quality education journal articles

The Journal of Quality in Education (JoQiE) with ISSN 2028-1897, is published by AMAQUEN and is containing research papers in the field of Quality of Education, Higher  Education and Vocational Training.

Current Issue

Vol. 13 No. 22 (2023): Social and Emotional Learning

Published: 2023-11-27

The Challenges Experienced by Visually Impaired Students in Moroccan Universities

Imperative of high quality climate change education for combating climate change crisis, synthetic indicator of the quality of educational systems in oecd countries: comparison of 2015 and 2018 results, students’ attitudes towards the use of self-video recording as a means to enhance students’ speaking skill in higher education, un active pedagogy in university e-learning for the construction of social and emotional skills, what moroccan schools can learn from japanese moral education, teachers’ appraisal of classroom physical environment on students’ academic performance in kenya certificate of secondary education in laikipia county, quality assurance in kenyan higher education as a tool for keeping pace with the international standards, moroccan university education: a history of a failing dualistic system, effects of a program based on social-emotional learning on the social-emotional skills of students attending a french-language school in a minority setting, the dynamics of merger facing the challenges of specialization: the case of 21st century teacher training in morocco, fluid common sense syndromes learning how to learn (ll) from theory to application: via edgar morin, skinner, chomsky, gestalt & piaget.

The Journal of Quality in Education (JoQiE) with Print ISSN 2028-1897, is focusing on different aspects of quality in all levels of educational and training systems. The first issue of the journal was published in 2010 and since this date, the JoQiE continues to be published twice a year. The JoQiE publishes papers reviewed by experts in the field of Education Social studies and Management science. All authors who respect instructions of publication in the journal can submit papers for publication.

There are no charges for an author to process or submit or publish a paper in the Journal of Quality in Education.

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Submissions are assigned to the peer-review blinded process, which consist on the review of papers by at least three experts.

The Journal of Quality in Education (JoQiE) by AMAQUEN is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .

Four of the biggest problems facing education—and four trends that could make a difference

Eduardo velez bustillo, harry a. patrinos.

In 2022, we published, Lessons for the education sector from the COVID-19 pandemic , which was a follow up to,  Four Education Trends that Countries Everywhere Should Know About , which summarized views of education experts around the world on how to handle the most pressing issues facing the education sector then. We focused on neuroscience, the role of the private sector, education technology, inequality, and pedagogy.

Unfortunately, we think the four biggest problems facing education today in developing countries are the same ones we have identified in the last decades .

1. The learning crisis was made worse by COVID-19 school closures

Low quality instruction is a major constraint and prior to COVID-19, the learning poverty rate in low- and middle-income countries was 57% (6 out of 10 children could not read and understand basic texts by age 10). More dramatic is the case of Sub-Saharan Africa with a rate even higher at 86%. Several analyses show that the impact of the pandemic on student learning was significant, leaving students in low- and middle-income countries way behind in mathematics, reading and other subjects.  Some argue that learning poverty may be close to 70% after the pandemic , with a substantial long-term negative effect in future earnings. This generation could lose around $21 trillion in future salaries, with the vulnerable students affected the most.

2. Countries are not paying enough attention to early childhood care and education (ECCE)

At the pre-school level about two-thirds of countries do not have a proper legal framework to provide free and compulsory pre-primary education. According to UNESCO, only a minority of countries, mostly high-income, were making timely progress towards SDG4 benchmarks on early childhood indicators prior to the onset of COVID-19. And remember that ECCE is not only preparation for primary school. It can be the foundation for emotional wellbeing and learning throughout life; one of the best investments a country can make.

3. There is an inadequate supply of high-quality teachers

Low quality teaching is a huge problem and getting worse in many low- and middle-income countries.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the percentage of trained teachers fell from 84% in 2000 to 69% in 2019 . In addition, in many countries teachers are formally trained and as such qualified, but do not have the minimum pedagogical training. Globally, teachers for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects are the biggest shortfalls.

4. Decision-makers are not implementing evidence-based or pro-equity policies that guarantee solid foundations

It is difficult to understand the continued focus on non-evidence-based policies when there is so much that we know now about what works. Two factors contribute to this problem. One is the short tenure that top officials have when leading education systems. Examples of countries where ministers last less than one year on average are plentiful. The second and more worrisome deals with the fact that there is little attention given to empirical evidence when designing education policies.

To help improve on these four fronts, we see four supporting trends:

1. Neuroscience should be integrated into education policies

Policies considering neuroscience can help ensure that students get proper attention early to support brain development in the first 2-3 years of life. It can also help ensure that children learn to read at the proper age so that they will be able to acquire foundational skills to learn during the primary education cycle and from there on. Inputs like micronutrients, early child stimulation for gross and fine motor skills, speech and language and playing with other children before the age of three are cost-effective ways to get proper development. Early grade reading, using the pedagogical suggestion by the Early Grade Reading Assessment model, has improved learning outcomes in many low- and middle-income countries. We now have the tools to incorporate these advances into the teaching and learning system with AI , ChatGPT , MOOCs and online tutoring.

2. Reversing learning losses at home and at school

There is a real need to address the remaining and lingering losses due to school closures because of COVID-19.  Most students living in households with incomes under the poverty line in the developing world, roughly the bottom 80% in low-income countries and the bottom 50% in middle-income countries, do not have the minimum conditions to learn at home . These students do not have access to the internet, and, often, their parents or guardians do not have the necessary schooling level or the time to help them in their learning process. Connectivity for poor households is a priority. But learning continuity also requires the presence of an adult as a facilitator—a parent, guardian, instructor, or community worker assisting the student during the learning process while schools are closed or e-learning is used.

To recover from the negative impact of the pandemic, the school system will need to develop at the student level: (i) active and reflective learning; (ii) analytical and applied skills; (iii) strong self-esteem; (iv) attitudes supportive of cooperation and solidarity; and (v) a good knowledge of the curriculum areas. At the teacher (instructor, facilitator, parent) level, the system should aim to develop a new disposition toward the role of teacher as a guide and facilitator. And finally, the system also needs to increase parental involvement in the education of their children and be active part in the solution of the children’s problems. The Escuela Nueva Learning Circles or the Pratham Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) are models that can be used.

3. Use of evidence to improve teaching and learning

We now know more about what works at scale to address the learning crisis. To help countries improve teaching and learning and make teaching an attractive profession, based on available empirical world-wide evidence , we need to improve its status, compensation policies and career progression structures; ensure pre-service education includes a strong practicum component so teachers are well equipped to transition and perform effectively in the classroom; and provide high-quality in-service professional development to ensure they keep teaching in an effective way. We also have the tools to address learning issues cost-effectively. The returns to schooling are high and increasing post-pandemic. But we also have the cost-benefit tools to make good decisions, and these suggest that structured pedagogy, teaching according to learning levels (with and without technology use) are proven effective and cost-effective .

4. The role of the private sector

When properly regulated the private sector can be an effective education provider, and it can help address the specific needs of countries. Most of the pedagogical models that have received international recognition come from the private sector. For example, the recipients of the Yidan Prize on education development are from the non-state sector experiences (Escuela Nueva, BRAC, edX, Pratham, CAMFED and New Education Initiative). In the context of the Artificial Intelligence movement, most of the tools that will revolutionize teaching and learning come from the private sector (i.e., big data, machine learning, electronic pedagogies like OER-Open Educational Resources, MOOCs, etc.). Around the world education technology start-ups are developing AI tools that may have a good potential to help improve quality of education .

After decades asking the same questions on how to improve the education systems of countries, we, finally, are finding answers that are very promising.  Governments need to be aware of this fact.

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Consultant, Education Sector, World Bank

Senior Adviser, Education

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Variables with a negative impact on the quality of life of gays and lesbians in spain: evaluation of homophobic and lesbophobic indicators to guide youth education.

• 1 Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Sports Sciences, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain
• 2 Center for Research in Contemporary Thought and Innovation for Social Development (COIDESO), University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain
• 3 Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain
• 4 Department Clinical and Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Sports Sciences, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain
• 5 Department of Social, Development and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Sports Sciences, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain

Background: Despite the evidence about the negative impact of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes on the quality of life of these individuals, the World Health Organisation (WHO) continues to report a lack of research and understanding regarding the health of gays and lesbians and LGTB people in general. There is a growing commitment in public health to understand and improve the health and well-being of LGTB people, and it is very important that professionals in social, educational and health care settings are adequately trained and informed to solve the problems that persist in this population. The aim of this study was to identify homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes in a Spanish youth population, analyzing the relationship of these attitudes with sociodemographic, cultural, political and personal variables.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out with 325 young people aged 18–30 years. The information was collected through the Modern Homophobia Scale of Raja & Stokes, in which sociodemographic and sociocultural variables were also gathered. The data were analyzed and correlations were estimated.

Results: The males showed a more negative attitude toward homosexual people compared to the females. The participants with a higher education level presented more positive attitudes toward homosexual people. Younger people with a heterosexual orientation had more negative attitudes toward homosexual people compared to those with a homosexual orientation. The participants with a stronger right-wing political tendency presented a greater percentage of negative attitudes toward LGTB people.

Conclusion: Variables such as education level, sexual orientation and political ideology may have a significant influence on the attitudes toward homosexual men and/or lesbian women. Different results were obtained as a function of sex, thus it is important to consider the gender perspective in future studies that tackle this topic.

1 Introduction

The LGTB collective is a collective made up of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and others. This research will only focus on attitudes towards homosexual men and women, i.e., gays and lesbians.

One of the main contributions of the 20th century was the consolidation of the welfare state, which consists in the intervention of the public authorities in the economic and social life of the country, with the aim of correcting the functioning deficiencies of the market, redistributing the resources and creating a legal system for the protection of the citizen against the severe social problems that are generated in society ( Briceño and Gillezeau, 2012 ).

When referring to the term welfare, it is important to remember that the WHO ( Organización Mundial de la Salud, 2006 ), in its constitutive act of April 7th 1948, defined health as a complete state of physical, mental and social welfare, and not merely as the absence of affectations or diseases. From that date, this concept has not been modified. This means that both the planning and management of health by the different regimes of the welfare state must be based on prolonging such complete welfare state to its maximum extent and preventing its deterioration and disappearance.

The concept of quality of life is directly related to health and welfare ( Mceberg, 1993 ). Fernández et al. (2001) defined health-related quality of life as the level of welfare derived from the person’s evaluation of different dimensions of her/his life, considering how these are influenced by her/his health state.

Some researchers ( Guyat et al., 1993 ; Beckie and Hayduk, 1997 ) state that, in order to measure quality of life, it is necessary to focus, on the one hand, on purely objective variables, such as the biochemical parameters of the human body, and, on the other hand, on indicators proposed by social sciences, such as happiness, satisfaction with life and subjective welfare. However, WHO recommends the contemporary biopsychosocial model and approach to disease and health, which takes into consideration the dynamic interaction of its three components: biological, psychological and social.

Subjective welfare may present unfavourable results, due to multiple risk factors, in certain populations, such as that of LGTB people, which includes homosexual, bisexual, transsexual, intersexual and queer people, as well as any other gender identity, expression and sexual/romantic orientation ( Biglia and Cagliero, 2019 ).

Focusing on sexual orientation, a historical-cultural overview of the perception ( Foucault, 1980 ) and conception of homosexuality as a mental disorder ( Ardila, 2022 ) shows that the attitudes toward this orientation have evolved. Their evolution seems to go in the same direction as that of racism and sexism, with the current differentiation between explicit and subtle attitudes ( Rodríguez-Castro et al., 2013 ). Explicit homophobic attitudes include verbal, physical or psychological aggression toward homosexual people, whereas subtle homophobic attitudes include cultural or medical discourses about the pathological character of homosexuality and the incapacitation of homosexual couples to adopt children. For Kate Millett ( Del-Olmo-Campillo, 2018 ), the rejection of homosexuality is a consequence of the oppression of a patriarchal state. Sexuality has a relevant role in social transformation. A revolution is necessary that makes us reconsider politically relationship between the sexes. A scenario in which sexuality occupies a free and priority role. Thus, social transformation can be achieved from a sexual revolution, one that eliminates strategies of domination and power present in sexual relations between men and women, and that achieves make all taboos and prohibitions relating to sexuality disappear, including homosexuality ( Del-Olmo-Campillo, 2018 ).

In the European Parliament Resolution about homophobia in Europe, held in January 9th 2006 ( Resolución del Parlamento Europeo sobre la homofobia en Europa, 2006 ), the concept of homophobia was defined as an irrational fear and aversion toward homosexuality and the LGTB community (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals), based on prejudices and comparable to racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and sexism. In this resolution, it is considered that homophobia manifests in the public and private scopes in different forms, such as hate speech and encouragement of discrimination, ridicule, verbal, psychological and physical violence, prosecution and even murder. It has also been found that microaggressions can have an equally detrimental impact as explicit aggressions. Microaggressions are comments that are used in everyday life and may go unnoticed, but which equally denigrate, belittle and often insult, are so ephemeral and so normalized within language that they seem almost imperceptible. In the countries of the European Union, differences are observed in terms of tolerance towards the LGTB community. While in Spain, close to 70% of the Spanish population knows someone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual, and the Knowledge of transgender people has doubled in 7 years, now rising to 2 out of every 10 Spaniards; Italy and Poland, for example, are the European countries that they have less direct contact with LGTB people and less knowledge along with a greater denial (“non-existent” discrimination) about their situation of discrimination within the country, particularly in transgender and intersex people ( Cantó and Arregui, 2022 ). In this sense, Poland, for example, has regulations such as the Equal Treatment Law. However, this is insufficient legislation since fight against discrimination reasons of sexual orientation only in the field of employment and vocational training. However, ethnic/racial and gender discrimination offers a broader scope ( Bojarski, 2021 ).

Some studies ( O’Hanlan et al., 1997 ) highlight that homophobia operates in two well-differentiated levels: internal and external. Internal homophobia represents the prejudices that all individuals internalise from their environment (family, school, religion, etc.). External homophobia is the open expression of such prejudices, which may range from social evasion or prohibition from the legal and/or religious perspective to all forms of violence.

Negative attitudes towards gays and lesbians have a great impact on these individuals, not only on a physical level, but also on a psychological level. For example, homosexual students have been reported to suffer from high levels of anxiety, somatic distress and even post-traumatic stress symptoms, situations that affect the quality of life of homosexual people ( D’Augelli et al., 2002 ).

Despite the evidence about the negative repercussions of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes on the quality of life of LGTB people, the WHO continues to report a lack of research and understanding regarding the health of this population, and it highlights the attitudes of civil workers (healthcare, education and social service professionals) toward LGTB people as significant barriers to solve the health disparities related to sexual minorities ( Yingling et al., 2017 ). There is an increasing commitment in public healthcare to understanding and improving the health and welfare of this population, and it is especially important that professionals in the social, educational and healthcare sectors are adequately trained and informed to solve problems that persist in this group ( White-Hughto et al., 2015 ; Thomas et al., 2017 ). In addition to solving problems, the professionals must provide support and, especially, empower individuals and communities.

Currently in Spain, progress has been made in equal treatment and opportunities for LGTB people and, especially, for trans people. This advance has been made possible thanks to the approval of Law 4/2023, for the real and effective equality of trans people and for the guarantee of the rights of LGTB people. This law represents a before and after in defining public policies aimed at preventing and acting against discrimination against LGTB people. However, there are many people and political parties with conservative ideology who are fighting to try to repeal it ( Iglesias-Bárez, 2003 ).

Therefore, the present study was designed with the aim of identifying homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes in a Spanish young population, investigating the association of these attitudes with sociodemographic, cultural and political variables.

Regarding the hypotheses of this study:

Women are expected to have more positive attitudes than men.

Young people with higher levels of education are expected to have more positive attitudes.

Older people are expected to have more positive attitudes.

Heterosexual youth are expected to have more negative attitudes toward homosexual persons.

Young Catholics are expected to have more negative attitudes compared to those who consider themselves atheists or agnostics.

It is expected that the greater the inclination towards a more conservative political orientation, the more negative attitudes.

2 Materials and methods

2.1 participants.

A total of 325 young people participated in this descriptive, cross-sectional study, with an age range of 18–30 years ( xˉ = 23.63; σ  = 2.99) (65.8% women ( N  = 214) and 34.4% men ( N  = 111). With respect to sex and gender, participants self-identified as such. Table 1 shows the distribution of the sample with respect to the variables of education level, place of residence, political ideology, religion and sexual orientation.

Table 1 . Distribution of the sample as a function of the independent variables.

2.2 Procedure

The information was gathered using a questionnaire created with the Google Forms platform, which was administered online. The link to the questionnaire was disseminated in social networks and messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook.

The participants were selected by convenience sampling, which consists in selecting the participants intentionally, based on their age and their willingness to participate in this study voluntarily, respecting their anonymity at all times. The snowball technique was also used, which is a non-probabilistic sampling method by which the selected participants recruit new participants from among the people they know. The dissemination of the questionnaire and the gathering of the data were carried out from August 15th 2020 to October 31st 2020.

The first page of the questionnaire contained written information about the in-formed consent, in which the participants agreed to participate in the study voluntarily. In addition to informing them about the anonymity of their answers, they were given contact details in case they needed to clarify any doubts. This study respects the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Human Research Bioethics Committee of the University of Almería (Spain) (registration code: 201699600000098).

2.3 Instruments

All participants completed a sociodemographic information gathering protocol that was designed ad hoc for this study, which collects information about the following variables: sex, education level, age, place of residence, political ideology, religion and sexual orientation.

Furthermore, the participants completed the Modern Homophobia Scale ( Raja and Stokes, 1998 ). This instrument consists of two scales: one of them evaluates the attitudes toward gay people (22 items), and the other evaluates the attitudes toward lesbian people (24 items). Therefore, these scales measure homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes, respectively. In turn, each of these scales consists of three subscales: personal discomfort, deviation/changeability, and institutional homophobia. Personal discomfort measures direct attitudes toward homosexuality at the personal level. Deviation/changeability measures the conception of homosexuality from the psychological/biological perspective, considering it as a deviation from heterosexuality that can change. Institutional homophobia measures those attitudes that occur in the institutional scope. The scales have a Likert answer format from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The lower the score, the more negative the attitude toward gays and lesbians. The reliability estimated through Cronbach’s alpha was 0.951 for the scale of homophobic attitudes, and 0.920 for the scale of lesbophobic attitudes ( Raja and Stokes, 1998 ).

The scale that measures homophobic attitudes is structured as follows: items 1–9 measure personal discomfort; items 10–13 measure deviation/changeability; and items 14–22 measure institutional homophobia. This scale has been validated, presenting a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.927 for personal discomfort, 0.928 for deviation/changeability, and 0.847 for institutional homophobia. The scale of lesbophobic attitudes is structured as follows: items 1–11 measure institutional homophobia; items 12–21 measure personal discomfort; and items 22–24 measure deviation/changeability. The Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.785 for institutional homophobia, 0.921 for personal discomfort, and 0.961 for deviation/changeability ( Raja and Stokes, 1998 ).

Rodríguez-Castro et al. (2013) validated this instrument by subscales, obtaining in the subscale of attitudes toward gays a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.94, and 0.93 for the subscale of attitudes toward lesbian people.

León et al. (2017) , in their adaptation of the Modern Homophobia Scale of Raja and Stokes, also validated this instrument, obtaining correlations between different items whose values ranged between 0.27 and 0.59 in the homophobia scale, and between 0.28 and 0.66 in the lesbophobia scale, presenting a high Cronbach’s alpha (0.89). In this study, the construct validity was also determined, showing a variance of 54.5% for the scale of homophobia toward homosexuals, and 54.3% for the scale of lesbophobia toward lesbians.

2.4 Data analysis

The data analysis was conducted using the SPSS v25 statistical software.

Firstly, a univariate descriptive analysis was performed, including the mean and standard deviation of the variable age, as well as percentages and frequencies of the variables sex, education level, political ideology, religion and sexual orientation.

Normality tests of the quantitative variables were used to determine whether we could apply parametric or nonparametric tests in subsequent analyses. In addition, since the number of data points used was greater than 50, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic was selected for the normality tests. Since the normality tests for the quantitative variables showed a normal distribution, ANOVA and Student’s t were used for the tests of independence. The correlations between the different study variables were also analyzed using Pearson’s correlation tests.

The homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes were compared between men and women using a two-independent-means test, with Student’s t statistic. These attitudes were also compared through single-factor ANOVA as a function of education level, sexual orientation, religion and place of residence.

Lastly, to relate age and political ideology to the scores obtained in the scales and estimate correlation coefficents, Pearson’s correlation tests were carried out.

3.1 Homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of sex

Table 2 shows the results obtained in the Modern Homophobia Scale for men and women. In this instrument, the lower the score, the greater the affectation of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes presented by the person.

Table 2 . Comparison of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes between men and women.

All the factors of the scale show more positive attitudes in women compared to men. Moreover, it was observed that the relationship of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes with the variable sex was statistically significant ( t  = 4.592 and p  < 0.001 in homophobic attitudes; t  = 3.688 and p  < 0.001 in lesbophobic attitudes) ( Table 2 ).

3.2 Homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of education level

Table 3 presents the descriptive statistics ( xˉ and % ) and differences in the scales of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes based on the education level of the participants. The single-factor ANOVA shows that there were significant differences in these attitudes as a function of the education level ( F  = 4.325 and p  = 0.002 for homophobic attitudes; F  = 3.946 and p  = 0.004 for lesbophobic attitudes).

Table 3 . Comparison of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of education level.

In the homophobic attitudes, the comparisons showed differences between the participants with compulsory secondary education and those with higher secondary education, higher vocational training and higher education. In the lesbophobic attitudes, differences were found between the participants with compulsory secondary education and those with higher secondary education and higher education. The participants with compulsory secondary education presented more negative attitudes, that is, the lower the education level, the greater the percentages of negative attitudes toward homosexual people ( Table 3 ).

3.3 Homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of sexual orientation

Regarding the relationship of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes with sexual orientation, significant differences were only identified in the lesbophobic attitudes ( F  = 4.571; p  = 0.011) ( Table 4 ).

Table 4 . Comparison of the homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of sexual orientation.

On their part, the comparisons showed differences between the participants with a heterosexual orientation and those with a homosexual orientation. The participants who identified themselves with a heterosexual orientation presented more negative attitudes ( Table 4 ).

3.4 Homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of religion

Table 5 presents the descriptive statistics ( xˉ and % ) and the differences in the scales of homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of religion. There were significant differences in such attitudes based on religion ( F  = 6.142 and p  = 0.002 for homophobic attitudes; F  = 11.963 and p  = 0.000 for lesbophobic attitudes).

Table 5 . Comparison of the homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of religion.

In both attitudes, the comparisons showed differences between the Catholic participants and the Atheist and Agnostic participants. The Catholic participants presented more negative attitudes ( Table 5 ).

3.5 Homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of the place of residence

Regarding the relationship between homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of the place of residence, no statistically significant differences were observed in any of the contemplated cases ( F  = 0.345 and p  = 0.709 for homophobic attitudes; F  = 0.893 and p  = 0.410 for lesbophobic attitudes) ( Table 6 ).

Table 6 . Comparison of the homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of the place of residence.

3.6 Homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of age and political ideology

After investigating the relationship between homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes as a function of age, the Pearson’s correlation coefficients showed that age was negatively correlated with the scale of homophobic attitudes ( r  = −0.138; p  < 0.05) and with the scale of lesbophobic attitudes ( r  = −0.131; p  < 0.05). Therefore, the younger the participant, the more negative the attitudes presented by her/him.

It was also observed that political ideology was positively correlated with the scale of homophobic attitudes ( r  = 0.443; p  < 0.01) and with the scale of lesbophobic attitudes ( r  = −0.131; p  < 0.505). In participants with a left-wing ideology, more positive attitudes were observed toward gays and lesbians.

4 Discussion

The general aim of the present study was to identify homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes in a young Spanish population, analysing the relationship of these attitudes with sociodemographic, cultural, political, and personal variables. This study was conducted to respond to the discrimination of a minority group, i.e., people with a non-heterosexual orientation, whose quality of life may be negatively affected by certain explicit and implicit behaviours targeted to them ( Yingling et al., 2017 ).

In this study, the male participants showed a more negative attitude toward homosexual people compared to the female participants. These results are in line with those of previous studies, which reported greater percentages of men than women with homophobic attitudes ( Rodríguez-Castro et al., 2013 ; Borja-Gil and Núñez-Domínguez, 2014 ; Bosch, 2015 ; Penna-Tosso, 2015 ; Monzonís-Hinarejos, 2016 ). Moreover, this study detected that the men presented a more negative attitude toward lesbians compared to the women. This finding could be related to the behavioural roles and rules established by cultural norms. Men tend to internalise gender role norms more strongly than women. This would lead men to evaluate homosexual people more negatively, perceiving the latter as representatives of some sort of violation of the traditional norms of gender roles ( Caycho-Rodríguez, 2010 ). In this sense, the consequences of a patriarchal system and toxic masculinity can be perceived.

Furthermore, Borja-Gil and Núñez-Domínguez (2014) detected that variables such as education level and age were also related to homophobic attitudes. Although there is a low correlation in this study, they found that younger and, therefore, less educated participants showed more intolerant attitudes toward homosexuality. It was also detected that, the greater the education level, the more positive the attitudes toward homosexual people. To validate these results, we could relate age to abstract thinking. Thus, the older the person, the greater their capacity for reciprocity in their relationships with other people, and the greater their capacity for critical thinking, reflection, and exploration ( Melendres-Yallerco and Velarde-Torres, 2018 ).

Regarding the relationship of sexual orientation with homophobic/lesbophobic at-titudes, the present study demonstrated that the participants with a heterosexual orientation had more negative attitudes than those with a homosexual orientation. This result is in line with that found by other authors ( España et al., 2001 ), who stated that the sociocultural influence could play an important role, since beliefs, values and traditional gender roles have an impact on the homophobia that heterosexual people develop. For instance, hypermasculinity is expressed and reaffirmed in men, and when a man moves away from the established parameters, the others may express and feel homophobia ( Orcasita et al., 2020 ).

Moreover, some studies have shown that there is a greater percentage of Catholic people who present homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes compared to Atheists and Agnostics ( Penna-Tosso, 2015 ; Monzonís-Hinarejos, 2016 ). The present study obtained results in the same line. Religion could contain a series of implicit requirements about the behaviours and roles expected of each gender, thus their transgression would be considered as a direct attack on these sacred beliefs ( Barrientos-Delgado et al., 2014 ). However, Gastelo-Flores and Sahagún-Padilla (2020) observed in their study that discrimination against sexually diverse people was observed internationally; that is, in all cultures and religions. These findings suggest a socialization of heterosexuality. In other words, a subtle way of imposing a specific sexual orientation, which could give rise to homophobic situations in part of the population internationally ( Gastelo-Flores and Sahagún-Padilla, 2020 ).

Concerning the political ideology variable, this study detected that, the greater the tendency toward right-wing ideologies, the greater the percentage of negative attitudes toward LGTB people. This result is consistent with those found by Rottenbacher (2012) , who identified a positive correlation between conservatism and homophobic behaviours, as well as with the conclusion of the meta-analysis of Penna-Tosso (2015) . Most people with right-wing and extreme right-wing ideologies present a high degree of adherence to the rules that support specific ideas about what they consider to be “normal,” i.e., to conservative (hetero) normative dictates. Right-wing ideologies, and especially extreme right-wing ideologies, do not usually adhere to rules based on acceptance or civil human rights. In addition, a strong relationship has been found between value conservatism and identifying oneself with traditionalist ideas and support for right-wing parties ( Barrientos and Cárdenas, 2013 ). In this sense, the progress of all political parties towards recognition of gender and sexuality diversity is of vital importance. This situation would facilitate an increase in tolerance towards the LGTB community in many people of different ideologies. In addition, more public educational policies could be carried out to facilitate the visibility of education for equal opportunities in educational centers. This situation, in turn, could deconstruct all types of prejudices, discrimination and violence, especially regarding issues of gender and sexuality ( Souza and Fialho, 2020 ).

Lastly, with respect to the place of residence and its relationship with negative attitudes toward homosexual people, this study did not detect differences in such attitudes in the participants as a function of their place of residence. This result is in line with that reported by Tate (1991) . However, other studies confirm that living in a large city could be a protective factor, as it provides people with better social support networks, which allow them to better avoid the negative effects of homophobia ( Institute of Medicine, 2011 ; Barrientos-Delgado et al., 2014 ). This social support networks are one of the most important protective factors for the LGTB community.

4.1 Limitations

This study presents important strengths. First, the veracity of the hypotheses put forward has been demonstrated. Moreover, very useful and updated information was generated on a set of indicators of homophobia and lesbophobia in a young population in Spain, thereby contributing to future research lines in the approach of this problem from current data. This fact shows that even though Spain is one of the European countries which is making progress in the recognition of the human rights of the LGTB community, and that it is the fourth European country in terms of LGTB rights, there are still homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes that may pose a problem for the well-being of homosexual people. Based on our current results, it would be interesting to draw up a programme to raise awareness in society about the consequences that certain negative attitudes may have on the LGTB community, and not only on homosexual men and women. Furthermore, a possible roadmap is set for future, larger investigations in this line. However, this study also presents some limitations that must be pointed out.

One of the weaknesses of this research is that other negative attitudes towards other LGTB populations, such as bisexual, transgender, or intersex people were not studied. It would be interesting to carry out further research in order to detect certain biphobic or transphobic attitudes since this part of the community, i.e., gender non-conforming, transgender, or intersex people are still invisible in this type of research. Additionally, future research could also incorporate qualitative methods to gain deeper insights into personal experiences and social influences on homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes.

Due to the complications generated from the circumstances that took place during the field work, such as the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the questionnaire was administered online, which limited the number of people and specific population groups that could be reached, as some people still lack access to social networks. It is also important to remark that the questionnaire also reached out to more conservative people who refused to participate in the research, thus presenting a negative attitude towards issues related to homosexuality. In addition, it is also acknowledged that some groups were small as well as some effect sizes, which can be related to the type of sampling used. This limited the representativeness of the sample and therefore the chances of obtaining more representative results. It would be recommended that future research on this topic be carried out with random sampling techniques and with larger samples in different countries. In this way, the potential to extrapolate results would increase.

5 Conclusion

This study shows the relationship of certain sociodemographic, political, personal and cultural variables with homophobic and lesbophobic attitudes. It is shown that some of the categories of these variables may negatively influence gay men and lesbian women.

This study also reports different scores in the results obtained according to sex, which corroborates the importance of considering the gender perspective in future studies. Here we can consider the effects of toxic masculinity, which has to be taken into account as a factor for future research, since it is not only the fact of being a woman or a man that affects homo/lesbophobia, but also the ideals of masculinity to which men adhere.

On the other hand, in today’s society homogeneous heterocentrism is still preserved, where the leader of the nation is analogous to the father in the traditional patriarchal family. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out research and interventions on gender and cultural construction of human sexuality in secondary education ( Stanley, 2018 ).

In short, the present work highlights the need to use these results from a psychosocial and educational approach to modify vulnerable targets through the design and implementation of training and preventive programs. This will exponentially improve the quality of life of homosexual persons.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The studies involving humans were approved by Human Research Bioethics Committee of the University of Almería (Spain) (registration code: 201699600000098). The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author contributions

J-RG-S: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft. F-JG-V: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft. M-JL-L: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft. AS-C: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft. L-CS-d-l-T: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition.EM-S: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft.

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: quality of life, homophobia, lesbophobia, public health, health care, social sciences

Citation: García-Sánchez J-R, Gago-Valiente F-J, López-López M-J, Segura-Camacho A, Saenz-de-la-Torre L-C and Moreno-Sánchez E (2024) Variables with a negative impact on the quality of life of gays and lesbians in Spain: evaluation of homophobic and lesbophobic indicators to guide youth education. Front. Psychol . 15:1323208. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1323208

Received: 17 October 2023; Accepted: 29 February 2024; Published: 15 March 2024.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2024 García-Sánchez, Gago-Valiente, López-López, Segura-Camacho, Saenz-de-la-Torre and Moreno-Sánchez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Francisco-Javier Gago-Valiente, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Should Journal Peer Review be Incentivised?

Hugo Horta and Jisun Jung

Journal peer review is part of academic life; authors send manuscripts to journals and receive feedback from the reviewers and editors, who take roles as journal gatekeepers for quality control and have a critical developmental role in improving initial research findings, analyses, and discussion. The peer review process in academia has been the cornerstone of the contemporary scientific community since the mid-20th century, even if the fundamentals of the practice started a few centuries earlier. Through a long development process, contributed to by technological advancements and changes of mentality (that led to double-blind reviews, for example), peer review principles and practices have evolved gradually and differently across disciplines. From the start, the process relied on willing reviewers in scientific fields who shared responsibility as academic citizens. Peer review always had a prosocial and service nature of the reviewers to science and academia.

Although still considered the gold standard of science, the journal peer review system today is confronted by many challenges, mainly due to the exponential growth of submissions of manuscripts to journals, part of a second massification of science driven by ‘publish or perish’ (some may argue ‘ publish and still perish ’) dynamics. Due to a growing publication pressure for academics to publish, particularly in international peer-reviewed and Web of Science or Scopus-indexed journals, and in the English language, many of these journals receive a deluge of submissions, not necessarily of good scientific quality. This places a tremendous amount of pressure on journal editors and reviewers alike. Unsurprisingly, most academics are time-constrained as they often must prioritise their time for publishing rather than reviewing for others. The need to publish to ensure career survival and thriving is undermining the prosocial and service nature of peer reviewing. In this context, many academics feel that peer review is not adequately rewarded and recognised compared to other scholarly activities, particularly publishing. It is common to hear editors complain about difficulties finding suitable, qualified, and willing reviewers. Even if some reviewers agree to review, they might not deliver the review in a timely and high quality manner. This leads to complaints about the peer review system being ineffective, slow, cumbersome, and vulnerable to various biases.

By problematising this issue, we recently published the article, ‘ The crisis of peer review: Part of the evolution of science ’. In the article, we explained how the journal peer review system has historically evolved and how the original value of peer review remained valid. We further discussed the current challenges of the peer review system from multiple stakeholder’s views and highlighted the problem of poor recognition and incentives for peer review. At the end of the article, we asked if there are better ways to motivate academics to participate actively in peer review, recognise their review work, or provide more appealing incentives for reviewers.

Some recent efforts have been made in some disciplines to reward reviewers, including through monetary or non-monetary incentivisation. For example, one suggestion is to charge authors a fee to submit, which is then used to pay reviewers, although such monetary incentives may pose a moral threat to academic work ( Squazzoni et al., 2013 ). Another monetary incentive is from the publisher, who provides free access to journal subscription content or discounts for their content, especially for reviewers from developing countries who need more access to academic journals and other resources. Another suggestion is to give official recognition for review work through online platforms (i.e. Publons). However, this can be risky as it might create another form of competition for metrics and encourage the marketisation of science ( Teixeira da Silva & Al-Khatib, 2019 ). Some journals give awards or certificates to the most diligent reviewers or include the reviewers’ names in the journal paper version, thanking them there. The issue is that journals are transitioning to online platforms, and paper versions are increasingly dismissed due to their cost, environmental concerns, and lack of space.

Interesting attempts also connect the publication and review process by incentivisation or punishment strategies. This mainly targets those academics who publish a lot but rarely agree to review for others. Some journals offer publication credits for their reviewers ( Fox & Petchey, 2010 ) and make authors review a certain number of papers if they want to publish their research in the same journal. Fox and Petchey’s (2010) study introduced the concept of Pubcreds, whereby authors receive credits for reviewing work, which they can use to get their research reviewed. All these strategies highlight the role of extrinsic motivators in the face of declining intrinsic motivators. A key point is that few incentives are known that reliably sustain the quality and quantity of the peer review process. Nonetheless, the peer review process is here to stay because its core values remain useful and because it is the worst form of scientific assessment except for all the others that have been tried so far.

Of course, not all academics are motivated just by incentives for peer review. Many remain motivated to participate in peer review because they are interested and curious, want to know new knowledge in their field, contribute to developing quality research, or feel that reviewing is part of their role as researchers. Although these are all positive sides of peer review, the current system could be more sustainable considering the recent trends of overloaded journal submissions. To sustain science with academic integrity, training and fostering future generations of researchers as authors and reviewers is a necessary step. This may also be an opportunity for the peer review process to become more inclusive and bring in an increasing number of women researchers and those from developing countries. This inclusivity could mitigate some of the issues plaguing peer review processes and involve others and their knowledge in the scientific endeavour.

Fox, J., & Petchey, O. L. (2010). Pubcreds: Fixing the peer review process by ‘privatising’ the reviewer commons. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 91 (3), 325–333. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9623-91.3.325

Squazzoni, F., Bravo, G., & Takács, K. (2013). Does incentive provision increase the quality of peer review? An experimental study. Research Policy, 42 (1), 287–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.04.014

Teixeira da Silva, J. A., & Al-Khatib, A. (2019). The ClarivateTM analytics acquisition of Publons—An evolution or commodification of peer review? Research Ethics, 15 , 438–444. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016117739941

Acknowledgement

This blog is based on our recent publication. Please find the full text below (open access).

Horta, H., & Jung, J. (2024). The crisis of peer review: Part of the evolution of science. Higher Education Quarterly . https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12511

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ACC, AHA Release First-Ever Performance and Quality Measures For VHD and SHD

Mar 14, 2024

ACC News Story

A new comprehensive set of clinical performance and quality measures released by the ACC and American Heart Association (AHA) aim to help measure, compare and ultimately improve care and outcomes in adults with valvular (VHD) and structural heart disease (SHD).

Published in JACC , the 2024 ACC/AHA Clinical Performance and Quality Measures For Adults With Valvular and Structural Heart Disease include 11 total measures (five performance measures and six quality measures), the majority of which pertain to the outpatient setting.

Of the five performance measures, three pertain to the implementation of an appropriate valve intervention in patients with severe symptomatic aortic valve stenosis; chronic severe aortic regurgitation; and chronic severe primary mitral regurgitation, while a fourth pertains to "TTE for Asymptomatic Chronic Severe Primary MR." The fifth measure addresses the prescription of a vitamin-K antagonist in patients with mechanical prosthetic valves – a treatment that has been proven to prevent valve thrombosis and thromboembolic events, according to the Writing Committee.

In all cases, the five performance measures are high impact, actionable, target meaningful gaps in care, and would require a relatively low abstraction burden in terms of cost, effort and time. The authors note that they are also "unlikely to have unintended consequences with their implementation," are based on Class I clinical guideline recommendations, and are appropriate for public reporting or pay-for-performance programs.

The six quality measures, while not ready for public reporting or pay for performance, "may be useful for clinicians and health care organizations for internal review and quality improvement," according to the authors. Of the measures, four pertain to medical, percutaneous or surgical intervention strategies, while two address patient education or monitoring. Of note, one of the measures involves documenting risk assessment and having a shared decision-making discussion with patients and a multidisciplinary heart valve team whenever a valvular procedure or surgical intervention is being considered.

According to the Writing Committee, chaired by Hani Jneid, MD, FACC , and Joanna Chikwe, MD, FACC , the new performance and quality measures are the first set to address VHD and SHD. The measures were developed in collaboration with the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions and were endorsed by the American Society of Echocardiography and the Heart Rhythm Society.

Going forward, the authors recommend that the measures be added to future clinical registries and examined for their performance in real-world clinical practice. In addition, they stress that "new care processes and diagnostic and therapeutic strategies should continue to be examined and considered, especially with the emergence of new transcatheter therapies or new indications of existing transcatheter therapies in the fields of VHD and SHD."

Clinical Topics: Invasive Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention, Noninvasive Imaging, Valvular Heart Disease, Interventions and Imaging, Interventions and Structural Heart Disease, Angiography, Nuclear Imaging

Keywords: Valvular Diseases, Aortic Valve Disease, Heart Valve Diseases, Structural Intervention, Coronary Angiography

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Implementation and Modification of the Manufacture of High-Quality Ingots in an ALD Vacuum Arc Furnace

• Metallurgical Equipment
• Published: 01 March 2018
• Volume 2017 , pages 1077–1082, ( 2017 )

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• A. A. Sisev 1 ,
• B. V. Troyanov 1 &
• A. I. Il’inskii 1  

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The results of producing metal products of the steel and alloy ingots manufactured on an ALD furnace are presented. Remelting with growth rate and drop pulse frequency control is tested. (08‒12)Kh18N10T steel is studied to determine the depth of shrinkage and subshrinkage defects in all ingots of all sizes (250, 320, and 500 mm in diameter). The quality of steels and alloys in chemical composition, mechanical properties, long-term strength, macrostructure, and nonmetallic inclusions are analyzed in terms of regulatory documents. The affordability of the implemented remelting process was about 4.4 mln rubles.

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AO Metallurgical Plant Electrostal, Elektrostal, Moscow oblast, Russia

A. A. Sisev, B. V. Troyanov & A. I. Il’inskii

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Correspondence to B. V. Troyanov .

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To the Centenary of Metallurgical Plant Electrostal

Original Russian Text © A.A. Sisev, B.V. Troyanov, A.I. Il’inskii, 2017, published in Elektrometallurgiya, 2017, No. 7, pp. 18–24.

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Sisev, A.A., Troyanov, B.V. & Il’inskii, A.I. Implementation and Modification of the Manufacture of High-Quality Ingots in an ALD Vacuum Arc Furnace. Russ. Metall. 2017 , 1077–1082 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0036029517120163

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Received : 10 March 2017

Published : 01 March 2018

Issue Date : December 2017

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1134/S0036029517120163

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