Psychological Adjustment and Caregive Attributes in Children Referred to Contact House

Child abuse and neglect (CAN) encompasses a heterogenous group of adverse practices with devastating personal, social, educational, health, legal and welfare consequences. The term child abuse and neglect covers four types maltreatment: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect, with many children experiencing a combination of these types. Australian child protection notifications have more than doubled in the 5-year period to 2004. Of most concern is that, of all the Australian States and Territories, Queensland has the highest rate of substantiated cases with 14.1 per 1,000 children (AIHW, 2006). Childhood abuse and neglect can have profound short- and long-term effects. Children with a history of abuse and neglect have been shown to experience insecure attachment, developmental delays, diminished social skills, violent behaviour and learning problems. Previous studies have also found that abused and neglected children frequently experience a higher incidence of a diverse range of adverse mental health outcomes including helplessness and sadness, lowered self-esteem and post traumatic stress disorder. However, relatively few studies have examined the psychological adjustment of children in more immediate terms especially within an Australian context. Furthermore, adults experiencing CAN during childhood frequently exhibit diverse psychopathologies. The variability in adverse consequences suggests the existence of mediating and moderating factors influencing the level of distress experienced by children. While associations have been made between factors surrounding the type of abuse, the child’s age and gender and negative outcomes, little is known about the role of the child’s non-offending caregiver and the relationship between caregiver attributes and the level of distress experienced by the child. A primary aim of this study was to investigate caregiver attributes and the psychological adjustment of children referred to a non-government treatment centre. This specific aims were: (i) to describe the psychological adjustment of children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect (ii) to compare the psychological functioning of children presenting for treatment with a community sample of children (iii) to describe the level of psychosocial functioning of the caregivers in the clinical group across a range of psychosocial and parenting practice variables and (iv) to explore the relationship between demographic variables, factors relating to the abuse and neglect, and caregiver variables, which may predict, mediate, or moderate the child’s psychological adjustment. In addition the study aimed to establish a database for future research into treatment outcomes. Through the inclusion of a comparison community sample, this study provided evidence to complement existing research and develop a more complete picture of families living with and without CAN. The findings also offer preliminary evidence regarding the effectiveness of treatment and underscore the need for ongoing evaluation of service outcomes to optimise the quality of life for children and families affected by CAN

Blended tutoring: an exploration of tutor emotional competences valued by learners in a higher education context

This paper reports on research into the emotional competences that mature higher education (HE) students, working in blended learning contexts and studying part-time (PT), vocationally relevant, degrees within a School of Education, value in their tutors. A mixed methods approach was adopted to conduct a detailed exploration of eight tutors’ practice with data gathered from three principal sources. Interviews with tutors explored their approaches to delivery and considered factors that impacted on quality; students’ perceptions of their learning experiences were assessed using an attitude survey; and, an analysis of the content and communications in the virtual learning environment provided insight into tutors’ online practice. Goleman’s (2001) ‘Framework of Emotional Competences’ provided an initial structure but, after analysis, some competences were rejected and others were added. The paper suggests that a new group of competences are required that could support effective blended tutoring for mature learners as well as the recruitment and selection of tutors

Development and validation of EMP-3 : an instrument to measure physicians' attitudes towards ethnic minority patients

Background and Objectives: The growing diversity of patient populations challenges health care providers. Physicians' attitudes and perceptions toward cultural diversity in health care could be partly contributing to difficulties in communication between physicians and ethnic minority patients. To evaluate these attitudes and perceptions, an instrument was developed and validated. Methods: A preliminary version of the instrument was developed through literature research and expert consultation and completed by 112 family physicians. Factor analysis was performed and reliability and construct validity tested. Results: The instrument revealed three factors that were interpreted as: (1) physicians' task perception and ideas on cultural differences in health and health care, (2) physicians' attitudes toward physician-patient communication with minority patients, and (3) physicians' perception of minority patients' needs in communication. Moderate but significant correlations were found between factors of the EMP-3 and practice organization, practice location, and physicians' gender. Several factors of the Jefferson Empathy Scale, the Patient Practitioner Orientation Scale, and the Health Beliefs and Attitude Scale related to the first two factors of the EMP-3. Conclusions: This instrument, designed specifically to measure physicians' attitudes toward cultural diversity, showed moderate validity and reliability results. Further adaptations and evaluation could be useful

El autoritarismo de derecha, la orientación a la dominancia social, la empatía, y la orientación hacia los valores materiales como predictores del prejuicio intergrupal en Argentina

The study of individual differences in prejudice has received significant attention in the psychological literature. However, very little research has been published on Latin American countries. To address this gap, 300 residents from the general population in Mar del Plata, Argentina, were surveyed. The main objective of the study was to assess the contributions of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), empathy, and materialistic value orientation (MVO) to the prediction of ethnic prejudice, heterosexism, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism after controlling for impression management and socio demographic factors. Multiple regression analyses identified RWA as the most relevant variable predicting intergroup prejudice; as it contributed to the prediction of all dependent variables. The contributions of SDO, empathy, and MVO depended on the specific type of prejudice assessed. SDO and empathy made a significant statistical contribution to the prediction of ethnic prejudice and heterosexism; while a materialistic value orientation contributed only to the prediction of hostile sexism.El estudio de las diferencias individuales en el prejuicio ha recibido mucha atención en la literatura psicológica. Sin embargo, han sido muy pocas las publicaciones de investigaciones en Latinoamérica. Objetivo : evaluar las contribuciones del autoritarismo de derecha (RWA), la orientación a la dominancia social (SDO), la empatía, y la orientación hacia valores materiales (MVO) a la predicción del prejuicio étnico, el heterosexismo, el sexismo hostil, y el sexismo benevolente luego de controlar para el manejo de impresión y los factores socio-demográficos. Método: fueron encuestados 300 participantes en Mar del Plata, Argentina, con edad entre 19 y 71 años, a través de las Escalas de Autoritarismo de Derecha, Escala de Valores Materiales, y Actitudes hacia la Homosexualidad. Resultados: Los análisis de regresión múltiple identificaron al RWA como la variable más importante en la predicción de prejuicio intergrupal; ya que aportó a la predicción de todas las variables dependientes. Las contribuciones de SDO, empatía, y MVO dependieron del prejuicio evaluado. La SDO y la empatía aportaron estadísticamente a la predicción del prejuicio étnico y el heterosexismo; mientras que la orientación hacia los valores materiales solamente a la predicción del sexismo hostil.Fil: Díaz Lázaro, Carlos. Walden University; Estados UnidosFil: Castañeiras, Claudia Elena. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Ledesma, Ruben Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Verdinelli, Susana. Walden University; Estados UnidosFil: Rand, Avonelle. Walden University; Estados Unido

Perceiving and expressing feelings through actions in relation to individual differences in empathic traits : the Action and Feelings Questionnaire (AFQ)

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Expressing one’s feelings and listening to others increases emotional intelligence: a pilot study of Asian medical students

<p>Background: There has been considerable interest in Emotional Intelligence (EI) in undergraduate medical education, with respect to student selection and admissions, health and well-being and academic performance. EI is a significant component of the physician-patient relationship. The emotional well-being of the physician is, therefore, a significant component in patient care. The aim is to examine the measurement of TEIQue-SF in Asian medical students and to explore how the practice of listening to the feelings of others and expressing one’s own feelings influences an individual’s EI, set in the context of the emotional well-being of a medical practitioner.</p> <p>Methods: A group of 183 international undergraduate medical students attended a half-day workshop (WS) about mental-health and well-being. They completed a self-reported measure of EI on three occasions, pre- and post-workshop, and a 1-year follow-up.</p> <p>Result: The reliability of TEIQue-SF was high and the reliabilities of its four factors were acceptable. There were strong correlations between the TEIQue-SF and personality traits. A paired t-test indicated significant positive changes after the WS for all students (n=181, p= .014), male students (n=78, p= .015) and non-Japanese students (n=112, p= .007), but a repeated measures analysis showed that one year post-workshop there were significant positive changes for all students (n=55, p= .034), female students (n=31, p= .007), especially Japanese female students (n=13, p= .023). Moreover, 80% of the students reported that they were more attentive listeners, and 60% agreed that they were more confident in dealing with emotional issues, both within themselves and in others, as a result of the workshop.</p> <p>Conclusion: This study found the measurement of TEIQue-SF is appropriate and reliable to use for Asian medical students. The mental health workshop was helpful to develop medical students’ EI but showed different results for gender and nationality. The immediate impact on the emotional awareness of individuals was particularly significant for male students and the non-Japanese group. The impact over the long term was notable for the significant increase in EI for females and Japanese. Japanese female students were more conscious about emotionality. Emotion-driven communication exercises might strongly influence the development of students’ EI over a year.</p&gt

Developing the scales on evaluation beliefs of student teachers

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to investigate the validity and the reliability of a newly developed questionnaire named ‘Teacher Evaluation Beliefs’ (TEB). The framework for developing items was provided by the two models. The first model focuses on Student-Centered and Teacher-Centered beliefs about evaluation while the other centers on five dimensions (what/ who/ when/ why/ how). The validity and reliability of the new instrument was investigated using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis study (n=446). Overall results indicate that the two-factor structure is more reasonable than the five-factor one. Further research needs additional items about the latent dimensions “what” ”who” ”when” ”why” “how” for each existing factor based on Student-centered and Teacher-centered approaches