Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008

Emergency work is considered to be one of the most demanding occupations with significant social, physical and psychological consequences for the well-being of the emergency worker. Burnout, as well as its antithesis, work engagement, are two possible transactional outcomes impacting on the well-being of the emergency worker. Measurement of burnout and work engagement requires valid, reliable and culturally fair measuring instruments. However, research on burnout and work engagement in South Africa are characterised by poorly designed studies, a lack of sophisticated statistical analyses and poorly controlled studies. Furthermore, research paucity in terms of burnout and work engagement seems to prevail in the multicultural South African emergency worker context. A lack of norms for the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), as well as the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) makes the identification of burnout and engagement in the emergency services difficult. Consequently, investigating the reliability, validity, equivalence and bias would result in the standardisation of the MBI-HSS and the UWES, suitable for use in the multicultural emergency work setting. Amongst the factors that could play a role in the prevalence of burnout and work engagement are stress because of the demands of a job, a lack of job resources, as well as dispositional variables such as affect and situational variables, such as coping strategies. The operationalisation of occupational stress for emergency workers as well as information in terms of the standardisation of measurement of coping strategies for emergency workers in the South African context are lacking in the literature. The objectives of this research were to standardise the MBI-HSS, UWES and Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) and to develop a valid and reliable occupational stress measure for emergency workers in South Africa. Another objective of the current study was to develop and test a causal model of burnout and work engagement of emergency workers, including occupational stress, coping strategies and affect. Finally, moderating effects of coping strategies and affect with regards to burnout and work engagement were tested for. The research method was by means of five separate articles, each consisting of a brief literature overview and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used. An accidental sample of emergency workers in Gauteng (N = 405) was used. The MBI-HSS, UWES, Emergency Worker Stress Inventory (EWSI), COPE, Affectometer 2 (AFM) and a biographical questionnaire were administered. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, correlations, principal component factor extraction, exploratory factor analysis with target rotations, canonical analysis, multiple regression analysis and structural equation modelling were used. Structural equation modelling confirmed 3-factor models of burnout (Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalisation and Personal Accomplishment) as well as work engagement (Vigour, Dedication and Absorption). Internal consistency for the MBI-HSS and UWES was confirmed. Construct inequivalence was found for the Nguni group but not for the Afrikaans, English and Sotho groups. Item bias analysis revealed evidence of both uniform and no uniform bias for some items of the MBI-HSS, while no uniform bias was found for the UWES. In terms of the EWSI, a 3-factor structure was obtained by means of principal factor extraction with varimax rotation, namely lack of resources, job demands and inherent emergency work stressors. Principal factor extraction on the COPE revealed four factors, namely problem-focused coping, seeking social support, passive coping and turning to religion. Both the EWSI and COPE were found to be internally consistent. Construct equivalence was obtained for the Afrikaans, English and Sotho groups, but not for the Nguni group. Evidence of uniform bias was found for the EWSI, whereas no uniform bias was found for the COPE. Structural equation analysis showed that the lack of resources predicted the core of burnout, namely emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Problem-focused coping predicted personal accomplishment, while positive affect predicted emotional exhaustion. Work engagement was related to low burnout scores. Depersonalisation was associated with work engagement. Recommendations for the organisation and future research were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The absence of a suitable measure to assess the health related quality of life (HRQoL) of children and adolescents in South Africa, led to the use of the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire in this study. This questionnaire was developed and standardised in Europe and it assesses quality of life from the subjective perception of children and adolescents in terms of their physical, mental and social well-being. The use of assessment measures with different populations or in different milieu from the original standardisation context necessitates establishing the validity of such measures for the new utilization context. Thus, the aim of this quantitative study is specifically directed at examining the construct validity of the KIDSCREEN-52 within a South African context. Accordingly, this study is located within the theoretical framework of construct validation theory. Data for this Secondary Data Analysis study was drawn from the “Impact of Hope and Exposure to Community Violence on children’s perception of Well-being” study. The primary study employed stratified interval criterion sampling to select 565 grade 9 learners, aged 14-18 from six public schools. The dataset for the current study comprised all participants (N=565) of the broader study. As the initial step in validation of the KIDSCREEN-52 within South Africa, the current study examined the factor structure of the KIDSCREEN-52 within this context by means of exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis with oblimin rotations. It also assessed the internal consistency reliability of each of the scales using Cronbach’s alpha. Exploratory factor analysis revealed the same 10 factors as identified by previous European studies with some deviation in the last two factors, which warrants further examination. Internal consistency of the measure was shown to be acceptable, with Cronbach’s alpha values ranging from 0.76 to 0.81 for the 10 scales. / South Africa

No description available.

The study aims to investigate the fundamental validity issues that can affect the DR Congo English state examination, a national exit test administered to high school final year students for certification. The study aspires to generate an understanding of the potential issues that affect the construct validity of a test within the epistemological stance that supports a strong relationship between test construct and test context. The study draws its theoretical underpinning from three theories: the validity theory that provides a theoretical ground necessary for understanding the quality of tests needed for assessing students’ reading abilities / the construction-integration theory that provides an understanding of how texts used in reading assessments are processed and understood by the examinees / and the strategic competence theory that explains how examinees deploy strategies to complete test tasks, and the extent to which these strategies tap into the reading construct. Furthermore, the study proposes a reading model that signposts the social context of testing / therefore, conceptualizing reading as both a cognitive and a social process. As research design, the study adopts an exploratory design using both qualitative and quantitative data. Besides, the study uses protocol analysis and content analysis methodologies. While the former provides an understanding of the cognitive processes that mediate the reading construct and test performance so as to explore the different strategies examinees use to answer the English state examination (henceforth termed ESE) test questions, the latter examines the content of the different ESE papers so as to identify the different textual and item features that potentially impact on examinees’ performance on the ESE tasks. As instruments, the study uses a concurrent strategies questionnaire administered to 496 student-participants, a contextual questionnaire administered to 26 student-participants, a contextual questionnaire administered to 27 teacher-articipants, and eight tests administered to 496 student-participants. The findings indicate that, the ESE appears to be less appropriate to the ESE context as the majority of ESE test items target careful reading than expeditious reading / on the one hand, and reading at global level than to reading at local level / on the other hand. The findings also indicate that the ESE tasks hardly take account of the text structure and the underlined cognitive demands appropriate to the text types. Besides, the ESE fails to include other critical aspects of the reading construct. Finally, the findings also indicate that the ESE constructors may not be capable to construct an ESE with five functioning distractors as expected. Moreover, the inclusion of the implicit option 6 overlaps with the conceptual meaning of this option. The entire process of the present study has generated some insights that can advance our understanding of the construct validity of reading tests. These insights are: (a) the concept of validity is an evolving and context-dependent concept, (b) reading construct cannot be examined outside the actual context of reading activity, (c) elimination of distractors can sometimes be a construct-relevant strategy, (d) construct underrepresentation is a context-dependent concept, and (e) a reading test cannot be valid in all contexts. The suggested proposal for the improvement of the ESE requires the Congolese government through its Department of Education to (a) always conduct validation studies to justify the use of the ESE, (b) always consider the actual context of reading activity while developing the ESE, (c) revisit the meanings and interpretations of the ESE scores, (d) ensure the appropriateness of tasks to be included in the ESE, (e) ensure the construct representativeness of the ESE tasks, (f) revisit the number of questions to be included in the ESE, (g) avoid bias in the ESE texts in order to ensure fairness, (h) diversify the genres of ESE texts, (i) ensure the coherence of ESE texts through the use of transitions and cohesive devices, (j) ensure that the order of test questions is in alignment with the order of text information, (k) revisit the structure and length of the texts to be included in the ESE, (l) revisit the number of alternatives to be included in the ESE, and (m) reconsider the use of the implicit alternative 6.

Fatores psicossociais não são rotineiramente identificados na avaliação fisioterapêutica e podem influenciar no prognóstico de pacientes com dor lombar. O questionário STarT Back Screening Tool (SBST) foi criado para distinguir subgrupos dentre pacientes com dor lombar em relação ao prognóstico no tratamento considerando fatores físicos e psicossociais, classificando-os em baixo, médio e alto risco de mau prognóstico. Objetivo: Traduzir e adaptar transculturalmente o SBST para Língua Portuguesa do Brasil, testar a confiabilidade e validade de construto. Métodos: A primeira etapa consistiu na tradução, síntese, retro-tradução, revisão pelo grupo de tradução, pré-teste e avaliação dos documentos pelo Comitê. A versão pré-final foi aplicada em duas amostras de 52 pacientes cada, com dor lombar, ambos os sexos, idade acima de 18 anos e níveis educacionais variados. Para verificação da confiabilidade intra-avaliador, foram realizadas duas entrevistas em outra amostra de 50 pacientes, e os resultados analisados pelo Kappa ponderado quadrado. Também foram calculados a consistência interna usando de Cronbach (n=105), o erro padrão da medida (n=50) e a validade de construto (n=151), correlacionando o SBST-Brasil com as versões brasileiras do Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Rolland Morris (Brasil- RM) e Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire para trabalho (FABQ-Work) e atividade física (FABQ-Phys). Resultados: O consenso foi atingido nas etapas de tradução e retrotradução, apenas o item 6 não foi compreendido e depois de reformulado foi reaplicado em outros 52 pacientes que não tiveram mais dúvida. A confiabilidade foi considerada substancial (0,79 - 95% IC 0,63 0,95), a consistência interna aceitável (0,74 pontuação total e 0,72 da subescala psicossocial), e o valor do erro de padrão da medida muito bom (1,9%). Em relação à validação, a pontuação total do SBST- Brasil mostrou alta correlação com o Brasil-RM (r=0,61), moderada correlação com o ODI (r = 0,56) e FABQ-Work (r=0,3) e fraca correlação com o FABQ-Phys (r = 0,18). Já a subescala psicossocial mostrou correlação moderada com o Brasil-RM (r =0,49) e ODI (r =0,47) e fraca correlação com o FABQ-Work (r =0,24) e FABQ-Phys (r =0,21). Além disso, a estratificação dos grupos de risco do SBST-Brasil foi compatível com os valores de classificação do ODI, Brasil-RM e FABQ-Phys para risco de mau prognóstico. Conclusão: O SBST-Brasil mostrou-se confiável e válido para avaliar a influência de fatores psicossociais em pacientes com dor lombar. / Psychosocial factors are not usually identified on physiotherapy assessment, what influences on low back pain prognosis. The questionnaire STarT Back Screening Tool\" (SBST) was created to identify patients with potentially treatment modifiable prognostic influenced by physical and psychosocial indicators which are relevant to initial decision making, classifying them into low, medium and high risk categories. Aim: Translation and cross-culturally adaptation of the SBST into Brazilian-Portuguese, assess its reliability and construct validity. Methods: The translation and cross-cultural adaptation process involved the steps of Translation, Synthesis, Back-translation, Committee Revision, Pretesting and Submission the documents to the Committee. The pre-final version was applied to two samples of 52 patients each, with low back pain, both sexes, aged over 18 years, from different education levels. After that, two interviews assessed intra-rater reliability on a different sample of 50 patients, and the quadratic weighted Kappa was used for statistical analysis. The Cronbach´s alpha was also calculated for internal consistency (n=105), standard error measurement (n=50) and construct validity (n=151) analyzing the correlation between the SBST-Brasil and the Brazilian version of Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Rolland Morris (Brasil- RM) and Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire for work (FABQ-Work) and physical activity (FABQ-Phys). Results: Consensus was found on translations and back-translations processes, and only the item 6, which patients had some difficulty in understanding, was reviewed and re-applied to 52 additional subjects with no difficulties being reported. The reliability was classified as substantial (0.79 - 95% CI 0.63 0.95), the internal consistency acceptable (0.74 for total score and 0.72 for psychosocial subscale score) and a very good standard measurement error (1.9%). The correlation between the SBST-Brasil total score and Brasil- RM was high (r =0.61), moderate with ODI (r = 0.56) and with FABQ-Work (r = 0.3), and low correlation with FABQ-Phys (r = 0,18). Moderate correlation was found with SBST psychosocial subscale score and Brasil-RM (r = 0.49), also with ODI (r = 0.47), and low correlation with FABQ-Work (r = 0.24) and FABQ-Phys (r = 0.21). After that, the stratification of SBST-Brasil risk groups was compatible with ODI, Brasil-RM and FABQPhys classification for risk of poor prognosis. Conclusion: The SBST-Brasil has shown a reliable and valid tool to screen and identify low back pain patients influenced by psychosocial factors.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Francisco Antonio Soto Vidal.pdf: 467609 bytes, checksum: 1074dd1abd43689b74cb26d93afc7e10 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-04-30 / The adaptation of a psychological instrument to another cultural environment requires that its rules, validity and reliability be revised. Although the WISC-III has already been adapted to the Brazilian context, further studies on the verification of its construction validity should be performed when used in clinical groups. This work contributes to this research and to the investigation of a factorial model that is more appropriate for Brazilian children with learning disabilities (LD). An amount of 263 WISC-III test protocols performed in public school students referred by their teachers by having difficulties in reading, writing and/or arithmetic after a psychological evaluation were analyzed. Statistical techniques of Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were performed. This study, besides corroborating the factor structure defined in the Brazilian standardization, meets the results of the international research for the definition of four-factor model as the best adjusting for the LD population. Although we also have identified two three-factor models as advantageous as to the fit, parsimony and theoretical interpretability, the four-factorial structure is the most suitable for clinical interpretation of the scores that express the AD group cognitive abilities, since it allows us to leverage existing standards of WISC -III for the general population / A adaptação de um instrumento psicológico a outro meio cultural requer que sejam revisadas suas normas, sua validade e sua fidedignidade. Apesar de o WISC-III já ter sido adaptado ao contexto brasileiro, novos estudos sobre a verificação de sua validade de construto devem realizar-se quando utilizado em grupos clínicos. Este trabalho contribui a essa pesquisa e à investigação do modelo fatorial mais adequado para crianças brasileiras com dificuldades de aprendizagem (DA). Foram analisados 263 protocolos do teste WISC-III de alunos de escolas públicas encaminhados por seus professores para avaliação psicológica por apresentarem dificuldades em leitura, escrita e/ou aritmética. Foram utilizadas as técnicas estatísticas da Análise Fatorial Exploratória e da Análise Fatorial Confirmatória. O presente estudo, além de corroborar a estrutura fatorial definida na padronização brasileira, vai ao encontro dos resultados da pesquisa internacional quanto à definição do modelo de quatro fatores como o de melhor ajuste para o grupo clínico DA. Apesar de também ter identificado dois modelos trifatoriais como vantajosos quanto ao ajuste, parcimônia e interpretabilidade teórica, a estrutura quadrifatorial é a mais indicada para interpretar clinicamente as pontuações que expressam as habilidades cognitivas do grupo DA, uma vez que permite aproveitar as normas existentes do WISC-III para a população geral

La satisfaction environnementale est un concept central en psychologie environnementale. Pourtant, un peu curieusement, elle reste peu explorée dans le cadre organisationnel et notamment dans le monde francophone. Notre travail de doctorat conçoit la satisfaction environnementale au travail comme l'évaluation globale qu'une personne fait de son lieu de travail et ce, quelle que soit l'échelle de référence spatiale sur laquelle elle se place. Une échelle a été construite pour mieux comprendre ce concept et son articulation avec les concepts issus de la psychologie environnementale et de la psychologie du travail qui lui sont proches. Notre recherche se décompose ainsi en 3 objectifs. Le premier objectif s’appuie sur le paradigme de Churchill (1979) et porte sur la construction (étude 1) et les validations exploratoire (étude 2) et confirmatoire (étude 3) d’une Échelle de Satisfaction Environnementale au Travail (ÉSET). Le deuxième objectif confronte la satisfaction environnementale au travail à différentes variables issues de la psychologie environnementale (étude 1) et de la psychologie du travail (étude 2). Le troisième objectif confronte l’ÉSET à l’épreuve interculturelle en comparant la satisfaction environnementale au travail des employés de bureau français et italiens, selon une approche émique (étude 1) et étique (étude 2). L’ÉSET présente des caractéristiques psychométriques satisfaisantes pour son utilisation par les chercheurs en sciences humaines mais également par les gestionnaires de ressources humaines. Elle pourrait conduire à des applications visant l’amélioration de la qualité de vie dans les environnements de travail. / Environmental satisfaction is a key concept in environmental psychology. Surprisingly however, it has been little explored in the French-speaking organisational framework. Our research defines environmental satisfaction at work as an individual’s overall assessment of the workplace, regardless of the spatial scale (workstation, office, organization, neighbourhood). We have constructed a scale in order to better understand this concept and its links with concepts from both environmental psychology and occupational psychology. Our study has three objectives. The first is based on Churchill’s paradigm (1979) and involves the construction (study 1), and exploratory (study 2) and confirmatory (study 3) validation of the Environmental Satisfaction at Work Scale. Our second objective involves examining environmental satisfaction at work in relation to variables from environmental psychology (study 1) and occupational psychology (study 2). Finally, we examine the ESET from an intercultural perspective by comparing the environmental satisfaction of French and Italian office workers taking an emic (study 1) and an etic (study 2) approach.The ESET possesses satisfying psychometric characteristics that can be used both by researchers in social sciences and by human resource managers. This scale can help improve the quality of life in work environments.

In developing countries, there is a great demand for university education. In order to select students to universities a standardized test score is used. In Turkey, the Student Selection Test (SST) have important role in admission to universities. However, there is very limited knowledge about what SST mathematics sections actually measures. The main purpose of the present study is to evaluate the content of the mathematics subtest of the SST in line with mathematical cognitive skills and eventually provide construct related evidence for dimensionality of the test items. Within this framework, it is aimed to cross validate the mathematics subtest across gender groups, school types and two consecutive years. Also relations among mathematical abilities are investigated. This study is first in investigating what is measured by SST Mathematics sections and analyzing construct validity by testing several nested confirmatory factor models. Comparison of fit indices of five competitive models showed three-factor model has better fit indices in which Basic Computation Ability, Advanced Computation Ability and Geometry Ability is measured. It is concluded that problem solving items are not measuring a different process, but measures some sort of computation ability. There is a problem related to the content of the mathematics subtests of the SST in line with mathematical cognitive skills. Higher order cognitive skills are not measured properly. Three-factor model is tested about the invariance of the factors across gender, school types and years. It is concluded that invariant factor structure indicates that SST mathematics section is operating similarly for subgroups and years. The relations among mathematical abilities on three-factor model are investigated by item mapping and structural equation models. It is seen that Basic Computation Ability is a prerequisite to acquire Geometry Ability and Advanced Computation Ability.

Student selection test in Turkey compose of two parts. The purpose of the first part is to assess students&rsquo / higher order thinking skills like analytical thinking, interpretation and reasoning about elementary school curriculum and 9th grade curricula objectives. On the other hand, second part of the test aims to assess students&rsquo / higher order thinking skills given in the high school curriculum. The main aim of this thesis is to analyze to what extend 2006, 2007 and 2008 student selection tests biology items assess higher order cognitive skills. In accordance with this purpose, elementary and high school curriculum and the appropriateness of the questions in the student selection test with the educational objectives of the curriculum are examined. In addition, dimensions of 2006, 2007, and 2008 SST biology items are examined by Exploratory Component Analysis and Confirmatory Component Analysis techniques. The result of those analysis revealed that SST biology items mostly focus on remembering skill and fail to assess higher order thinking skills. Additionally, there is not any consistency among 2006, 2007, and 2008 SSTs biology items in terms of dimensions which means there is not any construct in biology subtests of SSTs. The other aim of the present study is to identify how much academic and non-academic factors explain the biology achievement. While for academic factors reading comprehension, mathematics, physics, and chemistry achievements of students are used, age, gender, and school type are used for non-academic factors. Findings of the research revealed that academic factors, especially chemistry achievement, have significant affect on biology achievement. In terms of non-academic factors, graduating from selecting high school has important role for biology achievement. Additionally, older students and girls tend to have higher grades in biology.