Ready for Change: Adaptation and Development in Dynamic Vocational Contexts:Examples from University Students and Entrepreneurs

The current dissertation investigates how individuals deal with the challenges that come with operating in dynamic vocational contexts using the examples of university students and entrepreneurs. While students need to become agents for their career development to master entry into the work sphere, entrepreneurs must independently maneuver their business through the shallows of experimentation and failure. Dynamic work contexts are characterized by instability, uncertainty, turbulence, and challenges and opportunities for change. Although university students and entrepreneurs operate in different professional environments, they share some challenges and threats associated with vocational contexts that demand adaptation to current and expected changes. Students live in a state of relative uncertainty because they need to enter an unknown domain — the world of work — in the immediate future. Exploring available career options and finding out how they fit with their personalities, values, and goals may be a problematic endeavor associated with unfulfilled expectations and frustration. Entrepreneurs are strongly influenced by the dynamic nature of their work contexts. They do not only have to deal with anticipated change but also manage setbacks and learn from their mistakes to be successful.This fast-paced environment, combined with the associated risk of investments, makes the entrepreneurial job particularly turbulent. This dissertation aims to provide a multifaceted view of dynamic work contexts, associated challenges and threats, and the mechanisms that foster growth and development

Students' career exploration:A meta-analysis

Career exploration refers to the exploration of the environment and the self with the aim of gathering career-related information. On the basis of Lent and Brown's (2013) model of career self-management (CSM), the current meta-analysis examined the antecedents and outcomes of career exploration among college students (K = 109, N = 34,969 students). We found support for the applicability of the CSM model to the context of students' career exploration. Specifically, positive associations were found for the association of the three core person-cognitive variables self-efficacy for career exploration and decision-making (rc = 0.52), outcome expectations (rc = 0.31), and career-exploratory goals (rc = 0.42) with career exploration. Results of path analyses suggest that the effects of both self-efficacy and outcome expectations on career exploration are mediated by career-exploratory goals. Further, in line with the CSM model, career exploration was positively related to career-related support (rc = 0.33) and negatively related to barriers (rc = −0.15). Moreover, career exploration was associated with important career-related outcomes, such as career decidedness (rc = 0.22), and perceived employability (rc = 0.35). Exploratory moderator analyses revealed that some relationships are influenced by sample (i.e., age, gender, cultural background) and measurement (e.g., publication date) characteristics. The findings of this meta-analysis highlight several implications for the further development of the CSM model, future research on students' career exploration, and career development practice

Attitudes Toward the Adoption of 2 Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Mental Health Tools Among Prospective Psychotherapists: Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Despite growing efforts to develop user-friendly artificial intelligence (AI) applications for clinical care, their adoption remains limited because of the barriers at individual, organizational, and system levels. There is limited research on the intention to use AI systems in mental health care. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to address this gap by examining the predictors of psychology students' and early practitioners' intention to use 2 specific AI-enabled mental health tools based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 206 psychology students and psychotherapists in training to examine the predictors of their intention to use 2 AI-enabled mental health care tools. The first tool provides feedback to the psychotherapist on their adherence to motivational interviewing techniques. The second tool uses patient voice samples to derive mood scores that the therapists may use for treatment decisions. Participants were presented with graphic depictions of the tools' functioning mechanisms before measuring the variables of the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. In total, 2 structural equation models (1 for each tool) were specified, which included direct and mediated paths for predicting tool use intentions. RESULTS: Perceived usefulness and social influence had a positive effect on the intention to use the feedback tool (P<.001) and the treatment recommendation tool (perceived usefulness, P=.01 and social influence, P<.001). However, trust was unrelated to use intentions for both the tools. Moreover, perceived ease of use was unrelated (feedback tool) and even negatively related (treatment recommendation tool) to use intentions when considering all predictors (P=.004). In addition, a positive relationship between cognitive technology readiness (P=.02) and the intention to use the feedback tool and a negative relationship between AI anxiety and the intention to use the feedback tool (P=.001) and the treatment recommendation tool (P<.001) were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The results shed light on the general and tool-dependent drivers of AI technology adoption in mental health care. Future research may explore the technological and user group characteristics that influence the adoption of AI-enabled tools in mental health care

Longitudinal randomised controlled trials in rehabilitation post-stroke: a systematic review on the quality of reporting and use of baseline outcome values

Sauzet O, Kleine M, Menzel-Begemann A, Exner AK. Longitudinal randomised controlled trials in rehabilitation post-stroke: a systematic review on the quality of reporting and use of baseline outcome values. BMC Neurology. 2015;15(1): 99.Background The World Health Organisation stresses the need to collect high quality longitudinal data on rehabilitation and to improve the comparability between studies. This implies using all the information available and transparent reporting. We therefore investigated the quality of reported or planned randomised controlled trials on rehabilitation post-stroke with a repeated measure of physical functioning, provided recommendations on the presentation of results using regression parameters, and focused on the difficulties of adjustment for baseline outcome measures. Methods We performed a systematic review of the literature from 2011 to 2013 and collected information on the way data was analysed. Moreover we described various approaches to analyse the data using mixed models illustrated with real data. Results Eighty-four eligible studies were identified of which 61 % (51/84) failed to analyse the data longitudinally. Moreover, for 30 % (25/83) the method for adjustment for baseline is not known or not existent. Using real data we were able to show how much difference in results an adjustment for baseline data can make. We showed how to provide interpretable intervention effects using regression coefficients while making use of all the information available in the data. Conclusions Our review showed that improvements were needed in the analysis of longitudinal trials in rehabilitation post-stroke in order to maximise the use of collected data and improve comparability between studies. Reporting fully the method used (including baseline adjustment) and using methods like mixed models could easily achieve this

Personal condition but social cure:Agentic ingroups elevate well-being in chronically ill patients through perceptions of personal control

Objectives: Social-cure research has shown that ingroup identification can be beneficial for personal health and well-being. Initial evidence for healthy participants suggests that this might be due to group membership providing a sense of personal control. In this research, we investigate this pathway for chronically ill patients, assuming that any ingroup (even patient identity) can serve as social cure by increasing control as long as the ingroup is perceived as agentic (i.e., effective). Design: We conducted six correlational field studies with patients suffering from different chronic conditions, e.g., cancer (Ntotal = 795). Methods: All participants were asked about one specific ingroup, e.g., their self-help group. Our main measures were ingroup identification, ingroup agency, personal control and well-being, as well as self-esteem and social support (both discussed as alternative mediators). We performed simple mediation and/or moderated mediation analyses for each study and across studies (merging Studies 2–6). Results: Overall, the impact of ingroup identification on personal well-being was uniquely mediated via personal control (Studies 1, 2, 3, 6) but, as expected, only for those perceiving their ingroup as highly agentic (Studies 4, 5, 6). Conclusions: Ingroup agency is a boundary condition for the control-based pathway of the social cure effect supporting the model of group-based control. This has practical implications for clinical interventions with chronically ill patients

Examining outpatients' hand hygiene behaviour and its relation to COVID-19 infection prevention measures

BACKGROUND: The increasing demand for outpatient care is associated with a higher risk of infection transmission in these settings. However, there is limited research on infection prevention and control practices in ambulatory clinics, and none focuses on patients. AIM: This study aims to examine outpatients' hand hygiene behaviours, their determinants, and their associations with other infection prevention measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We observed the hand hygiene behaviour of one cohort of patients in one outpatient clinic and surveyed a separate sample in five clinics about their hand hygiene practice in outpatient facilities. A questionnaire based on the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) was used to examine predictors of the behaviour. Moreover, patients indicated their compliance with COVID-19 infection prevention measures, vaccination status, disease risk perception, and vaccine hesitancy. FINDINGS: Observed hand hygiene rates among 618 patients were low (12.8%), while 67.3% of the 300 surveyed patients indicated sanitising their hands upon entering the clinic. The TDF domains memory, attention, and decision processes, and emotions significantly predicted both current (today's) and general hand hygiene behaviour in outpatient clinics. Hand hygiene behaviour and compliance with COVID-19 infection prevention showed a positive association; however, no significant connection was found with patients' vaccination status, suggesting different behavioural motivators. CONCLUSION: Hand hygiene among outpatients should be improved through interventions focusing on helping patients remember to clean their hands. More research on infection prevention in outpatient facilities is needed to ensure patient safety