Degree Of Involvement In Activities Research Articles

The formation of morpho-functional readiness and peculiarities of student adaptation processes at the graduate stage of education in institution of higher education

Annotation. A comprehensive assessment of the morpho-functional state of the human organism is impossible without taking into account the features of its functional component, first of all, indicators that provide information about the level of development of psychophysiological functions of the organism and the degree of formation of personality traits. The research, during which 64 students (33 young women and 31 young men) were under supervision during their studies at the 1st year of the medical faculty, was conducted using medico-social, psychophysiological and psychodiagnostic methods. The analysis of the obtained data involved the application of descriptive statistics procedures using statistical analysis programs “Statistica 6.1” (license № ВXXR901E245722FA). The results obtained during the hygienic assessment of the peculiarities of the development of the psychophysiological functions of the organism of young women and young men who are at the initial stage of education in a medical institution of higher education testify to fairly stable changes in their nature, which mainly consist in a slight improvement in the values of criterion indicators of the functional state of the higher nervous system activity, visual sensory system and somatosensory analyzers. At the same time, a number of unfavorable trends attract attention, which are characterized by the appearance of negative shifts in the indicators of the mobility of nervous processes among young women and young men, the degree of involvement in activities and coordination of movements among young women, as well as the level of work efficiency among young women and young men, which determine the presence of pronounced tension of the adaptation mechanisms of the students, which ensure the optimal course of psychophysiological adaptation processes. Among the most characteristic changes in terms of the leading indicators of temperament and character properties of student youth should be included an increase in the level of extroversion both among young women and young men over the course of their studies, a significantly lower level of neuroticism observed throughout the entire period of observation among young men, a certain increase indicators of situational anxiety and, at the same time, a certain decrease in indicators of personal anxiety in both sex groups, a moderate advantage in the structure of the characterological properties of students in indicators on the scales of hypomania (Ma), psychasthenia (Pt), schizoidness (Se) and paranoia (Ra). The results obtained during the study of the features of the level of subjective control and mental states testify to the emergence of rather unfavorable trends from the prognostic point of view, consist in a gradual decrease in the dynamics of learning in the number of persons with internal manifestations in the motivational structure of the personality, and allow us to assert the presence in the student population of personal manifestations of maladaptive content.

Social relationships with nature: elements of a framework for socio-ecological structure analysis

This primarily conceptual contribution introduces a sociological framework for tracing the effects and the sources of stability or instability of societal nature relations to the thoughts, feelings and doings of actually existing people. Drawing on critical debates on societal nature relations, we argue that modern capitalist societalization is inherently expansionary, that the rapid expansion of human economic activity over the past two centuries was only possible based on fossil resources, and that therefore, moving to a post-fossil world will require reinventing the very essence of what “society” is. To investigate the implications of such a fundamental overhaul at the level of how socialized people relate to socialized nature, we build on the relational sociology of Pierre Bourdieu to suggest the framework of a space of social relationships with nature. We describe the iterative process in which we arrived at this conception, moving back and forth between theoretical considerations and hermeneutic analysis of qualitative material from case studies of bio-based economic activities in four European regions. From the iterative process, we synthesize four elementary forms of social relationship with nature (“natural capital”, “nature as partner”, “natural heritage” and nature as “the environment”) and provide an illustrative corner case for each. From the systematic differences that emerge, we then draw out two principal axes of a spatial representation partly homologous with Bourdieu’s social space: a vertical axis indicating the degree of active involvement in and access to the means of abstract-expansionary societalization, and a horizontal representing the form of that involvement, along a continuum from dualist, instrumental and appropriative to holist, mutual or caring relationships with nature. In conclusion, we propose further research to apply and develop this relational framework across local or national contexts and scales as a means to analyze tensions and conflicts around transformations of the societal nature relations.

What if the company’s “charity of the year” is an organisation that deals with severe to moderate mental disability?

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the use of an appeal, belonging and commitment social marketing intervention to rescue a failing corporate “charity of the year” exercise that involved a mental disability charity. It describes the improvements experienced consequent to the introduction of volunteer “charity ambassadors” (CAs) appointed to champion the charity’s cause.Design/methodology/approachThe study revolved around company employees’ responses to an open-ended question concerning their attitudes towards people with mental disabilities. A semi-automated qualitative research technique (structural topic modelling [STM]) was used to analyse the replies both pre- and post-intervention. Regression analyses were undertaken to explain whether employees’ replies to the question fell in specific categories.FindingsThe intervention was successful. Employees’ attitudes regarding mentally impaired people shifted substantially away from fear and towards feelings of benevolence and compassion. Employees’ financial donations to the charity increased significantly consequent to the intervention. Levels of benevolence and compassion depended significantly on participants’ prior exposure to people with mental disabilities, gender and degree of involvement in activities associated with the intervention.Research limitations/implicationsStakeholders other than employees were not sampled. Open-ended responses to a single question can oversimplify complex issues.Practical implicationsOutcomes to the research demonstrate how CAs can induce positive attitudes and behaviour towards an “unpopular cause”.Originality/valueThe results highlight some of the problems attached to corporate sponsorship of unpopular causes. A relatively recently developed open-ended qualitative research technique, STM, was used to examine employees’ attitudes. Classifications of findings emerged from the data and did not depend on a predetermined coding scheme.

PRESCHOOL CHILD’S MOTHER’S PARENTING PRACTICES AND ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT WITH CHILD’S DIGITALLY-BASED ACTIVITY IN RELATION TO CHILD’S PROSOCIAL OR PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOR

The aim of this research was to examine preschool children’s prosocial behavior as well as internalizing and externalizing problems in relation to their mothers’ parenting practices and active involvement with their child in the use of various digital technologies (television, computer, telephone, play stations), time spent and content of the child’s activities. Participating in the research were the mothers of 120 preschool children, aged 5 – 6 years old, 50 girls and 70 boys. Mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach Rescorla, 2000), prosocial behavior scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997), Block‘s Child Rearing Practices Report (Block, 1981), as adapted by Aunolo and Nurmi (Aunola Nurmi, 2004) and also answered questions regarding the child’s time spent with digital technologies, the content of their activity (drawing, puzzles, games, etc.), and the mother’s degree of active involvement with her child during these activities. Results showed that mother’s active involvement with child’s digitally-based activity was associated with emotionally warm parenting, as well as with higher child’s prosocial behavior ratings. Regression analysis showed that lover mother’s involvement and punishment orientation in parenting was predictive of externalizing behavior ratings for boys. Results are discussed in relation to practical implications for parent-child relationships.

Developing entrepreneurial competences in students in the life sciences: the Lifetech Ad-Venture program

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify how an entrepreneurship program in the life-sciences impacts the development of their entrepreneurial skills and values in undergraduate students. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative study was conducted at Tecnologico de Monterrey, a private university in Mexico. Questionnaires were administered to life-sciences students before and after the entrepreneurship course to analyze and identify the development of pre-defined entrepreneurial characteristics. Findings – Results indicate a positive and significant impact on several of the 13 entrepreneurial characteristics evaluated in the study (negotiation skills, need of achievement and initiative). Empirical insights gained in the study suggest that gender does not yield to differences in the degree of involvement in activities, and that previous entrepreneurship experience may contribute to enhanced engagement in the program. Research limitations/implications – The paper reports on students from one university campus. Future research should include students from other locations in the country. Practical implications – It is evident that university entrepreneurship programs have an impact on students' skills and values; however, the challenge still remains in the design of those programs to include more activities and draw on the students' own competences. Originality/value – This paper contributes with evidence from an entrepreneurship program implemented in a Latin American university, a region for which documentation of the degree of success of entrepreneurship education is limited in the literature.

Assessment of functional capacity after discharge from the ICU

Functional capacity refers to the degree of involvement in activities and is often used as synonymous with performance in activities of daily living such as self-care. These measures of capacity are useful and provide some understanding on the prognosis and outlook for independence after discharge. This study was designed to analyze the functional capacity before ICU admission and after hospital discharge.

Wayfinding and art viewing by users of a mobile system and a guidebook

This study examined location-based service users' perception and behaviour in a large, multi-story commercial complex, by comparing wayfinding, acquired spatial knowledge and art evaluation by people who viewed artworks using a mobile art-tour system and by people who used a paper-based guidebook. Results showed that mobile users made wayfinding errors because of difficulties in understanding navigational directions offered by the system, whereas guidebook users made errors because of difficulties in locating their positions on maps, especially when they moved between floors. Mobile users' sketch maps similarly showed errors of locating artworks on incorrect floors. In terms of scene recognition, mobile and guidebook users performed comparably, indicting that they acquired equivalent levels of landmark knowledge. But in terms of memory retention, mobile users tended to forget about visited artworks as time passed. Mobile and guidebook users did not differ in the evaluation of artworks, but differed in the viewing of offered contents. Mobile users, especially those with low interest in art, tended not to view contents offered in the formats of photographs and movies, whereas guidebook users viewed all contents in the guidebook. Possible effects of the degree of active involvement in wayfinding and content viewing, and issues about raising motivation of low-interest people so that they interact with the terminal device, and preferably gain interest in guided activities, are discussed.

Does activity level in online support groups for distressed adolescents determine emotional relief

AbstractOnline support groups are widely used for numerous types of distress areas, but relatively little has been empirically examined to date in regard to their effectiveness in providing emotional relief to participants as claimed. The current study aimed at testing a possible moderator affecting participants' emotional relief when using an online support group: the degree of active involvement. This subject was explored by investigating the number of main and response messages that 20 randomly selected participants posted, as well as the number of replies they received, over the course of three months of participation in an open, online support group intended for suicidal and severely distressed adolescents. Level of distress was measured by a thematic analysis of main messages posted by the participants that was conducted by three pre‐trained, expert judges. Results revealed that although the level of participants’ distress did not change over time, on the average, it was significantly correlated with activity level: the higher the number of posts and replies, the lower the level of distress in following months. Implications of these findings for the application and facilitation of online support groups are discussed.

Condition severity and psychosocial functioning in pre-adolescents with spina bifida: disentangling proximal functional status and distal adjustment outcomes.

To examine relations between condition severity and psychosocial functioning in 70 8- and 9-year-old pre-adolescents with spina bifida by testing several direct, indirect, and mediated effects models for proximal functional status and distal adjustment outcomes. Proximal functional status outcomes (e.g., degree of involvement in activities, scholastic competence, athletic competence, attentional problems) and distal adjustment outcomes (e.g., behavior problems, social competence) were assessed with mother, father, and teacher report. Severity variables included spinal lesion level, spina bifida classification, shunt status, ambulation status, number of shunt surgeries, and two severity composites. Condition severity was associated with the proximal functional status outcomes across parent and teacher report. In contrast, no significant relationships were found between the severity parameters and distal adjustment outcomes. Findings supported a proximal effects model of condition severity as well as an indirect effects model (e.g., presence of a shunt-->less scholastic competence-->less social competence) and were consistent with recent theoretical formulations (e.g., Wallander & Varni, 1995). Disentangling proximal functional status outcomes and distal adjustment outcomes is critical in studies of condition severity and psychosocial functioning. We discuss clinical implications.