To improve the quality of research, it is necessary to understand the obstacles to undertaking research. This study aimed to identify: I) internal obstacles to research as considered by faculty members at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences; ii) differences between their viewpoints by gender and professional variables; and iii) the effect of these obstacles on research activity. Six types of ...

This paper provides a first step in addressing special considerations for youth in a relatively new area of physical activity research. After reviewing the urgent need for novel approaches to increasing physical activity, the growing interest in the effects of community design are discussed. Although most discussion on this topic has focused on adults, there are important differences between yo...

Italy is undoubtedly a country of great contradictions: a magnificent artistic heritage and a wonderful landscape in constant threat of negligence and bad administration, if not from corruption. Italy has the record of the most ancient university in Europe—Alma Mater Studiorum was established in Bologna about three centuries earlier than the university in Heidelberg—but it is, at the same time,...

BACKGROUND A lack of authentic learning opportunities influence the quality of emergency training of nursing students. The purpose of this article is to describe how the step-up action research model was used to improve the quality of trauma-related educational practice of undergraduate nursing students. OBJECTIVES To reduce deaths caused by trauma, healthcare workers should be competent to p...

Over the past decades, emphasis has been placed on the changing nature of work and new forms of risk that could negatively affect employee health and safety. These are mainly associated with new types of occupational hazards that have been termed psychosocial. Issues such as work-related stress, bullying and harassment are now receiving attention on a global basis and efforts have been made to ...

The focus of this article is quality assurance in nursing research. Due to well established problems regarding the education of nursing research and increasing pressure to take responsibility for the quality of all educational activities, departments of nursing are obliged to initiate actions to assure quality in nursing research. A nursing department functions within a well-defined external co...

Scientific workforce diversity is critical to ensuring the realization of our national research goals and minority-serving institutions play a vital role in preparing undergraduate students for science careers. This paper summarizes the outcomes of supporting career training and research practices by faculty from teaching-intensive, minority-serving institutions. Support of these faculty member...

To advance social ecological research, tools are required to better assess the contextual nature of physical activity outcomes. This study describes the development of a detailed log booklet to capture relevant episode-specific data, including location and purpose, about participants' free-living activity patterns. The log was developed using definitions and questions from existing physical act...

This article is a follow up to an earlier publication that developed the rationale for using conversation as a metaphor to teach research writing. We presented this proposed teaching approach at several conferences, including WILU in May 2005 at Guelph, Canada. The discussions with participants in these presentations validated the tenets of the conversational metaphor for research writing. Here...

BACKGROUND Research positions embedded within healthcare settings have been identified as an enabler to allied health professional (AHP) research capacity; however, there is currently limited research formally evaluating their impact. In 2008, a Health Practitioner industrial agreement funded a research capacity building initiative within Queensland Health, Australia, which included 15 new alli...