Fear Appeals in Health Communication: Should the Receivers’ Nationality or Cultural Orientation be Taken into Account?

This study investigated the influence of both nationality and cultural orientation on reactions to fear appeal messages including a self-targeted or a family-targeted threat. Participants from Spain (n = 138) and from the Netherlands (n = 127) either read a version of a story that accentuated the misery of a girl suffering from chlamydia, or a version that focused on her parents’ sorrow. Cultural orientation was assessed using a scale for measuring individualism and collectivism, and a scale for measuring familism. Contrary to claims from the earlier studies, neither nationality nor cultural orientation proved to interact with message version on any of the outcome variables.     

A model for understanding collaborative information behavior in context: A study of two healthcare teams

Collaborative information behavior is an essential aspect of organizational work; however, we have very limited understanding of this behavior. Most models of information behavior focus on the individual seeker of information. In this paper, we report the results from two empirical studies that investigate aspects of collaborative information behavior in organizational settings. From these studies, we found that collaborative information behavior differs from individual information behavior with respect to how individuals interact with each other, the complexity of the information need, and the role of information technology. There are specific triggers for transitioning from individual to collaborative information behavior, including lack of domain expertise. The information retrieval technologies used affect collaborative information behavior by acting as important supporting mechanisms. From these results and prior work, we develop a model of collaborative information behavior along the axes of participant behavior, situational elements, and contextual triggers. We also present characteristics of collaborative information system including search, chat, and sharing. We discuss implications for the design of collaborative information retrieval systems and directions for future work.     

Readiness and expectations questionnaire: a cross-cultural measurement instrument for first-year university students

The readiness and expectations questionnaire (REQ) assesses first-year students’ expectations and preparedness for their first year in university. This measurement instrument is useful for educational policy and curriculum development; it can also be used to predict the outcomes of the first year of college. This instrument was initially developed to compare students enrolled in programs in the Netherlands and New Zealand, with predominant populations of domestic students. However, the Bologna process and globalisation trends also have increased the availability of international degree programmes. This raised the question whether the REQ can be used to compare groups of international students. Therefore, this article aims to assess the cross-cultural measurement equivalence of the REQ in international bachelor degree programmes in economics and business in a Dutch university, taught in English. The results indicate that not all aspects of the instrument achieve measurement equivalence, but most of its scales, with some adaptations, can evaluate students’ expectations and preparedness and thus encourage a better match between student and institution.     

Early life stress and behavior problems in early childhood: Investigating the contributions of child temperament and executive functions to resilience

This preregistered study examined whether child temperament and executive functions moderated the longitudinal association between early life stress (ELS) and behavior problems. In a Dutch population-based cohort (n = 2803), parents reported on multiple stressors (age 0–6 years), child temperament (age 5), and executive functions (age 4), and teachers rated child internalizing and externalizing problems (age 7). Results showed that greater ELS was related to higher levels of internalizing and externalizing problems, with betas reflecting small effects. Lower surgency buffered the positive association of ELS with externalizing problems, while better shifting capacities weakened the positive association between ELS and internalizing problems. Other child characteristics did not act as moderators. Findings underscore the importance of examining multiple protective factors simultaneously.     

The Leadership of Transition: Correction, Conciliation and Change in South African Education

This paper focuses on educational leadership in the context of social transition to post-apartheid democracy in South Africa. Transitional leaders manifest behaviours, attitudes, values and strategies that are deeply related to the contexts within which they work. Social norms and political climate may not be supportive of educational leaders wishing to rise to the challenge of unplanned transition; however this paper focuses on leaders who take up this challenge. Narratives of three educational leaders, two white and one black, provide an understanding of the complexities and challenges involved in bringing about change that goes against the grain of social, community, or institutional expectations. Five common strands that bind the narratives of the three leaders are revealed. These commonalities are: a sense of moral purpose, a sense of human frailty, a sense of racial inclusion, a sense of political complexity, and a sense of personal growth. In conclusion, seven propositions that may form the building blocks for new ways of thinking about leadership in post conflict societies are presented.     

Scaffolding dynamics and the emergence of problematic learning trajectories

This study aims at examining problematic learning trajectories of students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) by means of a longitudinal and time serial (micro genetic) study of individual instruction sessions during arithmetic lessons. Micro genetic analysis techniques were applied on the variable “responsiveness” in the scaffolding dynamics, which was chosen as an indicator variable for the quality of the instruction. In a representative EBD student–teacher pair, an iterative process of stability and change of five dynamically related scaffolding variables and one arithmetic variable was demonstrated, which indicated the existence of three phases over a period of two school years. In the short term dynamics of scaffolding, an asymmetric engagement level of teacher and student was found, which was dominated by the teacher's initiatives. Overall, the data point to a suboptimal coupling in this student–teacher pair. An applied conclusion of our study is that educational recommendations should be aimed at transforming existing, self-sustaining transactional patterns between the teacher and the student in real-time instruction sessions during arithmetic lessons.