Socio-Economic and Health Indicators’ Relation to Self-Assessed Health: A Case Study of Phai Tha Pho, Phichit Province, Thailand

Background: Self-assessed health (SAH) is used as a common method of sociology research to understand the implications of self-reported health and the link to social factors like education, income, and occupation. The paper explores the impact of socio-economic and health indicators on self-assessed health in the middle-aged to the senior population in a rural community in Thailand. Methods: Primary data were collected after conducting a randomized sampling for 100 people using direct interviews in two locations within the sub-district of Phai Tha Pho, Thailand. The target demographic was the middle-age to elderly population. A logit model was applied to the collected samples. Results: The study highlights that higher education, income, and sleep are high predictors for positive SAH while high blood sugar level has significant adverse effects on SAH. Detection of metabolic syndrome further indicates degraded overall health perception over time. Conclusion: The study demonstrated the relationship between socio-economic indicators and illnesses alongside individual SAH in rural Thailand. Accordingly, policies have been proposed that include targeted subsidies for healthy food alternatives, promoting work-rest balance at all levels, and an expansion of sub-district education up to secondary school. SAH can be performed regularly and expanded across communities including areas of low-income living due to its low implementation costs. It could also be used as a tool to support the government’s public health initiatives complementing the existing five-year direct health check-up programme. A comparative study of SAH across regions is recommended for future research.

Dilemmas and Optimization of Third-Party Assessment System in Chinese Fair Competition Review

The current predominant self-review mechanism by policy-making bodies suffers from deficiencies such as insufficient motivations, limited review capabilities, and weak external supervision. Third-party assessment, characterized by independence and specialization, is designed to mitigate these shortcomings. However, the implementation of third-party assessment faces challenges too. This paper intends to improve the third-party assessment system and to realize the legislative purpose of the system. Based on social research, discussions and exchanges with relevant parties, and the existing research results, this paper analyzes the challenges and possible optimization measures for the third-party assessment. The challenges include repulsion from policy-making bodies, insufficient independence of assessment bodies, disparity of assessment quality, and limited application of assessment outcomes. Possible optimization measures include promoting fair competition culture, increasing the acceptance of third-party assessment from policy-making bodies, enhancing the quality of third-party assessment, clarifying the relationship between policy-making bodies and assessment bodies, ensuring the independence of third-party assessments, and promoting the application of assessment results.

Assessment of psychological predictors of weight loss:How and what for?

Obesity is a multifactorial disease and the prominent factors playing a role in its pathogenesis are biological, environmental and psychological. There is a growing interest in understanding psychological functioning of obese subjects and the influence of psychological factors on treatment outcome. The aim of the present narrative review is to critically analyze the current literature, in order to point out the most common psychological constructs studied in obesity and to give an overview of the main existing tools investigating psychological features which have been considered significant for the prediction of success in weight loss and maintenance programs in obese patients. In this framework, the most common psychological constructs studied are: self-motivation, self-efficacy, locus of control, health related quality of life, self-esteem, self-control, concerns about body image, outcome expectations, and personality traits. These features have been explored through a wide variety of psychometric instruments. However, as an overall, studies evaluating the association between psychological features and treatment outcome failed to give consistent results. A possible explanation may consist on the fact that many tools widely used to explore psychological features were not specifically designed for obese patients and none of them was comprehensive of all possible psychological features involved. The identification of well-defined subgroups of patients and the validation of more reliable and comprehensive tools, specifically designed for obese subjects, should be forecasted in order to reach a better knowledge of psychological functioning of obese individuals and to improve the outcome of weight loss programs.

Waterlogging risk assessment based on self-organizing map(SOM)artificial neural networks:a case study of an urban storm in Beijing

Due to rapid urbanization, waterlogging induced by torrential rainfall has become a global concern and a potential risk affecting urban habitant's safety. Widespread waterlogging disasters haveoccurred almost annuallyinthe urban area of Beijing, the capital of China. Based on a selforganizing map(SOM) artificial neural network(ANN), a graded waterlogging risk assessment was conducted on 56 low-lying points in Beijing, China. Social risk factors, such as Gross domestic product(GDP), population density, and traffic congestion, were utilized as input datasets in this study. The results indicate that SOM-ANNis suitable for automatically and quantitatively assessing risks associated with waterlogging. The greatest advantage of SOM-ANN in the assessment of waterlogging risk is that a priori knowledge about classification categories and assessment indicator weights is not needed. As a result, SOM-ANN can effectively overcome interference from subjective factors,producing classification results that are more objective and accurate. In this paper, the risk level of waterlogging in Beijing was divided into five grades. The points that were assigned risk grades of IV or Vwere located mainly in the districts of Chaoyang, Haidian, Xicheng, and Dongcheng.

Re-examining Geos Neighbourhood for Its Energy Self-sustained Ability Through Ecological Footprints, Net Energy, and Life Cycle Assessment Tools

There are mounting evidences that human consume significant quantities of resources and have a major impact on the environment. Some research indicates that since the 1980s human demands on the biosphere have exceeded its regen-errative capacity. One way to solve this problem is to minimize the inappropriate ex-ploitation from environment. This essay wil focus on energy self-sustained project, which is a specific way to reduce energy requirements. Energy self-sustained project refers to that energy production is equal to the amount consumed. Three concepts are quoted in the fol-lowing to assess whether the project achieve zero-energy or not. First, ecological footprint, which provides an indication of the human load on the biosphere, is uti-lized to measure the inputs and outputs of the bioregion, which is also beneficial for defining the potential energy. Another one is life cycle assessment, which evaluates environmental load that relates to the entire life periodic system of a product, is helpful to measure the products used in the energy self sustained project. In addi-tion, net energy, and gross resource abundance, definitions for selection, or hierar-chy of different energy resources, can evaluate the new energy resources in project. Geos Neighbourhood, located in colorado, was planned as the largest net-zero energy neighbourhood in the United States. To meet the energy self sustainability, earth and sun power completely sustain the community＇s energy needs, and re-place al fossil fuels. Compared with the traditional communities, Geos Neighbour-hood minimize the adverse impact on the environment. As tools for assessment, ecological footprint, life circle assessment, and net energy, are al used to analyse the planning and design principles in the neighbourhood. By the research, the de-sign principles and energy use in Geos Neighbourhood wil be re-examined that whether the zero energy project achieves the reduction of ecological footprint, and energy self sustainability. In addition, life circle assessment wil re-examine the ma-terials used in the community also. Final y, the concept of ＇net energy＇ wil test solar energy and earth power which is the major energy used in Geos Neighbour-hood.

Development of Commonsense Knowledge Modeling System for Psychological Assessment in Clinical Psycho

According to the Buddhist philosophy, hatred （dosa） is considered as one of the three unwholesome roots which determine the actual immoral quality of volitional states and a conscious thought with its mental factors. Hatred, then, comprises all degrees of repulsion from the faintest trace of ill-humour up to the highest pitch of hate and wrath. Thus, ill-will, evil intention, wickedness, corruption and malice are various expressions and degrees ofdosa. A hateful temperament is said to be due to a predominance of the type of dosa, apo, vayu and semha. Vedic psychology forms the clinical core of mental health counseling in the Ayurvedic medical tradition. According to Ayurvedic medical practises, a person is dominated on one of constitutes type （type ofdosa） namely vata （vayu）, pita （apo） or kapha （semha）. This is known as prakurthi pariksha. Important aspect of identification of constitute type is for diagnosis of mental diseases, because each of constituent type has a list of probable mental diseases. An important area of expertise for many clinical psychologists is psychological assessment. Constructions of information systems using psychological assessment in clinical psychology have a problem of effective communication because of implicit knowledge. This complicates the effective communication of clinical data to the psychologist. In this paper, it presents an approach to modeling commonsense knowledge in clinical psychology in Ayurvedic medicine. It gives three-phase an approach for modeling commonsense knowledge in psychological assessment which enables holistic approach for clinical psychology. Evaluation of the system has shown 77% accuracy.

Design and Application of XL-1 Psychological Quality Assessment Device

Objective: Through the application of the physiological indicator of heart rate variability by some equipments, to assess the psychological quality objectively, quickly and accurately instead of subjectively in the current methods of the assessment. Methods: Apply the new psychological assessment system to collect the signal of heart rate variability which will be converted to waveforms in time-domain and frequency-domain to analyze people's psychological state. Results: According to heart rate variability parameters in the time domain and frequency domain, we can analyze the autonomic nervous system functions objectively and accurately, then assess mental state. Conclusion: Heart rate variability plays an important role in the psychological assessment system, which has broad prospects for the future development.

The Impact of Repeated Death Conference Participation on Nurses’ Terminal Care and Nursing in Death Conference Using the Death Conference Nursing Self-Assessment Sheet

Background: Increasing the number of DC (Death Conference) experiences, nurses are expected to improve the quality of nurses’ terminal care and developing nursing minds. Therefore, there is a need for further evidence on the impact of repeated DC experiences on nurses’ terminal care. Aim: This study aims to clarify the impact of repeated DC experiences on nurses’ terminal care and nursing in DC using the prepared Death Conference Nursing Self-Assessment Sheet. Method: The study is approved by the Ethics Review Board of St. Mary’s College, Chukyo Gakuin University, and the hospital where the survey was conducted. This study was an observational and cross-sectional study using an anonymous, self-completed questionnaire composed of the newly created Death Conference Nursing Self-Assessment Sheet. Its evaluation items in the Death Conference Nursing Self-Assessment sheet consist of four categories (Cooperation, Future direction of nursing, Specific measures for nursing, and Feeling of the nurse) and 14 questions. The questionnaires were conducted on 144 nurses in the ER, ICU, and Palliative Care Ward (Hospice Ward) in a general hospital in Japan. For analysis, JMP ver.14.2 was used to perform Fisher’s exact test, Wilcoxon/Mann Whitney test, univariate, and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Thirty-four participants (23.6%) who answered the number of DC experiences were included in the final analysis. Seventeen nurses had DC experiences, and 17 had no experience. There were significant differences in all of the above categories impacting nurses’ terminal care and nursing in DC. Conclusion: Repeated DC affected nurses’ terminal care and nursing in DC using the Death Conference Nursing Self-Assessment Sheet. In the future, verification of the reliability, validity of the questionnaire, and more evidence of the way of terminal concerns by raising the quality of DC for developing nursing minds will be needed.

Development of a Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Nurses’ Risk-Taking Behavior in Medication

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to prepare a self-assessment questionnaire for nurses’ risk-taking behavior (RTB) in medication and to develop a reliable and valid questionnaire. Method: In the first study, a draft of the self-evaluation questionnaire for nurses’ RTB in medication was prepared based on the literature study and qualitative analysis of important case information included in the Project to Collect Medical Near-miss/Adverse Event Information Annual Report of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Following the studies, face validity was confirmed, and a questionnaire survey was conducted for nurses who oversee medication nationwide to verify the reliability and validity. Result: The number of subjects was 586 (valid response rate: 94.1%). Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis showed that 4 factors and 12 items for the RTBs in daily life and 4 factors and 20 items for RTBs in medication could be extracted. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the fit of the hypothetical model obtained by exploratory factor analysis. In addition, Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.888. Thus, high reliability and validity were obtained. A correlation was found by comparing the total scores of each RTB factor with the incident/accident group, and a standard for self-evaluation value could be established (p < 0.01). Conclusions: We were able to develop a self-assessment questionnaire for nurses’ risk-taking behavior in medication. This questionnaire will be used by nurses to find out their trends.

Differences in Self-Assessment Regarding Eating Behaviors among Female University Students Living in Japan, Korea, and Austria

Objective: To investigate cross-cultural differences in self-assessments of eating behaviors of female university students who bear responsibility for their own eating behaviors and who will, in the future, likely determine a family’s eating style. Design: A cross-cultural comparison. Setting: Japan, South Korea, and Austria. Subjects: Female university students from Japan (n = 276), Korea (n = 103), and Austria (n = 127). The survey comprised a questionnaire containing ten sections about eating behaviors (eating habits, regular meal times, and frequency of food intake) and eating attitudes. Results: Eating behaviors and attitudes differed significantly among the three cultures. Japanese students practiced healthier eating behaviors than did Korean and Austrian students, on the basis of their variety of food intake and regular consumption of three meals, but rated themselves lower on healthy eating behaviors. Austrian students tended to have more independent attitudes toward eating and food preparation (e.g., “I want to eat only my favorite dishes”) than Japanese or Korean students. Conclusions: Effects of cultural differences in psychological processes, such as self-cognition, emotion, motivation, and values, on self-assessment of eating behaviors is suggested.

Assessment:Reconsider its Role in Teaching and Learning

Teaching emphasizes what teachers do;learning emphasizes what pupils understand.Assessment emphasizes what pupils can show they know.The purposes for assessment are:diagnosis,evaluation,guidance,grading:selection and prediction.Assessment has two main functions:summative assessment and formative assessment.Formative assessment is used in the development or improvement of educational process.It’s the assessment for learning.Summative assessment is used in decision-making at the end of a educational process.It’s the assessment of learning.Formative assessment enables teachers to gain detailed information on the difficulty for each student.Educational assessment should be best suited for its purpose for guiding the learning and teaching.Formative assessment should be high lightened and needs to be fixed in the teaching and learning process.\;

Psycho-emotional content of illness narrative master plots for people with chronic illness:Implications for assessment

Illness narratives are stories of illness told by patients with chronic illness. One way of studying illness narratives is by considering illness narrative master plots.An examination of illness narrative master plots has revealed the importance of psycho-emotional information contained within the story that is told. There is a need for research to capture this information in order to better understand how common stories and experiences of illness can be understood and used to aid the mental well-being of individuals with chronic illness. The current editorial provides a suggestion of how this is possible. This editorial identifies that stories can be "mapped" graphically by combining emotional responses to the illness experience with psychological responses of the illness experience relating to hope and psychological adaptation. Clinicians and researchers should consider the evidence presented within this editorial as:(1) A possible solution for documenting the mental wellbeing of individuals with chronic illness; and(2) As a tool that can be used to consider changes in mental well-being following an intervention. Further research using this tool will likely provide insights into how illness narrative master plots are associated together and change across the course of a chronic illness. This is particularly important for illness narrative master plots that are difficult to tell or that are illustrative of a decline in mental well-being.

Cognitive screening for adult psychiatric outpatients: Comparison of the Cognivue® to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

In this editorial we comment on the article by Cahn-Hidalgo D published in a recent issue of the World Journal of Psychiatry 2020;10(1);1-11.We focus on the importance of utilizing psychometrically valid cognitive screening tools when assessing for cognitive decline in older adults in a psychiatric outpatient setting.We compared the use of Cognivue®to use of the montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)as a cognitive screening tool.A total of 58 patients aged 55 and over participated in this comparison study.Patients completed cognitive screening on Cognivue®,a new Food and Drug Administration-cleared computer screening device,and the MoCA.The results of patient performance using these two instruments were analyzed.Sixteen(28%)patients screened negative for cognitive impairment on both assessments.Forty-two(72%)patients screened positive on one or both of the assessments.There was 43%agreement between Cognivue®and the MoCA in identifying patients with cognitive impairment,and individual subtests were weakly correlated.The MoCA was determined to be the preferred instrument due to its high sensitivity and specificity(100%and 87%,respectively)when screening for cognitive impairment.We propose that the use of Cognivue®cognitive screening tool be closely reviewed until more research proves that the test meets the standards for reliability and validity.It is important for clinicians to remember that screeners should not be used to diagnosis patients with neurocognitive disorders;instead,they should be used to determine whether further evaluation is warranted.Additionally,misdiagnosing of neurocognitive disorders can pose unnecessary psychological and emotional harm to patients and their families and also lead to incorrect treatment and undue healthcare costs.

The Relationship between Assessment Skills and Nursing Knowledge

This research aimed to clarify the relationship between nursing students’ levels of structural knowledge and assessment skills. Participants were 17 third-year university students majoring in nursing who participated individually in the experiments. The experiments included a nursing-scene task, free-recall task, and sorting task. Experiments were conducted before and after their clinical practice. Each student’s level of structural knowledge was calculated from the free-recall and sorting task responses, and each student’s assessment skill was calculated from the nursing-scene task responses. Levels of structural knowledge were significantly higher in post-examination compared with pre-examination (p p n = 5) had significantly higher scores for their conclusions and reasons than the low-structured group (n = 5) (p p < 0.10). Well-structured knowledge of students in the high-structured group seemed to enable them to acquire and activate highly related information during assessment. Students in the high-structured group apparently made assessments not only by using information given but also by over viewing information comprehensively.

A study evaluating the effect of Educational Needs Assessment Tool (ENAT) focused patient education, on health outcomes in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Protocol of an ongoing study

Aims and objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a patient education tool (the ENAT) on self efficacy, patient knowledge, health outcomes and its usability in practice. Background: The effectiveness and value of patient education in rheumatoid arthritis have been questioned. The ENAT was developed to help the nurses to provide more focused, individualized and relevant education. The psychometric properties of the ENAT have been assessed. Design: This study is a single blind randomized controlled trial using both quantitative and qualitative methodology. The primary outcome is patient self efficacy. Secondary outcomes are physical function, psychological status, pain levels, social interaction and patient knowledge of disease. Methods: 130 RA patients will be randomized into an experimental (EG) or control group (CG). The EG patients will complete the ENAT prior to seeing a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) at weeks 0, 16 and 32. The CNS will use the ENAT as a template to meet patients perceived educational needs in addition to the usual care. The CG will receive their usual care from the CNS without the aid of the ENAT. To determine the ENAT’s usability, semi-structured quailtative interviews will take place with the practitioners and a sample of patients once they have completed the quantitative arm of the study. Results: The study commenced in April 2011 and the results are expected to be available after April 2013. Conclusions: It is hypothesized that nurses’ use of the ENAT will lead to increased patient self efficacy, and improved patient knowledge and health outcomes among the patients who used it. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that the ENAT will be easy for staff and patients to use. Relevance to clinical practice: The ENAT was developed to assess the perceived educational needs of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and thus help the nurses to provide more focused, individualised and relevant education.

Review on Psychology Research Based on Artificial Intelligence Methodologies

The field of psychology and health care are often viewed as very different. One of the main differences between these two fields is the application of prediction. When it comes to physical health, the health care and the medical field can predict outcomes of an individual’s health based on things like diet, exercise, and genetic makeup. Psychology is a little bit different;psychologists are great at predicting behavioral changes in patients, but the prediction of an individual’s mental health is not up to par with the prediction of physical health in the medical field for several factors. The scope of this study is to highlight how artificial intelligence has been applied to the field of psychology. In particular, how machine learning and deep learning technologies have been used to predict developmental risks of mental health disorders and risk of suicidal/self-injurious behaviors, as well as how artificial intelligence can be used to detect levels of depression.

The Acceptance and Use of Computer Based Assessment in Higher Education

Computer Based Assessment (CBA) is being a very popular method to evaluate students’ performance at the university level. This research aims to examine the constructs that affect students’ intention to use the CBA. The proposed model is based on previous technology models such as Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Usage of Technology (TAUT). The proposed CBA model is based on nine variables: Goal Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, Computer Self Efficacy, Content, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Playfulness, and Behavioral Intention. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire from 546 participants who had used the computer based exam system at the University of Jordan. Results indicate that Perceived Playfulness has a direct effect on CBA use. Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Computer Self Efficacy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, Content and Goal Expectancy have only indirect effects. The study concludes that a system is more likely to be used by students if it is playful and CBA is more likely to be playful when it is easy to use and useful. Finally, the studied acceptance model for computer based assessment explains approximately only 10% of the variance of behavioral intention to use CBA.

The Effective Implementation of Formative Assessment in College Students' Listening Class

The purpose of this assignment is to provide the features of formative assessment and discuss its impact on students' learning, especially in the area of listening improvement, as well as to provide possible suggestions for teachers to improve Chinese learners' learning under the present assessment system.

Self-assessed health and its aspects in the case of Mongolia

Self health assessment is a simple indicator that is widely used for measuring an individual’s perception of his or her overall health. Many studies have been conducted by way of showing which particular aspects should be included in health self assessment, especially in developed world. In the developing world, however, very few studies have examined self health assessment. The aim of this study was to identify particular aspects and associations in self health assessment and differences between subgroups in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The area sampling approach and Kish tables were used for selecting respondents. Total 500 respondents were surveyed by paper-based questionnaires. Spearman’s analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to show relations between variables. Sociodemographic status, such as age and gender, proved to be important in self health assessment. Other factors affecting self health assessment included the number of family members, daily life and lifestyles, social environment, community motivation, and utilization of health services. Women, the elderly, or people with less-than- normal access to information suffer from poor self-assessed health. People who are socially inactive and who have poor living conditions are less likely to use health care services and are likely to assess their health as “poor.” In order to reduce the poor self-assessed health status it is important to address disparities in socioeconomic factors, such as age, gender, employment, and residential area. In addition, more attention should be paid to community and health services, as well as to health promotion and empowerment activities, including income-generation activities. Further research is also needed, however, for better understanding of about the local people and their health-related issues.