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Continuity of care and access to primary care have been identified as important contributors to improved health outcomes and reduced reincarceration among people who are justice-involved. While the disproportionate burden of health concerns among incarcerated populations is well documented, less is known about their health service utilization, limiting the potential for effective improvements to current policy and practice. This study aims to examine health status and health care utilization among men recently released from a superjail in a large metropolitan area to better understand patterns of use, risk factors and facilitators.

Participants included adult men (n = 106) matched to a general population group (n = 530) in Ontario, Canada, linked to medical records (88.5% linkage) to examine baseline health status and health utilization three-months post-release. The authors compared differences between the groups in baseline health conditions and estimated the risk of emergency department, primary care, inpatient hospitalization and specialist ambulatory care visits.

Superjail participants had a significantly higher prevalence of respiratory conditions, mental illness, substance use and injuries. Substance use was a significant risk factor for all types of visits and emergency department visits were over three times higher among superjail participants.

This empirical case is illustrative of an emerging phenomenon in some regions of the world where emergency departments serve as de facto “walk-in clinics” for those with criminal justice involvement. Strategic approaches to health services are required to meet the complex social and health needs and disparities in access to care experienced by men released from custody.

The previous coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced pre-service English teachers to conduct their teaching simulation virtually. In the context of online teaching, social presence is vital for effective learning. This skill is perceived as a way to humanize the online learning process. This article explores how social presence is represented in the pre-service teacher's synchronous online classroom and how the development of social presence enables the pre-service teachers to develop their students' well-being and thus humanize online classrooms.

The current study draws upon case study research. The data were collected from (1) synchronous online teaching simulation recordings of pre-service English teachers from the Language Classroom Management course and (2) interview transcripts from three participants. Both data sources were transcribed, coded and analyzed. A two-step coding scheme for pre-service English teachers' social presence was adapted from the Community of Inquiry (CoI) coding template.

This study reports that all the three social presence categories (i.e. cohesive, affective and interactive) emerged from their online teaching simulation. In addition, the development of social presence to humanize online classrooms from the pre-service teachers was found in these stages: (1) having a role model for teaching, (2) showing respect and being friendly and (3) adjusting the language of instructions to the students' level.

This study has been limited to the pre-service teachers in one university only. Therefore, this needs to be tested in wider settings and contexts.

Theoretically, this study has added students' well-being as the element that connects social presence to the humanizing online classroom. Meanwhile, practically, in relation to teacher education, this paper also recommends the teaching stages leading to a more humanized online learning.

Current studies tend to describe social presence in experienced teachers' asynchronous online classrooms. Rarely did the studies explore social presence as practiced by pre-service teachers in the context of synchronous videoconferencing class. Furthermore, there has also been limited research connecting social presence with humanized classrooms.

Purpose: Significant structural changes are currently occurring in the Indian labour sector. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are redefining the activities and skill requirements for various jobs in the healthcare sector. These adjustments have been accelerated by the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19, along with other considerations.

Need for the Study: Skills shortages, job transitions, and the deployment of AI at the company level are the three main challenges confronting the Indian labour market. This chapter aims to discuss policy alternatives to address a rising need for health workers and provide an overview of changes to the healthcare sector’s labour market.

Methodology: A review of the available literature was conducted to determine the causes of the widening skill gap despite a vibrant and prodigious young population. The background of the sustainable labour market is examined in this chapter, with a focus on workforce migration and mobility.

Findings: This chapter gives a comparative review of recent policy papers and evidence, as well as estimates of the health workforce and present Indian datasets. Furthermore, it highlights how important it is for all people concerned to invest in today’s workforce to close the skill gap and create better future opportunities.

Practical Implications: This chapter’s findings imply a severe shortage of human intellectual capital in India and a need to bridge this gap in the Indian labour market.

Social presence (SP), which refers to individuals’ perception of others being engaged as “real people” in the same situation, is a crucial component in technology-rich learning environments (TREs). This study aims to identify major learning design, antecedents and outcomes of SP within TREs, and identify common findings from the past two decades.

Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses review principles and a qualitative analysis of selected articles, a final review of 72 studies that met inclusion criteria was obtained. Key information, including education level, discipline, sample size, study type and measurements, was extracted and studies were further analyzed and synthesized based on design features and learning modes.

The study identifies five crucial factors for instructional design to foster SP in TREs: technology affordances, multimedia features, social factors, instructional principles, learner characteristics and learning management systems. The authors compare two learning modes across three dimensions and identify popular technologies used in studies related to SP over the past two decades. Practical recommendations are provided for educators and educational technology developers to enhance SP within technology-rich learning environments.

This research contributes to the discourse on online learning and computer-supported communication, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era. By examining factors influencing SP and providing implications for instruction and educational technology development, this study offers evidence-based support to educators for engaging learners and fostering authentic learning experiences through adaptive selection of educational technologies.

Racism occurs in many ways and varies across countries, evolving and adapting to sociocultural history, as well as contemporary economic, political and technological changes. This chapter discusses the multilevel dimensions of racism and its diverse manifestations across multiracial societies. It examines how different aspects of racism are mediated interpersonally, and embedded in institutions, social structures and processes, that produce and sustain racial inequities in power, resources and lived experiences. Furthermore, this chapter explores the direct and indirect ways racism is expressed in online and offline platforms and details its impacts on various groups based on their intersecting social and cultural identities. Targets of racism are those who primarily bear the adverse effects. However, racism also affects its perpetrators in many ways, including by limiting their social relations and attachments, and by imposing social and economic costs. This chapter thus analyses the many aspects of racism both from targets and perpetrators' perspectives.

The purpose of this study is to explore the design of outdoor play spaces in Cairo that provide an enjoyable play experience, along with opportunities for enhancing child social and cognitive developmental skills through play features incorporated in their play spaces to achieve this goal.

The study adopts a qualitative methodology to examine the effectiveness of natural, customized and elevated features on social and cognitive play behaviors of 6–8 year-olds. Data were gathered in three different play settings; a play space inside a social club, a park and a schoolyard. Data gathering relied on observations, written descriptions of play patterns and recordings of children's conversations. Additionally, the researcher utilized sketching diagrams to illustrate children's preferences for play with each feature.

The results of the study indicate that incorporating natural, elevated and customized play features into children's play spaces can enhance their environment and provide opportunities for fostering their social and cognitive skills.

This study reports the occurrence of indicative behaviors and not the exact measurement of skill development. Research involving children can have limitations in terms of reliability of results due to slight variations affected by unmeasurable circumstances.

The study makes a valuable contribution towards enhancing the quality of children's play spaces in Cairo by emphasizing the significance of providing opportunities for social and cognitive in addition to physical play.

This paper aims to determine the hierarchical relationship between building partnership competencies for public sector educational leaders (ELs) administering and running the education system.

An interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique was used to develop a hierarchical structural model for building partnership competencies. Nominal group technique (NGT) was used with the help of experts’ suggestions and opinions at the beginning of ISM to identify building partnership competencies. Also, the NGT was used to rank the competencies. A structural self-integration matrix was developed based on experts’ voting and agreement. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis was used to analyse the relationship among the building partnership competencies. A total of 11 experts were chosen for NGT and ISM sessions.

A total of 16 building partnership competencies were identified for this study. The competencies were compartmentalised into four domains: creative collaboration, create network, develop collective culture and encouraging constructive dialogue. MICMAC analysis shows each domain of the model of its key competencies ranked at the highest level in the ISM model and dependent competencies.

ISM is a modelling approach that is based solely on expert opinions and responses. Its limitation can be overcome with the help of empirical analysis.

This study supports the public sector ELs’ professional development and upskilling. In addition, the model developed in the study will be helpful for stakeholders, human resources division and policymakers to incorporate building partnership competencies in the training and development of ELs.

This study helps to identify and prioritise building partnership competencies using NGT and ISM. Literature shows that numerous authors have used the ISM approach. Still, the combination of NGT approach is limited. Therefore, the model developed in the study was based solely on experts’ opinions and suggestion based on their experiences and knowledge.

The study aimed to identify and define core components of Throughcare. The global prison population has reached its highest level to date (11.5 million), with comparative data on recidivism unavailable. Despite the global shift away from punitive and towards rehabilitative approaches, reintegration programming (Throughcare) is limited, ill-resourced or non-existent in many countries.

This study conducted a global e-Delphi consensus study of professionals working in prison and correctional services to define critical components of effective rehabilitation and reintegration programming. Consensus was defined a priori as 70% or more participants scoring an outcome from 7 to 9 and fewer than 15% scoring it 1 to 3.

Following a call for expression of interest circulated to the International Corrections and Prisons Association member list (n = 7282), 175 members agreed to partake in the e-Delphi rounds. In Round One, 130 individuals completed an online survey where 35 statements were scored by importance, each with opportunity to provide written feedback. A total of 33 statements exceeded the set threshold of consensus. Written feedback supported refinement and further development of statements in Round Two. A total of 108 individuals completed Round Two. A total of 39 out of the 40 statements exceeded the set threshold of consensus.

Consensus statements are useful to provide a shared understanding for inter-agency Throughcare partnerships, to inform national prison policies and to expand prison and support staff capacity building and programmes all over the world.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, to date, this is the first known attempt to elicit consensus from a broad range of professionals working in the field of prison and correctional services on core components of effective rehabilitation and reintegration programming.

The concept of aging-in-place has gained notable significance in the last decade due to a dramatic demographic shift in global population dynamics that have considerably affected the ability of societies to adequately cater for their aging population. This paper examines some of the barriers to aging-in-place in the context of health needs, housing design and the role of retrofitting/smart home technologies in overcoming these barriers.

Using a narrative literature review approach, the authors undertook a comprehensive search of recent relevant literature focusing on five core thematic areas: health and aging, aging in place, barriers to aging in place, retrofitting and smart home technologies for successful aging in place. The authors entered appropriate keywords into interdisciplinary research databases and synthesized a coherent narrative discussing the thematic areas using the data extracted from the literature search.

There is a bidirectional relationship between aging and the home environment. Barriers to aging-in-place are mainly related to progressive decline in health, which alters the environmental needs of individuals. Appropriate building designs can significantly facilitate aging-in-place. The authors, therefore, highlight the role of retrofitting and smart home technologies as practical solutions to the challenges of the aging-in-place.

Forward planning in building design is essential to guarantee that the home environment is well adapted for the challenges of aging-in-place while also promoting healthy aging.

The paper shows the relationship between aging and the home environment and how building design considerations could enhance healthy aging-in-place.