A Qualitative Study of Secondary School Teachers’ Perception of Social Network Analysis Metrics in the Context of Alcohol Consumption among Adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a transitional period during which a number of changes occur. Social relationships established during this period influence adolescent behaviour and affect academic performance or alcohol consumption habits, among other issues. Teachers are very important actors in observing and guiding the evolution of their students, and should therefore have the appropriate knowledge and tools to gain insight into the complex social relationships that exist in their classes. The use of social network analysis (SNA) techniques may be helpful in order to study and monitor the evolution of these social networks. This study tries to understand how teachers perceive SNA metrics from an intuitive point of view. Using this information, useful tools could be created that allow teachers to use SNA techniques to improve their understanding of student relationships. A number of interviews with different teachers were held in secondary schools in Spain, allowing SNA concepts to be related to the everyday terms used by the teachers to characterize their students. Results from the study have an impact on questionnaire design for gathering data from students in order to perform an SNA analysis and on the design of software applications that can help teachers to understand the results of this analysis.

Problematic alcohol consumption in teachers: analysis of social imaginaries in the series Merlí Sapere Aude and The Chair

“…In the workplace, both in Merlí Sapere Aude and in The Chair, punitive measures are applied to discourage consumption: María is separated from the teaching staff of a Master's degree and must take a leave of absence from her regular position; while Bill is suspended and eventually fired. At this point, the productions show an approach that is not aligned with the care strategies that are usually presented in educational institutions for the prevention and detection of problematic alcohol consumption, which is consistent with the studies that indicate that these actions are mainly oriented to the student population (Cedeño Carrasco et al, 2021;Quiroga et al, 2017;Sixto Costoya et al, 2018).…”

“…Although they are areas of development for the well-being of all people involved in education (Lesme, 2011), these actions have traditionally been oriented towards the student population, giving teachers a leading role in their development (Cedeño Carrasco et al, 2021;Quiroga et al, 2017;Sixto Costoya et al, 2018). However, these professionals carry out a dynamic, intense and stressful job that can often affect their health and prevent them from carrying out these care actions (Franco & Monteiro, 2016;NA-SUWT, 2022).…”

An ontology-based multi-domain model in social network analysis: Experimental validation and case study

“…^ isCharacteristicOfPerson(?aop, ?p) ^ isCharacteristicOfType(?aop, ?toa) ^ SNACharacteristicValueInteger(?av) ^ isPossibleCharacteristicValueOf(?av, ?toa) ^ isCharacteristicOfQuestion(?toa, ?q) ^ isAnswerOfPersonToQuestionOf(?aoptq, ?p) ^ hasAnsweredTo(?aoptq, ?q) -> isCharacteristicOfAnswerOfPerson(?aop, ?aoptq) Rule-5 (6) Rule-6: this rule creates the SNAConcepts of a person in a network. Thanks to this rule it is possible to create all instances relating a person with a network in terms of Social Network Analysis, concepts such as: IndividualBetweenness, IndividualCloseness, IndividualDegree, etc.…”

“…Some examples applied to medicine include the study of affiliation networks of HIV health centers of men of color who have sexual relations with people of the same sex, enabling different patterns to be established and thus helping to prevent the disease in this population [4]. Another example in which the prevention of different sexually transmitted infections is also sought is that of Niekamp et al [5] or a qualitative study of secondary school teachers' perception of Social Network Analysis metrics in the context of alcohol consumption among adolescents [6]. SNA is not only applied to health, this technique is also being applied in different domains, for example, the use of SNA to assess and predict future knowledge flows of an insurance company [7] or a study responsible for measuring the impact of Google Docs on student collaboration [8].…”

“…The line of work that gives rise to this research is based on the fact that alcohol consumption among adolescents is a social and public health problem [6]. Research so far has found that contacts between adolescents can influence the habit of consumption.…”