Abstract
Background
Electronic gaming is a popular free-time activity and its deleterious effects have been considered by the American Psychiatric Association and World Health Organization. More ...recently ‘Gaming Disorder’ (GD) has been added to the 11
th
revision of the International Classification of Diseases, while ‘Internet Gaming Disorder’ (IGD) remains as a tentative disorder in the 5
th
revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This study aimed to explore the characteristics of young gamers at risk for developing IGD.
Methods
To achieve this, a quantitative and nationally representative study was conducted in primary schools in Slovenia with eighth grade as the primary sampling unit (
N
= 1071, Mean
age
= 13.44 years, SD
age
= 0.59). Psychometric testing assessing IGD was conducted to identify participants’ IGD risk levels and to compare ‘high risk gamers’, ‘low risk gamers’, and ‘non-gamers’ in relation to free-time activities, self-control, and parent-child relationship. A one-way ANOVA analysis was conducted with Games-Howell post-hoc test to compare the three groups of participants. Statistically significant IGD factors were then included in a multinomial logistic regression analysis to identify the most relevant predictors of IGD.
Results
About 4.7% (
n
= 48) 95% CI: 3.4–6.0% of Slovenian adolescents were found to be ‘high risk gamers’ when considering risk of IGD. These were mostly males (
n
= 42, 87.5%), and their preferred leisure activities involved more screen time activities (e.g., watching TV, playing video games, using social media). Moreover, ‘high risk gamers’ showed significantly lower levels of self-control compared to ‘low risk gamers’, and poorer understanding with their parents. Perceived satisfaction with life and mental health did not differ significantly between the three groups. The multinomial logistic regression identified four key predictors of IGD: male gender, gaming as a frequent free-time activity, attending music school or a choir and self-control.
Conclusion
Public health measures should target adolescents at increased risk of developing IGD in early age because they are particularly drawn to excessive gaming behaviors and present greater IGD vulnerability.
Objective Although Problematic Internet Use (PIU) is an emerging area of study in psychology, little is known about the unique features of specific subgroups of internet users and their psychosocial ...vulnerabilities within robust and nationwide populations. Methods The aim of this study was to identify distinct latent groups of internet users based on their PIU risk and to compare their psychosocial outcomes. To achieve this, a nationally representative sample of adolescents of the same grade (N = 1,066, Mean.sub.age = 13.46 years, range = 12-16) was recruited from several schools in Slovenia through stratified random sampling. Results A Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) revealed a two-class solution, with Class 1 (n = 853, 80%) featuring 'low PIU risk' participants and Class 2 (n = 213, 20%) including 'high PIU risk' participants. Behaviorally, the main feature of Class 1 denoted 'time management difficulties' while Class 2 was best characterized by 'mood and time management issues'. Further frequentist and Bayesian analyses indicated that Class 2 presented greater psychosocial risk compared to Class 1 due to significantly higher levels of PIU (generalized and across specific PIU subfactors) coupled with lower levels of subjective well-being and self-control. Conclusions Contrary to what was initially envisaged, the two classes did not differ in terms of perceived quality in parent-child relationship. This study shows that PIU patterns and symptom-severity may be developmentally specific, further highlighting the need for clinically age-adjusted PIU screening practices within epidemiological and healthcare settings.
Since the inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in the latest (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a tentative disorder, a few psychometric ...screening instruments have been developed to assess IGD, including the 9-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale – Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) – a short, valid, and reliable instrument. Methods: Due to the lack of research on IGD in Slovenia, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the IGDS9-SF in addition to investigating the prevalence rates of IGD in a nationally representative sample of eighth graders from Slovenia (N = 1,071). Results: The IGDS9-SF underwent rigorous psychometric scrutiny in terms of validity and reliability. Construct validation was investigated with confirmatory factor analysis to examine the factorial structure of the IGDS9-SF and a unidimensional structure appeared to fit the data well. Concurrent and criterion validation were also investigated by examining the association between IGD and relevant psychosocial and game-related measures, which warranted these forms of validity. In terms of reliability, the Slovenian version IGDS9-SF obtained excellent results regarding its internal consistency at different levels, and the test appears to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess IGD among Slovenian youth. Finally, the prevalence rates of IGD were found to be around 2.5% in the whole sample and 3.1% among gamers. Discussion and conclusion: Taken together, these results illustrate the suitability of the IGDS9-SF and warrants further research on IGD in Slovenia.
Background and Originality: Patient safety is a very important component of quality which is often emphasised by health care managers and policymakers; however, its integration in national health ...policies and organisational measures is not self-evident. This paper explores how frequently Slovenian Community Health Centres (CHCs) report on patient safety and whether their reporting is consistent with the OECD definition of patient safety. The originality of this research is finding the actual value of patient safety for Slovenian CHC independently of official statements at national and organisational levels. Method: A qualitative descriptive analysis of the publicly available annual reports of twenty-six Slovenian CHCs with an integrated management system was conducted. Thematic analysis was applied to the term "safety" and related terms ("harm", "adverse" for adverse events, etc.). The frequency of these terms was reported, and the context of the words was explained. Results: In the annual reports, 11 different keywords related to safety, harm and adverse events were found, but only 6 keywords met the OECD definition of patient safety: patient safety education or preventive activities (n = 20); patient safety measures (n = 14); general healthcare safety (n = 3); drug safety, hygiene standards (n = 7); safety culture (n = 10); and risk management (harm prevention) (n = 8). These keywords were found in only 16 of 26 CHCs annual reports. Society: Patient safety is the responsibility of healthcare providers, both individuals and organisations. The social responsibility of CHCs is to report on patient safety in their annual reports, create a culture of safety, and take corrective action when necessary because their mission is to contribute to a higher quality of life for patients and society as a whole. This research shows that this is not always the case, even for CHCs with an integrated management system - not all have publicly available annual reports. The research is an incentive for all CHCs, not just CHCs with an integrated management system, to create a culture of safety, report on patient safety and learn from mistakes by developing safety protocols. Limitations / further research: The research was limited to CHCs with an integrated management system (n = 34) and publicly available annual reports (n = 26). It is crucial to conduct such research for all Slovenian CHCs and encourage them to report on patient safety. A true insight into the culture of patient safety must also include an analysis of the actions taken by the CHC management in recent years.
Quality of an academic study programme is evaluated by many: employees (internal evaluation) and by external evaluators: experts, agencies and organisations. Internal and external evaluation of an ...academic programme follow written structure that resembles on one of the quality models. We believe the quality models (mostly derived from EFQM2 excellence model) don't fit very well into non-profit activities, policies and programmes, because they are much more complex than environment, from which quality models derive from (for example assembly line). Quality of an academic study programme is very complex and understood differently by various stakeholders, so we present dimensional evaluation in the article. Dimensional evaluation, as opposed to component and holistic evaluation, is a form of analytical evaluation in which the quality of value of the evaluand is determined by looking at its performance on multiple dimensions of merit or evaluation criteria. First stakeholders of a study programme and their views, expectations and interests are presented, followed by evaluation criteria. They are both joined into the evaluation model revealing which evaluation criteria can and should be evaluated by which stakeholder. Main research questions are posed and research method for each dimension listed.
Digitization has become involved in every aspect of life, including the healthcare sector with its healthcare professionals (HCPs), citizens (patients and their families), and services. This complex ...process is supported by policies: however, to date, no policy analysis on healthcare digitalization has been conducted in European countries to identify the main goals of digital transformation and its practical implementation. This research aimed to describe and compare the digital health policies across four European countries; namely, their priorities, their implementation in practice, and the digital competencies expected by HCPs. A multiple-case study was performed. Participants were the members of the Digital EducationaL programme invoLVing hEalth profEssionals (DELIVER), a project funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme, involving three countries (Denmark, Italy, and Slovenia) and one autonomous region (Catalonia-Spain). Data were collected using two approaches: (a) a written interview with open-ended questions involving the members of the DELIVER project as key informants; and (b) a policy-document analysis. Interviews were analysed using the textual narrative synthesis and the word cloud policy analysis was conducted according to the Ready, Extract, Analyse and Distil approach. Results showed that all countries had established recent policies at the national level to address the development of digital health and specific governmental bodies were addressing the implementation of the digital transformation with specific ramifications at the regional and local levels. The words "health" and "care" characterized the policy documents of Denmark and Italy (309 and 56 times, 114 and 24 times, respectively), while "development" and "digital" (497 and 478 times, respectively) were common in the Slovenia document. The most used words in the Catalonia policy document were "data" and "system" (570 and 523 times, respectively). The HCP competencies expected are not clearly delineated among countries, and there is no formal plan for their development at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing educational levels. Mutual understanding and exchange of good practices between countries may facilitate the digitalization processes; moreover, concrete actions in the context of HCP migration across Europe for employment purposes, as well as in the context of citizens' migration for healthcare-seeking purposes are needed to consider the differences emerged across the countries.
Society is rapidly moving towards a digitalised future, encouraged by national and European guidelines and strategies. Use of computers, tablets and smartphones is not reserved only for adults: ...adolescents use them extensively for schoolwork and leisure activities. Although Internet use has many advantages, some students use it extensively in a way that harms them. The Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire used in a nationally representative sample of Slovenian primary school students in the eighth grade showed that one-quarter of them were problematic Internet users. Comparison of problematic and nonproblematic Internet users in the eighth grade showed different patterns of spending their free time: screen time prevailed in the first group. Problematic Internet users showed statistically significant lower levels of self-control in comparison with nonproblematic Internet users; they also reported a less favorable relationship with their parents. Evidence from abroad show that problematic Internet users among students are less successful at school. Career prospects of problematic Internet users are smaller, where discipline and self-control is expected. Adolescents need help in recognizing harmful effects of modern digital technologies and in learning to control their time spent on the Internet.
In our study, we developed new model of quality assessment in public administration. The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is frequently used in continental Europe for this purpose. Its use has many ...benefits, however we believe its assessment logic is not adequate for public administration. Upgraded version of CAF is conceptually different: instead of analytical and linear CAF we get the instrument that measures organisation as a network of complex processes. Original and upgraded assessment approaches are presented in the paper and compared in the case of self-assessment of selected public administration organisation. The two approaches produced different, sometimes contradictory results. The upgraded model proved to be logically more consistent and it produced higher interpretation capacity.
Internet use is an integral part of our everyday activities; however, Internet use may become problematic and harmful in a minority of cases. The majority of reported prevalence rates of problematic ...Internet use refer to adolescent samples, whereas epidemiological studies on representative adult populations are lacking. This study aimed to reveal the prevalence and characteristics of problematic Internet use in Slovenia.
Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ) was included in European Health Interview Study (EHIS) on representative Slovenian sample. The frequency of Internet use and problematic Internet use were both assessed.
59.9% of Slovenian adult population uses the Internet daily, and 3.1% are at risk of becoming problematic Internet users, 11% in the age group from 20 to 24 years. Those being at risk for becoming problematic Internet users are younger (mean age 31.3 vs. 48.3 for non-problematic users), more likely to be males (3.6% of males, whereas 2.6% of females are affected), students (12.0%), unemployed (6.3%) or unable to work (8.7%), single (6.5%), with high education (4.5%). Regression analysis revealed that the strongest predictor of being at risk for problematic Internet use is age (ß=-0.338, p<0.001); followed by high educational level (ß=0.145; p<0.001) and student status (ß=0.136; p<0.001).
3.1% of Slovenian adult population are at risk of becoming problematic Internet users, whereas 3 out of 20 Slovenian adolescents aged from 18 to 19 years are at risk (14.6%). Prevention programs and treatment for those affected are paramount, especially for the young generation.
Faculty programmes are supposed to address employers’ needs and expectations, therefore research in a form of employers’ needs assessment and employers’ satisfaction with graduates is recommended. ...Nursing graduates are not only expected to meet employers’ expectations, but also master key competences of Competence Framework, prescribed by European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN). Nursing profession is highly regulated; nursing students have to be capable to deliver effective and safe nursing care to vulnerable individuals, and to work independently as soon as possible after graduation. Angela Boškin Faculty of Health Care conducted two studies of employers’ assessment of nursing graduates’ competences: standardised quantitative questionnaire among employers and three focus groups with employers (for each health care level separately). The purpose of this article is to combine both approaches to acquire in-depth knowledge on competences of graduates of the faculty, namely: how much knowledge and competences do they achieve in various clinical areas and which competences are the most and which the least developed.
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