The Soft Skills Inventory: Developmental procedures and psychometric analysis

Modeling the effect of postgraduate courses on soft skills: a practical approach

Over the last decade, Higher Education has focused more of its attention toward soft skills compared to traditional technical skills. Nevertheless, there are not many studies concerning the relation between the courses followed within an academic program and the development of soft skills. This work presents a practical approach to model the effects of courses on soft skills proficiency. Multiple Membership Ordinal Logistic Regression models are trained with real data from students of the 2021, 2022, and 2023 cohorts from the general engineering program in a French Higher Education institution. The results show that attending a postgraduate course in average increases the odds of being more proficient in terms of soft skills. Nonetheless, there is considerable variability in the individual effect of courses, which suggest there can be huge differences between courses. Moreover, the data also suggest great dispersion in the students' initial soft skill proficiency.

Organizational Characteristics of Hospitals Meeting STRIDE Program Adoption Benchmarks to Support Mobility for Hospitalized Persons

There are few validated contextual measures predicting adoption of evidence-based programs. Variation in context at clinical sites can hamper dissemination. We examined organizational characteristics of Veterans Affairs hospitals implementing STRIDE, a hospital walking program, and characteristics' influences on program adoption. Using a parallel mixed-method design, we describe context and organizational characteristics by program adoption. Organizational characteristics included: organizational resilience, implementation climate, organizational readiness to implement change, highest complexity sites versus others, material support, adjusted length of stay (LOS) above versus below national median, and improvement experience. We collected intake forms at hospital launch and qualitative interviews with staff members at 4 hospitals that met the initial adoption benchmark, defined as completing supervised walks with 5+ unique hospitalized Veterans during months 5 to 6 after launch with low touch implementation support. We identified that 31% (n = 11 of 35) of hospitals met adoption benchmarks. Seven percent of highest complexity hospitals adopted compared to 48% with lower complexity. Forty-three percent that received resources adopted compared to 29% without resources. Thirty-six percent of hospitals with above-median LOS adopted compared to 23% with below-median. Thirty-five percent with at least some implementation experience adopted compared to 0% with very little to no experience. Adopters reported higher organizational resilience than non-adopters (mean = 23.5 [SD = 2.6] vs 22.7 [SD = 2.6]). Adopting hospitals reported greater organizational readiness to change than those that did not (mean = 4.2 [SD = 0.5] vs 3.8 [SD = 0.6]). Qualitatively, all sites reported that staff were committed to implementing STRIDE. Participants reported additional barriers to adoption including challenges with staffing and delays associated with hiring staff. Adopters reported that having adequate staff facilitated implementation. Implementation climate did not have an association with meeting STRIDE program adoption benchmarks in this study. Contextual factors which may be simple to assess, such as resource availability, may influence adoption of new programs without intensive implementation support.

A confirmatory factor analysis of the Iranian version of the interpersonal communication skills scale among healthcare professionals

BACKGROUND

Identifying healthcare professionals' (HCPs) communication skills is crucial to improving patient outcomes. Iranian HCPs' interpersonal communication skills (ICS) were validated using a culturally appropriate and indigenous scale.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In November and December 2021, convenience sampling was used to collect data from 170 HCPs. Seven factors were covered by the questionnaire, which consisted of 30 items. In order to validate the scale, first- and second-order confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed. Various indices were used during the CFA, including Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), Adjusted Goodness of Fit (AGFI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Normed Fit Index (NFI), Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). The Fornell-Larcker Criterion was used to assess discriminant validity. We analyzed the data in Lisrel 8.8 and SmartPLS 3.2.8.

RESULTS

According to the Q2-index obtained from the blindfold test, the model had 44% predictive power. First-order CFA results showed acceptable indices (χ2 = 767.17; DF = 375; CFI = 0.98; GFI = 0.82; AGFI = 0.80; NFI = 0.97; SRMR = 0.22; RMSEA = 0.068). Furthermore, the second-order measurement model demonstrated adequate and desirable fit indices (χ2 = 797.24; DF = 381; CFI = 0.98; GFI = 0.82; AGFI = 0.78; NFI = 0.97; SRMR = 0.059; RMSEA = 0.068). General and listening skills were ranked highest in the importance-performance map analysis (IPMA).

CONCLUSION

HCPs could benefit from this scale as it can assist them in developing ICS. It is recommended that skills training programs be replicated among different populations to evaluate their effectiveness.

Developing Transversal Competencies in the Sociodramatic Space: Narrative of a Curricular Experience in Higher Education

Higher Education plays a decisive role in the training of competent professionals and active, responsible and critical-thinking citizens. In addition to acquiring rigorous technical–scientific knowledge specific to their degree, students are also expected to develop a range of transversal skills essential for a successful academic and professional career. This article aims to narrate an experience of obtaining a Social Education degree. Since its origins, it has been assumed that students in this field should: (a) acquire specific technical–scientific knowledge; (b) get to know themselves as individuals; and (c) develop a set of transversal skills essential to relationships, some of the most salient being active listening, empathic capacity, acceptance and respect for others, trust, curiosity, creativity, confidentiality and a reflective attitude. It thus aggregates a set of Curricular Units whose main purpose is the personal, social and professional development of students, formed within active methodologies. Sociodrama is one such methodology of teaching and learning in the context of two Curricular Units of this degree, and this article focuses on my experience lived within the scope of these units.

Entrepreneurial Skills to Be Successful in the Global and Digital World: Proposal for a Frame of Reference for Entrepreneurial Education

For most professionals to succeed in the current job market, they need some entrepreneurial skills (ES). This study aimed to describe and systematize these skills, considering the current globalization and digital transformation phenomena. The documental analysis and the critical reflection on the collected data allowed us to identify the socio-economic and socio-cultural reasons for the relevance of this problem. Consequently, to elaborate a frame of reference intended to be adequate to the needs of the professionals of the current global and digital era. The results pointed to a tripartite ES model—to be open to novelty, to create solutions to emerging problems, and to communicate effectively—which integrates the following skills: Creativity and innovation, the spirit of initiative, self-efficacy and resilience, strategic planning, and evaluation, resolution of problems and decision-making, transformational leadership, clear and visual communication, teamwork and networking, and digital communication. In the continuation of this study, an ES scale will be created and validated according to this model, which will make it possible to measure the degree of development of these competencies.

The Soft Skills of Special Education Teachers: Evidence from the Literature

The special education teacher is a key element in the development of the process of inclusive education. In this setting, soft skills have proven to be determinant in teachers’ educational action. However, those that best qualify their profile have not yet been identified. Therefore, this study aims to carry out a review of scientific production between the years 2010 and 2020. To this end, articles were selected using the following databases: ERIC, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycINFO. Studies have been included in the review that point out as soft skills: resilience, reflexibility, empathy, collaborative work, self-efficacy, creativity, and effective communication. Only studies that presented such criteria were included in the analysis. After the application of the eligibility criteria, seven articles were considered. From the analysis, it emerges that effective communication, collaborative work, and reflexibility stand out. There are gaps in this area in the specialized training of these teachers. Thus, it is suggested that there should be investment in this area in the training programs of the schools that certify them; and that, at the research level, instruments should be developed to evaluate the model emerging from this review.