Trauma Counsellors’ Quality of Life

Mental health professionals working with trauma survivors often experience both psychological costs (e.g., compassion fatigue) and benefits (e.g., compassion satisfaction). In this study, trauma counsellors’ individual characteristics as well as workplace conditions were examined to determine their relative influence on compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. Lack of control over workplace, over-involvement with clients, and secondary exposure to clients with serious trauma symptoms were significantly related to compassion fatigue. Counsellors’ perceived control of the workplace, personal trauma history, and years of clinical experience were significantly related to compassion satisfaction.     

Implementing an integrated pest management (IPM) program in child care centers: A qualitative study

Pesticide use in and around child care centers is a potential health threat to children and staff. The implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) can reduce these risks yet child care providers receive minimal, if any, education concerning pest management. The objectives of this qualitative study are to: (a) develop a model to describe the process of implementing an IPM program in child care centers, (b) identify the facilitators and barriers to implementing an IPM program in child care centers, and (c) examine congruence between IPM practices identified on an IPM checklist with practices reported in qualitative interviews with child care managers. Interviews and IPM checklist observations were conducted with nine child care center managers in California before and after the introduction of a pilot IPM education intervention program. The qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed a four-stage IPM implementation process, from awareness of IPM, recognizing the importance of IPM and learning how to practice it, motivation and the decision to adopt IPM, to the implementation of IPM. A wide range of facilitators and barriers were identified. There was general congruence between the manager interviews and IPM checklist findings on IPM policies, practices, and management. Understanding the process of how an IPM program was implemented in these child care centers and the facilitators and barriers involved in the process can inform planning efforts for future health interventions in child care.     

Some Personality Dimensions of Doctors of Education

The comparison of scores from linguistically different tests is a twofold matter: the adaptation of tests and the comparison of scores. These 2 aspects of measurement invariance intersect at the need to guarantee the psychometric equivalence between the original and adapted versions. In this study, the authors examined comparability in 2 stages. First, they conducted a thorough study of progressive factorial variance through which they defined an anchor test. Second, they defined an observed score-equated function to establish equivalences between the original test and the adapted test; they used a design of common item nonequivalent groups for this purpose.     

INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY IN MEMORY TRAINING WITH THE ELDERLY

Although magnitudes of memory improvement for the elderly tend to be larger for a learning skill training and a social support group compared with a waiting list group, the individual variability is sufficiently large to obscure statistical differences in the treatment effect. In our examination of individual variability in the data two possible confounding factors were uncovered: (1) low baseline performers tend to improve regardless of the treatment whereas high baseliners tend not to improve or decline in their posttest performances; (2) high verbal IQ subjects tend to perform well on all memory tests. A lesson learned in this study is that if these two variables are not equally distributed across treatment and control groups spurious results may be obtained.     

ON COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRODUCTIVITY: PERCEPTIONS FROM THE INSIDE

Community colleges historically have demonstrated an ability and desire to address needs unmet by other sectors of postsecondary education. On the assumption that productivity assessment should be molded to reflect the unique missions and approaches of 2‐year institutions, this study examined preferences for broadly stated institutional goal areas as well as for productivity measures for assessing the achievement of these goals. Findings regarding the goal areas substantiate the unique community college mission and reveal preferences for measures that reflect consistent satisfaction or areas which can be impacted directly by community college trustees, administrators and faculty. The study was conducted over an 8‐month period in 45 institutions, 10 of which were community colleges.     

Students with Disabilities: Experiences Attending a Two-Year Community College

ABSTRACT

Students with learning disabilities tend to enroll in two-year community colleges more than they do four-year universities, have lower graduation and retention rates as compared to their non-disabled peers, and experience greater academic, social, and personal difficulties when pursuing a college degree. Yet, despite the higher number of students with learning disabilities in community colleges, and the challenges they face as a marginalized population, the literature pertaining to these students is still growing. Thus, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of students with learning disabilities within a two-year community college.     

Applying and Interpreting Mixture Distribution Latent State-Trait Models

Latent state-trait (LST) models are commonly applied to determine the extent to which observed variables reflect trait-like versus state-like constructs. Mixture distribution LST (M-LST) models relax the assumption of population homogeneity made in traditional LST models, allowing researchers to identify subpopulations (latent classes) with differing trait- and state-like attributes. Applications of M-LST models are scarce, presumably because of the analysis complexity. We present a step-by-step tutorial for evaluating M-LST models based on an application to mother, father, and teacher reports of children’s inattention (n = 811). In the application, we found three latent classes for mother and father reports and four classes for teacher reports. All reporter solutions contained classes with very low, low, and moderate levels of inattention. The teacher solution also contained a class with high inattention. Comparable mother and father (but not teacher) classes exhibited similar levels of trait and state variance.     

FACULTY SELF‐ESTEEM: THE 4TH GOVERNANCE PARADIGM

As one examines governance in the community college, it becomes apparent that the traditional bureaucratic, political, and collegial paradigms are not entirely satisfactory. Recent authors have suggested a different vantage point from which to view the educational enterprise. A common denominator in all such works is the professional self‐esteem of the faculty. In this article, the author uses a nine‐level “web” to depict the mind‐set and practices which characterize this new governance model.     

Teachers Don’t Always Do What They Think They Should: A Preliminary Validation of the Early Childhood Educators’ Knowledge of Self-Regulation Skills Questionnaire

The extent to which teachers understand the concept of self-regulation skills and how best to implement practices that enhance self-regulation in children in the early childhood education classroom remains unexamined. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the self-reporting Early Childhood Educators Knowledge of Self-Regulation Questionnaire (ECESRQ) instrument designed to identify teachers’ knowledge and instruction of self-regulation skills in the classroom. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to determine three latent factors: teacher attitudes and beliefs, classroom management techniques, and child behavior. The findings identified parallel the literature in the preservice teacher-training arena, suggesting a theoretical basis for the underlying constructs. EFA contributed to establishing good estimates of construct validity in the ECESRQ; in addition Cronbach’s alpha results demonstrated moderate levels of internal reliability. Pearson correlation was used to additionally determine the extent to which teachers understand self-regulatory skills and their ability to implement effective tools in the classroom to enhance these skills. Results and implications for practice in the early childhood classroom are discussed.     

Daily fluctuations in young children’s persistence

Children's behavior changes from day to day, but the factors that contribute to its variability are understudied. We developed a novel repeated measures paradigm to study children's persistence by capitalizing on a task that children complete every day: toothbrushing (N = 81; 48% female; 36–47 months; 80% white, 14% Multiracial, 10% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1% Black; 1195 observations collected between January 2019 and March 2020). Children brushed longer on days when their parents used more praise (d = .23) and less instruction (d = −.22). Sensitivity to mood, sleep, and parent stress varied across children, suggesting that identifying the factors that shape an individual child's persistence could lead to personalized interventions.