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In this conceptual paper, we draw upon Ahmed (2019) and ask “what’s the use of assessment?” The Reimagining Literacies Assessment knowledge mobilization project contributes examples from research and pedagogy in classrooms with young children, in a Cree language immersion program, in anti-racist creative writing classrooms, and in research in reading instruction and assessment. Undoing, decolonizing, liberating, righting become concepts to think through the use of assessment and to propose critically urgent and emergent questions, practices, and possibilities for students and teachers.

Introduction: The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) offers the Certificate of Added Competence (CAC) program to designate a family physician with enhanced skills. In 2015, the College expanded its program to introduce enhanced certification in four new domains: Palliative Care, Care of the Elderly, Sports and Exercise Medicine, and Family Practice Anesthesia. In this study, we elicited perceptions from Canadian family physicians with and without the CAC on practice impacts associated with the program. Methods: Active family physicians in Canada with and without CACs were surveyed between November 2019 to January 2020. Descriptive statistics were generated to describe the perceptions of family physicians regarding the CAC program and its impacts on practice. Results: Respondents agreed with several benefits of the program including enhancing the capacity to deliver comprehensive care, alleviating the burden of patient travel by increasing the availability of care in rural and remote communities, and providing opportunities to engage in various collaborative care models and new leadership roles. All respondents perceived CAC holders to pursue the certificate to meet both professional interests and community needs. Conclusions: There is a need for strong and continued investment in systemic practice improvements that incentivize the delivery of comprehensive family medicine practice.

Background: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been found to have significant health benefits in studies conducted in the global North. Aim: This study examined the effects of MBSR on stress, mood states and medical symptoms among urban South Africans to inform future research and clinical directions of MBSR in local settings. Setting: Participants completed an 8-week MBSR programme based in central Cape Town. Method: A retrospective analysis of 276 clinical records was conducted. Mindfulness, stress, negative and positive mood, medical symptoms and psychological symptoms were assessed before and after the intervention using self-report questionnaires. We compared pre and postintervention scores and examined the relationship between changes in mindfulness and changes in stress, mood and medical symptoms. Results: Mindfulness scores were significantly higher after intervention, both on the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS) and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Changes on the KIMS were associated with reductions in stress, negative mood, psychological symptoms and total medical symptoms, and improvement in positive mood. Changes in mindfulness, as measured by the MAAS, were significantly correlated only with reduced total number of medical symptoms. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence for the positive health impact of MBSR on urban South Africans, and in turn acceptability and feasibility evidence for MBSR in South Africa and supports the case for larger trials in different local settings.