Pivoting Services: Resilience in the Face of Disruptions in Nonprofit Organizations Caused by COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global event that has sent shockwaves through every aspect of the economy. The nonprofit sector has been dealt a double hit—relying on donations in a time of economic hardship while being on the frontlines of the response to increased need. Previous studies have shown that COVID-19 has impacted nonprofits in numerous ways; however, the majority of studies have focused on the financial impact. Using a resilience framework, this study adds to the literature by analyzing how nonprofits have dealt with the loss of services, what it has looked like to pivot and adapt to this new environment, and what impact the loss of volunteers has had on organizations. In this qualitative study of 12 nonprofits in the Southeast United States, we find that while the organizations do talk about financial strain, equally as stressful has been the loss of face-to-face services. Nonprofits are used to being on the frontlines of most emergencies, and in this pandemic, many have struggled to keep their workers safe by following health guidelines while also serving their clients. The inability to meet with clients and the stress of pivoting to an online environment is as great or greater of a burden as the financial impact.

Development and Evaluation of Scales for Measuring Self-Efficacy and Teaching Beliefs of Students Facilitating Peer-Supported Pedagogies

Two scales measuring teaching self-efficacy and beliefs were developed from previous instruments for use with near-peer facilitators assisting with peer-supported pedagogies. Construct and face validity, measurement reliability, and factor structure were determined using a population of near-peer facilitators working in a peer-led team learning chemistry classroom at a large research-intensive postsecondary institution in the Southeast United States. Results suggest that the scales produce valid and reliable data. Teaching self-efficacy and beliefs were found to increase between pre and post administrations with small to medium effect sizes. The scales can provide a means to evaluate peer-supported pedagogies and as discussion points for faculty members training near-peer facilitators.

Reconciling conflicting survey indices of abundance prior to stock assessment

Indices of relative abundance are one of the most important inputs into a stock assessment model. For many species, we must rely on several indices that routinely conflict with each other and which may result in biased and uncertain outputs. Here, we explored whether reconciled trends obtained from dynamic factor analysis (DFA) applied to conflicting indices can be used as a trend of relative abundance input into a stock assessment model. We simulated an age-structured population of two coastal shark species in the southeast United States to generate multiple disagreeing indices, reconciled the indices using DFA, and then inserted both the multiple conflicting survey indices and the simplified DFA-predicted trend into respective stock assessment models. We compared the results of each stock assessment model to simulated values to evaluate the relative performance of each approach. We found that the DFA-based assessment generally performed similarly to the conflicting index-based assessment and may be a useful assessment tool in situations where conflicting indices with different selectivities, catchabilities, variances, and missing data are present. DFA assessment results were more consistent across simulation scenarios and outperformed many conflicting index assessments when surveys underwent shifts in catchability and the underlying stock abundance exhibited contrast.

La Clinica In LaK’ech: Establishing a Practicum Site Integrating Practice, Advocacy, and Research With Latinx Clients

This article concerns the establishment and development of La Clinica In LaK’ech, a bilingual mental health clinic collectively founded and staffed by a counseling psychologist and doctoral students in a counseling psychology doctoral program in the Southeast United States. During over 5 years of existence, the clinic has blended bilingual counseling psychology services, advocacy, interdisciplinary collaboration, and research with the Latinx population. The authors describe the development of the clinic and resultant clinical, training, and ethical issues that confronted the clinic in terms of providing services to a marginalized community in a state where anti-immigrant rhetoric, detention, and deportations were escalating. Also discussed are implications for training in practice, advocacy, service, and research for counseling psychologists working with Latinx communities.