Development and validation of a quantitative measure for parent empowerment via transformative learning

Although current literature demonstrates how parents benefit from parent empowerment programs, the development of a quantitative measure of parent empowerment has garnered limited attention in parenting research. The goal of this research was therefore to develop and validate a quantitative measure for the assessment of practitioners’ attitudes and competence in parent empowerment. In the process of item generation, the qualitative findings derived from four studies in relation to the perceived outcomes and experiences in parent empowerment were synthesized in the first stage. In the second stage, a list of narratives that articulated different themes of parent empowerment was generated, which resulted in an item pool containing 28 items. In the third stage, the research team converted the 28 items into a survey instrument. In the fourth stage, a first-scale validation study was conducted to explore the factor structure of the initial 28-item questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis on the first sample of 366 practitioners yielded a twofold factor structure with 17 items, including practitioners’ attitudes in parent empowerment and practitioners’ competence in parent empowerment. In the final stage, a second-scale validation study was undertaken to verify the fit of the twofold factor structure. A confirmatory factor analysis on the second sample of 170 practitioners demonstrated a good model fit. The results of reliability tests for the whole scale and two subscales also indicate satisfactory internal consistency. The Parent Empowerment via Transformative Learning Questionnaire (PETLQ) was thus developed and confirmed as a scale with sufficient factorial validity and internal consistency to be used for assessing parenting practitioners’ attitudes and competence in parent empowerment and for evaluating the effectiveness of parent empowerment programs.

Infusing Self-Care and Wellness into CACREP Curricula: Pedagogical Recommendations for Counselor Educators and Counselors during COVID-19

Although self-care and wellness practices are important in counselor education, they have yet to be mapped and incorporated into the CACREP curriculum. Counselor educators are called to teach and model these practices for counselors in training (CIT) in a post-pandemic reality. The authors provide specific recommendations for integrating self-care and wellness practices across the CACREP curriculum in counselor education training programs, as well as pragmatic approaches for professional counselors, to address the paucity of literature.

The Use of Reflective Pedagogies in Sustainability Leadership Education—A Case Study

This study aims to examine the use of reflective pedagogies in sustainability leadership education by investigating two specific pedagogical tools—the Portfolio and Pod—employed by the Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (MSLS) program at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden. The study analyzed data gathered from student surveys, teacher interviews, and staff reflections to determine the benefits and challenges faced by students and staff in implementing and engaging with these pedagogical tools. Benefits include the provision of distinct structures to guide student reflection towards individual skill development and the use of collective reflection to encourage generative dialogue between students and staff. This holds benefits for collaboration, self-awareness, understanding of multiple perspectives, and creating self-directed graduates. Staff and students also, however, suggest a number of challenges. These include the ‘constrictive’ nature of guided reflection and the emotional and mental load faced by staff in hosting and holding students through often challenging personal reflective processes. For the potential of reflective pedagogies to be truly realized for Education for Sustainable Development in higher education institutions need to develop an understanding of the impacts that reflective pedagogies have on students and teachers and create institutional structures to support them.

Nurse simulation facilitator experiences learning open dialogue techniques to encourage self-reflection in debriefing

OBJECTIVES

Simulation debriefing skills are inadequate. Barriers to effective debriefing include a lack of understanding of the meaning of debriefing and time to learn necessary skills. In nursing, students have reported simulation debriefs are used for assessment purposes, with little opportunity or time for reflection, affecting their learning. This study reports on an intervention to support nursing simulation facilitators to develop and learn self-reflective learning skills to use when facilitating simulation debriefs.

DESIGN

The authors designed and developed a six-hour workshop. The published simulation literature and Open Dialogue techniques informed the skill set included in the workshop. Open Dialogue is a therapeutic approach used in mental health care.

PARTICIPANTS

Twelve (N = 16, n = 12) female nurses who regularly facilitate simulations for nursing students were purposively recruited to the study.

METHODS

This evaluation study utilised a modified version of a previously validated self-reported reflective learning questionnaire for participants to rate their experiences of the workshop. The modified questionnaire comprised 17 items across four subsets and utilised a five point Likert scale. Open-ended questions were also included.

RESULTS

Eight questionnaires were returned. High scores indicated the participant's positive evaluation of the workshop in developing a skill set to promote self-reflective learning, together with analysing emotions in everyday professional situations and in communication skills.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants reported the intervention was beneficial to their professional development and in helping them to develop their own self-reflective learning skills. The skill set included in the workshop was helpful to nursing simulation facilitators and could be one way to enhance nursing simulation facilitators debriefing skill set.