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While there is literature that examines factors associated with low participation in cancer screening among Canadian ethnic groups, there is limited understanding of black visible minorities, particularly Somalis. Thus, the purpose of this study is to synthesize knowledge pertaining to the perceptions, beliefs and barriers of Somali women and men toward screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers in countries such as Canada.

The scoping review methodology was used to search for peer-reviewed articles that explicitly examined perceptions, beliefs and barriers among Somalis toward screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers in developed countries. The following electronic databases were searched without time frame restrictions, namely, OVID Medline, Embase, CINHAL, PubMed, Scopes and ProQuest. A total of 402 peer-reviewed articles were identified and screened. Three articles were identified through reference list screening (one eligible) and consultation with experts in the networks (two eligible). In total, 12 studies met the inclusion criteria for synthesis. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the selected articles for key themes and the synthesis was informed by the socio-ecological model.

The majority of studies originated from the USA and focused primarily on Somali women and cervical cancer screening. Themes that emerged from the literature include individual-level negative experiences and socio-cultural perceptions/beliefs; community-level barriers in cancer screening; and systemic challenges in navigating the health-care system. Many of the studies focused on individual and community-level determinants of cancer screening, with little attention to systemic level determinants. Other gaps identified include factors influencing Somali men’s low participation in cancer screening; limited studies on colorectal cancer and Somali women; and specific cancer-screening barriers faced by Somalis within the Canadian context.

The findings of the review reveal multiple cancer screening challenges for Somali communities and the gained insights should inform both health and social care practitioners and policymakers.

This study aims to analyse the relative prominence of antecedents of digital accounting practices in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) industry. The Ministry of MSME defines the sector as comprising manufacturing enterprises and enterprises rendering services in terms of investment in plant and machinery and the annual turnover. The study is motivated by the rapid usage of digitalisation that has become the driving force guiding organisational development.

This study builds on technological–organisational–environmental framework to analyse the objective. It identifies five technological sub-antecedents, six organisational sub-antecedents and five environmental sub-antecedents. Data were gathered from 202 accounting professionals from MSMEs and academicians. Semi-structured interviews with experts were also conducted to corroborate the analysis of results. Then, the study applied fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to analyse the prominence.

This study finds that the technological antecedent captures the topmost position among all three antecedents, followed by organisational antecedent. They play a critical role in driving digitalisation in accounting practices. Among sub-antecedents, the highest priority is provided to technological accounting infrastructure, followed by cybersecurity precautions, training and allied services for accounting software, support from management and availability of accounting resources.

The study contributes to the scant literature by establishing hierarchy of relevance of different antecedents of digital accounting practices in MSMEs. It offers valuable insights to accounting practitioners and MSME owners/managers. They can pay attention to the prominent antecedents identified in this study to build a robust innovation structure for implementing digitalised accounting practices. The study also has significance to policymakers, specifically when they are more focused on the growth and development of MSMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to gain an in-depth understanding of beliefs, attitudes, and reasons for decision making about colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among South Asian (SA) immigrants.

Six focus groups conducted in English, Punjabi, and Urdu were held with 42 SA immigrants, 50-74 years old and at average risk for CRC, from November 2012 to May 2013. All focus group discussions were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis used an inductive and systematic approach employing constant comparison techniques.

Three dominant themes emerged. Beliefs and attitudes towards cancer and screening represented SA immigrant’s perceptions that early detection was beneficial; screening was not necessary in the absence of symptoms; cancer was scary; and the loss of previously established bowel practices upon immigration as potential risks for CRC. Knowledge and awareness focused on unscreened participants’ cancer stories; screened participants’ knowledge of CRC, risk factors, and screening; experiential learning from focus groups; and screened participants’ strategies to promote screening. Support and accessibility concentrated on physician support and responsibility to provide information, explanation, and recommend screening to facilitate access.

Findings provide novel insights on socio-cultural context, beliefs, and barriers to CRC screening among SA immigrants. Culturally appropriate community-based strategies included story-telling, the use of social networks, and greater physician engagement. Enhancing collaborative partnerships with physicians and public health may minimize structural barriers and reduce health disparities. Future research could explore effectiveness of outreach strategies including these collaborations.

This study aims to investigate the potential effect of project-based learning (PBL) in alleviating the negative psychological factors that hinder language learning in an intensive-English course at a private Lebanese university through its meaningful, student-centered, collaborative, and creative pedagogical approach and supporting students in constructing a positive self-identity as an English language learner and user.

The L2 Motivation Self System theory describes the roles of the Ideal L2 Self, the Ought to L2 Self, and the L2 Learning Experience as the three dimensions that trigger L2 motivation, which is an important factor in achieving L2 learning outcomes. This pre- and post-test questionnaire study aims to investigate the impact of designing and implementing project-based learning as a creative pedagogical method on the L2 Learning Experience of tertiary EFL students undertaking an intensive English language course.

The paper found that such a pedagogical approach decreased students’ foreign language anxiety and positively impacted their attitudes toward L2 learning as they actively engaged in their projects in a meaningful, connected, and creative manner. This paper concludes that the adopted innovative pedagogical approach created an L2 language learning experience for EFL students to move closer from their actual self to their potential or imagined Ideal L2 Self as they embraced their creative self, social self, and risk-taking self within the frame of identity negotiation and construction. Findings from this study map to the wider literature on L2 language acquisition and foreign language learning.

This study has theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, this research contributed to the existing body of literature on L2 education from a nuanced lens that maps students’ motivation, engagement, characteristics, and psychology to their identity as L2 learners to make their learning journeys more rewarding, productive, and connected.

Practically, this study showcases how the implementation of the PBL approach in a creative and aligned manner can positively impact students’ attitudes toward English teaching and learning, making novel reading a more engaging task that prompts students’ creativity, critical thinking, and risk-taking while facilitating the negotiation and construction of their identity as L2 learners and users. Additionally, the implementation of such creative pedagogical approaches prompts on an educational policy level the shift from the traditional ways of English teaching and learning to a more student-centered, engaging and connected state, creating a set of exemplars for EFL and ESL instructors to use to ensure that L2 learners connect to their own experiences and develop a range of transferrable skills while acquiring language capabilities.

This paper concludes that the adopted innovative pedagogical approach served as a channel for EFL students to move closer from their actual self to their potential or imagined Ideal L2 Self as they embraced their creative self, social self, and risk-taking self within the frame of identity negotiation and construction. Findings from this study map to the wider literature on L2 language acquisition and foreign language learning.

The objective of this study was to look closely at how domestic violence is represented in Pakistani drama serials to see if portrayals are reinforcing stereotypical and/or patriarchal values, or breaking the rigid norms.

With the help of dispositive analysis within the critical discourse approach, the prominent and non-dominant discourses about domestic violence were identified and discussed. Episodes from two popular drama serials, Kaisa Yeh Naseeban and Khaas, released in 2019, were watched with special focus on texts on domestic violence alongside objects and actions.

Analysis showed that both drama serials gave importance to socio-systemic and liberal humanist instrumentalism discourses, which describe domestic violence as a result of social structures and that abuse is used to assert control, respectively. However, some instances were noted where patriarchal values were encouraged.

As media has become a powerful tool of influence and awareness in the recent times, it is imperative that the content watched on it by millions of people be studied and analyzed. It is claimed that Pakistani drama serials with wide following and that are made on social issues around women aim to raise awareness and empower them. Domestic violence is a prevalent issue in Pakistan, and no research till date has examined representation of domestic violence on Pakistani popular media, which may influence response to domestic violence, which this paper aims to do.

A nationwide common malpractice in Zakat distribution has been prevailing in Bangladesh for the past few decades. The paper is a groundbreaking effort to investigate the perceptions of the Zakat payers about the common malpractices and to highlight whether any change in the conventional distribution of Zakat has occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study also aims to extract the common perception of the Zakat payers regarding the validity of the changed practices during the pandemic.

The study adopts the qualitative research approach allowing an in-depth interview technique based on an unstructured questionnaire schedule to obtain information from the Zakat payers, complemented by the key informant interview with the Islamic Scholars. The study obtained data from Zakat payers administering a purposive sampling technique based on two specified criteria. After coding the information on three main themes, content analysis is used to examine the results.

The results reveal that although the Zakat payers dislike the common practices because of some antithetical issues, they still practice the same customs. Moreover, they apportion most of the value of Zakat in purchasing low-quality festive-motive clothes for the recipients. They are ignorant about Islamic law and the validity of such practices. According to scholars, these activities are not a pure system of Zakat provision and unable to alleviate poverty. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, this practice shifted heavily to buying food items for the poor due to the financial hurdles they confronted during the pandemic. Although no solid argument is deduced from the participants about the exactitude of such distributional change, scholars regard the transformation as beneficial to the afflicted and the impoverished who have been hit by the pandemic, as well as not conflicting with the Zakat legislation.

The study is a novel contribution to addressing the malpractice in Zakat distribution through receiving practical information from the Zakat payers, which will help produce more in-depth research in Islamic finance. Furthermore, this research will help the government and people raise awareness about the authentic practices of Zakat distribution according to the codes of Shari’ah.

This study is a pioneering investigation since a scarcity of scholarly works attempted to identify the impact of Covid-19 on the practice of Zakat distribution and the associated perception regarding its Islamic jurisprudence. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the investigation of common malpractices of Zakat is still unearthed by no former rigorous studies in the context of Bangladesh. The present study bridges this gap and paves a pragmatic research dimension in the Islamic finance.

This study aims to review the last 50 years of academic research on collective leadership (CL) and how far it has progressed by using the Scopus database and the science mapping technique of bibliometric analysis.

This study has analysed 417 publications from the Scopus database on collective leadership from 1967 to 2023. Data were analysed using MS Excel and VOSviewer.

There has been research from different parts of the world on the various aspects of collective leadership. In recent years, collective leadership research has gained momentum. However, collective leadership is still at a nascent level when it comes to the applicability of the concepts. So far, the research on collective leadership has relied on themes such as shared leadership and distributed leadership, how collective leadership differs from other similar-looking leadership styles such as transformational leadership, and how this influences followers’ outcomes such as team effectiveness, achievements, relations, commitment, etc. Most of the research so far has been done in the United States of America, the UK and the Australian context. There exists a huge gap for studying collective leadership in African, Middle Eastern and Asian contexts.

Collective leadership research trends may be addressed to enable academics and practitioners to better understand current and future trends and research directions. Future studies in this field might use the findings as a starting point to highlight the nature of the topic.

Bibliometric techniques provide a far more comprehensive and reliable picture of the field. This article has the potential to serve as a one-stop resource for researchers and practitioners seeking information that can aid in transdisciplinary endeavours by leading them to recognized, peer-reviewed papers, journals and networks.

This paper aims to estimate the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the UK general population and in the low-risk clinical population and to identify the methodological challenges presented by this task.

A rapid review of the evidence was conducted. Data were extracted with the help of pre-designed tools and were synthesised to answer the two study aims. The data extracted was both qualitative and quantitative.

In the general population, crime survey data gave a range of past-year IPV prevalence from 1.8% to 4.5%. This was higher in women than men (2.5%–6.3% vs 0.9%–2.7%). In both the general and low-risk clinical population, there was little data on pregnant women or gay men and lesbians. No significant relationships between IPV and ethnicity were found. Different surveys used different definitions of IPV and domestic violence, making it difficult to give an accurate estimate. There were also problems with data accuracy.

This research is original and contributes to the knowledge about IPV screening and if prevalence studies help.

The provision of meals has long been regarded as an essential part of treatment of hospitalized patients complementing medical procedures and nursing management. Today, despite changes in the health-care landscape, which focused on improving the quality and efficiency of hospital care, malnutrition among inpatient was still a common worldwide concern.

This was a multi-centre, randomized study conducted in 21 study sites comprising 21 state and specialist government hospitals under the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. The sample size for this study was calculated with purposive sampling method, followed by proportionate sampling to determine the random sample size of each of the study sites. The total sample size required for this study was 2,759 subjects. A validated data collection form was used in the study.

Only 32.2 % and 37.6 % of subjects achieved adequate energy and protein intake, respectively, during their admission to medical ward. The study result showed that the overall mean energy and protein intake was 794.6 ± 487.8 kcal and 35.2 ± 24.3 g, respectively. The estimated energy (p = 0.001) and protein (p = 0.001) intake of all study sites was significantly lower compared to the adequacy value.

The adequacy intake in this study was only carried out in medical wards, thus reproducible result among other wards in different study sites could not be confirmed. Besides, this study assumed that the portion eaten by subjects during lunch and dinner was the same, and therefore, either one was recorded together with breakfast and either lunch or dinner to represent a subject’s daily intake.

This was the first nationwide study to report the adequacy of energy and protein intake of patients receiving therapeutic diets in the government hospital setting in Malaysia.