Use Of Problem-solving Strategies Research Articles

Exploring the relationships among college students’ epistemic beliefs, epistemic emotions, and use of problem-solving strategies in engineering design contexts

Epistemic beliefs and emotions can exert a profound effect on individuals' academic motivation and achievement. This study presents a plausible model to explore the relationships among engineering students' epistemic beliefs, epistemic emotions, and their use of problem-solving strategies within project design contexts. Findings from path analysis indicate that students who believe design-related engineering knowledge should be justified in multiple ways demonstrate a higher level of positive epistemic emotions. Those who believe foundational engineering knowledge is uncertain and evolving show a lower level of boredom when confronted with design problems. Students experiencing positive epistemic emotions tend to use more problem-solving strategies in their design projects, leading to higher achievement in the design course. Those grappling with boredom tend to use fewer problem-solving strategies, resulting in lower achievement in the design course. Connections between epistemic cognition research and instructional practices in engineering education are discussed.

Reading and Scholarly Creativity: A Study with Spanish and Chilean Preservice Teachers

The main aim of this study is to analyse whether scholarly creativity can be linked to the reading process (reading preferences and reading metacognition) of preservice teachers. The research was carried out using a quantitative, descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional design. The sample consisted of 254 Spanish and Chilean preservice teachers, who were administered online three previously validated questionnaires on creative self-perception, reading preferences and reading strategies. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis have been used. The results show a medium-high level of reading metacognition, with a preference for the use of problem-solving strategies while reading and for reading in digital format for academic purposes. There were statistically significant differences both in reading preferences, strategies and creative self-perception according to country (with Chilean students scoring higher in all of them), but no differences were found according to gender. There were positive correlations between creative self-perception in the scholarly domain and reading preferences (=.275 for academic digital and =.433 for academic print) and metacognition (=.445). Academic reading in printed format and global reading metacognition were also found to be significant predictors of self-perception in scholarly creativity, which support the theories of the need of skills in a specific domain to be able to develop creativity in such domain. The study concludes by assessing the implications of this relationship between reading and creativity, proposing the suitability of promoting both metacognitive reflections on the way to consolidating a learning focusing on the process, especially important in the case of future teachers. Keywords: reading preferences, reading metacognition, scholarly creativity, preservice teacher

Research based youth care?!: An equal partnership between youth, their network, professionals, and researchers in youth care.

In the interdisciplinary research program VOICe (Voicing youth at social risk) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, we focus on developing collaborative research practices with young people ‘at social risk’. We share the mission to enable young people and professionals to enter a dialogue in an equal and investigative manner about what they really find important in their daily life context and to adjust this together if necessary. For the past ten years we have been developing collaborative research practices in education in collaboration with schools under the name ‘Research based School?!' to enhance the learning and well-being of students. We would like to further explore, adapt, and possibly roll out this experience with a collaborative model in the context of youth care. This project is based on the idea that quality of care stands or falls with the expertise and commitment of the facility. 
 “Research based youth care?!” sees a facility as an environment in which everyone bears a responsibility in each other's development. The focus is on the provision that dares to come forward as a learning community. This learning community enhances the growth of all involved by challenging them to tackle questions in partnership.
 This project embraces a collaboration model in which care providers, researchers, young people, and their network adopt an investigative attitude together. The use of problem-solving strategies and the exchange of knowledge through participation in a learning community with structured research activities are paramount in this project. It is important that the youth, their network, and the professionals realizes that a problem he/she is confronted with in the facility also affects others (colleagues, management, parents, other youth…). By including these different perspectives, the problem is supported within the entire social context and the chance of carrying out improvement actions is greater.
 In a first step, we will build a basis for the collaborative model within youth care, in which we will bring involved parties together to discuss the conditions for equal participation between young people, their network, professionals, and researchers. We have started experience experts and managers sharing their experiences in a professional learning community and to enter a dialogue to design a workable model to further involve other professionals and youth in subsequent phases.
 With this trajectory, the university and the professional field join forces with the aim of professionalizing themselves and promoting the development of young people, starting from their own practice; relevant for the facility, the care provider, the youth, and their network; as a full partner; and in dialogue between practice and theory.

A daily diary study of self-compassion and adaptive coping behaviours in women with symptoms of bulimia nervosa

BackgroundMental health is more than the absence of illness and includes the ability to cope adaptively with stress. To shed light on the factors that promote mental health in people with eating disorders, this daily diary study examined whether daily and trait levels of self-compassion predict adaptive coping behaviours in women with symptoms of bulimia nervosa (BN).MethodsWomen (N = 124) who met the DSM-5 criteria for BN completed 2 weeks of nightly measures assessing their daily level of self-compassion and their daily adaptive coping behaviours, namely, their use of problem-solving strategies, seeking and receiving of instrumental social support, and seeking and receiving of emotional social support.ResultsMultilevel modelling revealed that on days when self-compassion levels were higher than their personal mean level or than the preceding day’s level, participants reported greater use of problem-solving strategies, greater seeking and receiving of instrumental social support, and greater receiving of emotional social support. Daily levels of self-compassion, but not increased self-compassion from the preceding day, were associated with emotional support sought. Further, higher trait self-compassion, as measured by participants’ mean level of self-compassion over the 2 weeks, was associated with increased seeking and receiving of instrumental and emotional social support but not with problem-solving strategies. All models controlled for participants’ daily and mean eating pathology over the 2 weeks, highlighting the unique contribution of self-compassion to adaptive coping behaviours.ConclusionsResults suggest that self-compassion may help individuals with symptoms of BN cope with challenges in their daily life more adaptively, an integral component of positive mental health. The present study is among the first to suggest that the benefits of self-compassion for individuals with eating disorder symptoms may lie not only in facilitating reduced eating pathology, as evidenced by prior research, but also in promoting positive mental health. More broadly, findings underscore the potential value of interventions designed to build self-compassion in individuals with eating disorder symptoms.

The influence of home environmental factors on kindergarten children's addition strategy use.

Young children vary widely in their levels of math knowledge, their abilities to solve math problems, and the strategies they use to solve math problems. As much of later math builds on children's early understanding of basic math facts and problem-solving strategies, understanding influences on children's early problem solving is important. Few studies, however, have examined the home environment in relation to children's strategy use during arithmetic problems. We examined how both structural characteristics of children's home environments, such as socioeconomic status (SES), as well as the learning environment, such as engagement in math and literacy activities at home, related to their use of problem-solving strategies for numerical addition problems. Kindergarten children from diverse backgrounds completed a measure of addition problem solving and strategy use, including simple and complex numerical problems. Strategies were coded based on a combination of accuracy and strategy sophistication, with higher scores indicating problems solved correctly with more sophisticated strategies. Parents completed a home activities questionnaire, reporting the frequency with which they and their child had engaged in math and literacy activities at home over the past month. An exploratory factor analysis identified three components of the home activities - a basic activities factor, an advanced math activities factor, and a literacy activities factor. Findings indicated that SES related to children's strategy sophistication, and frequency of engaging in advanced math and literacy activities at home predicted strategy sophistication, however, engaging in activities at home did not moderate the relations between SES and strategy sophistication. This suggests that family engagement in activities at home may promote early arithmetic skills, and that the role of home environmental characteristics should be considered in children's arithmetic strategy use and performance over development.

Junior High School Teachers and Students’ Attitude toward Teaching and Learning Mathematics through Problem Solving: A Case Study from Mampong Municipality

Purpose: Effectiveness of education depends on factors which include teachers’ instructional role associated with students’ learning outcomes. Teachers’ attitude is an enduring system of their beliefs, feelings and actions which invariably influence students’ achievement in mathematics learning. This study sought to investigate into Junior High School (JHS) mathematics teachers and students’ attitudes toward teaching and learning mathematics through problem-solving instructional strategy.
 Methodology: A cross – sectional exploratory survey design was employed to obtain a snapshot of what pertained in the classrooms of the selected Junior High Schools. Questionnaires for measuring teachers and students’ attitude were pilot tested to ensure scale reliability. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the data analysis. Spearman’ rank correlation was calculated to establish the nature of relationship between teachers and students’ attitude, at a fixed significance level of 0.05.
 Findings: It was revealed that there existed positive but weak relationship between teachers and students’ attitudes toward teaching and learning mathematics through problem solving. Findings from this study were not quite different from the studies reviewed in the literature that showed that teachers’ attitude influence their choice of teaching strategy and the quality of teaching students receive. Format for conducting external examination, time available for teaching topics in the syllabus, and students’ entry behaviour were found to be determining factors for teachers’ choice of instructional strategy. It can be inferred that though students considered problem solving instructional approach as challenging, but they do not despise its use in mathematics learning.
 Recommendations: From this study, subject-based workshops or professional development sessions must be organized by District Education Office at the beginning of every term for the JHS mathematics teachers. Students must equally be encouraged by teachers through specific assignments that involve the use of problem-solving strategies. workshops, District Education Office should provide mathematics teachers with materials that will enable them to model mathematical concepts in classroom.

Contemplative practices and their impact on achievement motivation among primary school mathematics teachers in the Alqassim region: الممارسات التأملية وأثرها على دافعية الإنجاز لدى معلمي الرياضيات في المرحلة الابتدائية في منطقة القصيم

The study aimed to identify contemplative practices and their impact on achievement motivation among primary school mathematics teachers in the Al-Qassim region. To achieve this, a qualitative research approach was used. They have enthusiasm, willingness to participate in the study, and a desire to develop their teaching performance to obtain information, and the study tool was the use of the interview, and the results of the study resulted in the teachers ’contemplative practices being practiced in a moderate degree and affected by the degree of their confidence in their sufficiency related to achieving the learning objectives, and their beliefs and values that they carry towards Teaching, and a direct reflection on achievement motivation, as the results showed that teachers used contemplative practices in education and diversified in using strategies that help students develop their creative thinking, and the results showed that there is a positive relationship between contemplative practices and achievement motivation among mathematics teachers, as the results showed. It is one of the most prominent means of promoting contemplative practices to positively affect DAF Realization of achievement, application of educational games, taking into account individual differences, use of problem-solving strategy and the development of higher levels of thinking. The researcher recommends the necessity of enhancing the reflective teaching skills of mathematics teachers by adopting procedural research, training peers, activating reciprocal participation among colleagues of the specialization, in addition to developing self-evaluation skills among teachers, and working on directing mathematics teachers towards employing contemplative teaching, and developing the capabilities of mathematics supervisors on Exercise this role.

The Positive Spiral Between Problem-Solving Management and Trust: A Study in Organizations for Individuals With Intellectual Disability.

To achieve their goals, organizations for individuals with intellectual disability have to stimulate high-quality relationships between professionals and family members. Therefore, achieving professionals’ trust in family members has become a challenge. One relevant factor in explaining professional’s trust in families is the degree to which family members use the “problem-solving” conflict management strategy (high concern for oneself but also for the other party) in their disputes–disagreements with professionals. It is reasonable to argue that when family members use problem-solving conflict management, professionals’ trust increases. Professionals’ trust, in turn, stimulates the use of problem-solving strategies by family members. However, it is also plausible that professionals are the initiators of this positive spiral (professionals’ trust–problem-solving conflict management by family members–professionals’ trust). To examine this relationship between problem solving and trust over time, we conducted a longitudinal survey study in which 329 professionals reported on these two constructs three times (with 4 weeks between the measurements). Using structural equation modeling, we compared four nested models: (a) stability, (b) causality (where the problem-solving strategy by familiar members is the initiator of the spiral), (c) reversed causation (where the professional’s trust is the initiator of the spiral), and (d) reciprocal (where problem-solving conflict management and trust reinforce each other). The results of the χ2 difference tests, regarding the comparison of the models, showed that the reciprocal model was significantly superior to the alternative proposals. Our findings supported a complex view of the relationships between problem-solving conflict management and trust, based on dynamic reciprocal relationships over time.

Stress & coping strategies among nursing students of India: A systematic review

Background of the review: Stress is a prevalent aspect in daily life and is directly attributed to people in the nursing profession. As this concern is gaining attention as an important area of research and literature especially in the area of nursing education in India, a comprehensive review regarding stress and its coping strategies used by the nursing students is needed. Aim: (a) to identify the level of stress, its sources, and (b) to explore coping methods used by student nurses during nursing education.Methods: The narrative conceptual synthesis method was used to review quantitative studies reporting sources of stress in nursing students and their coping mechanisms. The search also was limited to studies conducted between 2010 and 2020 (10 years). The keywords include ‘‘stress’’, ‘‘coping strategy’’, ‘‘nursing students’’ and ‘‘clinical practice’’ in various combinations. Finally, 33 studies were identified, of which, 12 met the set criteria.Results: Low to moderate level of stress was reported in all the studies and high/severe stress was comparatively low. All of the studies reported the significant stressors as Academic Stressors, Time balance Stressors, Interpersonal Stressors, Intrapersonal Stressors, Family Stressors, and Environmental Stressors. Majority studies reported the use of problem solving strategies, positive thinking/reappraisal of the problem/stressor and seeking relaxation strategies deal with stress. Other general coping strategies were of a mixture which included seeking alternative rewards, seeking social support, talking with friends or spiritual leaders or parents, living close to someone who cares, crying, ignoring the stress, day dreaming, referring to the past similar experiences/stressors to make solution, decision making, eating/dining and time management.Conclusion: During nursing education, students face moderate to high levels of stress from multiple stressors (caring for patients, duties and workloads, unpleasant experiences with staff and faculty, loss of professional ability, and taking exams). Nurse educators may consider the use of formulation and implementation of empirically tested interventions to reduce stress while enhancing coping skills.

Интернет как ресурс совладания с психологическими проблемами у подростков и молодежи

The internet has become a new factor of socialisation, which has brought both new psychological problems and new coping strategies. The relevance and originality of the study lies in the fact that the internet is considered not as a source of psychological problems of adolescents and university students, but as a resource for coping with them. Based on the theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of coping, a working definition of this phenomenon was adopted. It was used to analyse and interpret the results of an empirical survey of 292 adolescents (11–17 years old) and 104 university students (18–22). The interview method was used to identify the role of internet as a resource for coping with problems. The answers were subjected to content analysis and frequency analysis in order to structure a set of coping strategies and perform a comparative analysis of their use by adolescents and university students. Teenagers and university students who use the internet as a tool for solving psychological problems were found to employ the following three types of strategies: emotional strategy (i. e., a change of attitude to the problem), problem-solving strategy and search for social support. The emotional type of coping style is the most widespread among both adolescents and university students and mostly involves the use of video and audio content. The use of problem-solving strategies increases with age. The search for social support on the internet among university students is not only more active, but also more specific and referential. Among university students, references to problem-solving coping style and to the search for social support are significantly more common than among adolescents. At the same time, 21% of adolescents and 7% of students deny the possibility of using the internet for coping with psychological problems. These results become the basis for testing the hypothesis about the relationship between the degree of immersion in the internet and its use for coping with psychological problems.

Problem solving based physics learning strategy to enhance students’ higher order thinking skills

Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) in learning that would be needed in the 21st century. This study probed the effect of utilizing problem-solving strategy while learning physics. The sample of this study is two classes from the second year of Senior High School in Pontianak. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied to identify students’ HOTS, to analyze students’ score and acquire the effect of problem-solving strategy after students learning physics. The result shows that student’s physics HOTS who studied by problem-solving strategy is higher than students’ by rehearsal strategy. Thus indicates that problem-solving strategy can be effective to enhance students’ HOTS of physics. The pedagogical implication is discussed on the use of problem-solving strategy as an alternative strategy for physics teaching.

Mathematics Teachers’ Perceptions about Problem-Solving: The case of Ghana

Most students experience different levels of difficulties in learning mathematics. TIMSS results have shown that most students in Ghana do not perform well in higher level tasks designed to assess applications and non-routine problems. This study, therefore, aimed at examining Ghanaian Junior and Senior High School mathematics teachers problem-solving strategies and their professional development needs about problem-solving. 114 mathematics teachers from 28 Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS) in the Cape Coast Metropolis took part in the study. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results from the study show that although teachers appreciate the importance of problem-solving in improving mathematics teaching and learning, there has not been the needed problem-solving training to support teachers in this regard. The researcher, therefore, argue that despite the numerous advantages associated with problem-solving strategy of teaching and learning, continuous professional development training for teachers should be paramount in our quest for helping students develop problem solving skills. Ghanaian JHS and SHS students can be in a disadvantageous position as they compete with their peers from other countries in international comparison examinations if our teachers are not given the needed support to become proficient in the use of problem-solving strategies in the classrooms.

Cigarette Smoking and Coping Strategies with Stress in Young Adults of Larestan

Background: Stress is a universal phenomenon experienced by all human beings. Stress can result from both positive and negative experiences, and it can have physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual consequences. Stress and strategies to cope with it are considered as two important factors in smoking. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate strategies for coping with stress in young adults smokers. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on the male population in Lar city in south of Iran, from 23 October, 2014 to 19 April, 2015. After screening based on the inclusion criteria, 348 smoker males aged 20 to 40 years old, were selected. In order to collect the data, the Farsi version of Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) was used. Descriptive and analytical statistical tests, such as one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), t-pair, independent t test, Kruskal-Wallis, chi-square, and Pearson correlation coefficient with significance level of P ≤ 0.05 were used to achieve the study objectives. Results: The mean age of the samples was 29.53 ± 5.92 years, and they consumed an average of 10.52 ± 1.47 cigarettes per day. In terms of educational level, 39 (11.2%) of the subjects were illiterate and most of them had primary (37.4%) and middle school education (31.6%). The mean score of coping strategies in the problem-focused and the emotion-focused group were 25.30 ± 5.34 and 39.24 ± 11.75, respectively. There was a statistically significant correlation between the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the type of emotion-focused coping strategies (r = 0.153 and P = 0.003). There was no significant correlation between the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the problem-focused coping method (r = -0.065 and P = 0.223). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that smokers are more likely to use emotional-focused strategies, and higher education in smokers may lead to increased use of problem-solving strategies. Therefore, it is recommended to encourage awareness and education in urban planning

Qualitative Analysis of Faith Community Nurse-Led Cognitive-Behavioral and Spiritual Counseling for Dementia Caregivers.

This article presents themes emerging from semistructured interviews with dementia family caregivers in rural communities who participated in an integrative, cognitive-behavioral and spiritual counseling intervention, and with faith community nurses (FCNs) who delivered the intervention. The primary objectives of the counseling intervention were to ameliorate dementia caregivers' depressive affect and the severity of their self-identified caregiving and self-care problems. The qualitative portion of the study was intended to elicit caregivers' and FCNs' perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of the intervention. We conducted interviews with seven FCN/caregiver pairs 4 times during the 6-month counseling process, totaling 56 interviews. Themes emerging from the interviews included caregivers' perception of burden and care partners' problem behavior; formation of therapeutic alliance between FCNs and caregivers; problem-solving skills, tools, and resources; caregivers' use of problem-solving strategies; spirituality in caregiving and counseling processes; FCNs' prior professional experience; and caregiver and FCN time constraints.

Pre-Service Physics Teachers’ Problem-solving Skills in Projectile Motion Concept

This study is a preliminary research aiming at exploring pre-service physics teachers’ skills in applying the stage of problem-solving strategies. A total of 76 students of physics education study program at a college in Bengkulu Indonesia participated in the study. The skills on solving physics problems are being explored through exercises that demand the use of problem-solving strategies with several stages such as useful description, physics approach, specific application of physics, physics equation, mathematical procedures, and logical progression. Based on the results of data analysis, it is found that the pre-service physics teachers’ skills are in the moderate category for physics approach and mathematical procedural, and low category for the others. It was concluded that the pre-service physics teachers’ problem-solving skills are categorized low. It is caused by the learning of physics that has done less to practice problem-solving skills. The problems provided are only routine and poorly trained in the implementation of problem-solving strategies.The results of the research can be used as a reference for the importance of the development of physics learning based on higher order thinking skills.

Poly-Victimization in Polish Adolescents: Risk Factors and the Moderating Role of Coping.

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of poly-victimization in Polish adolescents and assess factors associated with poly-victimization risk across different ecological levels. This study further examined whether coping styles could moderate the impact of poly-victimization on emotional well-being. Participants were 454 adolescents, aged between 13 and 19 years, from an urban region of Poland. Adolescents completed self-report measures assessing community, school, and family risks, along with a peer nomination task measuring social preference. Teachers also completed a measure assessing adolescent problem behaviors. Findings revealed that the majority of the sample (70%) experienced more than one type of victimization in the past year, and 35.7% were classified as poly-victims (≥ 6 victimizations). As hypothesized, community disorganization, low commitment to school, poor family management, family conflict, peer social preference, and teacher-rated withdrawn and disruptive behavioral problems were predictive of poly-victimization. In addition, the relationship between poly-victimization and emotional well-being was moderated by problem-solving coping, in that greater use of problem-solving strategies lessened the negative impact of poly-victimization on positive affect and life satisfaction. Other investigated coping strategies (social support-seeking, internalizing, externalizing, and distraction) failed to demonstrate any moderation effect. Findings highlight the high rate of victimization experienced by adolescents in Poland and have implications for the identification of those at risk of poly-victimization, suggesting that there is a need to consider factors related to the adolescent themselves, their relationships with family and peers, and school and community factors. Results also indicate that there may be value in training victims in the use of problem-solving coping styles as a source of resilience.

Strategy use, listening problems, and motivation of high- and low-proficiency Chinese listeners

ABSTRACTBuilding on previous listening strategy research, the author aimed to explore the differences between Chinese high-proficiency listeners (HLs) and low-proficiency listeners (LLs) on their strategy use, problems, and motivation in native language (L1) listening. It involved 1,290 Grade 7 and 1,515 Grade 9 students. Both quantitative and qualitative methods, including a listening comprehension test, questionnaires, and interviews, were adopted. The findings indicated that HLs possessed more types of strategies and used strategies more frequently and effectively than LLs. HLs not only reported fewer listening problems but also had a better awareness of listening problems and use of problem-solving strategies than LLs. Both HLs and LLs agreed with the importance of listening but showed little interest in doing listening tasks. The similarities and differences between the findings of this study and those of second-language listening research and implications for planning effective instruction to enhance native language listening proficiency are discussed.

A study on secondary school students' problem solving strategies

The aim of this study is to determine 6th grade students' use of problem solving strategies and difficulties that they have in this process. This research has been done by the help of the 12 6th grade public school students who were attending a public school in the 2012- 2013 academic year. The data collection tools for the research consisted of problem tests, including 7 problems which have taken from PISA and some mathematics websites. Each problem was chosen involving only a single strategy. The obtained data was analyzed utilizing descriptive analysis and descriptive statistics. According to the results of the study, all of the students who participated in the study solve the problems about "Look for a Pattern, Start at the End, Use an Equation and Make an Organized List" strategies. Two students could not solve problems including "Draw a Diagram and Divide and Conquer" strategies. Also, three students could not solve the problem about "Guess and Check". In addition, findings of this study show that some texts of problems are long and complex for students. On the other hand, students had some difficulties when they used the strategy of "Guess and Check" and they spent a lot of time on the problem about "Divide and Conquer".

Teaching problem-solving strategies in mathematics

This study uses the methodology of design-based research in search of ways to teach problem-solving strategies in mathematics in an upper secondary school. Educational activities are designed and tested in a class for four weeks. The design of the activities is governed by three design principles, which are based on variation theory. This study aims to contribute to an understanding of how the teaching of problem-solving strategies and strategy thinking in mathematics can be organized in a regular classroom setting and how this affects students´ learning in mathematics. We start by discussing the nature of the concept strategy in relation to the concepts of method and algorithm. Using pre- and post-tests, we compare the development of the students´ conceptual and procedural abilities with a control group. In addition, we use the post-test to investigate the students´ use of problem-solving strategies. The results suggest that these designed activities improve students’ ability to use problem-solving strategies. Moreover, significant differences were found in conceptual and procedural abilities in mathematics, the experimental group improving more than the control groups.

Effects of occupational future time perspective on managing stressful work situations.

According to the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), older adults perceive their future time as increasingly limited, which motivates them to focus more on emotional goals and prefer passive emotion-focused strategies. This study aims to investigate the effect of occupational future time perspective (OFTP) on the use of problem-solving strategies in stressful work situations and to examine the effectiveness of these strategies on psychological well-being. A sample of 199 Chinese clerical workers responded to a structured questionnaire on problem-solving strategy use in relation to hypothetical work scenarios. Results revealed that relative to those with limited OFTP, workers with expansive OFTP preferred problem-focused and proactive strategies in both low- and high-emotionally salient scenarios. Workers with limited OFTP consistently preferred passive strategies irrespective of emotional salience. OFTP moderated the effect of problem-focused strategies on psychological distress. In particular, there was a significant negative relationship between problem-focused strategies and psychological distress among workers with expansive OFTP, but such pattern of relationship was not observed among workers with limited OFTP. Findings of this study inform the training strategies employed by practitioners to fit the developmental goals of workers in order to maximise their strengths at work.