The importance of reflection and evaluation processes in daily training sessions for progression toward elite level swimming performance

Self-regulated learning (SRL) involves self-directed metacognitive subprocesses and motivational beliefs that facilitate more effective and efficient learning. We investigated whether youth swimmers who are on track to becoming elite swimmers apply SRL subprocesses more frequently in their daily training sessions compared with swimmers who are not on this track. Insights into swimmers’ use of training-centered SRL could advance understanding about underlying individual characteristics that contribute to optimal engagement in daily training and, consequently, progression toward elite level swimming performance. We collected data on training-centered SRL subprocesses (evaluation, planning, reflection, speaking up, effort and self-efficacy) and performance data for 157 youth swimmers aged 12–21 years (73 males and 84 females). The results of a multivariate analysis of covariance revealed significantly higher scores for reflection processes during training for high-performing swimmers but lower scores for effort compared with lower-performing swimmers (p < 0.05). A closer examination of the high-performing group showed that those demonstrating greater improvement during a season scored significantly higher for evaluation processes after training compared with those evidencing less improvement during a season (p < 0.05). Significant between-group differences in SRL subprocesses remained after adjusting for differences in weekly training hours. Youth swimmers on track to becoming elite swimmers are characterized by more frequent use of reflection processes during training and evaluation processes after training, which suggests that these swimmers’ learning and training processes are more effective and efficient. Ultimately, this could contribute to a higher quality of daily training, which may result in greater improvements during a season, higher performance levels, and a greater chance of reaching the level of elite swimming performance.     

Automatic question generation and answer assessment for subjective examination

Automatic generation of questions and evaluating their answers is a highly challenging task in natural language processing and educational technology. This work focuses on generating subjective questions and also an evaluation system is suggested for assessing the answers. For generating the questionnaires, key-phrases are extracted from the course curriculum (syllabus). Next, based on the key-phrases, different types of subjective questions are generated. Finally, the evaluation of student’s responses is achieved using a multi-criteria-decision-making approach. It uses a set of model answers taken from different textbooks and subject experts to evaluate the answers. Multiple measures are used to assess the answers by comparing them with this model set. The results of the profound system reveal that the automated appraisal process can reduce the manual effort of the human.     

Is a pandemic as good as a rest? Comparing athlete burnout and stress before and after the suspension of organised team sport due to Covid-19 restrictions,and investigating the impact of athletes’ responses to this period

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in social-distancing measures and the suspension of organised sport globally, and has been shown to have negatively impacted mental health. However, athletes may have experienced reprieve from sport demands, which have previously been linked with maladaptive responses such as burnout and stress. The aims of this study were (1) compare levels of burnout and stress reported by Gaelic games athletes pre- and post-COVID-19 suspension period, (2) explore how athletes utilised and perceived this period and the return to sport, and (3) examine the implications of this for burnout. Participants completed an online questionnaire, which included the athlete burnout questionnaire, perceived stress scale, sport emotion questionnaire, demographic questions, weekly training hours, and other hours for sport (e.g. travel) before Covid-19 (BC-19) and after the Covid-19-induced suspension (AC-19_S). Questions relating to how athletes utilised (e.g. training focus) and perceived (positive/negative impact) the period were included AC-19 S. Data was compared across time-points and we explored predictors of burnout AC-19_S. Ninety-two athletes completed the questionnaire at both time-points. No significant differences in burnout or stress were identified, suggesting the suspension period did not significantly impact these variables. Burnout BC-19, stress AC-19_S, unpleasant emotions about returning to sport and using the period to rest/recover positively predicted burnout AC-19_S. Reduction in other hours across time-points and pleasant emotions about returning predicted lower burnout. Results suggest an athletes’ response to a suspension period and subsequent return to sport can impact feelings of burnout, and may have implications for future unanticipated change events.     

The Premonitory Urge to Tic: Measurement,Characteristics, and Correlates in Older Adolescents and Adults

In addition to motor and/or vocal tics, many individuals with Tourette syndrome (TS) or chronic tic disorder (CTD) report frequent, uncomfortable sensory phenomena that immediately precede the tics. To date, examination of these premonitory sensations or urges has been limited by inconsistent assessment tools. In this paper, we examine the psychometric properties of a nine-item self-report measure, the Premonitory Urge to Tic Scale (PUTS) and examine the characteristics and correlates of the premonitory urge to tic in a clinical sample of 122 older adolescents and adults with TS or CTD. The PUTS demonstrated adequate internal consistency, temporal stability, and concurrent validity. Premonitory urges were endorsed by the majority of individuals. Most individuals reported some relief from the urges after completing a tic and being able to stop their tics even if only temporarily. Degree of premonitory urges was not significantly correlated with age, and we did not observe any gender differences. Degree of premonitory urges was significantly correlated with estimated IQ and tic severity, but not severity of comorbid obsessive–compulsive disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Also, it was not related to concomitant medication status. These findings represent another step forward in our understanding of the premonitory sensations associated with TS and CTD.     

Sexual Assault Training in the Military: Evaluating Efforts to End the “Invisible War”

Sexual assault is an insidious problem in the United States military. In 2005 the Department of Defense (DoD) created the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, which centralizes responsibility for sexual assault training. However, this training initiative has undergone little evaluation by outside researchers. Addressing this need, we analyzed responses from over 24,000 active duty personnel who completed the 2010 DoD Workplace and Gender Relations Survey. We assessed whether sexual assault training exposure (None, Minimal, Partial, or Comprehensive) predicted accurate knowledge of sexual assault resources and protocols. Using a social-ecological framework, we investigated whether institutional and individual factors influenced Service members’ training exposure and judgment of training effectiveness. According to our results, exposure to comprehensive training predicted lower sexual assault incidence and superior knowledge. However, comprehensive training differed as a function of military branch, rank, gender, and sexual assault history. Judgments of training effectiveness also varied across these dimensions. Our results highlight the importance of considering context, gender, and victimization history when evaluating institutional efforts to end sexual violence. The DoD’s 2010 annual report on military sexual assault concluded that “most Active Duty members receive effective training on sexual assault” (p. 104). Our results cast doubt on that assertion.     

Indigenizing CBPR: Evaluation of a Community-Based and Participatory Research Process Implementation of the Elluam Tungiinun (Towards Wellness) Program in Alaska

The process that community based participatory research (CBPR) implementation takes in indigenous community contexts has serious implications for health intervention outcomes and sustainability. An evaluation of the Elluam Tungiinun (Towards Wellness) Project aimed to explore the experience of a Yup'ik Alaska Native community engaged within a CBPR process and describe the effects of CBPR process implementation from an indigenous community member perspective. CBPR is acknowledged as an effective strategy for engaging American Indian and Alaska Native communities in research process, but we still know very little about the experience from a local, community member perspective. What are the perceived outcomes of participation in CBPR from a local, community member perspective? Qualitative methods were used to elicit community member perspectives of participation in a CBPR process engaged with one Yup'ik community in southwest Alaska. Results focus on community member perceptions of CBPR implementation, involvement in the process and partnership, ownership of the project with outcomes observed and perceived at the community, family and individual levels, and challenges. A discussion of findings demonstrates how ownership of the intervention arose from a translational and indigenizing process initiated by the community that was supported and enhanced through the implementation of CBPR. Community member perspectives of their participation in the research reveal important process points that stand to contribute meaningfully to implementation science for interventions developed by and for indigenous and other minority and culturally diverse peoples.     

Validación transcultural de una escala de clima emocional para ámbitos organizacionales penitenciarios

Assuming that the perception of emotional climate results in the social interaction of the individual with environmental events, this study is based on the need for a tool to assess the climate in a stressful environment like prisons. The objective is to adapt an emotional climate scale, whilst establishing the factors that shape it and their relationship to the level of burn-out in prison workers in their work, and seeking to determine the degree of stability at a transcultural level. The participants were 728 prison workers in Colombia (N = 506, 369 men and 137 women) and in Spain (N = 222, 164 males and 58 females), with ages ranging from 18 to 60 years, and were mainly prison guards. The tools used were the CEP- Organizational Emotional Climate in Prisons (Ruiz, 2007a, 2007b) and the Burnout Inventory-MBI by Maslach and Jackson (1981). Using confirmatory factor analysis, the results show a two-factor structure: a positive and negative climate, offering good consistency, both for subscales and global scale, as evaluated in both prison climates, although with significant differences at the transcultural level. The stress variable exhibit differential convergence with respect to each of the contexts evaluated, and identify differential contextual variables. The results are discussed at the level of involvement for a better understanding of the bifactorial structure of emotional climate and its implications for future research and intervention level.     

First symbols in a girl with Down syndrome: A longitudinal study from 12 to 18 months

Symbolic uses of objects originate in communicative and triadic contexts (adult–child-object). In this longitudinal study we explore the emergence and development of the first symbolic uses in triadic interaction contexts in a girl with Down syndrome between 12 and 18-months of age. We conducted five sessions of video recording, at 12, 13½, 15, 16½, and 18 months chronological age. At each session we videotaped the girl and her mother interacting with different objects. Data were coded in semiotic categories used in previous studies (Rodríguez & Moro, 1999) and a microgenetic analysis was conducted for each session. The first symbolic uses by the girl appeared at 13½ months. Symbols were of different types and levels of complexity, and the adult had an important role in facilitating the production of these symbols.     

Relationships among perceived psychological growth,resilience and burnout in physicians

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between perceived growth as a physician (i.e., positive psychological changes experienced as a result of the professional experience) and burnout after controlling for the effects of perceived family support, dispositional resilience, age, and marital status among physicians. Physicians (n = 289) rated perceived support from family and completed the short form of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Resilience Scale, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the addition of perceived growth significantly improved prediction of resilience and perceived family support for burnout, showing that higher growth, resilience, and family support all were associated with lower levels of burnout. Moreover, the effects of growth on depersonalization, a domain of burnout, were stronger for physicians who perceived a lower level of family support, whereas the effects of growth on personal accomplishment, another domain of burnout, were stronger for physicians who showed a lower level of dispositional resilience. Current results have clinical implications for understanding protective factors for burnout, that is, a sense of personal growth may be a key factor for physicians who may be less resilient or may not perceive strong family support.