Stress and coping among early childhood intervention professionals receiving reflective supervision: A qualitative analysis

Reflective supervision/consultation (RS/C) is an important component of infant mental health training and practice. Given high levels of job stress reported by a variety of early childhood professionals, the present study offers a qualitative examination of early childhood intervention professionals’ perceptions of stress and coping before and after receiving regular RS/C. Thirty-one professionals received 9 months of RS/C and completed semistructured interview questionnaires at the pre-/postassessments. Questionnaires focused on job-related experiences, including what participants found stressful and how they coped with job-related stress. Inductive analysis techniques were used to identify themes that arose from the data. Relationships between themes were discovered through axial coding. Three key themes of individual, relational, and organizational stress were identified across the pre-/postassessments. Similar themes were evident in reports of coping. Following 9 months of RS/C, analysis revealed greater detail and reflection among the majority of participants. These results contribute to the literature through identification of multiple levels of stress and coping as well as areas of continuity and change among participants receiving RS/C. Future research should consider how professionals’ reports of stress and coping relate to reported self-efficacy and observed competence with young children and families.     

The magic,the life,the others: how can the imaginative dimension in reflective practice be used with student teachers? A learning experience through a self-study

In this article the author reflects upon the place imagination has in education and argues that imagination for adults is an important part of the reflective practice. The article explores the importance of going beyond the traditional way of thinking to capture the essence of understanding teaching and learning practice. The goal of this self-study is to create a way of professional development as a teacher educator which the author could utilise with teacher students. To accomplish that, the author travels to the three (imaginary) lands of reflective practice, and applies this as a way of reflective learning. The author demonstrates how reflective practices can draw together a dialogue between the embodied experience and understandings based on imaginative meanings. The author argues that reflective practice could benefit from a perspective that focuses on imaginative thoughts and more creative discussion in all aspects of education. Furthermore, to enhance students’ reflective learning one must first and foremost be able to grasp the imaginative element within oneself in order to improve students’ learning through reflective practice.     

应激条件下的双重学习系统

心理学、神经科学和行为经济学中许多研究一致认为, 人的行为由双重学习系统控制, 分别是反射性系统和反思性系统。前者是自动化的习惯系统, 反应快速, 不需要消耗认知资源, 后者是反应较为缓慢的认知系统, 需要消耗更多认知资源, 但也更加灵活, 可以有效应对外界环境的变化。这两种学习系统并行存在而又相互竞争, 共同影响人的心理和行为。究竟是哪种学习系统对人的特定行为起着主导作用, 又有哪些因素导致该系统对行为的支配, 是近年来普遍受到关注的问题。过去研究者们采用导航学习、概率分类学习或工具性学习及其计算模型, 从行为和大脑层面探讨双重学习系统在急性和慢性应激下的变化。通过回顾和分析这些研究, 我们总结出应激导致个体向习惯行为转变的生理机制, 即去甲肾上腺素和糖皮质激素在杏仁核的参与下与受体结合协同作用于双系统相关的脑区, 并从该角度出发重新梳理和解释毒品成瘾的形成。未来需要重点关注个体基因差异与应激影响学习的关系, 并采用多种研究手段以更好地揭示其背后的神经和内分泌机制。     

Childhood obesity and parental reflective functioning: Is there a relation?

Background/ObjectiveIn recent decades, the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased, with the major implications for public health. However, the factors that contribute to obesity in children are still poorly understood. The present study aimed to investigate the role of parental reflective functioning (PRF) in childhood obesity.MethodIn a cross-sectional design, 120 sets of parents of 60 children (n = 30 with obesity, age range 6–11) were recruited by local paediatricians. Parents completed the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire. Children's and parents’ weight (assessed by BMI), as well as their socio-economic status (SES), were assessed to explore the contribution of PRF in the prediction of children's weight, controlling for parents’ weight and SES.Resultst-test showed significant differences with medium effect sizes in BMI, SES and PRF between parents of children with and without obesity. The best model resulted from hierarchical multiple regression analyses and showed that mothers’ PRF predicted children's BMI above and beyond the prediction by parents’ BMI and SES.ConclusionsLow maternal PRF could be an important target for intervention strategies, highlighting the need to consider parental responses to children's emotions in the treatment of childhood obesity, particularly in parents with low SES and high BMI.     

Medical journals' conflicts of interest in the publication of book reviews

The purpose of the study was to assess medical journals’ conflicts of interest in the publication of book reviews. We examined book reviews published in 1999, 2000, and 2001 (N=1,876) in five leading medical journals: Annals of Internal Medicine, British Medical Journal (BMJ), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Lancet, and New England Journal of Medicine. The main outcome measure was journal publication of reviews of books that had been published by the journal’s own publisher, that had been edited or authored by a lead editor of the journal, or that posed another conflict of interest. We also surveyed the editors-in-chief of the five journals about their policies on these conflicts of interests. During the study period, four of the five journals published 30 book reviews presenting a conflict of interest: nineteen by the BMJ, five by the Annals, four by JAMA, and two by the Lancet. These reviews represent 5.8%, 2.7%, 0.7%, and 0.7%, respectively, of all book reviews published by the journals. These four journals, respectively, published reviews of 11.9%, 25.0%, 0.9%, and 1.0% of all medical books published by the journals’ publishers. Only one of the 30 book reviews included a disclosure statement addressing the conflict of interest. None of the journals had a written policy pertaining to the conflicts of interest assessed in this study, although four reported having unwritten policies. We recommend that scientific journals and associations representing journal editors develop policies on conflicts of interest pertaining to book reviews. Disclosure: R.M. Davis was North American editor of the BMJ from 1998 to 2001, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association, which publishes JAMA. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of any organization with which the authors have been affiliated.     

Actively open-minded thinking: development of a shortened scale and disentangling attitudes towards knowledge and people

Actively open-minded thinking (AOT) is often used as a proxy for reflective thinking in research on reasoning and related fields. It is associated with less biased reasoning in many types of tasks. However, few studies have examined its psychometric properties and criterion validity. We developed a shortened, 17-item version of the AOT for quicker administration. AOT17 is highly correlated with the original 41-item scale and has highly similar relationships to other thinking dispositions, social competence and supernatural beliefs. Our analyses revealed that the AOT is not a unitary construct, but comprises four distinct dimensions, some of which concern attitudes towards knowledge, and others concern attitudes towards people. This factor structure was replicated in another data-set, and correlations with other measures in four data-sets (total N = 3345) support the criterion validity of these dimensions. Different dimensions were responsible for the AOT's relationships with other thinking dispositions.     

Understanding own teaching: becoming reflective teachers through reflective journals

Reflective journal facilitates teachers to reflect on their teaching and then generate feedback for the improvement of their classroom practices. This study examined how in-service English teachers in a MA Linguistics program at a US Mid-Western University perceived the influence of reflective journals toward their teaching attitudes. At the time of the research, participants were 25 years of age or older. The findings generated from interviews indicated that most participants were convinced that reflective journals help them become reflective teachers. It also found that most in-service teachers regard reflective journals as an effective tool to increase teaching awareness, and thus improve their performance during teaching.