Career satisfaction of German human genetics residents

Objectives The aim of this survey was to investigate the career satisfaction of human genetics residents in Germany and to analyse the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Methods We developed an online survey for the evaluation of a broad range of factors concerning the situation of human genetics residents in Germany using validated questionnaires and adding human genetics specific items to them. Human genetics residents working at institutions with an authorization for specialist training were asked to participate in the online survey. To analyse the situation of specialist training in human genetics and the influence of multiple factors on career satisfaction, descriptive statistics, mean descriptive statistics and comparisons of mean values as well as multiple linear regression analyses were carried out. Results Of the 71 institutions contacted, 41 (58 %) provided feedback and reported the number of 114 residents in human genetics. In total, 58 residents completed the questionnaire (50.9 %). Overall career satisfaction was high with a mean score of 30.8 (scale ranging from 8–40). Factors significantly influencing career satisfaction were general life satisfaction, occupational self-efficacy expectations and content with the doctors entitled to the specialty training. Except for the reduced perception to achieve their professional goals expressed by women with children, career satisfaction was influenced by neither gender nor parental status, other sociodemographic factors, variables concerning the personal professional life and the residency in general, the subjective perceived workload nor the site of specialist training. Participation in research activities differed significantly between male and female residents. The residents’ assessment of their own professional prospects and the prospects of the subject were consistently positive, even though residents consider the current requirement planning by the GB-A for human geneticists as inappropriate and believe that human genetics is not yet firmly anchored as a specialist discipline in the consciousness of other medical colleagues and the general public. Conclusions Career satisfaction of German human genetics residents is generally high and mainly influenced by life satisfaction, occupational self-efficacy expectations and quality of the specialist training. In contrast to other specialties career satisfaction seems to be independent from gender or parental status even though male residents were significantly more often involved in research activities. In order to keep human genetics residents in the specialty, measures that enable balanced professional and care work as well as continuous improvement of specialist education, e. g. through the implementation of structured curricula and continuing education of the doctors entitled to specialist training, is of great importance.

Assessing the Role of Collective Efficacy Beliefs During Participative Occupational Health Interventions

Background: For group-based participatory interventions in the context of occupational health, no questionnaires exist to assess the participants' active engagement in the interventions. On the basis of the construct of collective efficacy beliefs, this study has developed a questionnaire with which the group-related efficacy beliefs can be assessed as a precondition for participants actively engaging in participative interventions.Methods: Participants were drawn from a two-arm cluster-randomized intervention study to fill out the questionnaire. A Factor analysis and an initial psychometric calibration were performed. In a second step, the group-related properties of the questionnaire were validated using a Multilevel analysis.Results: The factorial structure of the questionnaire is consistent with the theory of efficacy beliefs according to A. Bandura. Furthermore, the collective efficacy expectations of the interventions' participants are lowered in the absence of appreciation and support in the psychosocial environment of the worksite.Conclusions: Assessing participant's quality of interventional activity in participatory interventions by collective efficacy can be valuable in understanding the amount of interventional activity. In addition, it is recommended to consider the influence of the worksite's psychosocial environment on collective efficacy beliefs when implementing participatory interventions.Clinical Trial Registration: Registration trial DRKS00021138 on the German Registry of Clinical Studies (DRKS), retrospectively registered on 25 March, 2020.

Couple, parent, and infant characteristics and perceptions of conflictual coparenting over the transition to parenthood

This study examined trajectories of new parents’ perceptions of conflictual coparenting and predictors thereof. Partners in 182 dual-earner different-gender U.S. couples reported their prenatal marital conflict and individual characteristics (conflictual coparenting in the family of origin, parenting self-efficacy expectations, and parenting role beliefs) during the third trimester of pregnancy, their infant’s characteristics (negative affectivity and gender) at 3 months postpartum, and their perceptions of undermining coparenting and exposure to conflict at 3, 6, and 9 months postpartum. Results of latent growth curve models indicated that new parents’ perceptions of undermining, but not exposure to conflict, increased similarly from 3 to 9 months. Fathers perceived higher initial undermining than mothers, but there were no gender differences in exposure to conflict. For mothers, greater prenatal marital conflict and greater infant negative affectivity were associated with elevated levels of perceived undermining and exposure to conflict. For fathers, more egalitarian role beliefs were associated with lower undermining and less exposure to conflict, whereas greater prenatal marital conflict, higher conflictual coparenting in the family of origin, and greater infant negative affectivity were associated with greater exposure to conflict. Fathers also perceived greater undermining and exposure to conflict when mothers reported higher prenatal marital conflict, whereas mothers’ greater conflictual coparenting in the family of origin was related to fathers’ lower exposure to conflict. These findings provide valuable information to strengthen programs focused on improving coparenting.

Professional Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Expectations of Pre-Service Teachers Regarding Scientific Reasoning and Diagnostics

Understanding and knowledge of scientific reasoning skills is a key ability of pre-service teachers. In a written survey (open response format), biology and chemistry pre-service teachers (n = 51) from two German universities claimed central decisions or actions school students have to perform in scientific reasoning in the open inquiry instruction of an experiment. The participants’ answers were assessed in a quality content analysis using a rubric system generated from a theoretical background. Instruments in a closed response format were used to measure attitudes towards the importance of diagnostics in teacher training and the domain-specific expectations of self-efficacy. The pre-service teacher lacked pedagogical (didactics) content knowledge about potential student difficulties and also exhibited a low level of content methodological (procedural) knowledge. There was no correlation between the knowledge of student difficulties and the approach to experimenting with expectations of self-efficacy for diagnosing student abilities regarding scientific reasoning. Self-efficacy expectations concerning their own abilities to successfully cope with general and experimental diagnostic activities were significantly lower than the attitude towards the importance of diagnostics in teacher training. The results are discussed with regard to practical implications as they imply that scientific reasoning should be promoted in university courses, emphasising the importance of understanding the science-specific procedures (knowing how) and epistemic constructs in scientific reasoning (knowing why).

The impact of physical fitness on resilience to modern life stress and the mediating role of general self-efficacy

Substantial evidence shows that physical activity and fitness play a protective role in the development of stress related disorders. However, the beneficial effects of fitness for resilience to modern life stress are not fully understood. Potentially protective effects may be attributed to enhanced resilience via underlying psychosocial mechanisms such as self-efficacy expectations. This study investigated whether physical activity and fitness contribute to prospectively measured resilience and examined the mediating effect of general self-efficacy. 431 initially healthy adults participated in fitness assessments as part of a longitudinal-prospective study, designed to identify mechanisms of resilience. Self-efficacy and habitual activity were assessed in parallel to cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, which were determined by a submaximal step-test, hand strength and standing long jump test. Resilience was indexed by stressor reactivity: mental health problems in relation to reported life events and daily hassles, monitored quarterly for nine months. Hierarchical linear regression models and bootstrapped mediation analyses were applied. We could show that muscular and self-perceived fitness were positively associated with stress resilience. Extending this finding, the muscular fitness–resilience relationship was partly mediated by self-efficacy expectations. In this context, self-efficacy expectations may act as one underlying psychological mechanism, with complementary benefits for the promotion of mental health. While physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness did not predict resilience prospectively, we found muscular and self-perceived fitness to be significant prognostic parameters for stress resilience. Although there is still more need to identify specific fitness parameters in light of stress resilience, our study underscores the general relevance of fitness for stress-related disorders prevention.

The Coaches’ Efficacy Expectations of Youth Soccer Players with Different Maturity Status and Physical Performance

This study aimed to report possible anthropometrical and physical performance differences between youth soccer players with different maturity status and to report the coaches’ expectations, hypothesizing that coaches would expect more from players with advanced maturity. One hundred twenty-two (122) players completed a physical performance battery. Their maturity status was estimated and the coaches’ efficacy expectations (CEEs) were assessed. Players with advanced maturation had better physical performance (F = 26.5-73.4; p < 0.01) and their CEEs for strength-related tasks were different according to the maturity status (F = 8.3-10.9; p < 0.01), but not for speed-related tests, nor for their general ability to play soccer. Normalized data showed significant differences between physical performance tests and their respective CEEs within each maturity group, especially in the Post-PHV group. This study confirms the physical advantages of players with advanced maturity while it shows controversial results of how maturation affects the coaches’ perceptions and, indirectly, the coaches’ identification and selection of talented players.

Validity and reliability of an instrument to measure factors associated with screen time in Brazilian students

This study analyzed the validity and reliability of an instrument with scales measuring factors associated with screen time in adolescents. Two cross-sectional studies included students for analyses of validity and internal consistency (n=1138, 51.5% boys) and test-retest reproducibility (n=194, 56.2% boys). Individual (attitude, self-efficacy and expectations), social (behaviors, rules, beliefs and family support and support of school members) and physical environmental (home and bedroom equipment) factors of screen time were evaluated. All the scales of the instrument met the statistical criteria of the validity of the exploratory factorial analysis (p<0.001). The exploratory factorial analysis indicated five one-dimensional and three two-factor scales (self-efficacy, expectations and familiar behavior), with factorial loads of 0.56 to 0.88. There were significant correlations between the scores of almost all the scales and the reported screen time (p<0.05). Eight of nine scales/subscales showed Cronbach’s α value being higher than 0.70, and ICC ranged from 0.63 to 0.83. In conclusion, the instrument presented scales with acceptable validity and reliability and can be used to measure factors associated with screen time in Brazilian students.

Unleashing the Learners: Teacher Self-Efficacy in Facilitating School-Based Makerspaces

This qualitative research project explored the key characteristics, attitudes, and experiences of makerspace facilitators in Saskatchewan. The aim was to gather knowledge and wisdom from early adopters of makerspace from a variety of contexts ranging from tinkerspaces to increasingly popular school-based spaces in order to inform early and career-educators of the skills and attitudes conducive to creating and leading dynamic activity spaces. The questions for the semi-structured interviews were based on Bandura’s (1977; 1997) self-efficacy expectations: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal. The findings align with those of other studies in that they point towards key areas of experience: the value of productive failure, relinquishing control, and modes of support. We conclude that there is a need to help preservice and early career educators to become prepared and confident makerspace facilitators. To this end, we offer four suggestions for new makerspace facilitators: aim towards unleashing, allow others to be the experts and leaders, celebrate success and failure, and openly seek and offer support. Keywords: makerspace, self-efficacy, motivation, early career educators, productive failure

Learning when effort matters: Neural dynamics underlying updating and adaptation to changes in performance efficacy

To determine how much cognitive control to invest in a task, people need to consider whether exerting control matters for obtaining potential rewards. In particular, they need to account for the efficacy of their performance – the degree to which potential rewards are determined by their performance or by independent factors (e.g., random chance). Yet it remains unclear how people learn about their performance efficacy in a given environment. Here, we examined the neural and computational mechanisms through which people (a) learn and dynamically update efficacy expectations in a changing environment, and (b) proactively adjust control allocation based on their current efficacy expectations. We recorded EEG in 40 participants performing an incentivized cognitive control task, while their performance efficacy (the likelihood that reward for a given trial would be determined by performance or at random) dynamically varied over time. We found that participants continuously updated their self- reported efficacy expectations based on recent feedback, and that these updates were well described by a standard prediction error-based reinforcement learning algorithm. Paralleling findings on updating of expected rewards, we found that model-based estimates of efficacy prediction errors were encoded by the feedback-related P3b. Updated expectations of efficacy in turn influenced levels of effort exerted on subsequent trials, reflected in greater proactive control (indexed by the contingent negative variation [CNV]) and improved performance when participants expected their performance to be more efficacious. These findings demonstrate that learning and adaptation to the efficacy of one’s environment is underpinned by similar computations and neural mechanisms as are involved in learning about potential reward.