement. Particularly, the study shows that institutional culture, expert culture, professional community and institutional structure influence the perceptions and experiences of academics about student engagement. Conversely, when academics do not follow the expert and academic cultures of the institution, it could lead to poor professional practices that are antithetical to student persistence and success.

A Study of Methodology for Ranking of Academic Institutions in India through NIRF

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was approved by the MHRD and launched by Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development on 29th September 2015. The parameters broadly cover “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”. In each parameter, percentile score using the log-function has been derived, which gives - where the Very few institutions have got the accreditation, whereas ranking is open to all. Ranking is a reflection of the yearly performance of the institutions. The overall score can take a maximum value of 100. The institutions can then be rank-ordered based on their scores.