Vocational Advancement Research Articles

Assessing College Students’ Social and Emotional Strengths: A Cross-Cultural Comparison from Mexico, United States, and Spain

<p style="text-align:justify">Endeavors supporting college students’ positive psychosocial development are gaining attention and investment in various countries and social contexts. Higher education experiences provide new academic, social, and vocational advancement opportunities at a critical developmental stage. However, higher education can also cause distress due to the challenges and stressors present during this new stage of increased independence. The Social Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education (SEHS-HE) assesses the core psychosocial strengths of individuals transitioning from secondary schools into institutions of higher education (IHE) to aid campus student support services. The present study sought to extend the SEHS-HE research by examining its application with college student samples from Mexico (n = 4,207), United States (n = 1,638), and Spain (n = 1,734). Confirmatory factor analyses investigated the hypothesized SEHS-HE higher-order factor model. The Mexico sample returned an acceptable model fit, but the USA and Spain samples had a suboptimal fit; hence, we explored alternative models. A two-level structure had full invariance for all three samples. This study extends the current scholarship on the conceptual model and psychometric properties of SEHS-HE. The discussion focuses on implications for future research to enhance SEHS-HE in national and cross-national research and practice.</p>

The Effectiveness of Comic Strip As Media to Improve the Students’ Reading Comprehension on Narrative Text of MTs Ar-Rahman Langkat

In this research, the writer would deal with reading skill based on the consideration
 that success in reading will be very important for students both for academic and
 vocational advancement. For mor than a quarter of a century language teachers have
 been dominated by the idea that speech is the primary from of languange, writing is
 secondary. So, it is logic that there is such a common sense that teaching languange
 is nothing more than a remedial stage of preparation to the more rigorous. Moreover,
 reding is regarded as somewhat dull because today’s generationg ets philosopy from
 thr movie. In fact, studying literature can assure intellectual stimulation even at the
 beginning stages of learning.
 According to the statement above, there is a challenge on the foreign language teacher
 to provide exposure to language and to provide opportunities for learning through
 classroom activities. In class, teacher have significant rule to bring out the fun class to
 the students. So, teacher should try to get students read and develop their skills that
 are aimed to improve their ability and will to read. Theey should be a good facilitator
 in creating nd building an effecctive reading class. One way to conduct the clss to be
 more interesting is by using a fresh and interesting material to be brought to clas. This
 case is also happend in MTs Ar-Rahman Langkat that only some of material in the book
 about reading comprehension and many students can not understand what the next
 talk about.
 In other words, comic is unification , work of art among fine literary works in which
 there are usual froms are the verbal explanation in fixedd sequence and has cartoon
 story as theme. Reading cimics is more than the material in hand, that it involves a
 certain immersion into the cultural of the comics that one readers to get the right
 visualization. Teacher should be sekective in choosing teaching media/ aids. In the
 writer’s opinion, teaching English on reading skill using comic strips was one of teacjing
 aid which student’s were given chance to learn English more fun.

Integrating the Integrated: Merging Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment (IDDT) with Housing First.

This study reports on a housing program that merged two evidence-based practices frequently applied in tandem: Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment and Housing First. Quantitative measures show that consumers in the program were receptive to supportive housing and core services. These quantitative measures, when considered alongside qualitative interviews, suggest that in order for more consumers to move through the IDDT stages of educational and vocational advancement, the staff will need to emphasize the permanence of supportive housing. Thus, the study also demonstrates the importance of integrating results of qualitative evaluations with quantitative data to strengthen a program's evidence base.

DESARROLLO VOCACIONAL Y FACTORES QUE INFLUYERON EN LA ELECCIÓN VOCACIONAL EN PERSONAS DISCAPACITADAS CON ESTUDIOS UNIVERSITARIOS INSERTADAS LABORALMENTE

Abstract:The characteristics and factors of vocational behaviour which have an impact on non-disabled university students are relatively well-known (Rocabert and Martínez-Vicente, 2011). However, the vocational development and advancement of disabled university students is less well-known. The aim of this paper was to study the vocational advancement and the factors of choice of disabled university graduates in employment taking into account gender differences. For this purpose the Cuestionario de Biodatos Universitarios (CBU) by Rocabert and Martínez-Vicente (2011) and the Inventario de Factores Vocacionales by Rivas and Pascual (2003) were given to a sample of 30 disabled university graduates (average age, 32.8 years; standard deviation, 9.2 years). The results showed that psychogenic factors heavily conditioned the vocational behaviour of both sexes. They also showed that the impact of sociogenic factors linked to external and stereotyped influences is more significant in women.Keywords: Vocational development and advancement, factors of choice, disability, gender.Resumen:Si bien son conocidas las características y factores de la conducta vocacional que influyen en los estudiantes universitarios sin discapacidad (Rocabert y Martínez-Vicente, 2011) se conocen en menor medida las características vocacionales de los estudiantes universitarios con algún tipo de discapacidad. Es por ello que el objetivo de este estudio fue analizar las características del desarrollo vocacional y de los factores de elección de personas discapacitadas con titulación universitaria e insertada laboralmente comprobando si existen diferencias debido al sexo. Para ello fueron aplicados el Cuestionario de Biodatos Universitarios (CBU) de Rocabert y Martínez-Vicente (2011) y el Inventario de factores vocacionales de Rivas y Pascual (2003), a una muestra de 30 personas con discapacidad con estudios universitarios e insertadas laboralmente de una edad media de 32,8 años y una desviación típica de 9,2. Los resultados confirmaron que los factores de carácter psicogénico dominaron y modularon la conducta vocacional en ambos géneros. Por otra parte se constató una mayor influencia en las mujeres de factores de carácter sociogénico asociados a influencias externas y estereotipadas.Palabras claves: Desarrollo vocacional, factores de elección, discapacidad, género.

Quality improvement competency gaps in primary care in Albanian, polish and slovenian contexts: a study protocol.

Background:Nowadays, general practitioners (GPs) and family doctors (FDs) face increasing demands, as a consequence of complex patients’ expectations, developments in science and technology, and limitations within healthcare systems which can result in competency gaps. Therefore, there is a need to identify which competencies in quality improvement (QI) are most important for GPs and FDs to possess in order to meet the demands of contemporary health care practice. To date, however, little information is available on the self-assessment of competencies related to QI among GPs and FDs. To deal with these issues, a project on QI in continuous medical education was launched in 2011. The project aims to broaden the GPs’/ FDs’ continuous education offer, its quality and attractiveness, as well as provide them with opportunities for vocational advancement and enable the development of common, European frame of reference for GPs’/FDs’ occupational competencies. The third work package of the project consists of the validation research of the questionnaire developed on the basis of the competency framework in QI for GPs/FDs in Europe.Methods:A cross-sectional study will be carried out using the self-assessment QI questionnaire which was originally developed in English and subsequently it was cross-culturally adapted in Slovenian, Albanian and Polish settings by use of a pilot study on a conveniently selected group of FDs/GPs (N=10) in each participating country. The final version of the questionnaire will be administered to large samples in each country involved in the survey. Two weeks after the first administration of the questionnaire, a second round, with the same procedure and including the same group of respondents, will follow. Psychometric tests will be conducted including internal consistency (after the initial and subsequent application of the instrument) and stability over time (two-week test-retest reliability).Discussion:This self-assessment study will demonstrate the complex environment in which general practice/family medicine operates and, eventually, this gap analysis will set out strategically important areas for collaborative efforts related to QI in primary care. The authors consider that the study should be extended to other European countries to help identify most required competencies that GPs/FDs should possess in Europe and thus stir system and educational debate around QI curricula and training for primary care in Europe.

They Don't Go Away When You Grow Up

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities (LD) are most frequently associated with childhood. This, of course, is because a child's job is to sit in a classroom, pay attention, and learn, and these are disorders that interfere with completing that job. Because these disorders are presumed due to brain dysfunction, it should be no surprise that both LD and ADHD continue to exert effects as children grow, go on to postsecondary education, and enter the job market. That is, developmental learning disorders, including LD and ADHD, do not “go away” when one becomes an adult. Several research groups have followed children with LD or ADHD into adulthood and have shown the persistence of symptoms and cognitive deficits, along with the toll that these difficulties take on psychosocial functioning, later academic performance, and vocational advancement.

Mature adult learners and the need to know

Sterns and Mitchell (in H. L. Sterns, et al., Gerontology in higher education: Developing Institutional and Community Strength. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1979) point out that Maslow's concept of the need to know is as basic a need as the physical, security, and belongingness needs. And so, mature (25–55 years) and older (55 years and above) adult learning has flourished within the community: in museums, libraries, churches, in trade unions, business and industry, in evening programs emphasizing self-enrichment and vocational advancement, in a range of postsecondary noncollegiate, occupational, and adult education programs. Higher education and its academic disciplines, in contrast, have notably been age segmented and youth oriented. This paper outlines four major sociocultural changes which at once challenge higher education's youth orientation while simultaneously offering educational psychology opportunities for significant research, teaching, and service, for fertile dialectic within the higher education communities, and for wider support of the adult's need to know.

Workers' Education or Education for the Worker

Workers' education began in England as an attempt to remedy the dehumanizing effects of factory labor. It consisted of programs aimed at offering working people a quality liberal arts education outside of the university which excluded them. Among the advocates of workers' education in America was Jane Addams who, at Hull-House, established a diverse program centered on the humanities, the fine arts, and folk handicrafts. It was based on her concept of culture, which sought to democratize knowledge as a way of promoting the evolution of society. Addams's philosophy of education, derived from her notion of culture, stressed the application of knowledge to life for the enrichment of social relations and human existence. Her educational philosophy deserves reappraisal because the quality of education for the worker has declined, serving increasingly as a vehicle of vocational advancement with little reference to intellectual and spiritual growth.

Vocational Goals of the Graduate Student

TUDENTS in rural social sciences feel the full impact of problems encountered in graduate study when those problems become hindrances in the achievement of vocational goals. This is particularly true when such problems result in training deficiencies that limit the student's qualifications for a wide scope of job opportunities. The cumulative result of such shortcomings in academic preparation is brought to focus even more sharply when they prevent vocational advancement in whatever employment the student accepts at the end of his graduate training. Outstanding among the problems which handicap many graduate students in achieving their vocational goals are those which have been so ably described by the preceding discussants. Certainly it seems reasonable that some prospective employers might discriminate against applicants from a graduate center which has a reputation for institutional inbreeding of ideas. On the other hand, such applicants might be at a definite advantage when being considered by employers who are themselves inculcated with the one-mindedness of inbreeding. Another equally handicapping circumstance is that of educational provincialism which results when a student's entire academic training, undergraduate and graduate, has been taken at the same institution. Acquaintance with only one state or region and training in only one intellectual approach definitely limit breadth of viewpoint. This situation is even more harmful in departments where the graduate student too often is looked upon as a building brick that may be broken or forced into place in order to contribute to the over-all program of an institution or an exploitative advisor. These inadequacies alone offer justification for ranking a student's eligibility for employment below that of applicants whose backgrounds include more than one intellectual climate.