Counselor Trainees’ Experiences in Triadic Supervision: A Qualitative Exploration of Transcendent Themes

Triadic supervision has been considered a credible and effective form of clinical supervision within counselor education programs since being included in the 2001 standards for the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). A phenomenological study was conducted to examine the experiences of masters-level counselor trainees in practicum with triadic supervision. Several transcendent themes emerged, namely: Initial Apprehensions, Shared Developmental Process, Vicarious Learning, Multiple Perspectives, and Safety through Trust and Relationship. The results of this study are discussed as they impact the field of counselor education and supervision.     

The scientific attitude inventory: A revision (SAI II)

The Scientific Attitude Inventory (SAI) was developed and field tested 25 years ago. It has been used extensively throughout the world, and it continues to be used. Reports of its use and suggestions for revision provide impetus for revision. The revision retains the original position statements of attitudes assessed and the original attitude statements with changes made only to improve readability and to eliminate gender-biased language. Also, in response to critical analysis, the SAI II uses a five-response Likert Scale. The new version is shorter, 40 items instead of 60 in the original. The SAI II was field tested with 557 students in Grades 6, 9, and 12. The top and bottom 27% of scorers for the total inventory were compared for the subscales. A statistically significant difference was obtained for each t-test comparison. Face validity for the SAI II is claimed on the basis of the original judgments of a panel of judges regarding the attitude position statements which have not been altered. A split-half reliability coefficient of .805 was computed for the entire group of 557 respondents. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient is .781. J Res Sci Teach 34: 327–336, 1997.     

Identifying motivators and barriers to older community-dwelling people participating in resistance training: A cross-sectional study

Participation rates of older people in resistance training (RT) are low despite increasing research showing many health benefits. To increase the number of older people participating in RT it is important to know what would motivate people to become involved, what motivates those who participate to continue, and the factors preventing many older people from commencing participation. To investigate these issues, a questionnaire was mailed to three groups of older people: (1) those receiving home care services, (2) members of a peak non-government seniors’ organisation and (3) those participating in a specific gym-based RT programme. In total, 1327 questionnaires were returned (response rate = 42.5%). To feel good physically and mentally were the main reasons motivating participation among all three groups, and falls prevention was identified as an important motivator for the home care respondents. Pain, injury and illness were the main barriers to participating, or continuing to participate. However, medical advice was a factor influencing participation commencement. The results suggest organisations providing RT programmes for older people should tailor the promotion and delivery of programmes to address key motivators and barriers specific to each group to increase the proportion of older people initiating and continuing to engage in RT.     

A conceptual framework for understanding information seeking in open-ended information systems

Technologies such as the Internet and World Wide Web are changing our conceptions of information systems, from who uses them and how they are used, to how the systems are created and who is doing the creating. Everyday users are afforded the same information retrieval opportunities as information scientists or librarians by using emerging information systems such as the Web. Yet, defining best practices for assisting users in finding the information they seek remains an unrealized goal. Discovering how users engage in information retrieval and strategy building while searching for information in open-ended systems such as the Web is an area in need of exploration if these systems are to fulfill their potential as tools for information seeking and learning. This paper describes a theoretically and empirically based framework for how users formulate and employ information-seeking strategies in open-ended information systems (OEISs). Background information and challenges related to OEISs are provided. OEIS theoretical and user perspectives are described. An example based on a recent research study is provided to illustrate use of the OEIS information-seeking framework. Implications for practice and research are offered.     

Red shirt colour is associated with long-term team success in English football

The colour of sportswear has been shown to influence the outcome of bouts for several different combat sports. The generality of these effects, and whether they extend to collaborative forms of contests (team sports), is uncertain. Since 1947, English football teams wearing red shirts have been champions more often than expected on the basis of the proportion of clubs playing in red. To investigate whether this indicates an enhancement of long-term performance in red-wearing teams, we analysed the relative league positions of teams wearing different hues. Across all league divisions, red teams had the best home record, with significant differences in both percentage of maximum points achieved and mean position in the home league table. The effects were not due simply to a difference between teams playing in a colour and those playing in a predominantly white uniform, as the latter performed better than teams in yellow hues. No significant differences were found for performance in matches away from home, when teams commonly do not wear their "home" colours. A matched-pairs analysis of red and non-red wearing teams in eight English cities shows significantly better performance of red teams over a 55-year period. These effects on long-term success have consequences for colour selection in team sports, confirm that wearing red enhances performance in a variety of competitive contexts, and provide further impetus for studies of the mechanisms underlying these effects.