scholarly journals The Resilience Journal: Exploring the Potential of Journal Interventions to Promote Resilience in University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max S. Lohner ◽  
Carmela Aprea
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Daily Monitoring ◽  
External Threats ◽  
Resilience Intervention

Given the prevalence of mental health issues among university students, they must be regarded as a vulnerable population. Resilience interventions offer one potential means of strengthening students’ capacity to overcome academic challenges and external threats. This is all the more urgent in light of the additional difficulties caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic, such as the demands of remote learning. The present study is a first step toward designing and evaluating an appropriate dynamic resilience intervention for students. The design of the Resilience Journal intervention draws on insights from expressive writing and positive writing research and focuses on reflection on daily challenges. In this online intervention, 100 business school students (66% female, Mage = 23.74) at a German university were randomly assigned to two groups and completed two different versions of the Resilience Journal for 5 days. The two versions focused, respectively on broadening attention to challenges and priming attention to mastered challenges. In a pre-post design, two resilience measures and one measure of life satisfaction were used to assess intervention outcomes. Additionally, a newly developed rating scale was used for daily monitoring of dynamic resilience. While both groups showed a significant increase in resilience as measured by the Brief Resilience Scale, that increase could not be attributed directly to the intervention, as there were no group differences, and the design did not include a control group. The other resilience and life satisfaction measures showed no significant change. This first implementation confirms the potential of the Resilience Journal and indicates directions for the development of dynamic resilience interventions and measures in future studies. To further study the potential of such a positive psychology intervention, future research necessitates the inclusion of control groups.

The effect of patience training on university students’ patience and life satisfaction levels

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 712-719
Author(s):  
Ayşe Eliüşük Bülbül ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Wilcoxon Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Satisfaction Scale ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the "patience training program" on the patience and life satisfaction levels of university students. The study was organized as a pre-test, post-test experiment and control group design. For a total of 30 students from which were 17 in the control group and 17 in the experimental group, patience training was given for 5 weeks. The "Patient Scale" developed by Schnitker (2010) and adapted to Turkish by Eliüşük and Arslan (2016) and the "Life Satisfaction Scale" developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin (1985) and adapted to Turkish by Dağlı and Baysal (2016) were used as a data collection tool in the study. The "Wilcoxon" test was used for the comparison of in-group differences in the analysis of obtained data and the "Mann-Whitney U" test was used in examining the differences between the two groups. As a result of the study, it was observed that the patience and life satisfaction average scores of students in the experimental group receiving "patience training" increased significantly, while there was no significant difference in the patience and life satisfaction averages scores of the control group students.

scholarly journals The Restorative Effect of the Natural Environment on University Students’ Psychological Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Emma A. Payne ◽  
Natasha M. Loi ◽  
Einar B. Thorsteinsson
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
Perceived Satisfaction ◽  
Waitlist Control Group

The present study evaluated the effect of a three-week intervention aimed at improving psychological health in university students. Participants included 200 Australian students randomly assigned to an experimental or waitlist control group, with 42 adhering to intervention instructions. Participants in the experimental group read a story about someone who used the natural environment to decrease stress and burnout levels and to increase their perceived satisfaction with life. They were then instructed to spend 20 minutes each week, for three weeks, in any chosen natural environment. Waitlist control participants received intervention instructions three weeks later. Restorativeness was positively associated with life satisfaction and negatively related to stress and burnout. Experimental participants, compared to waitlist control participants, experienced a significant decrease in stress; however, the intervention had no effect on life satisfaction or burnout. More research is still needed to determine the practical significance of nature exposure on university students’ psychological health.

The Effects of Enthusiasm Training on Selected Teacher and Student Behaviors in Preservice Physical Education Teachers

1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Carlisle ◽  
D. Allen Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Student Behavior ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Student Behaviors ◽  
School Students ◽  
Trained Teachers

Teacher enthusiasm has long been considered an important part of the teaching process. However, empirical verification of enthusiasm as an indicator of teaching effectiveness is somewhat sparse. One problem is with measuring that complex variable, while another problem has been determining what to correlate it with to allow it to surface as such an indicator. Twenty-four preservice teachers participated in this study to determine the differences in teacher and student behavior between the levels of enthusiasm in trained and untrained teachers. The experimental group was given 6 hours of enthusiasm training whereas the control group received no such training. Both groups taught a 30-minute Experimental Teaching Unit (ETU) to a total of 120 middle-school students. The observation instrument in this study was the Physical Education Teaching Assessment Instrument (PETAI), while the Collins Enthusiasm Rating Scale was used to measure the teachers’ enthusiasm. The trained teachers received much higher ratings in enthusiasm during their ETU lessons and were significantly better on three of the PETAI items. The students of the trained teachers also had higher skill achievement gains over their counterparts under the untrained teachers.

scholarly journals Measuring the Impact of Online Translation on FL Writing Scores

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Errol M. O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Prior Training ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Writing Scores ◽  
Writing Task

Online translation (OT) sites, which automatically convert text from one language to another, have been around for nearly 20 years. While foreign language students and teachers have long been aware of their existence, and debates about the accuracy and usefulness of OT are well known, surprisingly little research has been done to analyze the actual effects of online translator usage on student writing. The current study compares the scores of two composition tasks by third- and fourth-semester university students of French who used an online translator, with or without prior training, to the scores of students who did not use OT. Students using an online translator did not perform significantly worse those not using the translator on either task. In fact, students who received prior training in OT outscored the control group overall on the second writing task. Additionally, students using the online translator received higher subscores on one or both writing tasks for features such as comprehensibility, spelling, content, and grammar. The results of the current study are discussed in detail; implications for the foreign language classroom are presented; and avenues for future research are proposed.

scholarly journals Effect of Expressive Writing on the Subjective Well-Being of University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  
Ryan Francis O. Cayubit
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Parametric Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Psychological Experiment ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Student Volunteers ◽  
Independent Variable

The main intent of this research is to test the effectiveness of expressive writing in processing and dealing with inhibited emotions of university students. The use of expressive writing targets the subjective well-being of the subjects, specifically their happiness and life satisfaction. Employing a between-subjects design, a thorough and rigorous psychological experiment was performed on 23 student volunteers where expressive writing was designated as the independent variable and happiness and life satisfaction as dependent variables respectively. Results of the non-parametric analysis showed that after the experimentation, both the happiness and life satisfaction of the subjects improved. Theoretical implications of the study are discussed in this paper.

scholarly journals Are There Differences in Life-Satisfaction, Optimism, Pessimism and Perceived Stress between Therapeutic and Mastery Exercisers? A Preliminary Investigation

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (114) ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Szabo ◽  
Szilvia Boros ◽  
Júlia Patakiné Bősze
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Psychological Profile ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Psychological Profiles ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Broaden And Build Theory

Background. Most incentives for exercise can be grouped into health-related ‘therapeutic’ and challenge or enjoyment-related ‘mastery’ categories. If these incentives are not independent of personal needs and expectations, their associated psychological profiles may vary.Methods. Based on the broaden-and-build theory, we examined the hypothesis that mastery exercise is associated with more favourable psychological profile, as reflected in greater life-satisfaction, optimism, pessimism, and perceived stress, than therapeutic exercise or no-exercise (the control group).Results. The results indicated that people who exercised for a mastery purpose (n = 57) reported greater optimism, lower pessimism and lower perceived stress than non-exercisers (n = 57) but they only scored higher in optimism in contrast to the therapeutic exercisers (n = 129) who did not differ from the controls in any of the measures. A composite score of a psychological profile, obtained by subtracting the sum of negative ratings from the sum of positive ratings, revealed that mastery exercisers exhibited higher scores than non-exercisers who did not differ from therapeutic exercisers.Conclusion. These preliminary findings suggest that two very general motives for exercise might be associated with different psychological profiles, which deserves future research attention in the better understanding of the psychological effects of exercise. Keywords: life-satisfaction, optimism, non-exerciser, perceived stress, pessimism.

scholarly journals Effects of Voki-supported self-practice on high school students’ English speaking performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
Diem Nguyen Thi Kieu ◽  
Van Loi Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Speaking Performance

Web 2.0 applications with multimedia affordances provide a creative way to expose students to a non-threatening environment for practising English. Motivated by the potentials of this type of application for English speaking instruction, this study aimed to examine the effects of high school learners’ self-practice using an app called Voki on their speaking performance. A quasi-experimental control group design was employed, in which the effect was measured by means of two speaking tests before and after the treatment, and further explored with a semi-structured interview. The results showed the increase in the students’speaking skills and the satisfaction with this Web 2.0 tool for its effectiveness and engagement. Their shyness and nervousness about uttering the target language diminished as their confidence increased. Accordingly, more evidence of the efficacy of Voki on EFL learners’ speaking performance was offered in the study. Future research can investigate learners’ improvement in language proficiency in different skills and contexts and involve larger sample sizes.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Life Satisfaction of the School of Physical Education and Sports Students and Their Levels of Sports Engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Hande İnan ◽  
Mine Koç
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
University Students ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
Satisfaction With Life Scale ◽  
School Students ◽  
Grade Point

This study aims to investigate the correlations between the life satisfaction of students of study sport sciences and their levels of sports engagement according to a number of variables. The study group was composed of 116 undergraduate students attending the School of Physical Education and Sport of Adıyaman University.The participants were administered “Sports Engagement Scale (SES)” and “Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)” in addition to a personal information form prepared by the researcher. The data collected were analysed on SPSS statistics programme and 0.01-0.05 significance level was accepted for the statistical validity of the data.Weak and positive correlations were found between physical education and sport school students’ life satisfaction with life and their sports engagement. In addition to that, weak and negative correlations were found between the participants’ grade point averages and their scores of sports engagement. The female students’ grade point averages were significantly higher than the male students’.In conclusion, university students’ sports engagement results in more satisfaction with life. The increase in sports engagement and life satisfaction of university students causes a decrease in their academic success.

Teaching Grammar in Virtual Worlds

2018 ◽  
pp. 477-492
Author(s):  
Mariusz Kruk
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Grammar Tests ◽  
Teaching Grammar

The main aims of the chapter are to investigate the use of ActiveWorlds (AW) for teaching the English simple present tense as compared to traditional instruction and to find out the difference between the use of AW and traditional teaching when it comes to individual students. In the theoretical part, issues concerning virtual worlds are highlighted and some germane studies are discussed. The empirical part presents the outcome of the quasi-experimental study. It comprised three lessons and two groups of Polish senior high school students: the experimental group was subjected to instruction in AW and the control group was taught in a traditional way. The data were obtained by means of grammar tests and a post-questionnaire. The results show that both groups benefited from the instruction they received; however, the experimental learners' retention of the said grammar item turned out to be much superior when compared with the controls. In addition, the experimental students expressed more positive opinions on the lessons. Implications and future research directions are also offered.

scholarly journals Preliminary Psychometrics of Responses to the Youth Externalizing Problems Screener

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 1016-1022
Author(s):  
Tyler L. Renshaw ◽  
Clayton R. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Externalizing Problems ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Future Research ◽  
School Students ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Development And Validation

This brief report presents preliminary psychometrics of responses to the Youth Externalizing Problems Screener (YEPS), which is a 10-item self-report rating scale intended for use as a screening instrument. The YEPS was designed to function as a companion measure to the Youth Internalizing Problems Screener (YIPS), facilitating the screening of broad mental health problems among students in secondary school settings. Analyses presented herein were conducted with the same small, preliminary samples of urban high-school students as those reported on for the initial development and validation of the YIPS (Sample 1: n = 177, Sample 2: n = 219). Results suggest that responses to the YEPS showed a sound, unidimensional factor structure that is internally consistent, providing initial evidence for the purported internal structure of the measure. Findings also showed that YEPS scores had meaningful associations with other self-reported, theoretically relevant mental health variables, providing initial convergent evidence in favor of construct interpretation. Taken together, preliminary psychometrics support the validation argument for the interpretation and use of YEPS scores as a brief measure of adolescents’ general externalizing problems. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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