The journey towards becoming a counselling psychologist, in South Africa, includes the completion a 12 month internship. The internship year holds many challenges and demands for novice professionals and aims to assist them in making the transition from student to professional. This study aims to explore the subjective experiences of intern counselling psychologists and the critical incidents which assist them in making this transition. In addition, it aims to identify experiences impacting on the interns’ professional development and professional identity. Three registered counselling psychologists, who completed their internship at a South African university counselling centre within the last year, were recruited and participated in individual interviews. These interviews were semi-structured and followed the Critical Incident Technique method. Each interview was voice recorded and transcribed. The data collected was analysed using thematic content analysis. As the research design is qualitative, using a phenomenological approach, the focus is on presenting information-rich and detailed descriptions of participants “lived” experiences of their internship year. It attempts to understand significant incidents or events which influenced the participants’ professional and personal development as they navigate through this ambiguous period to become independent and ethical practitioners. Four predominant themes emerged from the data collected, which include a discussion pertaining to professional boundaries and limitations, learning within the internship environment, the effects of professional and personal support and, lastly, the transition from dependent to independent professional functioning.

The experience of how youth get off the street is scarcely documented. The present study explored what helped and hindered youth in their experience as they tried to get off the street and addressed the following research question: “How have youth experienced trying to get off the street: what has helped and hindered?” Twenty youth, aged 19-24 years of age, living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who have spent time living on the street were interviewed using Flanagan’s (1954) Critical Incident Technique. The qualitative analysis of the interviews identified 259 critical incidents, forming nine helping categories and six hindering categories when youth tried to leave the streets. The nine helping categories included: (1) Taking Responsibility, (2) Engaging in Constructive Activities, (3) Friends and Family Support, (4) Changing Drug and Alcohol Use, (5) Support from Professional Organizations, (6) Disillusionment of Street Life, (7) Dreams and Hope for a Different Future, (8) Income Assistance and (9) Leaving Negative Influences Behind. The six hindering categories were: (1) Drugs and Alcohol, (2) Emotional Struggles, (3) Lack of Support, (4) Enjoyment of Homelessness, (5) Limited Formal Education, Life Skills and Employment and (6) Income Assistance Difficulties. The results from this study are discussed in relation to implications for theory, practice and future research. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Learning to speak a foreign language (L2) can be a challenging feat, made all the more challenging when done in only 50 minute, daily increments in class. Oral asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC) provides learners with opportunities to practice spoken communication and evaluate their practice outside the classroom. In this dissertation, I explore methods for classroom integration of oral ACMC, linguistic traits developed in previous oral ACMC studies, methods for determining the effectiveness of oral ACMC, learner beliefs about the effectiveness of oral ACMC activities, and the effects of learners' deliberate practice in a series of oral ACMC activities on 3 measures of L2 fluency. In my first article, a literature review, I found that most studies on this topic focus on the linguistic traits of accuracy, fluency, and pronunciation, and determine L2 growth from oral ACMC activities through learner perceptions of L2 growth not relying on objective measures. In my second article, I analyzed the fluency change of learners who participated in a series of video recording and feedback activities. I found that, although there were few significant results, the activities may be of some benefit to learners in improving their spoken fluency. I also found that structural equational modelling may be of more value for researching classroom-based activities than t tests and regression models. In my third article, I investigated the experiences of several learners who participated in the video recording activities described in article two. Based on these learner experiences, I provided key considerations for designing asynchronous video recording assignments. The three articles included in this dissertation will be valuable in highlighting key factors related to the design, development, research, and effective use of oral ACMC activities in foreign language classrooms.

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Level systems provide systematic support for teachers and students who need additional behavior support. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perspectives of faculty members from a self-contained school, for special education students with severe behavior needs, which has sustained the use of a school-wide, behavior management level system for nearly 30 years. A total of 11 faculty members were interviewed using the critical incident technique, a qualitative methodology used as an exploratory tool in early stages of research. Interviews detailed the observable behaviors and specific events, critical incidents, that helped or hindered the sustainability of their school's level system. Faculty identified eight helping categories, six hindering categories, and six "wish list" categories, items participants wished had happened or could happen in the future. Helping categories included building rapport and teaming; collecting, recording and using data; communicating and collaborating; schoolwide consistency; relationships and student feedback; student engagement and buy-in; faculty buy-in and adaptability. Hindering categories included scoring and accountability inconsistencies; philosophical differences; insufficient staff training and experience; multifaceted system requiring nuanced decision making; staff mental health concerns; and community factors and external pressures. The findings of this study illustrate the importance of varied communication portals to support sustainability.

The primary goal of this case study using qualitative and quantitative methods was to investigate pre-service elementary teachers’ initial self-efficacy beliefs about science and science teaching by exploring the K-12 science experiences of these prospective elementary teachers. Of the 108 participants who completed the science teaching efficacy belief survey (STEBI-B) (Enochs & Riggs, 1990), 12 participants were selected to be interviewed using Flanagan’s (1954) critical incident technique. Participants were asked to share their past positive and negative incidents during their K- 12 years with science and science teachers. They were also asked to report how past incidents affected them at present and how they believed they would impact them as future teachers of science in elementary schools. The past positive and negative incidents were analyzed using Bandura’s (1977) four sources of self-efficacy (mastery, vicarious, social persuasion, and physiological/emotional) and by school level; and the impact of the past science incidents on the subjects’ present and future beliefs as science teachers were categorized. The results of this study revealed that pre-service elementary teachers’ self-efficacy and beliefs were largely influenced by their past experiences with science in the K-12 years, and mastery experiences dominated as a source of self-efficacy. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research were made based on the findings of the study.

This study aims to examine how study participants at the International Library in Sweden work with multilingual literature. Interviews with members of the staff were performed by using the critical incident technique. Qualitative content analysis was used to find themes and categories in the interviews. The following research questions are used in this study: According to the informants, what governs their work, how is it organized and who, according to them, are the library’s users? How do the informants work with multilingual media, what challenges do the informants encounter and how do they work with these challenges? The theoretical framework used to analyze the results originates from models of collection development, theories of strategies in organizations and theoretical frameworks of learning in organizations. The results of the study show that the informants face several challenges in the process of working with multilingual media. The study also presents different strategies used by the informants to meet these challenges. The results suggest that the International library in Sweden is an organization characterized by adhocracy and learning with a strong occurrence of emergent strategies. Many times the informants must make their way up as they go along. The results suggest that working with multilingual collection building demands experience and adaptation to new situations and highlight the importance of language skills and support between colleagues

Introduktion: Antalet interhospitala transporter med intuberad patient eller där intubationsberedskap krävs ökar i Sverige och internationellt. Detta betyder att specialistsjuksköterskan i större grad kommer att få ansvara för dessa transporter. Studier visar att specialistsjuksköterskan kan uppleva sig utelämnad, tappa kontrollen, jobba i en ovan miljö och även känna en känsla av oro. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka anestesi- och intensivvårdssjuksköterskors erfarenheter av betydelsefulla strategier för en patientsäker interhospital transport med intuberad patient eller där intubationsberedskap krävs. Metod: Studien genomfördes med kvalitativ ansats där tolv semistrukturerade intervjuer med retrospektiv ansats genomfördes. Intervjuerna transkriberades ordagrant och data analyserades enligt Critical Incident Technique. Resultat: Fem slutkategorier med övergripande strategier för en säker interhospital transport identifierades: att kontrollera och behärska utrustningen samt de läkemedel som används, att förbereda sig genom att bilda sig en uppfattning och identifiera risker och problem i förväg, att stabilisera patienten och optimera förutsättningarna innan avfärd för en säker transport, att ha en plan för oförutsedda händelser och att vara vaksam på förändringar under transporten samt att inse sina begränsningar och begära förstärkning. Slutsats: Det finns flera viktiga strategier som bidrar till en ökad patientsäkerhet under interhospitala transporter, bland annat noggrann förberedelse och planering. Dessa strategier bidrar med kunskap och lärdomar till verksamma specialistsjuksköterskor och ger mindre erfarna specialistsjuksköterskor en viktig grund att stå på. Studiens mycket konkreta och praktiska strategier kan användas som en grund när rutiner och checklistor till interhospitala transporter tas fram.

Research related to the school counselor's journey to social justice advocacy is minimal. An exploration of the school counselor's journey to social justice advocacy and the impact it has on the counselor's work with students is needed. Furthermore, research related to the needs and challenges of undocumented students have not been explored. The purpose of this study was to explore the social justice identity development of professional school counselors who identify as advocates for undocumented students through critical incidents. The study is grounded in Bobbie Harro's Cycle of Liberation and Relational Cultural Theory to answer the following research questions: (1) What do school counselors who identify as social justice advocates describe as critical incidents in their social justice identity development when working with undocumented students? (2) How have these critical incidents impacted the social justice identity development of professional school counselors? I enlisted a qualitative approach utilizing the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) to address the research questions. Six secondary school counselors participated in this study. Five were female, two were white, two were Hispanic, one was African-American, and one was bi-racial. Four were citizens, one was a naturalized citizen and one was a DACA recipient. One had been a school counselor for 1 - 3 years, two for 3-5 years, and 3 had been school counselors for more than 7 years. The critical incidents identified by the participants related to personal experiences such as parental influence, family experiences, and influence of educators; formal learning such as experiential learning and academic learning; past work experiences; and student impact on the counselor.  The school counselor's relationship with an undocumented student or immigrant played a role in the participants social justice identity development. The school counselors' identity development mirrored Harro's (2000) Cycle of Liberation. As a result of the critical incidents provided by the participants, connection and introspection emerged. The connection and introspection liberated the counselor and served as the process towards the counselors' social justice identity development. / Ph. D.

Este trabalho aborda a avaliação do processo de projeto e desenvolvimento do produto do ponto de vista do projetista de nível superior. Ao fazê-lo, o autor espera estar pavimentando um caminho, que eventualmente, conduza a um método mais amigável de avaliar a qualidade do processo de projeto do produto e que possa vir a ser realmente considerado útil por divisões e/ou organizações de projeto. As razões para a seleção desta abordagem são explicadas. Ressalta-se também, que o trabalho envolve duas fases: a pesquisa preliminar e a pesquisa propriamente dita. Apresenta-se em seguida uma discussão que conduz à seleção de uma metodologia que combina a utilização da abordagem SERVQUAL e do método do incidente crítico (CIT) na primeira fase. Introduz-se o conceito central de fator de eficácia, bem como se estabelece suas relações com os itens de satisfação e as dimensões SERVQUAL. Com base nos resultados da fase preliminar, elabora-se um questionário de pesquisa abrangente, que é submetido a um grupo de projetistas de nível superior do setor automotivo, compreendendo as operações brasileiras de duas grandes montadoras internacionais, de dois fornecedores diretos (Tier 1) das montadoras e de uma grande montadora internacional de caminhões e ônibus. Os dados obtidos através das respostas ao questionário são compilados, apresentados e discutidos dentro de cada ambiente organizacional. Faz-se então uma análise conjunta, a fim de identificar aquelas ações gerenciais consideradas pelo setor automotivo como sendo mais importantes, tanto para garantir, quanto para avaliar a eficácia do processo de projeto e desenvolvimento do produto. Classifica-se essas ações em ações gerenciais de garantia e de avaliação de acordo com critérios fornecidos pelas normas ISO da qualidade. Finalmente, com base nas ações gerenciais de avaliação, define-se indicadores e se propõe um índice de eficácia único e flexível, que pode ser calculado utilizando-se, tanto dados organizacionais, quanto setoriais para fins de avaliação e benchmark. / This work approaches the subject of product design process evaluation from the designer?s point of view. In so doing, the author hopes to be paving the way that may eventually lead to a more ?friendly? method of evaluating the quality of the product design process and which may actually be found useful by design divisions and/or organizations. The reasons for selecting such an approach are explained. It is also pointed out that the work involves two phases: Preliminary research and research proper. Then, a discussion is made leading to the selection of a methodology combining SERVQUAL and the critical incident technique (CIT) for the first phase. The central concept of effectiveness factor is introduced and its relationship with satisfaction items and SERVQUAL dimensions is established. Based on the results of the preliminary phase a comprehensive questionnaire is drawn up, and submitted to a selected group of designers in the automotive industry, comprising Brazilian plants of two major car manufacturers, two tier 1 suppliers and one major truck (lorry) and bus manufacturer. Data provided by the answers to said questionnaire are compiled, presented and discussed within each organizational environment. A joint analysis is then carried out in order to identify those management actions that are considered by the automotive industry as being more important for both assuring and evaluating the effectiveness of the product design and development process. Assurance and evaluation management actions are classified according to criteria supplied by the ISO quality management standards. Finally, based on the evaluation management actions indicators are defined and a single and flexible effectiveness index is proposed, which can be calculated using both company and industry data for evaluation and benchmark purposes.