<p> Despite growth in the elementary classroom, the level of technology adoption by some teachers falls short of levels sought by educational stakeholders. To address this disparity, the purpose of this correlational study was to identify if, and to what extent, a correlation exists between elementary teachers&rsquo; adult playfulness factor levels and their attitude toward technology in the teaching-learning process. The theoretical lenses of the technology acceptance model and the five-factor model of personality guided the research. A convenience sample of 106 teachers was drawn from California educational organizations who permitted their in-service kindergarten through fifth grade teachers to be invited to complete a web-based, self-reported survey. A significant, negative correlation was observed between the playfulness factor of creativity and teachers&rsquo; attitude toward technology in the teaching-learning process at the .05 error probability level (<i>r_s</i> = -.20, <i>p</i> = .040), but not significant at the Benjamini-Hochberg correction critical value of .01, nor significant at the Bonferroni corrected error probability level of .01. Although no significant relationships between the variables were found, administrators and staff developers may find the potential relationship between an aspect of personality and technology attitude helpful in encouraging increased levels of technology adoption by considering teachers&rsquo; personal characteristics. Opportunities for future research and practice are discussed.</p><p>

<p> This qualitative research of the life stories of ten spiritual healers is focused on the threads of their journeys that led them to this unusual line of work, and their descriptions of their inner experiences while they do their work. Spiritual healers use some form of prayer, a communication with the world of spirit, as a significant part of their healing practices. Their stories reveal their controversial beliefs in invisible dimensions and how and why they believe they interact within these dimensions to experience their own mental, emotional, and spiritual healing, and offer this to others. A recurrent theme throughout participants&rsquo; lives is their ability to find positive meaning and personal growth through unusual adversity. They all have a strong sense of calling, of life purpose, that drew them to this work in divergent and fascinating ways, many having this awareness even as young children, with self-actualization as an expected purpose and outcome in life.</p>

<p> <b>Introduction:</b> Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) cause significant distress to millions of Americans and considerable impact to society at large. Stigmatization of mental illness has been identified as the number-one barrier to seeking healthcare and it is unclear to what degree Mental Health Professionals (MHPs) share this negative bias. Education in SUDs for MHPs may play a role in reducing stigma in the treatment of SUD patients. The effect of education in SUDs on implicit and explicit attitude change is investigated longitudinally in a Substance Abuse Counseling MA Degree Program in Psychology. Academic outcomes and student demographic characteristics are assessed. <b>Hypotheses: </b> Implicit and explicit attitudes will change over the study period and will be related at follow-up. Knowledge acquired of SUDs will predict attitude change. <b>Methods:</b> This study was longitudinal, following 20 students over one year of study via assessment at baseline and follow-up. The drop-out rate was 20%, with 16 students remaining at follow-up. Implicit attitudes were assessed included the SC-IAT, explicit attitudes were assessed with the SAAS (general attitudes), DDQ (discrimination), and SDS (social distance). Academic progress was assessed via an Addictions Knowledge Test and the DDPPQ (confidence treating SUDs). <b>Results:</b> No significant change was found for implicit attitudes. Significant change in the positive direction was found for the SAAS. SAAS scores were positively correlated with DDQ scores at baseline and DDQ and SDS scores at follow-up. Both Addictions Knowledge Test Scores and DDPPQ scores and increased significantly over the study period, but they were not significantly related. DDPPQ scores were positively correlated with all explicit attitude measures. <b>Conclusion:</b> The CMHSAC Program was effective in increasing positive explicit attitudes toward SUDs, but it is unclear if personal attitudes actually shifted or if awareness was brought to the problematic nature of stigma instead. Students&rsquo; self-perception of their confidence and competence to work clinically strongly predicted explicit attitude change. Actual knowledge and confidence may not be directly related. Further research is needed to clarify the facets of education that are most effective in stigma reduction. Larger studies should be conducted to further investigate the effect of education on implicit attitudes.</p>

The purpose ofthis qualitative, multi-case, and longitudinal study was to examine how doctoral students’ experiences of the doctorate influence their emerging academic identities. The development of academic identities is often alluded to in higher education research as the heart of the doctoral pursuit. There is, however, little information on how the activities of the doctorate, particularly everyday student experiences, contribute to the emergence of academic identities. The guiding framework for this study was a social-psychological role identity perspective, blended with elements of Activity Theory. Through this combined view, identity is constructed through and embedded in interpersonal relationships, with identity emerging as a property of interactions with others. Data for the study were collected over a two year period. Nine Education doctoral students participated by tracking their experiences for a particular week every month across four academic semesters (15 months) and then discussed these in interviews at the end of each year. These students were selected from a larger sample based on their explicit aim to pursue academic careers upon completion of their degrees. [...] / Cette étude de cas multiples, à la fois qualitative et longitudinale, a permis d’examiner chez des doctorants comment l’expérience au quotidien de leur programme d’études influençait l’émergence d’une identité universitaire. Dans le domaine des recherches portant sur l’enseignement supérieur, on réfère souvent au développement d’une identité universitaire comme étant au coeur même de l’expérience doctorale. Il existe toutefois peu d’informations qui précisent comment les activités inhérentes au doctorat, notamment les expériences vécues au quotidien par les doctorants, contribuent à l’émergence de cette identité universitaire. Le cadre d’analyse de cette recherche s’est élaboré autour d’une perspective socio-psychologique du rôle identitaire amalgamée avec des éléments de la théorie de l’activité humaine. Examinée de ce double point de vue, l’identité se construit au fil des relations interpersonnelles et s’y intègre. L’identité se révèle ainsi comme une propriété des relations avec les autres personnes. Les données de cette étude ont été amassées sur une période de deux ans. Chaque mois, l’expérience quotidienne de neuf doctorants en éducation était documentée pendant une semaine complète. À la fin de chaque année scolaire, ces expériences ont été discutées dans le cadre d’entrevues. Ces doctorants ont été sélectionnés à partir d’un échantillon plus large d’étudiants au doctorat en raison de leur intention explicite de s’engager dans une carrière universitaire à la fin de leur programme d’études. [...]

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-112).

<p> Tragic, life-changing, and fatal incidents are a reality on large-scale, civil construction projects. Despite a decline following the enforcement of the 1971 Occupational Safety and Health Act, serious and fatal incidents on heavy construction projects remain higher than that of the active military and have not declined in any notable way in the past decade. Industrial-organizational literature suggested a lack of applied testing for the well-developed theory of authentic leadership (AL) to impact safety outcomes. This quasi-experiment combined the constructs of authentic leadership with safety climate perception as quantifiable measurement of potential safety outcomes in the workplace. The research question focused on whether AL would impact safety climate, thus, reducing injury and fatalities on the job. The researcher examined 1 of the 4 segments that comprised a $1 billion freeway improvement project. Perceptions of 108 field craft personnel were collected on a Likert-type instrument before and after their supervisors attended a brief AL workshop. Utilizing an ordinal scale, statistical significance was calculated pre- and postintervention by computing a Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> for independent samples. Significant improvement was found following the supervisor workshop. The reduction in incidents, when compared to the jobsite&rsquo;s history and the other 3 jobsite segments associated with the highway improvement project, suggests a potential for this framework to support positive social change, that is, to reduce the human cost and suffering associated with industrial accidents.</p><p>

<p> Alternative education students face many interacting challenges that put them at significant risk of dropping out of school (Carver &amp; Lewis, 2010), as well as deleterious health and psychological outcomes, and intergenerational cycles of sociopolitical disadvantage (Laird, Kienzel, Debell &amp; Chapman, 2007). Despite the persistent national epidemic of school dropout, few studies have investigated treatments for alternative education students, often characterized as &ldquo;difficult to reach&rdquo; given the chronic substance abuse, low motivation, and poor attendance typical of this population (Rumberger &amp; Lim, 2008). </p><p> This study investigated the effectiveness of a novel music therapy intervention, Recorded Music Expressive Arts (RMEA), with alternative education students. The purpose of RMEA in this context was to engage students in a potentially motivating, culturally relevant treatment that satisfies identified provisions to ameliorate dropout (Kim &amp; Taylor, 2008). RMEA employs narrative therapy concepts as a framework for treatment, and integrates songwriting, music production, and recording into psychotherapy. Through the song-creation process, participants were encouraged to &ldquo;tell their story&rdquo; to re-author problem-saturated personal narratives and discover more self-affirming ways of being (White &amp; Epston, 1990). </p><p> Participants were 10 adolescent boys, age 14&ndash;18, attending an alternative education school in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ten 60-minute individual RMEA sessions were delivered twice weekly over 7&ndash;19 weeks. Pre/post data was analyzed using Vargha-Delaney&rsquo;s <i>A</i>. Large effect sizes were found for a) coping (problem focused engagement, cognitive restructuring, problem solving, and emotional expression); b) substance misuse (decreased marijuana use) and co-occurring psychological disturbances (decreased school and behavior problems); c) increased contemplation and action readiness to respond to intervention; d) behavior (decreased internalizing, behavior, learning problems, and suspension rates); and e) attendance (increased attendance for RMEA sessions and days on which RMEA was delivered). Overall, the results indicate that RMEA is a viable and effective treatment for alternative education high school students. Analysis of participant interviews and song content further support results, as well as RMEAs proposed therapeutic mechanisms of action, including narrative therapy concepts. Findings highlight the need for replication studies with larger sample sizes, inclusion of adolescent girls, and other alternative education school settings.</p><p>

<p> This study sought to understand how students who were enrolled in postsecondary education and received support through special education services understand their identity. It was influenced by developmental theories of identity development and the professional interests of this researcher. It utilized narrative theory as conceived by Dan McAdams (1985, 1993, 2001) as both the methodology and a way of conceiving identity. Data was collected through a series of individual interviews. Participants were found to relate their identity as a series of stories. Their conception of self-identity views special education status as a trait, but not one central to their identity. Their families were viewed as central to how they understand their identities. Individuals outside of their families also had a strong impact on how they viewed themselves. Participants view differences as common both inside and outside of the special education population. Participants indicated a desire to help others heightened by their own struggles. Goals were well-articulated and used for self-motivation during times of academic difficulties. All shared negative school experiences unrelated to identity without prompts about the quality of their educations.</p><p>

<p> This study addressed the lived experience of corporate executive women who have had a trusted advisor. The relayed impact and significance of trusted advisors for their career development was portrayed. Traditionally, women lagged behind men in numbers in key corporate positions. Due to increased international efforts to level the playing field over the last decade, more women were present at the executive level in corporations. Understanding the experience of these women is crucial for psychology practitioners in the workplace to strategically support and enhance working conditions in the corporate environment. In this study, the phenomenon of what it is like for corporate executive women to have had a trusted advisor was explored through the descriptions of their perceptions and experiences. A qualitative, phenomenological research design was utilized to collect, analyze, and describe data and synthesize the description of the experience and process of having or having had a trusted advisor. The experience of nine executive women was recorded and transcribed through open-ended, conversational, face-to face interviews. Over 400 meaning units were scrutinized to arrive at individual, and eventually, composite textural and structural descriptions of the phenomenon. The essence of the experience of the executive women was portrayed and the findings presented. This portrayal of the &ldquo;what and the how&rdquo; of the trusted advisor experience revealed a complex process of human connectedness, sense of self, and the importance of trust for these nine women. Seven themes were common to all the participants; unconditional support, communication/interaction, trust, feelings associated with the trusted advisor relationship, personal and professional integrity, pathway to career and growth, and advice and decision making. The essence of the experience of having a trusted advisor was clearly set in the relational world of human experience and was best represented as the give and take of a shared dyadic relationship.</p><p>

No description available.