Building Positive Relationships Research Articles

Research in Special Education: Using a Research Poem as a Guide for Relationship Building

Building positive relationships with participants is an important component of qualitative research in the field of special education. Research poems allow expression of the evolution of participant-researcher relationship in a sensitive and nuanced manner. In this paper, I use a research poem about gardening to demonstrate how a researcher can construct a positive relationship with his/her participants. Each line of the poem represents the sequence and evolution of relationship development between the researcher and families who participated in the research.

Building positive relationships with Indigenous children, families and communities: learning at the cultural interface

Drawing on the work of Martin Nakata, this paper brings into focus the everyday complexities involved in the cultural interfaces that educators, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, negotiate in order to promote children’s engagement with formal education processes. Analysis of emergent data from a recent evaluation of a preschool education programme operating in 35 rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland, Australia, revealed that educators struggle to situate their own knowledge and experiences in relation to the knowledge and experiences of others in both the educational and cultural contexts in which they work. A series of composite vignettes reporting the experiences of early childhood educators across these communities is used to examine the pedagogical opportunities available to educators when they are able to recognise the value of the knowledge and experience of all those involved in a child’s educational success.

Surviving Girlhood: Building Positive Relationships, Attitudes and Self‐Esteem to Prevent Teenage Girl BullyingN.Giant & R.BeddoeLondon: Jessica Kingsley, 2013. pp. 208, £19.99. ISBN: 978‐1‐84905‐925‐1.

Reviews the book, Surviving Girlhood: Building Positive Relationships, Attitudes and Self‐Esteem to Prevent Teenage Girl Bullying by Niki. Giant and Rachel. Beddoe ( 2013). This book is a useful resource for preventing girl bullying, written by experienced anti-bullying officers. They note that UK schools must have an anti bullying policy by law, but these tend to have a reactive approach rather than tackling root causes. This book is primarily aimed at school staff, but would also be useful for youth workers and clinicians. Some of the activities would be helpful for generally building girls’ self-esteem, even in the absence of bullying issues. Overall, this provides a useful proactive toolkit for helping adolescent girls to develop self respect and establish positive relationships with others.

Honors Students’ Perceptions of Their High School Experiences

Academic motivation is important for students’ task persistence, academic performance, and college selection. The goal of this qualitative study was to understand academic motivation from the students’ perspective. Focus group discussions with 28 university honors freshman revealed that students most often attributed their interest and motivation in high school to their interactions with their teachers. These findings supported the theoretical foundations of the Achievement Orientation Model and demonstrated how effective teachers can influence all components of that model as they encourage students’ growth and satisfaction (building self-efficacy), as they make the content meaningful and challenging for their students (creating task valuation), and as they shape students’ perception of support in their environment through building positive relationships and being knowledgeable about the content (fostering a positive environmental perception). Teachers with extensive depth and breadth of content knowledge are better able to foster student motivation. These teachers have the background to be comfortable differentiating content, straying from the familiar textbook territory, and delving into a variety of instruction strategies, such as in-depth discussions, with their students.

EYFS Best Practice: All about … Building positive relationships with parents

Nursery WorldVol. 2013, No. 11 FeatureEYFS Best Practice: All about … Building positive relationships with parentsAnita M Hughes, Veronica ReadAnita M HughesSearch for more papers by this author, Veronica ReadSearch for more papers by this authorAnita M Hughes; Veronica ReadPublished Online:4 Mar 2014https://doi.org/10.12968/nuwa.2013.19.11.1140591AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View articleAbstractCommunicating from the heart is crucial if we are to work in partnership with the parents of our babies and youngest children. Anita M Hughes and Veronica Read explain why it matters. FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 1 November 2013Volume 2013Issue 11ISSN (print): 0029-6422ISSN (online): 2059-9358 Metrics History Published online 4 March 2014 Published in print 1 November 2013 Information© MA Education Ltd

Perspectives on trauma-informed care from mothers with a history of childhood maltreatment: A qualitative study

Women who experienced abuse or neglect as children are more likely to have health problems during pregnancy and postpartum, but can be reluctant to seek help due to a lack of trauma-informed services. As part of a larger mixed method study, this component aimed to obtain qualitative data from trauma-exposed new mothers about their health care preferences during the perinatal period with the ultimate goal to design personalized, supportive interventions. Fifty-two trauma-exposed mothers completed a semi-structured interview at seven months postpartum about health care preferences including ideas for programs that promote wellness, thoughts about the influences of being a new mother and possible names for a program serving trauma-exposed mothers. Interviews were transcribed and coded using N-Vivo. Participants described ambivalence about seeking help but also a sincere desire for healing, coupled with hope for the future. This tension was apparent in the discussions highlighting the importance of access to experienced, nonjudgmental, and knowledgeable health and social care staff and volunteers, the wish for both formal, integrated physical and mental health services, and for informal opportunities to meet other trauma-exposed mothers in a non-stigmatizing, child-friendly setting. Finally, positive relationship-building, respect, and safety were identified as key elements of services critical to counteract trauma-related shame and mistrust in others. Services for trauma-exposed mothers should acknowledge the normal ambivalence surrounding seeking help, but promote hope-affirming practices in a family-centered, safe, non-clinical setting that involves children, builds social support, and provides peer interaction. Program names should reflect optimism and healing rather than trauma.

Empowering Pre-service Teacher Supervisors’ Perspectives: A Relational-Cultural Approach towards Mentoring

Positive relationship building between the university and the schools that receive their pre-service teachers are crucial to developing quality educators fit for the teaching profession. This paper presents an overview of a mentor workshop that was introduced by the professional experience unit of a regional university in Australia. The aim of the mentor workshop was to explore classroom teachers’ concerns when supervising pre-service teachers and find ways to better support them in the supervisor role. In addition, different ways and ideas about how to best meet the high (and growing) demand for professional experience placements were explored. Findings suggest that closer relations between university and the schools were warranted to ensure the desired quality of supervision envisaged by all stakeholders. Findings also indicate a strong interest from some classroom teachers in further postgraduate studies in education. This has positive implications for university postgraduate education programs and corollary potential to increase postgraduate intake.

Do the Parent–Child Relationship and Parenting Behaviors Differ Between Families With a Child With and Without Chronic Illness? A Meta-Analysis

The present meta-analysis compared the quality of the parent-child relationship as well as parenting behaviors and styles of families with a child with chronic physical illness with families of healthy children or test norms. Empirical studies were identified with the help of electronic databases and cross-referencing. Based on 325 included studies, random-effects meta-analysis was performed. Although most effect sizes were small or very small, the parent-child relationship tended to be less positive if a child had a chronic physical illness (g = -.16 standard deviation units). In addition, lower levels of parental responsiveness (emotional warmth; g = -.22) as well as higher levels of demandingness (control, monitoring; g = .18) and overprotection (g = .39) were observed in these families. However, effect sizes were heterogeneous and only significant for a limited number of diseases. There was also some evidence for higher levels of authoritarian (g = .24) and neglectful parenting (g = .51) as well as lower levels of authoritative parenting compared with families with healthy children (g = -.13). Effect sizes varied, in part, by length of illness, child age, rater, assessment method, and target of comparison. We conclude that most families with a child with chronic physical illness adapt well with regard to the parent-child relationship and parenting behaviors/styles. Nonetheless, some families of children with specific diseases-such as epilepsy, hearing impairment, and asthma-may have difficulties finding appropriate levels of protective behaviors, control, and parental warmth and building positive mutual relationships between parents and children.

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury as a Gateway to Suicide in Young Adults

To investigate the extent to which nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) contributes to later suicide thoughts and behaviors (STB) independent of shared risk factors. One thousand four hundred and sixty-six students at five U.S. colleges participated in a longitudinal study of the relationship between NSSI and suicide. NSSI, suicide history, and common risk/protective factors were assessed annually for three years. Analyses tested the hypotheses that the practice of NSSI prior to STB and suicide behavior (excluding ideation) reduced inhibition to later STB independent of shared risk factors. Analyses also examined factors that predicted subsequent STB among individuals with NSSI history. History of NSSI did significantly predict concurrent or later STB (AOR 2.8, 95%, CI 1.9-4.1) independent of covariates common to both. Among those with prior or concurrent NSSI, risk of STB is predicted by > 20 lifetime NSSI incidents (AOR 3.8, 95% CI, 1.4-10.3) and history of mental health treatment (AOR 2.2, 95% CI, 1.9-4.6). Risk of moving from NSSI to STB is decreased by presence of meaning in life (AOR .6, 95% CI, .5-.7) and reporting parents as confidants (AOR, .3, 95% CI, .1-.9). NSSI prior to suicide behavior serves as a "gateway" behavior for suicide and may reduce inhibition through habituation to self-injury. Treatments focusing on enhancing perceived meaning in life and building positive relationships with others, particularly parents, may be particularly effective in reducing suicide risk among youth with a history of NSSI.

Building positive relationships in healthcare: Evaluation of the teams of interprofessional staff interprofessional education program

The Teams of Interprofessional Staff (TIPS) project consisted of five healthcare teams from across Ontario, participating in three, two-day face-to-face interprofessional educational (IPE) sessions over an 8-month period. The purpose of TIPS was to explore whether interprofessional team development for practicing healthcare professionals, makes a difference in team functioning, team member satisfaction, ability to work effectively both individually and as a team, and improved patient well-being. A comprehensive formative and summative evaluation revealed that all teams perceived they benefitted from and engaged in successful team development. Success meant different things to each team reflecting the continuum of team development from building a safe, trusted group to becoming leaders of team development for other interprofessional teams. Effective teamwork is crucial to nurses who often take on the role of coordinator of care on a day-to-day basis, or are in managerial roles in interprofessional clinics or clinical program teams.

The role of community-based playgroups in building relationships between pre-service teachers, families and the community

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY was to explore how connections between families, communities and educators can be facilitated in teacher education courses through the use of playgroups. Barriers to building relationships, as well as the perceived benefits of these relationships to families and pre-service teachers, were also explored. Participants were involved in weekly university-based community playgroups. Focus group interviews were conducted and the constant comparative method was used to analyse interview transcripts. Themes of ‘Constraints’ and ‘Enablers’ emerged from pre-service teachers' transcripts, indicating that they were initially uncomfortable with community and family involvement but eventually made connections as to why this was important. The theme of ‘positive relationship building’ emerged from parents' transcripts, indicating that they saw building relationships with families and communities as an important role of early childhood educators. Implications for the importance of authentic learning situations for fostering these relationships in teacher education courses are discussed.

Developing cohesion and building positive relationships through storytelling in a culturally diverse New Zealand classroom

Educational research highlights the importance of positive teacher student relationships and recommends teachers adopt teaching strategies that are more culturally inclusive, and allow for reciprocal teaching and learning where student prior knowledge is legitimized. Participants in this study experienced such an approach. Through a storytelling process they fostered empathy, compassion, tolerance and respect for difference. This paper introduces four interrelated factors that enhanced participant understanding of themselves, others and cultural perspectives: developing the ways of working, establishing a caring supportive environment, privileging student voice through personal stories, and enhancing participant connectedness and relationship change. These results have potential relevance for teachers and teacher educators who face the challenge of catering for the learning needs of culturally diverse students in their classrooms.

The B-SMART Appropriate Medication-Use Process: A Guide for Clinicians to Help Patients— Part 1: Barriers, Solutions, and Motivation

Research shows that the combination of education, empowerment of patients by providing tools and feedback, and ongoing encouragement given to patients will significantly improve adherence to therapy plans and improve outcomes than any one component alone.9,12,34 To complete this B-SMART approach to medication optimization, part 2 of this article in the Spring 2009 issue will discuss: Adherence Tools: Tools and reminders to keep patients on track; Relationships: Building positive relationships; and Triage: Direct patients' medication management plan into the broader health care system.

Book Review: Tolerance and Empathy in Today's Classroom: Building Positive Relationships within the Citizenship Curriculum for 0 to 14 Year Olds

Book Review: Tolerance and Empathy in Today's Classroom: Building Positive Relationships within the Citizenship Curriculum for 0 to 14 Year Olds

Building positive team relationships for better usability

Building positive team relationships for better usability

Sustained, Intensive Engagement to Promote Health and Safety Knowledge Transfer to and Utilization by Workplaces

The need to establish a positive relationship between the source of the knowledge and the user organization to achieve knowledge utilization is an established principle of knowledge transfer. Yet, the process of establishing such a relationship and its impact on knowledge utilization remains relatively unexplored in the field of workplace health and safety. This article describes such a knowledge transfer intervention with three manufacturing workplaces. Using qualitative methods, a knowledge broker documents and evaluates a knowledge transfer intervention and the utilization of a body of research on workplace health and safety. This article explores the issues of intensity, duration, and the interactive nature of positive relationship building and highlights the implications for knowledge transfer on workplace health and safety.

Shame and Hope in Sexual Addiction

ABSTRACT What causes one person to enter into a life-long relationship, while someone else moves from person to person, romance to romance? How does one distinguish between love and the out-of-control behavior of addiction? This paper addresses these issues of love, differentiating between what Maslow has called B-love, love for the being of the other, and D-love, love which fills a deficiency within oneself. Sexual addiction, with its unfulfilled quest for unity with another, is the outer limit of D-love. The form behavior addiction takes depends on what is being defended against. Sexual addiction, which frequently has its roots in sexual abuse, is usually accompanied with extreme levels of unhealthy shame. Successful treatment will focus on building positive relationships with self and other.

Building Positive Relationships: An Evaluation of Process and Outcomes in a Big Sister Program

Research has shown that one-to-one mentoring has beneficial effects on the development of children who experience some form of disadvantage in childhood. What is not known is whether a nonintensive group program, in conjunction with one-to-one mentoring, will have even greater benefits for children. This study assesses the effects of a group program called Building Positive Relationships which was offered to 31 Little Sisters in grades three to final year of high school. A wait list comparison group of 21 Little Sisters who were in a one-to-one mentoring relationship and expressed interest in the program was part of the design. Outcomes measured included levels of self-esteem, empathy, family and peer relationships, problem-solving skills, and self-advocacy skills. The findings showed that significant changes occurred in level of self-esteem which were maintained at followup.

Parents as Partners: Building Positive Home-School Relationships

(1999). Parents as Partners: Building Positive Home-School Relationships. The Educational Forum: Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 121-126.

Teachers' Reported Practices of Parent Involvement: Problems and Possibilities

added by over 1,000 teachers to a survey of teachers' practices. Results of the survey of 3,700 teachers in about 600 schools in Maryland are described in Becker and Epstein (in this issue). The teachers' comments reflect the variation in years of experience and in the number and types of contacts individual teachers have had with parents. Each theme can be viewed from two perspectives-there are potential advantages, but there are also potential problems, with any parent-involvement technique. Teachers' comments reveal their contrasting opinions on the benefits expected from parent assistance at home and on the organizational structures used to conduct parent-involvement activities. Some teachers are very positive about parent involvement; others have been discouraged by their attempts to communicate and work with parents.