Objectives. To see whether a cognitive behavioural guided self-help approach can reduce mental health symptoms, which patients might benefit most, and whether such a treatment increases self-efficacy and internal locus of control. Design. Repeated measures and correlational designs were used. Methods. 173 patients were recruited at a cognitive behavioural guided self-help clinic in Edinburgh, of which 97 completed the three-session intervention. Verbal IQ was estimated with the National Adult Reading Test (NART). Measures of emotional symptoms, self-efficacy and locus of control were taken before and after treatment, with follow-up at one month and six months. Results. Patients completing the intervention made favourable gains, which were maintained at six months. Self-efficacy and locus of control measures were not robustly correlated with mental health improvement, but did show pre- to posttreatment changes in themselves. Conclusions. Guided self-help appears to be a useful treatment option for those with depression, anxiety and stress. The implications of the findings, the strengths and limitations of the study, and areas for future research are discussed.

Recent studies have focused on international students’ needs and experiences in counseling training and supervision, however, there is a lack of research regarding effective approaches for supervising international students. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether international counseling supervisees' perceptions regarding the degree to which multicultural discussion occurred in their university supervision moderates the relationship among supervision related variables, including acculturation, counselor self-efficacy, supervisory working alliance, and role ambiguity in supervision. The research questions were: (a) Does the frequency of cultural discussions in university supervision, as perceived by international counseling supervisees, moderate the relationship between acculturation to the US and counseling self-efficacy among international counseling students in the US, (b) Does the frequency of cultural discussions in university supervision, as perceived by international counseling supervisees, moderate the relationship between supervisory working alliance and counseling self-efficacy among international counseling students in the US, and (c) Does the frequency of cultural discussions in university supervision, as perceived by international counseling supervisees, moderate the relationship between supervisory working alliance and counseling self-efficacy among international counseling students in the US. Three moderation analyses were utilized, using regression analysis, to answer each research question. The results from the analysis indicated no significant moderating affect of frequency of multicultural discussions among supervision related variables of interest. Interpretation of the results included possibility of a direct relationship among the variables, or other potential moderators as well as probability of false negative results (Type II Error). / School of Education; / Counselor Education and Supervision (ExCES) / PhD; / Dissertation;

The ultimate treatment is when the person actually wants to make a change, this is often not the case for the youths that get placed at an institution for substance use problems. This thesis examines the participation in youth care through looking into how the staff in youth care make boys aged 16-21 at a closed institution to participate in their treatment, and if the participation has a meaning for the treatment. This thesis uses a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. The theory of self-efficacy has been used to gain an understanding for the results of the thesis. Treatment staff from a department who works with this target group has been interviewed. The results showed that the staff works with motivation, respect and are trying to create a good treatment relationship with the youths. The staff thinks it’s positive that the youths can affect their treatment, but they’re also saying that the treatment the youths have to participate in can’t be affected. The staff thinks this is good because treatment for their substance use is the reason they are placed at the institution. Therefore the staff tries to motivate the youths to participation. At last the thesis shows that participation is the key to go through with treatment and therefore become drug free.

Students´ achievements in scientific subjects, such as biology, have stringently declined during the past decade. In order to disrupt these declining results in scientific subjects it´s important to identify factors leading to decreased academic achievements within the scientific subjects. This study aims to investigate the association between students´ achievements in biology and self-efficacy beliefs, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation among 120 Swedish students with an age between thirteen and fifteen years s. A self-efficacy sub-scale of the “Motivational for Learning Questionnaire” (MSLQ) was used to evaluate students´ self-efficacy beliefs and an “Academic Motivation Scale for Learning Biology” (AMSLB) was used to determine students´ motivation to learn biology. The results showed a significant positive correlation between students´ biology achievement and self-efficacy beliefs, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Further, a significant negative correlation was found between students´ biology achievement and amotivation. These findings indicates that both self-efficacy beliefs, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation could be important underlying factors that positively impact students´ achievements in biology.

Background: Science poses a unique challenge to the elementary curriculum landscape, because traditionally elementary teachers report low levels of self-efficacy in this subject. Instructional leadership in elementary science therefore, becomes important for a successful integration of a new science education agenda. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K-12 science content standards available for adoption by states and school districts in the U.S. Principals are important actors during policy implementation since they are charged with assuming the role of an instructional leader for their teachers in all subject areas. Purpose: This study gathered self-reported survey data from public elementary principals that pertain to their background and experiences in science, and then relate these data to their levels of self-efficacy and instructional leadership capacity for science. The study answers the following three research questions: (1) What type of science backgrounds do elementary principals have? (2) What indicators predict if elementary principals will engage in instructional leadership behaviors in science? (3) Does self-efficacy mediate the relationship between science background and capacity for instructional leadership in science? Data Collection and Analysis: A questionnaire was created by combining two existing subscales to measure instructional leadership practices and self-efficacy in science, and also a series of objective questions to address principals’ background experiences and demographic information. Public school elementary principals serving in 13 states that formally adopted the NGSS through legislative action provided the data analyzed in this study (N = 667). The survey data were analyzed quantitatively for descriptive statistics to answer the first research question, inferential statistics through an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) hierarchal regression analysis to answer the second, and a mediation analysis to answer the third research question. Findings: The sample data show that 21% of the elementary principals have a formal science degree and 26% have a degree in a STEM field. Most principals have not had recent experience teaching science (75.86%), nor were they every strictly a science teacher (86.66%). The hierarchical regression analysis suggests that there is evidence that both demographic and experiential variables predict instructional leadership practices in science. The analysis also suggests that self-efficacy is a mediating variable for principals’ science teaching experiences related to instructional leadership behaviors. Conclusions: The data from this research reveal potential (a) leadership development opportunities, (b) training and recruitment needs of school districts, (c) areas in need of attention in principal preparation programs, and (d) directions for policy implementation to leverage principal capacity. The findings provide evidence to assist in identifying ways elementary principals could be better prepared to be instructional leaders for their teachers, especially in those settings where the implementation of the NGSS is underway.

The clinical learning environment (CLE) provides students with an opportunity to build confidence and competence in the provision of patient care (Benner, 2010). The aim of this qualitative descriptive research was to explore and describe student perceptions of developing confidence through their clinical learning experiences, discovering what features of the CLE support their learning and the development of confidence. Ten students were recruited through purposive sampling and participated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997) was used as a theoretical framework to guide this research and for the interpretation of the content analysis. The analysis revealed five socio-structural themes that support student learning and development of confidence. These findings elaborate Bandura’s (1997) theory. The most influential, through verbal persuasion was the clinical nursing instructor (CNI) followed by self, the buddy nurse, peers, and the staff/unit environment. Students perceived their development of confidence through a bi-directional interaction between their cognitive/affective processes, behaviour and the CLE. Understanding student perceptions of their confidence development, signals the need for informed pedagogical strategies to support student learning and development of confidence. / October 2016

EXPLORING THE PERCEPTION OF SELF-EFFICACY AMONG TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS IN MEETING THE DEMANDS OF CONTEMPORARY SCHOOL REFORM INITIATIVES

Stress är vanligt förekommande hos studenter. Tidigare forskning har visat att self-efficacy reducerar stress och self-handicapping. Syftet med studien var att undersöka sambandet mellan akademisk self- efficacy, self-handicapping och upplevd stress samt vilka variabler som förklarar mest variation i upplevd stress. Deltagarna var 156 studerande, varav 24 män, på en högskola i Mellansverige. Deltagarna besvarade en enkät bestående av Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), College Academic Self-efficacy Scale (CASES) samt Self- handicapping Scale (SHS). Resultaten visade att akademisk self- efficacy hade ett negativt samband med stress och self-handicapping. Däremot hade self-handicapping ett positivt samband med stress. En hierarkisk regression visade att både akademisk self-efficacy och self- handicapping förklarade signifikant variation i upplevd stress och att det var akademisk self-efficacy som bidrog mest. Studien bidrar med kunskap om studenternas situation och för framtida forskning skulle det vara intressant att göra interventionsstudier med fokus på att höja akademisk self-efficacy hos studenter.

The purpose of this study was to examine familial influence on adolescents' self-efficiency and intentions to commit to cancer-risk reducing behaviors (breast and testicular self-exams, reducing fat intake, increasing fruit and vegetable intake, and exercising regularly). Specifically, the relationship between family commitment to cancer-risk reducing behaviors and adolescents' self-efficacy and intentions to commit to these behaviors as mediated by adolescents' perceptions of family importance of cancer-risk reducing behaviors were examined. The current study also examined whether there are ethnic differences in family commitment to cancer-risk reducing behaviors, adolescents' perceptions of family importance of cancer-risk reducing behaviors, and adolescents' self-efficacy and intentions to commit to these behaviors. Data for this study were collected as part of data collected for A Bridge to Better Health (BRIDGE) (1 R01 CA102760-01A1 - P.I. S Danish), a life skills program that was created to promote cancer-risk reduction among adolescents. Participants were 1,509 ninth grade students who were recruited from health and physical education classes from 6 high schools in Chesterfield County, VA. The results of this study provided support for perceptions of family importance of cancer-risk reducing behaviors as a mediator between family commitment to cancer-risk reducing behaviors and adolescents' self-efficacy and intentions to commit to these behaviors. The results of this study also provided support for ethnic differences in levels of family commitment to, family importance of, and self-efficacy and intentions to commit to cancer-risk reducing behaviors. Implications for future research on familial influences on adolescents' health behaviors are discussed, as well as interventions aimed to promote cancer-risk reduction among adolescents.

This study considered the effects of mentoring on protégés’ beliefs in their abilities to be leaders and on their development of interpersonal skills. This study explored, in 260 business graduate students, the relationship between (a) mentoring and leadership self-efficacy and (b) mentoring and political skill. Participants completed surveys including the Self-Efficacy for Leadership Scale, the Political Skill Inventory, and the Mentoring Functions Questionnaire. Comparisons between non-mentored and mentored individuals showed that having a mentor is associated with increased political skill (p < .05) but not increased leadership self-efficacy (p > .05). Among mentored individuals, higher quality mentoring relationships are associated with significantly higher leadership-self efficacy (p < .01) but not with significantly higher political skill (p > .05). The presence of a mentor is important for protégé development of political skill, but the quality of the mentoring relationship is important for protégé development of leadership self-efficacy.