<p> This project report served as a framework for an aging and disability lifestyle blog named Evolving Abilities. It listed resources and highlighted the vitality and value in aging with a disability by promoting a realistic and dynamic perspective written by a disability gerontologist. The niche audience targeted people aging with disabilities (or chronic health conditions). Evolving Abilities supported connectedness and full inclusion by addressing ageism and ableism.</p>

<p> An important goal of nursing education is to produce graduates who are problem solvers and competent clinical practitioners able to practice in a very complicated health care environment; reflection and inquiry are two ways to accomplish this goal. This qualitative study explored how eight senior baccalaureate nursing students developed in their ability to utilize reflection and inquiry at higher stages over time through the use of the online clinical post-conference conducted as an asynchronous discussion board. Transcripts of participant postings were examined weekly to determine the stage of reflection and inquiry displayed and a comparison was done to determine if the stages increased over time. Boud's model of the reflective process and the practical inquiry model of Garrison, Anderson, and Archer provided the theoretical framework for this study. </p><p> Findings from this study demonstrated that participants developed in their ability to utilize reflection and inquiry at higher stages over time by engaging in the online clinical post-conference and that the online clinical post-conference was an effective venue that encouraged the use of reflection and inquiry. The social aspect of the online clinical post-conference (reading others' posts, having others read and comment on their posts, and asking each other questions) was seen as promoting learning from peers. </p><p> Findings of this study could be used by nurse educators to change their pedagogy to produce nurses who learn from experiences and are lifelong learners. Nurse faculty should consider incorporating the use of reflection, inquiry, and the online clinical post-conference in all clinical courses.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Educational and Counselling Psychology. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/02/12). Includes bibliographical references.

<p> Over 85% of all adults are active on social media. Social media is challenging as an information-sharing community because there is no formal review process before the information is published. College students are among the most active users of social media and have been shown to be ineffective in determining credible information online. Eighty-three students from two universities participated in a voluntary, online survey that assessed the relationship between gender, enrollment year, and academic major of college students and how the students navigated social media to obtain nutrition information. Variables were tested using a chi-square analysis; if determinants were <i>n</i> &lt; 5 a Fisher&rsquo;s exact test was run. </p><p> Results indicated that female students were significantly more likely to use Instagram, <i>x</i>² = 5.224, <i>p</i> = 0.022 or Pinterest, <i>p</i> = 0.002, to access nutrition information and placed higher importance on the quality of photos than males, <i> x</i>² = 4.953, <i>p</i> = 0.026. Additionally, female students were more likely to search for healthy recipes, <i>x </i>² = 11.044, <i>p</i> = 0.001, weight loss information, <i>x</i>² = 7.675, <i>p</i> = 0.006, and to trust chefs, <i>x</i>² = 6.863, <i>p</i> = 0.009 and food bloggers, <i>p</i> = &lt; 0.001. Descriptively, it was found that students are more likely to search for broad nutrition topics such as general nutrition tips, weight loss, and healthy recipes. Students were found to trust both credible (registered dietitians, physicians) and non-credible professionals (personal trainers, nutritionist). Future research should expand on how students use social media for nutrition/health information using a larger, more culturally diverse subject pool with a more detailed focus on implications of social media as a nutrition source.</p><p>

Cette thèse explore les multiples rationalités à l’œuvre derrière la production et la publication en masse d’information de santé en langue française sur le web. Une clarification des notions essentielles entourant l’univers de l’e-santé facilite l’appréhension de l’état des lieux de ce domaine et du contexte de cette étude. La méthodologie mobilisée est décrite de façon détaillée : depuis la constitution d’un corpus à partir de contenus ciblés extraits de 367 sites jusqu’à l’interprétation des données collectées. Douze profils-types d’éditeurs composant le paysage du web de la santé ont émergé de l’exploitation de ce corpus, eux-mêmes classés dans quatre grandes catégories. Pour chaque type d’éditeur défini, quatre caractéristiques distinctives sont examinées : les différents acteurs concernés, les informations diffusées sur leurs sites, leurs modèles économiques, ainsi que les objectifs qu’ils déclarent. Les analyses approfondies menées sur ces critères déterminants sont confrontées aux résultats d’autres travaux de recherche issus de disciplines hétérogènes pour dégager les principaux enjeux qui sous-tendent la mise en ligne d’information de santé à destination du grand public. / This thesis explores multiple logics of action at work behind the production and widespread dissemination of health information in French on the Web. Key e-health concepts are clarified to facilitate understanding of the field and the study context. The methodology is described in detail from the constitution of a corpus of focused content from 367 websites to the interpretation of the data collected. Twelve standard publisher profiles in the e-health Web sector emerged from our analysis of the corpus, and were classified in four main categories. Four distinctive criteria were studied for each type of publisher: the stakeholders, the information available on their websites, their business models and their stated purposes. Analyses of these criteria were compared with results from other studies in a variety of fields in order to identify the key issues involved in launching e-health information for the general public.