Virtual Week: Validity and psychometric properties of a Polish adaptation

IntroductionProspective memory (PM) refers to memory for future intentions and it is essential for safe and independent living. This paper focuses on Virtual Week (VW), a measure that was developed to closely represent everyday PM tasks in an English language setting in North America and Australia.ObjectivesThe main objective of the present study is to offer the results of a Polish adaptation of VW and present the validity and psychometric properties of the adapted version.MethodThe Spearman-Brown split-half reliability coefficients and Cronbach's alphas were estimated in 77 young adults and 83 healthy older adults. To confirm the validity of the Polish VW, we analyzed whether it is sensitive to the pattern of PM deficits in the healthy elderly that is consistent with mechanisms underlying PM performance as well as theories of normal aging.ResultsThe Polish VW was found to have strong psychometric properties and be sensitive to theory- and data-based effects on PM.ConclusionThe findings strongly encourage the use of VW for experimental purposes in healthy older adults. They provide further evidence that VW has a universal appeal and may be used in non-English speaking European samples.     

L’évaluation du risque et des besoins criminogènes à la lumière des données probantes : une étude de validation de la version française de l’inventaire de niveau de service et de gestion des cas – LS/CMI

IntroductionInstruments of the LS family are among the world's most widely used risk assessment instruments.ObjectiveThis study is testing the psychometric properties of the French version of the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI; Andrews, Bonta, & Wormith, 2004).MethodReliability and predictive validity of the scales, as well as the total scale are tested on a sample of 3682 offenders (301 women and 3381 men) serving a sentence of less than two years.ResultsResults indicate psychometric properties consistent with the English version. Internal consistency, exploratory factor analysis, and predictive validity are good.ConclusionThe current French version of the LS/CMI is a reliable and valid instrument to assess risk for recidivism, and is a solid foundation to support correctional treatment implementation.     

Examining the influence of anecdotal stories and the interplay of individual differences on reasoning

In two experiments, we explored whether anecdotal stories influenced how individuals reasoned when evaluating scientific news articles. We additionally considered the role of education level and thinking dispositions on reasoning. Participants evaluated eight scientific news articles that drew questionable interpretations from the evidence. Overall, anecdotal stories decreased the ability to reason scientifically even when controlling for education level and thinking dispositions. Additionally, we found that article length was related to participants' ratings of the news articles. Our study demonstrates that anecdotes can discourage scientific reasoning while also pointing to the potential influence of article length on judgements of quality.     

Young emerging adults’ graduateness and career adaptability: Exploring the moderating role of self-esteem

This study investigated the moderating role of self-esteem on young emerging adults’ in their school-to-work transition phase of graduateness skills and career adaptability. A non-probability convenience sample (n=332) of undergraduate black (98.5%) and female (62%) young emerging adults (18–29 years) at a Further Education and Training (FET) college in South Africa participated in the study. Participants completed the Culture Free Self-esteem Inventory for Adults (CFSEI 2-AD, Battle, 1992 Battle, J. (1992). Culture-free self-esteem inventories for children and adults. Texas: Pro-Ed. [Google Scholar]), the Graduateness Skills and Attributes Scale (GSAS, Coetzee, 2010 Coetzee, M. (2010). Exploratory Factor Analyses of the Graduateness Scale and the Employability Attributes Scale. Pretoria: Unpublished research report. University of South Africa. [Google Scholar]) and the Career Adapt-abilities Scale (CAAS, Savickas &; Porfeli, 2012 Savickas, M. L., &; Porfeli, E. J. (2012). Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Construction, reliability and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(3), 674–679. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.011[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Hierarchical moderated regression analysis indicated significant interaction effects between self-esteem and overall graduateness, lifelong learning and global/moral citizenship skills and attributes in moderating overall career adaptability. The relationship between the participants’ graduateness skills and attributes (overall graduateness, global/moral citizenship, and lifelong learning) and their career adaptability was significantly stronger when their self-esteem was high than when their self-esteem was low. The finding suggests self-esteem to influence self-perceived graduateness skills and career adaptability in emerging adults.     

Le bilan de compétences : effets sur l’état émotionnel des bénéficiaires

Bilan de compétences (BC)’ effects on workers’ emotional states remain little explored. BC may reduce work-related negative emotional states and enhance positive ones. This was tested using a two-study design. In the first study, 38 respondents filled in the POMS-f, a questionnaire on emotional states, at the beginning or/and at the end of their BC. Six of them were also interviewed one week after the end of their BC. In the second study, 59 respondents filled in the same questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of their BC. In both studies, BC significantly reduced most of negative emotional states and increased positive ones.     

An exploration of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire for assessing female recidivism in South Africa

This study profiled incarcerated female offenders’ criminogenic-oriented self-appraisals. Respondents were 77 female offenders between the ages of 20 and 56 years, serving custodial sentences within the South African Department of Correctional Services ranging from under a year to 25 years, and of whom 7 per cent were reoffenders. They completed the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ: Loza, 2005 Loza, W. (2005). Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQTM). Technical manual. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems. [Google Scholar]), which is a self-report measure for assessing violent and non-violent recidivism. Findings suggest offenders with a history of violence to be at risk for reoffending compared to non-violent offenders.     

Constructing bridges and systemic connections: In brief dynamic therapy

The author outlines how the conceptual framework which underpins cyclical psychodynamics, a branch of relational psychoanalysis, provides an opportunity for a coherent integration of constructivist CBT principles and techniques and family systems theory within a model of brief dynamic therapy. Drawing upon Wachtel’s articulation of a more flexible notion of the internal world and one in which current interpersonal patterns are seen to shape the psyche and internal conflicts, the author goes on to identify ways in which attending to a client’s behaviour and the ways in which affective experience is expressed interpersonally can open the way to an integration of therapeutic features from constructivist CBT and family systems theory. The contribution that coaching a client in the ways in which they behave interpersonally in the context of both family and workplace relationships can make to therapeutic effectiveness is explored. These themes are illustrated with a case study.     

A Pilot Evaluation of Portfolios for Quality Attestation of Clinical Ethics Consultants

Although clinical ethics consultation is a high-stakes endeavor with an increasing prominence in health care systems, progress in developing standards for quality is challenging. In this article, we describe the results of a pilot project utilizing portfolios as an evaluation tool. We found that this approach is feasible and resulted in a reasonably wide distribution of scores among the 23 submitted portfolios that we evaluated. We discuss limitations and implications of these results, and suggest that this is a significant step on the pathway to an eventual certification process for clinical ethics consultants.     

Applying Evidence-Centered Design for the Development of Game-Based Assessments in Physics Playground

Game-based assessment (GBA) is a specific use of educational games that employs game activities to elicit evidence for educationally valuable skills and knowledge. While this approach can provide individualized and diagnostic information about students, the design and development of assessment mechanics for a GBA is a nontrivial task. In this article, we describe the 10-step procedure that the design team of Physics Playground (formerly known as Newton's Playground) has established by adapting evidence-centered design to address unique challenges of GBA. The scaling method used for Physics Playground was Bayesian networks; thus this article describes specific actions taken for the iterative process of constructing and revising Bayesian networks in the context of the game Physics Playground.