Students’ Perceptions of Video-based Tasks in the “American English File” Series: a Survey at People’s Security University

This study was a survey design conducted with the aim of exploring non-English major students' perceptions of video-based tasks in listening classes. The data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively through two main research tools, namely Likert-scale questionnaires and semi-structured focus group interviews respectively. First, quantitative data was collected through the questionnaires delivered to 86 non-English major students with the use of Google forms to investigate how they perceive video-based tasks in the AEF series in terms of three components, namely Goals, Input, and Procedures. Then, qualitative data, which was gathered from two focus groups of student volunteers, was used to confirm and supplement the findings from the first tool. It was then discovered that the student participants' responses to the video-based tasks in American English File (AEF) series are generally positive. Moreover, students can improve their listening ability, have more motivation in listening lessons as well as better acquire real-life input from the videos.

Integrating Service Learning With Systemic Change

This chapter examines the redesign of the Petey Greene Program (the PGP), which prepares undergraduate and graduate student volunteers at 30 higher education institutions to tutor people in prison. Through a redesign process, the PGP shifted from a service learning organization that only supplements existing prison education programs with volunteer tutors to one that also pursues systemic improvement in educational access for justice-impacted people and facilitates volunteer activism. The chapter explores how service learning programs may perpetuate unjust systems if they are not integrated into systemic change initiatives and offers a guide for using service learning programs as a platform for pursuing systemic change. The case study illustrates how higher education institutions can partner with external organizations to educate justice-oriented citizens who understand and address the structural root causes of injustice.

Implementing a service learning Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program: Recruiting college student participants and understanding the benefits to all stakeholders

Service learning for business students is an important activity for learning professionalism while adding volunteer and leadership experiences to their resume. The purposeful inclusion of in-field volunteerism in the accounting curriculum by participation in the USA’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program each spring offers a host of additional benefits for students, as well as their communities and educational institutions. To better understand and identify these stakeholder benefits, the authors surveyed participants and found that students gained both career building work skills and community and social awareness, while community participants increased their personal satisfaction. Given the overall student benefits from participation, the second phase of the exploratory research examined ways to increase student participation for future VITA programs, because the success of any VITA program depends on both the strength and the presence of sufficient student volunteers. Faculty suggestions for recruiting are presented along with areas for future research.

21st Century Good Neighbor Program: An Easily Generalizable Program to Reduce Social Isolation in Older Adults

Aim: In this once-in-a-lifetime humanitarian crisis, what does it mean to be a good neighbor? It means that as a community, we must address loneliness and barriers to care faced by vulnerable populations such as older adults. We share an inexpensive longitudinal experiential service-learning program implemented by health professions and undergraduate student volunteers that aims to help alleviate loneliness in older adults while imparting meaningful experiences to volunteers.Intervention Design and Setting: The 21st Century Good Neighbor Program is an observational cohort study of an experiential service-learning program started in May 2020, and this article shares the results collected after 1 year. This longitudinal, weekly phone call program was conducted in a single community setting in the Midwestern part of the United States. Older adults over the age of 60 served by a local community service agency (CSA) were invited to participate. Volunteers consisted of students 18 or older. Student volunteers made regular phone calls to a pair of older adults throughout the course of 1 year following standardized call scripts. The loneliness of the older adults was measured by volunteers using the 3-item UCLA Loneliness Assessment.Results: 261 older adults were engaged in conversations with a volunteer. A total of 1,391 calls were accepted by older adults and the median length of a welcomed call was 11 min. The average baseline loneliness score was 4.156 ± 1.41 and the prevalence of social isolation was 19.5%. There was no significant change in the UCLA loneliness score in the first year of follow up. However, a majority of volunteers (88%) agreed or strongly agreed that the program had a positive impact on them. In addition, the program identified 257 issues older adults faced that required follow-up. The most prevalent concerns referred to the community service agency by volunteers were issues related to utilities, food and transportation access.Conclusion: The 21st Century Good Neighbor Program is a unique intervention in which student volunteers and older adults paired by a community service agency forge relationships though a longitudinal phone call-based program. This easy-to-implement program provides another layer of support to identify and refer issues that impact social determinants of health. The added benefit of volunteer satisfaction in the setting of COVID 19 pandemic is heartening. We hope to continue to study the impact of this intervention on social isolation in this vulnerable population.

Does Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Matter to College Students’ Sustained Volunteering? A Mixed-Methods Study

Based on the self-determination theory (SDT), this study used a mixed-methods (i.e., quantitative and qualitative approaches) design to explore the role of basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS) played in sustained volunteering. Quantitative analysis of 803 college student volunteers revealed that competence and relatedness need satisfaction had significant associations with sustained volunteering, while autonomy need satisfaction did not. Furthermore, latent profile analyses identified five profiles of BPNS: low (Profile 1), relatively low (Profile 2), moderate (Profile 3), low autonomy-high competence and relatedness (Profile 4), and high (Profile 5). Volunteers in Profile 4 and Profile 5 reported higher sustained volunteering than those in other profiles. Subsequent qualitative synthesis of interview data from 33 college student volunteers found that competence need satisfaction (45.58%) was mentioned most frequently among the factors promoting sustained volunteering, then followed by relatedness (27.43%) and autonomy need satisfaction (11.06%). These findings highlight the important role of BPNS, especially competence and relatedness need satisfaction, in promoting college students’ long-term volunteering.

The Effects Of Leadership, Family Of Origin, And Self-Efficacy In Predicting Anticipated Work-Family/Family-Work Conflict In Student Volunteers

Balancing work and family roles proves to be a rather difficult task for most individuals. The social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, and Hackett 1994) states that to reach positive outcomes in the work domain, people need to develop self-efficacy through adequate learning experiences. With this study, we tested the importance of two contexts that can provide valuable learning experiences: family and volunteering. Thus, we verified the relationship between the division of labour in the family of origin, respectively, authentic leadership use in the volunteering organization and anticipated work-family and family-work conflict in a sample of student volunteers. Self-efficacy in dealing with the conflict between the two domains was used as a mediator. One hundred and ten students who were also volunteers at the time of the study participated in this research. A series of mediation models showed significant indirect effects from family and volunteering experiences on the conflict between work and family. Spillover effects were also confirmed. This study provides an understanding of how positive contexts such as equitable division of labour in the family and having an authentic leader in the volunteering organization help students develop their self-efficacy, which also contributes to anticipating lower levels of conflict between the work and family domains.

A seven-year analysis of the role and impact of a free community eye clinic

Background The Indiana University Student Outreach Clinic (IUSOC) Eye Clinic is a monthly student-run eye clinic that provides free visual screening to the Near East Side community of Indianapolis, IN, USA. Screening includes assessments of visual acuity, intraocular pressure, peripheral visual fields, refraction, and non-mydriatic fundus photography. Methods This is a retrospective chart review of 875 patients seen at the IUSOC Eye Clinic from October 2013 to February 2020. Data on demographics, insurance coverage, ocular history, physical examination, suspected diagnosis, referral status, and glasses provided were collected and analyzed. Results 875 patients were seen at the IUSOC Eye Clinic from October 2013 to February 2020. 39.2% of the patients seen at the clinic reported being uninsured. 61.4% of patients were found to have visual acuity of 20/40 or worse, while 51.3% of patients were found to have a near visual acuity of 20/40 or worse. 20.3% of patients were referred to the local county hospital for further evaluation by an ophthalmologist, 14.4% of patients received free glasses prescriptions, and 27.9% of patients received free reading glasses. Common reasons for referral for further ophthalmology evaluation included glaucoma, decreased visual acuity, and diabetic retinopathy. An estimated value of services provided over the seven years of the clinic was 1271 relative value units. Conclusion The IUSOC Eye Clinic fills an important role in advancing ocular health and preventing irreversible blindness in an underserved Indianapolis community. Additionally, the clinic demonstrates an educational model for involving medical student volunteers.

The little things are big: evaluation of a compassionate community approach for promoting the health of vulnerable persons

Background Vulnerable persons are individuals whose life situations create or exacerbate vulnerabilities, such as low income, housing insecurity and social isolation. Vulnerable people often receive a patchwork of health and social care services that does not appropriately address their needs. The cost of health and social care services escalate when these individuals live without appropriate supports. Compassionate Communities apply a population health theory of practice wherein citizens are mobilized along with health and social care supports to holistically address the needs of persons experiencing vulnerabilities. Aim The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of a compassionate community intervention for vulnerable persons in Windsor Ontario, Canada. Methods This applied qualitative study was informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. We collected and analyzed focus group and interview data from 16 program stakeholders: eight program clients, three program coordinators, two case managers from the regional health authority, one administrator from a partnering community program, and two nursing student volunteers in March through June 2018. An iterative analytic process was applied to understand what aspects of the program work where and why. Results The findings suggest that the program acts as a safety net that supports people who are falling through the cracks of the formal care system. The ‘little things’ often had the biggest impact on client well-being and care delivery. The big and little things were achieved through three key processes: taking time, advocating for services and resources, and empowering clients to set personal health goals and make authentic community connections. Conclusion Compassionate Communities can address the holistic, personalized, and client-centred needs of people experiencing homelessness and/or low income and social isolation. Volunteers are often untapped health and social care capital that can be mobilized to promote the health of vulnerable persons. Student volunteers may benefit from experiencing and responding to the needs of a community’s most vulnerable members.

An Assessment of Dementia Caregivers’ Interaction With Community-Based Services

Respite care is an important service to address caregivers' stress and fatigue when caring for a person with dementia (PWD). YouthCare is a non-medical, at-home, intergenerational respite care program that partners trained student volunteers with PWDs. The Family Caregiver Survey was created and distributed to caregivers of PWDs in Los Angeles to better understand interactions with the community and its caregiver services. The survey assesses caregivers’ demographics, daily activities, mental health, and the type of respite support needed. The survey findings (n=47) show that 53.2% of caregivers are 54 and older and 83% females. 40.4% of the caregivers listened to the radio primarily in the morning while 61.7% watched television in the afternoon to evening time. For transportation of PWDs to and from destinations, 78.3% of caregivers reported using their own vehicles. In regards to their mental health, 61.7% of the caregivers stated that they felt tired and unmotivated to complete daily activities. When asked why they sought respite services, 40% stated that they were overwhelmed by the responsibilities in addition to their own work. The groups that primarily support caregivers are family and professional respite services. Findings indicate that caregivers are most likely to trust resource recommendations from family and friends. Similar surveys should be administered in other cities and in rural locations to improve the generalizability of our findings.

Tricuspid Regurgitant Jet Velocity Point-of-Care Ultrasound Curriculum Development and Validation

Introduction: The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) recommends that Emergency Medicine physicians with advanced training can evaluate right ventricular (RV) pressures via point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) by measuring a tricuspid regurgitant jet (TRJ). We were unable to find a published curriculum to deliver education for this at any skill level. Therefore, we developed, delivered, and evaluated a curriculum for the assessment of TRJ for novice physician sonographers. Methods: We designed an educational intervention for novice physician sonographers. The curriculum was created using a modified Delphi methodology. All novice sonographers participated in the educational intervention which consisted of a didactic lecture followed by hands-on-deliberate practice on healthy medical student volunteers with expert feedback in a simulated setting. Sonographer’s knowledge was assessed at 3 time points: pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 3 months post-intervention (retention assessment) by multiple choice exam. Results: Nine novice physician sonographers participated in the intervention. Mean exam performance increased from 55.6% [standard deviation (SD) 11.3%] on the pre-intervention exam to 94.4% (SD 7.3%) on the post-intervention exam and 92.9% (SD 12.5%) on the retention exam. The mean improvement between the pre- and post- exam was +38.9% (95% CI 31.8 - 46.0), and between the pre-exam and retention exam +37.1% (95% CI 22.3 - 52.0). Conclusion: Sonographer knowledge of TRJ assessment improved following a brief educational intervention as measured by exam performance. Given the expanding role of POCUS it is increasingly important to provide effective resources for teaching these skills. This work establishes the basis for further study and implementation of our TRJ curriculum.