Educational Psychology Research Articles

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Psychological Flexibility Trainingon Enhancing Career Adaptability in High School Students

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a psychological flexibility training course based on the Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) DNA-V model in enhancing psychological flexibility and career adaptability among high school students, and to offer a reference for psychological health services. Methods: Collaborating with a high school in Chengdu, 110 second-year students were randomly assigned into three groups: a DNA-V face-to-face group (33 students), a DNA-V online group (40 students), and a control group receiving standard psychological education (37 students). The intervention consisted of a six-session course, with assessments using the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth and the Career Adaptability Scale conducted before, one week after, and two months after the sessions. Results: Data analyzed via linear mixed models showed that the face-to-face group experienced significant improvements in psychological flexibility and career adaptability at one week and two months post-intervention (P<0.01), with no significant changes noted between these two times. The online group saw no significant changes, and the control group s gains reverted to baseline after two months. Conclusion: The face-to-face DNA-V course effectively enhanced psychological flexibility and career adaptability for at least two months, underscoring its potential for integration into student mental health programs.

Undergraduates’ workplace learning in health sciences education: psychometric properties of single-item measures

BackgroundUndergraduates’ workplace learning is an important part of health sciences education. Educational psychology research considers many different aspects of self-regulated learning at the workplace, including cognition, motivation, emotions, and context. Multivariate longitudinal and diary studies in this field require fewer items than alternatives or even a single item per construct and can reveal the sub-processes of workplace learning and contribute to a better understanding of students’ learning. Short instruments are necessary for application in workplace settings, especially stressful ones, to mitigate survey fatigue. The present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of single items measuring various aspects of workplace learning.MethodsTwenty-nine single items selected from the Workplace Learning Inventory in Health Sciences Education were analyzed for reliability, information reproduction, and relationships within the nomological network. The authors additionally analyzed four generally formulated single items’ relationships with the full Workplace Learning Inventory scales and external criteria within the nomological network. Participants were 214 ninth- or tenth-semester veterinary medicine students in Austria and Germany who were learning at varied workplaces during the winter semester of 2021/2022.ResultsOf the 29 single items selected from existing scales, 27 showed sufficient reliability, but mixed results were obtained regarding validity. Although the items’ relationships within the nomological network were similar to those of the full scales, information reproduction was insufficient for most items. The four general single items showed acceptable validity, but the reliability of these measures of states could not be assessed.ConclusionsThis paper reported findings on the psychometric properties of single items for undergraduates’ workplace learning in health science education. The findings are crucial for deciding whether to use scales versus single-item measures in future studies. By applying the findings, researchers can be more economical in their workplace learning data collection and can include more constructs.

Beyond The Patient: Exploring The Psychological Burden On Caregivers Of Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, progressive disease, leading to significant psychological impacts on patients and their caregivers. This study focuses on the psychological impact on caregivers of Multiple Sclerosis patients, particularly examining the correlation between the severity of disability and depression, caregiver burden and self-stigma. Methods: The study included 65 Multiple Sclerosis patients and their caregivers. Caregivers were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory, ZARIT Burden Interview, Self-Stigma of Depression Scale and patients were evaluated using the Expanded Disability Status Scale. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 17. Results: The study found higher scores in Beck Depression Inventory, Self-Stigma of Depression Scale and ZARIT Burden Interview among female caregivers, indicating a greater burden. Unemployment and lower educational backgrounds were significantly correlated with increased caregiver burden. A positive correlation was observed between the severity of the patient's disability and caregiver burden. Caregivers with mental illnesses reported higher levels of burden and depression. Conclusion: The study underscores the multifaceted impact of Multiple Sclerosis on caregivers, highlighting the need for comprehensive care approaches that include psychological support, education, and socio-economic assistance for caregivers. This holistic approach is essential for improving the overall management of Multiple Sclerosis, benefiting both patients and their caregivers.

Exploring the relationship between the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) intervention and whole-school approaches to wellbeing – a case study

ABSTRACT The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) intervention was designed to build the capacity of schools to support social and emotional needs. Within the current research base, there is little focus on the relationship between the ELSA intervention and its wider school context. This study adopted a qualitative single-case-study design to explore the relationship between the ELSA intervention and whole-school approaches to wellbeing in one primary school, hearing the voices of the ELSA, school staff, parents, and an assistant educational psychologist. Reflexive thematic analysis generated five key themes: conceptualisations of whole-school approaches and the ELSA role; communication and connection facilitate wider understanding and wrap-around support; this is the way we do things – enacting relational values across the whole school; organisational and leadership support as the foundation for successful ELSA work; and the importance of increasing wider support to meet needs. Findings indicate the importance of shared relational values and practices, with understanding and support for the ELSA intervention across the school community. The ELSA intervention becoming an embedded component of a whole-school approach to wellbeing appears to facilitate addressing pupils’ needs in context and allows ELSAs to use their skills, knowledge, and ways of being to contribute towards whole-school practice. Implications for practice are discussed for both educational professionals and educational psychologists.

Level of Psycoeducation Effectiveness on Adaptation Fracture Patients at Pirngadi Hospital Medan City

<div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p><em>Two thirds of injury cases in developing countries, including Indonesia, are still a major public health problem in all countries. In 2020 there were 152.256 injury cases in Indonesia (17.8%). Fractures cause a variety of negative effects, including psychological, social, and spiritual. A report from the Department of Health shows that 15 percent of fracture sufferers experience emotional stress and even depression. Psychological education helps in the treatment and reduction of depressive symptoms, which are part of the psychological response to disability. This research is to find out how well psychoeducation helps fracture patients adapt at Pirngadi Hospital, Medan City. This type of research is quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with control group. This research was carried out at Pirngadi Hospital, Medan City from 21 July to 23 August 2023. The study population included 67 patients who experienced grade 2 and 3 fractures. The sampling technique is non-probability sampling. The number of samples in this study was 16 people for the control group and 16 people for the treatment group. The research instrument has been tested for validity and reliability. Univariate analysis to describe research variables, while bivariate analysis with dependent t test to determine the mean differences in the treatment group before and after being given psychoeducation and in the control group at pre-test and post-test. The results of the study showed that there was a difference in the average adaptation of fracture patients who were given psychoeducational intervention compared to the group of patients who were not given intervention with p value = 0.000; 95% CI < alpha = 0.05. </em></p><p><em> </em></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><strong><em>Keywords: Frakture, Injury Patient, Psychoeducation</em></strong>

Supporting Prospective Teachers in Learning Psychology: A Digital Case Exploration Tool

This article describes the implementation of a digital case-exploration tool and its use in teacher education. The cases were constructed according to empirically based psychological theories and represent school-related scenarios in which the students could choose among options for action. After selecting an action, its psychological consequences are presented in text or video including theoretical explanations how and why the selected action would lead to the presented consequences. We present first quasi-experimental evaluation data demonstrating the tool's usefulness regarding learning outcomes, students’ active participation, and motivation.

Care preparedness of family caregivers of maintenance hemodialysis patients: a cross-sectional study

With the increasing number of maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, growing attention has been paid to the quality of care. Strengthening care preparedness of family caregivers is essential to improving the nursing quality. The purpose of this study is to explore the care preparedness level of family caregivers of MHD patients and its influencing factors, so as to provide guidance for the development of targeted care interventions. A total of 237 family caregivers of MHD patients were recruited from the hemodialysis room of two tertiary hospitals in Wuhan using the Convenience sampling method. They were surveyed by the general data questionnaire, Care Preparedness Scale and Positive Aspects of Caregiving. Statistical analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS software, version 21.0. The statistical tests conducted in this study were two-tailed, and a significance level of P < 0.05 was deemed as statistically significant. The care preparedness and positive aspects of caregiving scores of family caregivers of MHD patients were 19.05 ± 5.64 and 31.28 ± 7.28 points, respectively. The care preparedness level of family caregivers was significantly positively correlated with positive aspects of caregiving (P < 0.01). The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that the total nursing time and whether family caregivers had chronic diseases and positive aspects of caregiving were the main factors influencing their care preparedness (all P < 0.05). These three factors accounted for 49.6% of the variance. The care preparedness of family caregivers of MHD patients remains to be continuously improved. Medical staff should emphasize the important role of total nursing time, whether the caregiver has a chronic disease, and positive aspects of caregiving in improving care preparedness in this population. To achieve this end, medical staff can provide targeted support and guidance for caregivers according to the influencing factors, such as implementing group psychological education, strengthening the training, offering social support, remote intervention (including family caregivers’ education through the media), and so on. Meanwhile, caregivers should be evaluated dynamically, and information and emotional support should be provided for them.

Research on the Working Path of Adolescent Psychological Health Education Under the Background of China&amp;apos;s New Education Reform

Adolescence is a critical period for rapid development in behavior, personality, and intelligence. Currently, the frequent occurrence of psychological crises among Chinese adolescents is detrimental to the comprehensive development of talents, the implementation of quality-oriented education, and the harmonious development of society. Based on multi-level questionnaire surveys and interview studies, this paper finds that China&amp;apos;s education sector is increasingly emphasizing psychological health education for adolescents, continuously improving supporting mechanisms. The initial system of psychological health services in schools has taken shape, with psychological health training benefiting both schools and families, and autonomous attention from adolescents groups has increased. However, issues persist, including inadequate psychological health curricula, incomplete linkage mechanisms, imperfect family support, insufficient teacher staffing and re-education training, and inadequate identification and rescue of students&amp;apos; psychological crises. Therefore, this paper argues that systematically and deeply promoting the multi-faceted psychological health education model of &amp;quot;family-school-society,&amp;quot; adopting multiple measures to collaboratively build and optimize coordination mechanisms, and establishing a more robust and effective approach to adolescent psychological health work, aligns with the direction of educational evaluation reform in the new era, fosters a favorable social atmosphere, and is the inevitable path to better promote the healthy growth and talent development of adolescents.

University teachers’ self-reported emotions and electrodermal activity during teaching-related working events

ABSTRACT This intensive longitudinal study examined Finnish technical university teachers’ (N = 22) self-reported emotions and electrodermal activity during teaching-related events (teaching, tutoring, planning, assessing). Emotions were examined in the context of control-value theory (Pekrun, R. 2006. “The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions: Assumptions, Corollaries and Implications for Educational Research and Practice.” Educational Psychology Review 18 (4): 315–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9029-9). An experience sampling method with event-contingent sampling was applied via a smartphone application for a measurement period of two weeks. Participants were also equipped with a smart ring biosensor that recorded their electrodermal activity (EDA, an indicator of physiological arousal). Results indicated that teaching-related events led to predominantly positive prospective and retrospective emotions. Interactive events, such as teaching and tutoring, were especially effective in generating positive outcomes and activating emotions. Results showed that that teaching-related events had higher EDA levels than typical work hours. In addition, higher within-teacher EDA levels during teaching-related events slightly increased the likelihood of reporting positive emotional valence after teaching. Further, results indicated that teacher-student interaction (teaching and tutoring events) and higher EDA during, and emotional activity before, teaching-related events increased the likelihood of activating emotions after teaching. The results can be generalized with reservations due to the small number of participants.

“Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor”: Indigenous students’ academic buoyancy and the locale of the learner

This article explores how academic buoyancy, a concept from the educational psychology literature, can be used to understand the experiences of Indigenous secondary students’ schooling. Academic buoyancy refers to students’ ability to overcome everyday challenges of schooling. In this project, 11 Indigenous secondary students in a remote school shared their experiences of school and how they developed a range of capabilities to overcome the everyday challenges. Factors often seen as cultural impediments for Indigenous students, such as the “shame factor”, can be viewed as agentic attempts by Indigenous students to develop new capacities, such as a strategy to deal with the fear of failure. It is through these attempts that students develop strategies to negotiate the classroom without giving up their own cultural positions. This article extends earlier research on resilience to focus on the development of academically buoyant capacities that allow students to better navigate the complexities at the locale of the remote Indigenous learner.

Preparing for adulthood: perspectives of young people with SEND on the transition from education to employment

ABSTRACT Further education (FE) is an under-represented area in educational psychology practice. As young people move from education to employment, those who have received support for an additional need which is not then recognised as a disability by the 2010 Equality Act; special educational need (“SEN”) rather than special educational need and disability (“SEND”) are at a significant disadvantage. Research into young people’s views of their experience and hopes for the future is underexplored in this area. This small scale study used Q-methodology to investigate the views of ten young people with SEN (n2) and SEND (n8) as they leave further education. Three extracted factors, characterised broadly by need; social communication, physical needs, and learning difficulties, highlight different perspectives on the question of “what is important to you as you begin to prepare to leave college?”. Findings demonstrate some parity between young people with and without a disability recognised under the 2010 Equality Act, emphasising the importance of continued educational psychology involvement within the 16–25 age range. Implications for educational psychology practice are discussed.

The Effect of Psychological Resilience on Academic Burnout among College Students

For the past few years, the overall level of psychological resilience of Chinese college students has been decreasing year by year. During the same period, academic burnout levels among college students have continued to increase. In order to investigate the relationship between college students psychological resilience and academic burnout, also regarding their individual differences in majors, genders, and grades, this study adopts a quantitative approach to collect data. A total of 154 college students from two colleges in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China, were recruited for this study. The study completed a survey of psychological resilience and academic burnout among college students through questionnaires. Through in-depth analysis, this paper concludes that psychological resilience is significantly negatively related to academic burnout among college students and psychological resilience of college students negatively predicts academic burnout to some extent. Yet, the psychological resilience levels of college students differ by whether they take systematic psychology education, but the differences are not statistically significant. Future studies may collect more data to discover the influential factors for students psychological resilience and academic burnout.

The Application of Educational Psychology in Higher Education and Teaching

Educational psychology is one of the important disciplines in university teaching, with a wide range of applications, which can effectively improve the quality of education and teaching in universities and cultivate more professional talents. This article selects higher education and teaching as the object and takes the application of educational psychology in education and teaching as the starting point. Firstly, it elaborates on the significance of the application of educational psychology in higher education and teaching, then analyzes the current application status, and finally proposes specific application strategies for reference.

Exploration of the Curriculum Reform Path in the Period of High-Quality Development of University Educational Psychology

The theoretical and applied characteristics of educational psychology courses in colleges and universities are prominent, and actively promoting curriculum reform is more conducive to promoting the implementation of talent training goals, which is in line with the practical needs of social development for high-quality talents. However, curriculum reform is a systematic project, which involves the innovation of curriculum content systems, teaching methods, teaching evaluations, and so on. This paper mainly expounds on the curriculum reform path in the period of high-quality development of educational psychology in colleges and universities, hoping to play a reference role in improving the level of education management.

School Security and Academic Self-Concept Among Pupils in Primary Schools in Informal Settlements in Kibra Sub-County, Nairobi County, Kenya

This study purposed to investigate the influence of school security on the academic self-concept of pupils in primary schools in informal settlements in Kibra Sub-County, Nairobi County, Kenya. The social cognitive theory guided this research. The study employed a survey research design. The target population comprised 138 head teachers, 203 teacher counsellors, and 9536 learners in Class VII, totaling 9877 respondents, from which a sample of 385 respondents was determined using Yamane’s formula. Questionnaires were used to collect data from learners in Class VII, as were interview guides for head teachers and teacher-counsellors. Piloting was conducted among 38 respondents from primary schools in informal settlements in Kibra sub-county to establish validity and reliability. The opinions of educational psychology professionals were used to confirm the study's validity. The split-half method was used to calculate reliability, and the reliability coefficient (r = 0.728; p&lt;0.05) at the 0.05 level of significance revealed a high degree of internal dependability. The tests were carried out at a 0.05 level of significance. Test of the null hypothesis indicated that there was a significant statistical relationship between school security and academic self at r=0.668, p=0.001&lt;0.05. The study concluded that levels of pupils’ academic self-concept in primary schools in informal settlements can be enhanced through provision of adequate school security. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education should ensure that primary schools have security guards and fences and should comply with standards for child-friendly school environment. The main beneficiaries of this study will be learners in the primary schools in the informal settlements when the policy makers improve the school environment hence their academic self-concept will be enhanced.

Teacher Feedback in Collegiate Instrumental Music Lessons

Teacher feedback is an integral component of helping students understand their current level of achievement and what they can do to improve their performance. This study built on literature in educational psychology by adopting a framework developed by Hattie and Timperley to explore how different types of feedback are used in studio instrumental lessons. For this study, we investigated the use of feedback of highly experienced collegiate instrumental studio music teachers ( N = 6) and their students ( N = 18). Results indicated that around 83% of all teacher comments were classified as “feed-back” (i.e., reflections on what the student just played), with far fewer focused on “feed-forward” (16%) strategies for improving performance and “feed-up” (&lt;1%) goal setting. Task-level comments on what the student had just done comprised 85% of the feedback, in contrast to process-level (9%) feedback that provides strategies for improving the next performance attempt and self-regulation comments (&lt;1%) that cue the learner to monitor and control their own performance. Discussion of these results include comparisons between classroom and studio teaching practices and ways of refining instrumental teachers’ abilities to provide more targeted and effective feedback to their students.

Developing theory by engaging in collaborative transformations of educational practice

This article presents a methodological approach to educational psychology research in which researchers engage in collaborative transformations of educational practice while developing theory concerning the societal and scientific relevance of these transformative processes. The theoretical inspiration for this approach stems from German-Scandinavian Critical Psychology, Transformative Activist Stance, and the Change Laboratory Framework — three research traditions with common roots in cultural-historical psychology and activity theory. Empirically, the article is based on a transformative research collaboration between the author and a 2nd grade teacher at a Danish municipal primary school. The aim was to develop an intervention framework to support the development of cultures of care within communities of children, while simultaneously producing theoretical knowledge about the conditions that enable the development of such cultures within the contradictory and dilemma-filled historical and socio-political context of Danish municipally governed schools. Empirical excerpts show how a novel intervention principle emerged as a synthesis of the researcher and the schoolteacher’s respective, seemingly contradictory knowledge contributions. Against a backdrop of historical-institutional analyses, it is argued that this intervention principle represents a novel scope of possibilities for educational professionals struggling to manoeuvre within the various contradictions and common problems inherent to Danish municipally governed schools. In the discussion, it is argued that the transformative approach presented here seems particularly promising for the democratisation of knowledge production. This assertion is supported by a demonstration of how the approach is particularly flexible to continuously integrate critique, contributions, and contestations from co-researchers within educational practice, adults as well as children.

Negotiable fate-engagement relationship in higher education: The mediation role of hope for success and fear of failure

Studies concerning students’ ability to deal with everyday academic challenges (‘academic buoyancy’) and adjust to changes (‘adaptability’) were investigated in educational research over the last two decades (e.g., Martin & Marsh, Journal of School Psychology, 46:53–83, 2008; Martin et al., Journal of Educational Psychology, 105:728–746, 2013). However, how students deal with challenges imposed by fate has not been well-studied. Other than students’ abilities, students’ belief plays an important role in dealing with the academic adversity that fate imposes. The present study harnessed the Hope Theory to examine (1) the relation between negotiable and achievement motivation (hope for success and fear of failure), (2) the relation between achievement motivation and engagement, and (3) the mediation effect of achievement motivation in the relation between negotiable fate and engagement. University students in Hong Kong (n = 339) responded to an online cross-sectional survey. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the relation between negotiable fate and engagement was mediated by hope for success but not by fear of failure. In addition, hope for success only mediated cognitive engagement and affective engagement. The relation between negotiable fate and behavioral engagement was not mediated by hope for success and fear of failure. The findings contribute to the literature on the negotiable fate-engagement theoretical relation in educational research. Also, practical insights were discussed to manage student cognitive and affective engagement with negotiable fate and hope for success under fate constraints.

Рефлексивно-смысловая педагогическая психология развития когнитивных и метакогнитивных аспектов человеческого капитала учеников и учителей

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;On the background of differentiation of traditional and modern approaches to the psychological and pedagogical analysis of the subject-activity and reflexive semantic aspects of human knowledge, the innovative direction of personality-oriented developmental education is analyzed. It is implemented by the technologies of reflexive psychology of creativity and productive-semantic pedagogy of the development of gifted students and talented teachers. The experience of the actual psychological and pedagogical study of cognition and metacognitive aspects of the development of intelligence and personality as components of the human capital of students and teachers is presented. For the first time, the precedents are highlighted and the logic of the development of the reflexive semantic direction of pedagogical psychology and the effective experience of introducing its achievements into educational practice is explicated. In this regard, the innovative psychological and pedagogical experience of productive interaction between students and teachers in several scientific schools is characterized (A.A. Bodalev, I.V. Dubrovina, N.V. Kuzmina, L.M. Mitina, A.I. Savenkov, I.N. Semenov, V.E. Chudnovsky, I.S. Yakimanskaya), interpreted from the standpoint of life-meaning and acmeological traditions in Russian human studies.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Research on the Dilemma and Path of Mental Health Education for College Students from the Perspective of Home-School Cooperation

With the development of society and the advancement of education, the state has increasingly emphasized the importance of mental health education for college students. Mental health education for college students serves as an effective vehicle for psychological education in universities, with family and school education being the two critical fronts. To ensure the smooth implementation of mental health education for college students, it is imperative for schools and families to collaborate and cooperate closely, thus effectively promoting the healthy growth and comprehensive development of students. Given the current challenges such as inadequate awareness of home-school cooperative education, lack of mechanisms for home-school cooperation, and a singular platform for home-school cooperation, we need to comprehensively improve the overall quality of mental health education by unifying the ideology of home-school cooperative education, establishing a sound mechanism for home-school cooperation, innovating the platform for home-school cooperation, and enriching the content of home-school cooperation.