Pretending to be authentic: challenges for students when reflective writing about their childhood for assessment

Critical reflection potentially allows social work and human service (SWHS) students to understand how past experiences can shape their future practice. This study of 20 Australian undergraduate SWHS students with a history of childhood adversity found reflective writing for this purpose was not a useful pedagogical practice. Rather than developing skills in critical reflection students found the task performative, linked to academic requirements, where they needed to display emotional containment. Consequently, SWHS academics need to examine reflective writing about childhood adversity for assessment as this process may not enable students to build skills in critical reflection that drive professional development.     

Présence attentive et créativité au travail : examen du rôle médiateur du bien-être et de l’auto-efficacité créative

This study aims to broaden the understanding of mindfulness outcomes in work context, specifically the influence of mindfulness on creativity. This influence can be direct and indirect, when it is shaped by well-being and creative self-efficacy. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a sample of 172 full time Brazilian workers. The research findings suggest that the relationship between mindfulness and creativity is better explained through well-being and creative self-efficacy. The double mediation model was confirmed. The research highlights the understanding of emerging literature on mindfulness at work by establishing personal conditions that promote or inhibit well-being at work, which in turn enhances creativity and contributes to building up the knowledge about this topic.     

La thèse du travailleur heureux-productif revisitée : une analyse par profils

This study aims to identify worker profiles in terms of psychological well-being at work, burnout and contextual performance, based on the two-dimensional conceptualization of psychological health (Keyes, 2009) and the job performance model of Borman and Motowidlo (1993). To do so, 1037 Quebec workers responded to self-reported questionnaires. Cluster analyzes revealed four profiles of workers: two convergent profiles, representing high psychological health and performance at work (32%), and low psychological health and performance at work (17%), as well as two paradoxical profiles, one presenting low psychological health and high contextual performance (23%), and one presenting high psychological health and low contextual performance (28%). These profiles were compared quantitatively and qualitatively. In the light of the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001), these results extend and nuance the existing scientific literature on the health-performance relationship.     

Authentic leadership,followership, and psychological capital as antecedents of work engagement

The present study investigated authentic leadership, psychological capital, and followership behaviour influences on work engagement of employees. Respondents were 901 South African employees within the healthcare industry organisation (n = 647) and mining industry (n = 254). The employees completed questionnaires on authentic leadership, psychological capital, and followership behaviour, and work engagement. Results following structural equation modelling and mediation analysis suggest work engagement to be explained by the psychological capital of the employee rather than by authentic leadership qualities. Improving employee psychological capital has the potential to enhance the levels of work engagement of employees.     

Les processus psychologiques impliqués dans l’identité professionnelle des cadres

This study aims to explore the executives’ professional identity in terms of psychological processes referring to Dubar's (1992) professional identity model and ethos of work described by Mercure and Vultur (2010). The relational and biographical transactions proposed by Dubar were examined using six psychological scales (adaptability, protean career, well-being, motivation at work, organizational commitment, sense of work) from psychology of work and career guidance administered to 460 executives by means of an online questionnaire. We expected that these measures could explain the two identity transactions and allow distinguishing different types of executives. Factor analysis revealed two factors, each corresponding to a transaction. Cluster analyses update four distinct groups of executives that we compared to the six ethos of work from Mercure and Vultur. The discussion emphasizes the value our approach to improve our knowledge of professional identity and highlights the value of the results for career guidance practices and human resource management. Future research can extend this line by bridging the boundaries of the present study.     

The Moscow Council of 1917–1918

Following a period of decline beginning in the early eighteenth century, the Orthodox Church in Russia held a general council in Moscow from August 1917 to September 1918. More than 500 clergy and laity met, prayed and discussed numerous issues relating to the church’s life and witness. The Moscow Council was prompted by various trends of renewal which were growing ever stronger among the clergy and laity. Political circumstances at the time also made the Council possible: a preparatory preconciliar process was initiated in 1905, in parallel with the first revolution against Emperor Nicholas II, and the Council itself was convened in 1917, in parallel with the establishment of a Provisional Government. However, it was precisely such political events which led to the premature interruption of the Council. The main items on the Council’s agenda were linked to the reformation of church structures and the implementation of conciliar provisions at every level of church life: parish, deanery, diocese and autocephalous church. Special attention was given to the renewal of the pastoral ministries of priests and bishops, and to that of committed laity. In a way, the Moscow Council was a kind of ‘first encounter’ of Orthodoxy with contemporary societies, secularised or on the road to secularisation. Its legacy is therefore of great interest to all Christianity today. This article aims to analyse the Council and the main decisions made, in the light of ecclesiology, and to provide a primary bibliography at the end of the text.     

Writing life narratives through art practice

This article shares some of my doctoral experiences in a practice-based PhD research in arts developed at the Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London. It locates art practice within the academic research realm and contributes to researchers working on autobiographical studies and practice-based research methods. By offering an overview on my research topic focusing on the relationship between language and place in the life of Brazilian women living in London, I reflect on the relevance of “not-knowing” as a fruitful space for researching autobiographical and situated life narratives through art practice. The article concludes that qualitative methods are relevant for building passages from the individual to the collective sphere of an art practice developed within geographical displacement and in the context of academic research.     

Provider Conscientious Refusal of Abortion,Obstetrical Emergencies,and Criminal Homicide Law

Catholic doctrine’s strict prohibition on abortion can lead clinicians or institutions to conscientiously refuse to provide abortion, although a legal duty to provide abortion would apply to anyone who refused. Conscientious refusals by clinicians to end a pregnancy can constitute murder or reckless homicide under American law if a woman dies as a result of such a refusal. Such refusals are not immunized from criminal liability by the constitutional right to the free exercise of religion or by statutes that confer immunity from criminal homicide prosecution. Core principles of the rule of law require the state to protect the lives of all persons equally and to place the life and health of persons above any the interests of providers have in moral integrity or in respecting the moral status of prenatal humans. In some states criminal liability related to conscientious objection also applies to corporate hospital officials.     

Metaphors can give life meaning

Conceptual metaphor theory offers a perspective on how and when people find meaning in life. Whereas life’s meaning can be difficult to grasp, metaphor compares life to a relatively more concrete and structured concept. Supporting this account, American adults (Study 1) and German undergraduates (Study 2) who framed life as a journey reported more meaning in life. The journey metaphor was particularly beneficial for individuals with low levels of perceived coherence in life (Study 2). Study 3 further explored this pattern of moderation: An accessible metaphor, compared to other life framings, benefited participants who lack a strong meaning framework. Study 4 focused on the mechanism behind metaphor’s influence. Participants who imagined events from their life journey perceived stronger interrelatedness among those events as measured with an analog spatial organization task. Perceived interrelatedness in turn predicted meaning in life, particularly for individuals with a strong preference for well-structured knowledge. Finally, participants who applied their own metaphor to life expressed greater meaning (Study 5), especially those high in personal need for structure (Study 6). An internal meta-analysis of these findings provides cumulative evidence for metaphor’s influence on perceived meaning in life and reveals moderating features of the individual.     

Tap,swipe, and build: Parental spatial input during iPad® and toy play

Despite the increase in the use of interactive technological devices, little is known about the impact that play context has on the production of spatial language by parents. To investigate whether there is differential parental spatial input afforded by play contexts with their preschoolers, 34 children (20 girls, 14 boys) and their primary caregivers engaged in 30‐min 3‐dimensional (3D) spatial play using blocks and puzzles and virtual 2‐dimensional (2D) spatial play using an iPad^® in 2 separate home visits. There were no significant differences in the average amount of spatial talk and the number of spatial categories used by parents in both 3D and 2D play contexts. However, the amount of parental spatial talk decreased significantly with older preschoolers using the iPad^®. In the 3D play contexts, parents produced more words related to spatial dimensions, location and directions, and continuous amount than in the 2D play contexts. However, in the 2D play contexts, they produced more words associated with orientations and transformations as well as deictics than in the 3D play contexts. Our findings suggest that technology can be effectively introduced into play contexts to elicit enriched parental spatial input by supporting parents and caregivers with best practices.

Highlights

• The present study examines the differences in parental spatial talk when using traditional versus technology‐based learning tools with their preschoolers.
• Two 30‐min home observations of parent–child dyads playing blocks and puzzles versus spatial apps on an iPad^®. No significant differences in the amount of parental spatial talk and the number of spatial categories in both play contexts were found.
• Our findings suggest that technology can be effectively introduced into play contexts to elicit enriched parental spatial input.