Professional Self Research Articles

Exploring Classical Adlerian Practitioners’ Professional Identity Development: A Phenomenological Study

ABSTRACT: This qualitative study examined the classical Adlerian practitioners’ experiences of developing professional identity. Classical Adlerian practitioners are a group of individuals who operationalize from classical Adlerian depth psychotherapy, one of the divergences from Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, data were gathered from two classical Adlerian practitioners using individual semi structured interviews. Findings presented four themes, including influences on developing their professional identities as classical Adlerians, congruency between professional and personal selves, the intertwined learning and applying process, and theoretical divergences within Adlerian Psychology. Implications for training and continued education are suggested.

A lucky draw? Theorising how work placements develop diverse university students’ career stories

ABSTRACT Universities can prepare students for work, and universities can educate increasingly diverse student cohorts, but can they do both concurrently? This question of whether universities can offer equitable and inclusive careers education is increasingly under scrutiny. In this study, we address the largely under-theorised area of work-based placements from the perspective of career identity formation for diverse students. We do so through the adoption of Meijers and Lengelle’s theorisation of ‘career stories’ which position the narrative as the mechanism to understand how students’ have developed their career identities and future professional goals. Drawing on longitudinal interviews with disabled students, we explore university placements as ‘boundary experiences’ which can either enable, or disable, the formation of students’ professional selves. Our findings indicate a troubling amount of variability, and indeed, luck within the placement offering, often unsupported by intentional pedagogical design. This suggests that the current university placement experience does little to support the professional identity formation processes of diverse students. Through this study, we further translate a processual learning theory from career learning to support future intentional pedagogical placement design in the university context for diverse students. The article ends with a consideration of how placement experiences can better align to equity goals of the university, and provide scalable, high-quality learning experiences for all students.

Locating the Subject in Postmodern State: A Critique of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day

A British novelist of Japanese origin, Kazuo Ishiguro explores the social and political atmosphere of England that unsettled the nation in the decade after World War I. He brings to notice the significant role of an individual’s inner emotional dilemma of the professional self. This paper then offers a close reading of Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1989), exploring the discourse of the subject within a social, political and ideological framework that constructs the concept of selfhood. This play of socio-political ideologies includes subjects that are no more than cultural performances. Centring on Ishiguro’s exploration of this decentred subject, this paper scrutinises the symbolic link between the protagonist Stevens’s selfhood caused by self-deception or the ideological state apparatus and fictional world leaders’ discourse on professionalism. From this viewpoint, the main objective of the paper is to uncover how Ishiguro’s work dramatises the transformation of the modernist preconstituted subject into the postmodernist decentred subject.

Decoding the mask: Identity in undergraduate medical education

Abstract Introduction: Developing a healthy sense of professional identity among medical students is an integral aspect of medical education. Despite its importance, addressing professional identity formation (PIF) in medical school has typically been limited to narrative methods. Mask-making represents a complementary visual modality to examine PIF in undergraduate medical education. Methods: 140 students from the Penn State University College of Medicine Class of 2022 participated in a mask-making activity as they transitioned to clinical clerkships. Students expressed their ideal professional self on the outside of the masks and their current sense of self on the inside of the masks. Masks were coded into 31 PIF categories, and data were analyzed using chi-square to identify significant (P < 0.05) differences between self and ideal profiles. Results: Overall, the subdomains Communication skills, Observational Skills, and Relationships had the greatest incongruence between what students perceived as “ideal” and how they saw themselves. Discussion: Mask-making is a modality for self-exploration in the context of identity formation in medical education. Students were able to identify potential areas of growth in their developing professional identities. Our findings suggest arts integration can support holistic student growth and development.

Пятифакторная модель и диагностический опросник внутриличностного гендерного ролевого конфликта

Background. Personal self-regulation at the level of value-semantic formations is complicated when gender self-awareness is formed with multiple, sometimes mutually exclusive gender roles and images. This creates conditions for the development of intrapersonal conflicts, one of them being the Intrapersonal Gender Role Conflict (IGRC). We define IGRC as a systemic contradiction at the value-semantic level of personality, arising as a result of the clash between the high subjective significance of various gender roles and dissatisfaction with self-realization in these roles. Compensatory behavior serves as a sign of IGRC, while the absence of IGRC is associated with effective self-regulation of a person based on the conscious individual transformation of gender models of self-realization. The study of this phenomenon requires developing the diagnostic tools. Objectives. Testing of a questionnaire developed on the basis of the five-factor IGRC model. Study Participants. 397 women and 209 men (working, having a family and children) aged 25 to 46. Methods. Descriptive statistics and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), non-linear standardization on a five-point scale, intercorrelation analysis. Results. The study presented psychometric indicators and standardization of the IGRC questionnaire on the role areas of “Gender Self”, “Professional Self”, “I am like a husband/wife”, “I am like a host/hostess”, “I am like a father/mother” on the samples of men and women. It was found that in the female sample the expression, as well as the range and dispersion of indicators in all spheres, are significantly higher compared to those in the men sample. The analysis revealed a correlation between all spheres of the IGRC formation in women, while in men this trend is not observed: the conflict may develop in one sphere and not affect the others. Conclusions. Testing of the IGRC questionnaire confirmed that both men and women can exhibit compensatory behavior, manifesting the development of this type of conflict in its five identified areas. Gender differences in IGRC are manifested in the fact that in women, as a rule, all areas of the conflict develop in a more integrated way and have greater severity, compared to men. The five-factor IGRC questionnaire with standardized scores on the scales presented in the article makes it possible to use this tool for further studies of the manifestations and mechanisms of IGRC.

Primary English teachers’ practice analysis & language self-evaluation questionnaires (PET-PA & PET-LSE): eTwinning strategies for Second/Foreign Language teachers’ professional self-/hetero-assessment

The Initial Teacher Education (ITE) ongoing project, entitled Teachers' self/peer evaluation: PET-PA and PET-LSE. Strategies meet self-analysis and expectations, involving UniRoma3 and Enna Kore is seeking to promote the reflection of fifth-year Primary Education student-teachers in the two universities on their professional competencies as L2/FL/English language teachers, almost all of them Italian native speakers. After introducing the general outlines of the piloting, the two groups were administered two professional self- and hetero-assessment questionnaires regarding the linguistic and strategic competencies that an L2/FL teacher uses. Participants were then asked to evaluate the proposed instruments so as to arrive at a validation that would allow their usability to be extended as open access to pre- and in-service teachers. The use of English in the questionnaires’ completion and in the following discussion on the outcomes is a further strength of the project, which includes a comparison with different teaching strategies and approaches such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), task-based learning or cooperative learning, which are replicable in teaching and useful for professional development, in the perspective of sustainability and lifelong learning.

“Teachers as conflict managers”: mapping novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers’ professional identity conflicts and confrontation strategies

Teacher professional identity has been widely investigated in second/foreign language (L2) research in the past decade. However, the identity conflicts that English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers with various teaching experiences face in their profession has been mostly neglected. Moreover, the way such conflicts shape L2 teachers’ identity and are resolved is yet under-explored. To fill these voids, this study scrutinized novice and experienced Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions of professional identity conflicts, their influence on identity construction, and confrontation/management strategies. To this end, 30 EFL teachers (15 novice, 15 experienced) were recruited to attend a semi-structured interview and complete a narrative frame. The results of content and thematic analysis obtained by MAXQDA software revealed that both novice and experienced teachers mostly faced identity conflicts because of “teaching philosophy/ideology mismatch” and “mismatch between personal and professional self”. Novice teachers also recurrently posed interference with “clothing and physical appearance” as a source of conflict, while experienced teachers believed “unequal power relations at work”, “imposed policy mandates”, and “traditional syllabus and testing” had produced conflicts. These conflicts affected teachers’ identity construction by influencing novice teachers’ emotional and inner world, but experienced teachers’ pedagogical performance and interpersonal communication. To confront the conflicts, the participants suggested different strategies such as “negotiating conflicts with others”, “avoiding conflicts”, and “suppressing conflicts”. The study discusses the findings and their implications for L2 teachers and educators regarding common identity conflicts and resolutions.

Self-Authorship: A Pedagogical Tool for Pre-Service Teachers to Develop (Pre)Professional Identity

This article reports on the use of self-authorship as a pedagogical tool to develop pre-service teachers’ professional identities. Pre-professional identity is considered a dynamic, less mature version of professional identity. Such a notion of fluidity in the professional self necessitates the integration of both personal and professional life experiences in the process of becoming, rather than already being, a teacher. A random sample of 56 pre-service teachers from a population of first-year students at a South African university was selected for this qualitative interpretivist study. Thematic analysis of personal reflections after a professional orientation programme indicates that the pre-professional identity of first-year pre-service teachers is mostly based on external cues and naïve perceptions rather than on well-thought-through personal ideology. The authors draw on Baxter-Magolda’s theory of self-authorship to highlight this influence of past life experiences that shape the pre-professional identity that first-year pre-service teachers bring to initial teacher training programs. Self-authorship is defined as a person’s ability to conceptualise and apply their own beliefs, identity, and social relations in various contexts. Findings confirm that most first-year pre-service teachers place themselves within the first phase of self-authorship. It is postulated that higher education institutions could, through platforms such as Work Integrated Learning, shift the structure and focus of pre-service teacher training programmes away from passive observation and instruction to active partnership, engaged reflection, and critical thinking. Such an approach can then contribute to professional and personal development through the remainder of the pre-service teacher programme. It is further argued that a longitudinal study is needed to explore this required movement towards and through the three phases of self-authorship.

Divided Village, Divided Identity? Exploring the Professional Identity of Teachers Amid the Geopolitical Configuration in Al-Ghajar.

This quantitative research is based on a validated research questionnaire. It presents a preliminary exploratory study examining perspectives of professional identity as reflected in self-reports of the teachers of Al-Ghajar, a village on Israel's northern border, given its unique geographical and geopolitical configuration. The current study is the first of its kind, clarifying the teachers' perception of their professional identity in the unique space in which they live and work via a questionnaire completed by 61 teachers of both genders from kindergarten through high school. The findings show that there are strong positive correlations: "love for the profession" and "self-fulfillment" have a very strong positive correlation (0.831). There is also a positive correlation (0.430) between the indicators of "professional skills" and "professional unity" suggesting that the teachers' perceptions of professional identity are holistic in all examined dimensions. These perceptions are motivated by a strong sense of mission that influences their profession and their sense of satisfaction. Al-Ghajar, as a unique enclave, has created a geopolitical configuration that contributes to the construction of the professional identity of teachers in the village. The research conclusion indicates that the ability to legitimize one's role has important implications for the quality of teaching, as it can help teachers form familiar, affiliated, and secure identities. These are key traits since a positive sense of professional self is a prerequisite for job satisfaction and resilience.

Professional identity and role perception of Radiographers and Clinical Technologists in Nuclear Medicine – An exploratory qualitative study

IntroductionAn awareness of Professional Identity (PI), an individual's identity in relation to their professional group, and Role Perception (RP), an individual's view of their specific role, may enable safe and effective practice by providing an understanding of professional boundaries, behaviours and activities. This research aimed to explore and gain an understanding of the PI and RP of Radiographers and Clinical Technologists working as Nuclear Medicine Technologists (NMT's). Methods10 NMT's were recruited from a large National Health Service (NHS) Trust. Utilising the established methodology of Qualitative Description, data was obtained using semi-structured interviews and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. ResultsFour themes were identified: “Becoming the Unexpected” which detailed various training pathways; “Caring with Science” which described the NMT's role and defined their PI; “Same View, Different Lens” which portrayed how Radiographers and Clinical Technologists practise as team of NMT's; and “Confirmation of Professional Self” which presented how individuals view their professional status. ConclusionThe study showed that the NMT role is highly specialised, multi-faceted and patient-centred. Their professional status is based on the nature of their role and their university level education and training. They work together under the umbrella title of NMT with a dual professional identity of “provider of care” and “user of science and technology”. However, they may have an individual identity of Radiographer or Clinical Technologist that is determined by their training pathway. Implications for practiceThis research has provided valuable understanding of the PI and RP of NMT's. By highlighting the differences in the regulatory status of this workforce, an insight into the future implications in the context of national healthcare planning has been provided, highlighting potentially significant issues that may impact on the manner in which NMT's can practice.

Evaluating the Integrative Framework for Practice Teaching with social care educators and students

This paper outlines an evaluation of the Integrative Framework for Practice Teaching (McGarr and Fingleton, 2020), a tool developed to support practice teaching within social care education in Ireland. A mixed methods approach was utilised, which included focus groups with 5 educators and a survey of 168 social care students from the City and Tallaght campuses of TU Dublin. Both educators and students reported the framework to be useful in supporting the integration of knowledge and to explain the context, role, and goal of social care work. Recommendations were made in relation to strengthening the representation of the workers’ ‘self’ on the framework visual to reaffirm the pivotal role of the personal and professional self in social care practice. The evaluation also identified wider pedagogical application beyond applied subjects, in particular potential to use the framework to integrate learning within practice elements of the programme.

Development of immersive learning framework (ILF) in achieving the goals of higher education: measuring the impact using a pre–post design

Emerging technological tools like Artificial Intelligence-based Chatbots, digital educational alternatives and market-driven educational systems pose a challenge to the fundamental aim of the higher education system; comprehensive education for well-being. Therefore, this research aims to devise and evaluate strategies to impart new-age competencies to innovate socially and morally appropriate solutions in a modern competitive innovative society. The 8-month-long immersive learning framework (ILF), was designed based on the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) paradigm. The framework was evaluated with 133 newly joined postgraduate students doing their science or arts programmes from a higher education institution in Kerala, India. The outcome variables included well-being, depressive symptoms, personality patterns, and sub-domains of philosophy of human nature. The follow-up scores showed a significant improvement in well-being (Mean difference: 1.15, p = 0.005), trustworthiness (Mean difference: 14.74, p = 0.000), strength of will (Mean difference: 10.11, p = 0.000), altruism (Mean difference: 12.85, p = 0.000), and independence (Mean difference: 11.93, p = 0.000). Depression scores did not improve significantly. However, the intervention shielded them from the adjustment issues that often accompany any transition. The ILF framework can help students develop their personal and professional selves if it is implemented collaboratively in a reflective setting. It can also instil moral rectitude and a prosocial mindset.

Exploratory Factor Analysis for Professional Development, Technological Skills, Teacher Competence and Self Determined Learning (Sdl)

Exploratory Factor Analysis for Professional Development, Technological Skills, Teacher Competence and Self Determined Learning (Sdl)

Is Instagram changing the agenda for political self-personalization? Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen’s professional and public private self on Instagram

With the advent of digital media, politicians have increasingly turned to social media platforms to personalize themselves independently from the mass media. With a focus on three dimensions of self-personalization, that is, the public professional self, the public private self and the use of Instagram practices, this study explores the Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen’s strategic visual self-personalization practices on Instagram during a two-year period following her election on 27 June 2019. Firstly, based on a visual content analysis, this study sheds light on how the prime minister presents her professional and private self and how she exemplifies a change in political self-personalization practices using the platform-specific features that Instagram has brought to political communication. Secondly, a quantitative data collection of user engagement suggests that private and softer political content especially succeed in engaging the followers.

Theorizing as Mode of Engagement in and through Extreme Contexts Research

We explore how management and organization scholars theorize when undertaking research on extreme contexts, which are organizational settings where potential adverse events arise from risks, emergencies and disruptions. We propose that different ‘modes of engagement’ arise as researchers connect different aspects of the self to the extreme context; namely, personal self, professional self, moral self and vulnerable self. Each self-context connection plays out in different modes of engagement in the conduct of empirical research and enables different theorizing practices. We present these self-context connections as four ideal-typical modes of engagement. Adventuresome inquiry connects a personal self to the extreme context and theorizes by phenomenon-driven problematization. Instrumental scholarship expresses a professional self in the extreme context and theorizes by theory elaboration. Ideological improvement galvanizes a moral self in the extreme context and theorizes by change-driven abstraction. Reflexive labor exposes a vulnerable self and theorizes by dialectical interrogation. Our comprehensive framework of theorizing as mode of engagement contributes to extreme context research by elucidating how theorizing in and through such contexts is accomplished by researchers with multiple selves and by offering some guidance on how the four modes can be used dynamically to ensure generative theorizing. We also contribute to the broader literature on theorizing in management and organization studies by highlighting the need to consider the interplay between the researcher and the academic contributions they produce and by proposing a reflexive and dynamic framework of theorizing as modes of engagement.

Unveiling the Experiences of Female University Leaders: Cruelties, Rights, and Professional Selves

Unveiling the Experiences of Female University Leaders: Cruelties, Rights, and Professional Selves

The Mediating Roles of Emotional Expression and Self-Esteem in the Relationship Between Social Problem Solving and Psychological Well-Being of Nursing Students

Abstract
 Objectives: The main purpose of nursing education is to make students self-confident, healthy professionals who can solve their problems.This study aimed to the examination of the mediating roles of emotional expression and self-esteem in the relationship between social problem solving and psychological well-being of nursing students. 
 Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in an analytical cross-sectional design. The sample consists of 476 nursing students. Data were collected using the Social Problem Solving Scale (SPSI), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), the Expression of Emotions Scale (EEQ), and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (RPWBS). The data were evaluated by process analysis and Pearson correlation analysis. 
 Results: The analyzes revealed that a strong positive relationship exists between psychological well-being and social problem-solving skills. We found that social problem-solving skills have a positive impact on psychological well-being and emotional expression has a mediating role on this relationship. However, we determined that self-esteem does not have a mediating role in this relationship.
 Conclusion: Findings revealed the importance of self-reinforcing and different personal development-oriented trainings to improve students' psychological well-being. We recommended to gain communication and problem-solving skills that will strengthen the psychological well-being of the student in the development of professional self.

When teaching and research are misaligned: Unraveling a university EFL teacher's identity tensions and renegotiations

This study investigates the identity construction of a university EFL teacher in China through narrative inquiry in ethnography, probing into the tensions she experienced as a teaching-focused academic as well as her renegotiations of her professional self in face of these tensions. Narrative data were collected through in-depth interviews and informal communications with the participant while contextual data were collected through prolonged fieldwork. Through thematic analysis and constructing storylines in relation to the identified themes, the participant's identity experience is mapped out in three story constellations, namely, identity tensions, identity relinquishment and reinterpretation and identification beyond the institution, through which the participant developed her identity as an academic outcast, an ace coach and an expert. The constructions of these identities are mutually informing and reveal an alternative trajectory of professional development, in which boundary-crossing between the academic and non-academic communities becomes a transforming space. By delving into the intricacies of the participant's professional stories within the contextual dynamics, the study reveals the complexities of the teaching-research misalignment in the unique context of tertiary EFL education in China and provides new insights into the maintenance of academic identities in times of policy shifts and contextual challenges.

Личностные корреляты самоэффективности в учебно-профессиональной деятельности у студентов медицинского вуза

The relevance of the study is due to the following fact. The study of the personal determinants of self-efficacy of medical university students is a relevant research issue as it allows us to identify their contribution to the development of an adequate image of the “professional self” in the structure of the self-concept of future doctors. The purpose of the research is to study the correlation between personal characteristics of university students and different degrees of self-efficacy in educational and professional activities. Hypothesis. There are presumably particular differences in the actualization of connections between personal properties of students who show a high and low level of self-efficacy while studying at a medical university. The participants of the study are 3rd and 4th-year students of Stavropol State Medical University (Stavropol) (N = 187, 105 of them are females and 82 of them are males, the average age is 20 years old, SD = 0.78). The research methods (tools) include the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire in the form of a test (by J. Maddux, M. Scheer, adapted by A. V. Boyarintseva) that is aimed at studying the degree of subject-matter and communicative self-efficacy manifestation; the Schwarzer R. & Jerusalem M. Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale that diagnoses the degree of general self-efficacy manifestation; the questionnaire “The Style of Behavior Self-Regulation” (by V. I. Morosanova) that identifies self-regulation styles and manifestation degree of its general level; the Questionnaire on Tolerance-Intolerance to Uncertainty (by T.V. Kornilova) that diagnoses the manifestation degree of general and interpersonal tolerance or intolerance to uncertainty. The study also applies the procedure aimed at measuring the manifestation degree of a person’s self-efficacy in educational and professional activities (based on self-assessment). Results: the study has revealed both similarities and differences in the correlation between personal properties in students with different levels of self-efficacy in educational and professional activities. Main conclusions: the research has revealed the greatest differences in the correlation between the studied personal properties in the compared groups in the following options: between the expression of self-efficacy in educational and professional activities and tolerance/intolerance to uncertainty, and between intolerance to uncertainty and self-regulation styles. The similarities of personal correlates of students with high and low self-efficacy in educational and professional activities are manifested in significant links between the manifestation level of subject-matter self-efficacy and preferred self-regulation styles. The study has found that self-efficacy in educational and professional activities, regardless of its manifestation level, is directly correlated with all measurable types of self-efficacy. The obtained results can be useful in designing developmental psychological and pedagogical programs aimed at the formation and development of optimal self-regulation styles of medical university students through actualization of reflexive potential.

Participatory culture’s role in advancing critical PR ideals through community placemaking for UK City of Culture 2021 (UKCoC) bids

What was participatory culture’s role in advancing critical PR ideals through community placemaking for UK City of Culture 2021 (UKCoC) bids? To answer this question, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted across five UKCoC contender locations, paying particular attention to presentation of professional self. Reported events were theorised using the academic concepts of critical PR and participatory culture. It is argued that two elements to proceedings created conditions for critical PR ideals to be advanced at intervals. The first was a low barrier to inclusion and artistic expression – although this had the opposite effect for some arts people. The second was, due to the low barrier, the possibility for the emergence of autonomous space for participants, facilitated by the organisational, cultural curator, PR role. The low barrier is key to the definition of participatory culture. However, its relevance to critical PR has been un-theorised until now, despite growing interest in the intersection between the disciplines of participatory culture and critical PR. This is the first such work to examine UKCoC using critical PR and participatory culture theories. The community placemaking activities under scrutiny are presented as embodiments, in parts, of critical PR ideals, made possible by participatory culture. In summary, it is demonstrated that the PR role provided the potential for residents to be empowered, and to gain an enhanced love of place or topophilia. This was a bottom-up and anti-neoliberal effect of the top-down and time-limited undertaking of bidding for UKCoC status, highlighting the value of participatory culture principles to critical PR.