Transition in, transition out (TiTo): peer mentoring for sustainable development of first and third year psychology students [Final Report]

Transition In, Transition Out (TiTo) is a student peer-mentoring model designed to simultaneously support commencing and graduating students. Outcomes of the project include development of a sustainable, evidence-based approach for managing student transition and an improved student experience. TiTo was developed from a sound pedagogical base, drawing on evidence about transition, learning and graduate attributes relevant to the discipline of psychology. As such TiTo brings together the following three overlapping frameworks to support the transition, engagement, and learning of psychology students: • The Five Senses of Success framework (Lizzio, 2006), which summarise the major predictors of successful transition for first year students; • Entwistle’s (2000) deep, surface and strategic approaches to learning; and • The concept of psychological literacy, which is the capacity to adaptively apply psychological principles to meet personal, professional, and societal needs (Cranney & Dunn, 2011). TiTo involves training final year students as mentors. Training and on-going support for mentors is embedded in a third year capstone course. The mentors work with first year students for eight weeks of the semester, facilitating work on assessment tasks and supporting transition to university. The mentoring package is designed to build positive change for both first year students and their third year mentors in the five senses of success, learning approaches and psychological literacies, thus better preparing students as they enter into the psychology discipline and as they prepare to graduate. In order to evaluate TiTo, we implemented and tested the model in two different university contexts. The first was a large urban university, RMIT University. RMIT has a student cohort of more than 70,000 based on several campuses in urban Melbourne and off-shore. RMIT is part of the Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN). The second university was the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), a smaller regional provider, with approximately 25,000 students spread across three campuses in the south-east of Queensland. USQ has a particular expertise in online delivery, with more than 75% of students studying off-campus. USQ is part of the Regional Universities Network (RUN). The evaluation of TiTo undertaken for this project demonstrated the effectiveness of the model for both face-to-face delivery at RMIT University and in blended learning contexts at USQ. First year mentees and third year mentors at both universities rated their experience of mentoring as positive, with the majority of students in each group noting the experience had supported their work on assessment tasks and encouraged a sense of belonging. TiTo was also associated with improvements in aspects associated with success (senses of success) for first year students and mentors as well as positive change in deep, strategic and surface learning over the course of the semester. Increases in psychology literacy were noted for first year students and mentors at both universities. Data collected through focus groups support the value of this initiative. Not all first year students, however, found TiTo useful. Student feedback provides insight into who these students might be and how to better engage them in the process in subsequent iteration of the TiTo model. Key deliverables of the current project can be considered in three broad categories. • A set of resources and materials on peer mentoring. This includes the TiTo website, workbooks for both mentees and mentors, and a mentor training program. • Dissemination of findings through academic and scholarly publications, workshops, and conference presentations. • The creation of a community of stakeholders in the psychology higher education sector who are engaged to act on the project outcomes. The outcomes and deliverables of the project can be found in a range of publications as well as on the project website: <http://emedia.rmit.edu.au/tito/

Empowering students in transition: peer mentoring to support first and final year students

This paper suggests a framework for empowering first and third year students as they transition into and out of undergraduate study. The Transition In, Transition Out (TiTo) program supports students using peer mentoring. TiTo is designed to build the five senses of student success described by Lizzio (2006): connectedness, capability, resourcefulness, culture and purpose and enhance productive learning approaches for both first year students and third year mentors. The TiTo model was implemented in the discipline of psychology at two Australian universities. It was embedded into the face-to-face curriculum at one university and offered as an option in a blended learning delivery at the other university. Results from a mixed-method evaluation support the effectiveness of TiTo. This paper describes the model and summarises the outcomes for first and third year students in the face-to-face program. The presentation will examine the challenges encountered during implementation and provide access to the resources developed as part of the project

Journey mapping long COVID: agency and social support for long-hauling

Long COVID, also known as Post COVID-19 condition, is defined by the WHO as the continuation or development of new symptoms three months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection, with these symptoms lasting for at least two months with no other explanation. Despite many studies examining the causes and mechanisms of this disease, fewer studies have sought to understand the experience of those suffering from long COVID, or “long-haulers,” This study contributes to the understanding of long-haulers (N = 14) by examining the role of agency and social support in shaping their journeys with long COVID. Drawing on a combination of interviews, questionnaires, and video diaries over a three-month period, journey mapping was used to document the participants’experiences, including symptoms, coping strategies, and lifestyle changes. Analysis of these journey maps resulted in a framework with four clusters demonstrating the importance of social support and patient agency shaping participants’ Long COVID trajectory; the study contributes valuable insights into the daily lives and challenges individuals face with long COVID, informing the development of targeted support programs

An Overview of Long COVID Support Services in Australia and International Clinical Guidelines, With a Proposed Care Model in a Global Context

Objective: To identify gaps among Australian Long COVID support services and guidelines alongside recommendations for future health programs.Methods: Electronic databases and seven government health websites were searched for Long COVID-specific programs or clinics available in Australia as well as international and Australian management guidelines.Results: Five Long COVID specific guidelines and sixteen Australian services were reviewed. The majority of Australian services provided multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs with service models generally consistent with international and national guidelines. Most services included physiotherapists and psychologists. While early investigation at week 4 after contraction of COVID-19 is recommended by the Australian, UK and US guidelines, this was not consistently implemented.Conclusion: Besides Long COVID clinics, future solutions should focus on early identification that can be delivered by General Practitioners and all credentialed allied health professions. Study findings highlight an urgent need for innovative care models that address individual patient needs at an affordable cost. We propose a model that focuses on patient-led self-care with further enhancement via multi-disciplinary care tools

Peer-to-peer mentoring: an embedded model to support the transition of first year psychology students

The transition to tertiary study has been identified as a critical period for students. As universities seek greater efficiencies of scale, staff-student ratios rarely fall below 1:25. While lower ratios facilitate greater engagement and permit more feedback, the question for educators is how the benefits of individualised instruction can be created within the current educational constraints. Peer-to-peer mentoring provides a framework for offering such support in both academic and psychosocial areas of university life with experienced students acting as peer mentors to support and guide first year students

Acceptance and commitment therapy for hoarding disorder : A proposed treatment protocol for individuals

Objective This article offers a practical guide for an acceptance‐based hoarding disorder (HD) treatment protocol for clinicians, which is an augmentation of the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for HD originally developed by Steketee and Frost. Method Although efficacy research is yet to be conducted on this new protocol, this proposed acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) protocol for hoarding individuals is presented as a framework for current researchers and clinicians to pioneer evidence‐based efficacy studies. Results Ongoing improvements in clutter levels have been one of the concerns with CBT for HD. Although limited information is available on treatment follow‐up, what has been found is that the reduction in clutter is likely to stall post‐treatment and no further discarding occurs without further intervention. Conclusion Thus the urgent need for the inclusion or augmentation of ACT into existing treatment protocols is warranted

Who gets hooked on Facebook?:An exploratory typology of problematic Facebook users

Scholars have suggested that there are multiple pathways to problematic Facebook use, and each are linked to the types of activities that users engage in. However, these concepts have yet to be empirically explored. The present paper addresses this gap in the literature by presenting a pilot study based on a sample of 59 (50 females, 9 males) problematic Facebook users. Closed and open-ended data were collected using an online survey. Cluster analysis was then used to identify three types of problematic Facebook users: those with high engagement in social activities and browsing, those with low engagement in social activities but high engagement in browsing, and those with low engagement in both social activities and browsing, but moderate engagement in gaming. This paper presents an in depth discussion of the patterns of behavior identified within these clusters. In addition, four potential pathways to problematic Facebook use are proposed: online social enhancement, social monitoring, procrastination, and entertainment. This study contributes to the development of a much-needed theoretical framework of problematic Facebook use, and provides direction for future research

A new reality: The role of simulated learning activities in postgraduate psychology training programs

In training to become a registered psychologist in Australia, as with many other countries, there is a requirement for students to attend placements, where they work with clients in an apprenticeship model under the guidance of qualified supervisors. In the context of COVID-19, tertiary sector psychology educators responsible for facilitating these placements, which typically require face-to-face client work, have been challenged to arrange or maintain practica. During the pandemic, across Australia, most placements have been affected through cancellation, postponement, or modification (e.g., using telehealth, supported by the Australian Federal Government). In this paper we describe a collaborative initiative by members of the psychology profession across 15 providers of Australian postgraduate professional training programs. The initiative aimed to identify ways in which to develop and innovate psychological placement offerings, specifically using simulation-based learning. Although simulation-based learning in psychology training programs in Australia is a widely employed pedagogy for the scaffolding of theory into psychological practice, there is paucity of clear and comprehensive guidelines for the use of simulation to both optimize competency-based training and ensure public and student safety. The overarching aim of the group, and the focus of this paper, is to provide standardized guidelines for the inclusion of simulation-based learning in psychology training in Australia both during and post-COVID 19. Such guidelines may be equally valuable for psychology training programs globally

Table1_An Overview of Long COVID Support Services in Australia and International Clinical Guidelines, With a Proposed Care Model in a Global Context.docx

Objective: To identify gaps among Australian Long COVID support services and guidelines alongside recommendations for future health programs.Methods: Electronic databases and seven government health websites were searched for Long COVID-specific programs or clinics available in Australia as well as international and Australian management guidelines.Results: Five Long COVID specific guidelines and sixteen Australian services were reviewed. The majority of Australian services provided multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs with service models generally consistent with international and national guidelines. Most services included physiotherapists and psychologists. While early investigation at week 4 after contraction of COVID-19 is recommended by the Australian, UK and US guidelines, this was not consistently implemented.Conclusion: Besides Long COVID clinics, future solutions should focus on early identification that can be delivered by General Practitioners and all credentialed allied health professions. Study findings highlight an urgent need for innovative care models that address individual patient needs at an affordable cost. We propose a model that focuses on patient-led self-care with further enhancement via multi-disciplinary care tools.</p