| 1. |
- Bälter, Katarina, et al.
(författare)
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A Web-Based Program About Sustainable Development Goals Focusing on Digital Learning, Digital Health Literacy, and Nutrition for Professional Development in Ethiopia and Rwanda : Development of a Pedagogical Method
- 2022
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Ingår i: JMIR Formative Research. - : JMIR Publications Inc.. - 2561-326X. ; 6:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: East African countries face significant societal challenges related to sustainable development goals but have limited resources to address these problems, including a shortage of nutrition experts and health care workers, limited access to physical and digital infrastructure, and a shortage of advanced educational programs and continuing professional development.Objective: This study aimed to develop a web-based program for sustainable development with a focus on digital learning, digital health literacy, and child nutrition, targeting government officials and decision-makers at nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Ethiopia and Rwanda.Methods: A web-based program—OneLearns (Online Education for Leaders in Nutrition and Sustainability)—uses a question-based learning methodology. This is a research-based pedagogical method developed within the open learning initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, United States. Participants were recruited during the fall of 2020 from ministries of health, education, and agriculture and NGOs that have public health, nutrition, and education in their missions. The program was conducted during the spring of 2021.Results: Of the 70 applicants, 25 (36%) were selected and remained active throughout the entire program and filled out a pre- and postassessment questionnaire. After the program, of the 25 applicants, 20 (80%, 95% CI 64%-96%) participants reported that their capacity to drive change related to the sustainable development goals as well as child nutrition in their organizations had increased to large extent or to a very large extent. Furthermore, 17 (68%, 95% CI 50%-86%) and 18 (72%, 95% CI 54%-90%) participants reported that their capacity to drive change related to digital health literacy and digital learning had increased to a large extent and to a very large extent, respectively.Conclusions: Digital learning based on a question-based learning methodology was perceived as a useful method for increasing the capacity to drive change regarding sustainable development among government officials and decision-makers at NGOs in Ethiopia and Rwanda.
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| 2. |
- Bälter, Katarina, et al.
(författare)
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Web-based and mailed questionnaires : A comparison of response rates and compliance
- 2005
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Ingår i: Epidemiology. - Karolinska Inst, Dept Med Epidemiol & Biostat, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden. : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 1044-3983 .- 1531-5487. ; 16:4, s. 577-579
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: We assessed response rates and compliance for a printed questionnaire and a Web questionnaire in a Swedish population-based study and explored the influence of adding personalized feedback to the Web questionnaire. Methods: We assigned 875 subjects to I of 3 groups: printed questionnaire, plain Web questionnaire, or Web questionnaire with personalized feedback. The questionnaire had 2 parts, first a general section and then a dietary section. Results: The response rate for the general section was 64% for the printed questionnaire, compared with 50% for the Web questionnaire with feedback. For the dietary questionnaire, the rates were reversed, resulting in a total response rate for the dietary questionnaire that did not differ between printed and web questionnaire with feedback. Conclusions: Interactivity in the Web questionnaire increased compliance in completion of the second section of the questionnaire. Web questionnaires can be useful for research purposes in settings in which Internet access is high.
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| 3. |
- Bälter, Olle, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Demands on web survey tools for epidemiological research
- 2005
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Ingår i: European Journal of Epidemiology. - Karolinska Inst, Dept Med Epidemiol & Biostat, Stockholm, Sweden. : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0393-2990 .- 1573-7284. ; 20:2, s. 137-139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In countries where the Internet access is high, a web-based questionnaire could save time and money compared to printed questionnaires, mainly by eliminating the two steps of transferring answers from printed to a digital data set and manually completing missing and impossible answers. However, many of the features wanted for conducting large epidemiological studies are not available in many web survey systems. Here we describe design issues the investigator needs to be aware of when using web-based questionnaires in epidemiological research.
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| 4. |
- Bälter, Olle, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of Personalized Email-Based Reminders on Participants' Timeliness in an Online Education Program : Randomized Controlled Trial
- 2023
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Ingår i: JMIR Formative Research. - : JMIR Publications Inc.. - 2561-326X. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Postsecondary students need to be able to handle self-regulated learning and manage schedules set by instructors. This is particularly the case with online courses, as they often come with a limited number of social reminders and less information directly from the teacher compared to courses with physical presence. This may increase procrastination and reduce timeliness of the students. Reminders may be a tool to improve the timeliness of students' study behavior, but previous research shows that the effect of reminders differs between types of reminders, whether the reminder is personalized or general, and depending on the background of the students. In the worst cases, reminders can even increase procrastination. Objective: The aim of this study was to test if personalized email reminders, as compared to general email reminders, affect the time to completion of scheduled online coursework. The personalized reminders included information on which page in the online material the participants ought to be on at the present point in time and the last page they were on during their last session. The general reminders only contained the first part of this information: where they ought to be at the present point in time. Methods: Weekly email reminders were sent to all participants enrolled in an online program, which included 39 professional learners from three East African countries. All participants in the Online Education for Leaders in Nutrition and Sustainability program, which uses a question-based learning methodology, were randomly assigned to either personalized or general reminders. The structure of the study was AB-BA, so that group A received personalized reminders for the first unit, then general reminders for the rest of the course, while group B started with general reminders and received personalized reminders only in the third (and last) unit in the course. Results: In total, 585 email reminders were distributed, of which 390 were general reminders and 195 were personalized. A Bayesian mixed-effects logistic regression was used to estimate the difference in the probability of being on time with one's studies. The probability of being on time was 14 percentage points (95% credible interval 3%-25%) higher following personalized reminders compared to that following general reminders. For a course with 100 participants, this means 14 more students would be on time. Conclusions: Personalized reminders had a greater positive effect than general reminders for a group of adults working full-time while enrolled in our online educational program. Considering how small the intervention was-adding a few words with the page number the student ought to be on to a reminder-we consider this effect fairly substantial. This intervention could be repeated manually by anyone and in large courses with some basic programming.
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| 5. |
- Bälter, Olle, et al.
(författare)
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English-medium instruction and impact on academic performance: a randomized control study
- 2023
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Ingår i: Applied Linguistics Review. - : Walter de Gruyter GmbH. - 1868-6311 .- 1868-6303. ; In Press
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Stakeholders and researchers in higher education have long debated the consequences of English-medium instruction (EMI); a key assumption of EMI is that students' academic learning through English should be at least as good as learning through their first language (usually the national language). This study addressed the following question: “What is the impact from English-medium instruction on students’ academic performance in an online learning environment?” “Academic performance” was measured in two ways: number of correctly answered test questions and through-put/drop-out rate. The study adopted an experimental design involving a large group (n = 2,263) randomized control study in a programming course. Student participants were randomly allocated to an English-medium version of the course (the intervention group) or a Swedish-medium version of the course (the control group). The findings were that students enrolled on the English-medium version of the course answered statistically significantly fewer test questions correctly; the EMI students also dropped out from the course to a statistically significantly higher degree compared to students enrolled on the Swedish version of the course. The conclusion of this study is thus that EMI may, under certain circumstances, have negative consequences for students’ academic performance.
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| 6. |
- Bälter, Olle, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Feedback in web-based questionnaires as incentive to increase compliance in studies on lifestyle factors
- 2012
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Ingår i: Public Health Nutrition. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1368-9800 .- 1475-2727. ; 15:6, s. 982-988
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: We explored the use of feedback in interactive web-based questionnaires for collecting data on lifestyle factors in epidemiological studies.Design: Here we report from a cohort study on lifestyle factors and upper respiratory tract infections among 1805 men and women. We introduced interactivity in the form of personalized feedback and feedback on a group level regarding dietary intake, physical activity and incidence of infections in web- based questionnaires as incentives for the respondents to continue answering questions and stay in the study.Setting: The study was performed in Sweden.Subjects: All participants were randomly selected from the population registry.Results: Personalized feedback was offered in the baseline questionnaire and feedback on a group level in the five follow-up questionnaires. In total, 88 % of the participants actively chose to get personalized feedback at least once in the baseline questionnaire. The follow-up questionnaires were sent by email and the overall compliance at each follow-up was 83–84 %, despite only one reminder. In total, 74 % completed all five follow-ups. However, the compliance was higher among those who chose feedback in the baseline questionnaire compared with those who did not choose feedback.Conclusions: The results show that it is possible to use feedback in web ques- tionnaires and that it has the potential to increase compliance. The majority of the participants actively chose to take part in the personalized feedback in the baseline questionnaire and future research should focus on improving the design of the feedback, which may ultimately result in even higher compliance in research studies.
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| 7. |
- Bälter, Olle, et al.
(författare)
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Student approaches to learning in relation to online course completion
- 2013
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Ingår i: Canadian Journal of Higher Education. - : The Canadian Journal of Higher Education/la Revue canadienne d'enseignement superieur. - 0316-1218 .- 2293-6602. ; 43:3, s. 1-18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates the relationship between approaches to studying and course completion in two online preparatory university courses in mathematics and computer programming. The students participating in the two courses are alike in age, gender, and approaches to learning. Four hundred and ninety-three students participating in these courses answered the short version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST). Results show that students demonstrating a deep approach to learning in either course are more likely to complete. In the mathematics course, a combination of deep and strategic approaches correlates positively with course completion. In the programming course, students who demonstrate a surface approach are less likely to complete. These results are in line with the intentions of the course designers, but they also suggest ways to improve these courses. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that ASSIST can be used to evaluate course design.
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| 8. |
- Christensen, S. E., et al.
(författare)
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Relative Validity of Micronutrient and Fiber Intake Assessed With Two New Interactive Meal- and Web-Based Food Frequency Questionnaires
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Medical Internet Research. - : JMIR Publications Inc.. - 1438-8871. ; 16:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The meal-and Web-based food frequency questionnaires, Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q, were developed for cost-efficient assessment of dietary intake in epidemiological studies. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the relative validity of micronutrient and fiber intake assessed with Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q. The reproducibility of Meal-Q was also evaluated. Methods: A total of 163 volunteer men and women aged between 20 and 63 years were recruited from Stockholm County, Sweden. Assessment of micronutrient and fiber intake with the 174-item Meal-Q was compared to a Web-based 7-day weighed food record (WFR). Two administered Meal-Q questionnaires were compared for reproducibility. The 126-item MiniMeal-Q, developed after the validation study, was evaluated in a simulated validation by using truncated Meal-Q data. Results: The study population consisted of approximately 80% women (129/163) with a mean age of 33 years (SD 12) who were highly educated (130/163, 80% with >12 years of education) on average. Cross-classification of quartiles with the WFR placed 69% to 90% in the same/adjacent quartile for Meal-Q and 67% to 89% for MiniMeal-Q. Bland-Altman plots with the WFR and the questionnaires showed large variances and a trend of increasing underestimation with increasing intakes. Deattenuated and energy-adjusted Spearman rank correlations between the questionnaires and the WFR were in the range rho=.25-.69, excluding sodium that was not statistically significant. Cross-classifications of quartiles of the 2 Meal-Q administrations placed 86% to 97% in the same/adjacent quartile. Intraclass correlation coefficients for energy-adjusted intakes were in the range of .50-.76. Conclusions: With the exception of sodium, this validation study demonstrates Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q to be useful methods for ranking micronutrient and fiber intake in epidemiological studies with Web-based data collection.
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| 9. |
- Christensen, S. E., et al.
(författare)
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Two New Meal- and Web-Based Interactive Food Frequency Questionnaires: Validation of Energy and Macronutrient Intake
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Medical Internet Research. - : JMIR Publications Inc.. - 1438-8871. ; 15:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Meal-Q and its shorter version, MiniMeal-Q, are 2 new Web-based food frequency questionnaires. Their meal-based and interactive format was designed to promote ease of use and to minimize answering time, desirable improvements in large epidemiological studies. Objective: We evaluated the validity of energy and macronutrient intake assessed with Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q as well as the reproducibility of Meal-Q. Methods: Healthy volunteers aged 20-63 years recruited from Stockholm County filled out the 174-item Meal-Q. The questionnaire was compared to 7-day weighed food records (WFR; n=163), for energy and macronutrient intake, and to doubly labeled water (DLW; n=39), for total energy expenditure. In addition, the 126-item MiniMeal-Q was evaluated in a simulated validation using truncated Meal-Q data. We also assessed the answering time and ease of use of both questionnaires. Results: Bland-Altman plots showed a varying bias within the intake range for all validity comparisons. Cross-classification of quartiles placed 70%-86% in the same/adjacent quartile with WFR and 77% with DLW. Deattenuated and energy-adjusted Pearson correlation coefficients with the WFR ranged from r=0.33-0.74 for macronutrients and was r=0.18 for energy. Correlations with DLW were r=0.42 for Meal-Q and r=0.38 for MiniMeal-Q. Intraclass correlations for Meal-Q ranged from r=0.57-0.90. Median answering time was 17 minutes for Meal-Q and 7 minutes for MiniMeal-Q, and participants rated both questionnaires as easy to use. Conclusions: Meal-Q and MiniMeal-Q are easy to use and have short answering times. The ranking agreement is good for most of the nutrients for both questionnaires and Meal-Q shows fair reproducibility.
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| 10. |
- Fondell, Elinor, et al.
(författare)
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Adherence to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations as a measure of a healthy diet and upper respiratory tract infection
- 2011
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Ingår i: Public Health Nutrition. - : CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS. - 1368-9800 .- 1475-2727. ; 14:5, s. 860-869
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: The Nordic countries have published joint dietary recommendations, the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR), since 1980. We evaluated adherence to the NNR as a measure of a healthy diet and its potential association with self-reported upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). Design: A prospective, population-based study with a follow-up period of 4 months. Dietary intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative FFQ with ninety-six items, along with other lifestyle factors, at baseline. URTI was assessed every three weeks. A Poisson regression model was used to control for age, sex and other confounding factors. Setting: A middle-sized county in northern Sweden. Subjects: Swedish men and women (n 1509) aged 20-60 years. Results: The NNR include recommendations on macronutrient proportions, physical activity and intake of micronutrients, sodium, fibre and alcohol. We found that overall adherence to the NNR was moderately good. In addition, we found that high adherence to the NNR (>5.5 adherence points) was not associated with a lower risk of URTI (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.89, 95% CI 0.73, 1.08) compared with low adherence (<4.5 adherence points). When investigating individual components of the NNR, only high physical activity was associated with lower URTI risk (IRR=0.82, 95% CI 0.69, 0.97) whereas none of the dietary components were associated with risk of URTI. Conclusions: Overall adherence to the NNR was moderately good. Overall adherence to the NNR was not associated with URTI risk in our study. However, when investigating individual components of the NNR, we found that high physical activity was associated with lower URTI risk.
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