scholarly journals Promoting Goal Setting: An Experimental Study of Positive Psychology in an EFL Context

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 144
Author(s):  
Samieh Noori ◽  
Mehry Haddad Narafshan

<em>The present quasi-experimental study addresses the impact of a Character Strength Based Positive Psychology Intervention (CSBPPI) on Goal Setting (GS) of TEFL university students in Iran. In so doing, the study utilized an experimental design with 18 participants in the control group and 18 participants in the experimental group which totalled 7 male and 29 female students. The pretest showed that the participants of the two groups were homogenous with regard to their proficiency level as well as their goal setting. Data was collected over five months using Erickson et al. (2015) goal setting questionnaire before and after an MA course. The results of the post-test revealed that PP has a positive and significant impact on learners’ goal setting. The findings from this research suggest positive paths from positive psychology to understanding, managing and successfully setting the goals. </em>

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noori, Samieh ◽  
Ashrafganjoe, Mohsen

This quasi-experimental study aimed at addressing the impact of Positive Psychology (PP) on Goal Setting (GS) and Self-regulating (SR) of EFL learners in an English institute located in Kerman. In so doing, the study utilized an experimental design with 20 participants, in two groups totaling 9 male and 11 female, students, and aged 19 to 34. In accordance with Dornyei (2007) cluster sampling, all intermediate EFL students (20 intermediate EFL students) in the institute, were selected to participate. The pretest showed that all the participants were homogenous with regard to their proficiency level as well as their goal setting and self-regulation. Data was collected over two months using the goal setting and self-regulation questionnaires developed by Erickson et al. (2015) before and after one term. The results of the post-test revealed that PP had a positive and significant impact on these learners’ goal setting and self-regulating. The findings from this research suggest positive psychology offers an effective path towards understanding, managing and successfully self-regulating and setting goals for ESL students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6331
Author(s):  
Jianfen Wu ◽  
Manlin Zhang ◽  
Wenqi Lin ◽  
Yunpeng Wu ◽  
Hui Li

Emotional competence (EC) is important for children’s social adjustment and sustainable development. The present study designed a school based emotional competence learning (ECL) program and examined its effectiveness with 56 Chinese preschoolers aged 5–6. A quasi-experimental design was employed to examine the impact of the ECL program on young children’s EC. Two upper Kindergarten classes (Daban) for children aged 5–6 were randomly assigned as experimental group (n = 31, 42% girls, Mage = 68.31 months, SD = 3.75) and control group (n = 25, 44% girls, Mage = 68.16 months, SD = 3.77). The experimental group was engaged in a 15-week ECL program, whereas the control group had similar duration courses without emotional competence training. All the children were administered the Test of Emotion Comprehension, Expression Identification Task, and Emotion Regulation Strategy Inventory before and after the intervention. The results indicated no significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test. In contrast, the experimental group outperformed the control group in most EC components in the post-test. Meanwhile, the experimental group demonstrated greater increases in EC components. The findings suggest that this ECL program has strong potential as a school-based, structured program for enhancing children’s emotional competence. The educational implications of these findings are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-552
Author(s):  
Nathalia De Oro ◽  
Maria E Gauthreaux ◽  
Julie Lamoureux ◽  
Joseph Scott

Abstract Background Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker that shows good sensitivity and specificity in identifying septic patients. Methods This study investigated the diagnostic accuracy of PCT in a community hospital setting and how it compared to that of lactic acid. It explored the impact on patient care before and after PCT implementation regarding costs and length of stay. Two comparative groups were analyzed using an exploratory descriptive case–control study with data from a 19-month period after PCT implementation and a retrospective quasi-experimental study using a control group of emergency department patients diagnosed with sepsis using data before PCT implementation. Results Post-procalcitonin implementation samples included 165 cases and pre-procalcitonin implementation sample included 69 cases. From the 165 sepsis cases who had positive blood cultures, PCT had a sensitivity of 89.7%. In comparison, lactic acid's sensitivity at the current cutoff of 18.02 mg/dL (2.0 mmol/L) was 64.9%. There was a 32% decrease in median cost before and after PCT implementation, even with the length of stay remaining at 5 days in both time periods. Conclusions There was a significant decrease after the implementation of PCT in cost of hospitalization compared to costs before implementation. This cost is highly correlated with length of stay; neither the hospital nor the intensive care unit length of stay showed a difference with before and after implementation. There was a positive correlation between lactic acid and PCT values. PCT values had a higher predictive usefulness than the lactic acid values.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartono Gunadi ◽  
Rini Sekartini ◽  
Retno Asti Werdhani ◽  
Ardi Findyartini ◽  
Muhammad Arvianda Kevin Kurnia

Background Immunization is recognized as one of the strategiesto reduce vaccine preventable diseases. Competency related toimmunization are consequently important for medical students andthe medical school needs to assure the competence acquisition.Objective To assess competence related to immunization andits retention following lectures with simulations compared tolectures only.Methods A quasi-experimental study was conducted to the 5th yearstudents of University of Indonesia Medical School during the ChildAdolescent Health Module in 2012-2013. The intervention grouphad lectures with simulations and the control group had lecturesonly. Immunization knowledge was assessed with a 30 multiplechoice question (MCA) items performed before and after themodule. Competence retention was assessed by MCQ (knowledge)and OSCE (skills) 2-6 months afterwards.Results Sixty eight subjects for each group with similarcharacteristics were analyzed. There was significant differenceafter module MCQ score between two groups. Competenceretention in 2-6 months after module completion was betterin intervention group, both for the knowledge (median MCQscore of 70.00 (range 37-93) vs. mean score of 58.01 (SD 12.22),respectively; P<0.001) and skill (OSCE mean scores of 75.21 (SD10.74) vs. 62.62 (SD 11.89), respectively; P < 0.001). Proportionof subjects in the intervention group who passed both the MCQand OSCE were also significantly greater.Conclusion Lectures with simulations are proved to bemore effective in improving medical students’ immunizationcompetence as well as its retention compared to lectures onlyapproach.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Muhammad Taukhid

Background : Fatigue is feeling tired physically, psychologically, cognitively perceived cancer patients while undergoing therapies for the disease, including chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in the level of fatigue in cancer patients between before and after aerobic exercise combined with relaxation techniques of yoga. Methods :  This study used Quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group in patients with breast cancer in the course of chemotherapy. The sampling methods used purposive sampling. The fatigue level was collected by subjective instruments Pipper Fatigue Scale (PFS), and then analyzed by the Independent and Dependent T test, and multivariate analysis used linear regression with a significance value of α 0.05. Results :  There were differences in the level of fatigue post-test between the intervention group and the control group with a difference of 1.25 (p = 0.013). History of previous exercise may explain the 17.8% level of fatigue that occurs in patients with breast cancer in the course of chemotherapy, the rest was explained by other variables. Conclusion : There were a decrease in the level fatigue statistically, however clinically the level of fatigue remain the same catagories.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enikő Kovács ◽  
Zsigmond Máté Jenei ◽  
Katalin Csordás ◽  
Gábor Fritúz ◽  
Balázs Hauser ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Proper basic life support (BLS) is key in improving the survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. BLS skills deteriorate in three to 6 months after training. One method to improve skill retention may be using the “testing effect” to test skills at the end of a BLS course. The aim of our study was to investigate whether either testing or the timing of such testing after BLS training have any influence on skill retention. Methods This was a post-test only, partial coverage, prospective quasi-experimental study designed to evaluate a BLS training course among 464 fifth year medical students at Semmelweis University in the first semester of 2013/2014. Groups were systematically but non-randomly assigned to either a control group that took no exam or one of two experimental groups that took an exam (N = 179, NoExam group; N = 165, EndExam group – exam at the end of the BLS training; N = 120, 3mExam group – exam 3 months after the BLS training). The ability to perform ten prescribed essential BLS steps was evaluated during a skill retention assessment 2 months after the course in the NoExam, 2 months after the course (and the exam) in the EndExam and 5 months after the course (2 months after the exam) in the 3mExam group to measure skill retention and the effect of our intervention. Scores were calculated for each BLS step, and also summed up as a total score. We used Kruskal-Wallis test to assess differences in skill retention. Results Overall, NoExam and EndExam groups showed similar skill retention. The mean total score (and many of the sub-scores) of students was significantly higher in the 3mExam group compared to both the NoExam and the EndExam groups, and there was no difference in the total score (and many of the sub-scores) of the latter two groups. The 3mExam group had less variability in total scores (and many of the sub-scores) than the other two groups. Conclusion Our study provides evidence that testing these skills 3 months after BLS training may be more effective than either testing immediately at the end of the course or no testing at all.


Author(s):  
Natércia Almeida ◽  
Andreia Teixeira ◽  
José Garcia ◽  
Natália Martins ◽  
Carla Ramalho

Background and objectives: Sex education is a necessity and a right of young people in Angola. However, this education is deficient or even absent in various subsystems and, therefore, the impact of an educational intervention on human biology and sexuality was addressed. Materials and methods: This quasi-experimental study employed a non-equivalent control group, pre-test post-test design. It was conducted with students from three secondary schools (6th to 12th grade, two public and one private) in Huambo (Angola), between June and December 2017. First, a questionnaire was distributed to assess the students’ knowledge on aspects related to sexual maturation, psychological development, gynecological organs’ anatomy, human fertilization, contraception, and risks of unprotected sexuality. Then, an educational program was developed by the principal investigator along with the school’s moral and civic education and biology teachers selected for a group of students (experimental group, EG); the others constituted the control group (CG). Classes were held on non-working days, on Saturday mornings (8:00 to 10:00 a.m.), so as not to interfere with the school calendar. The initial questionnaire was redistributed two months later to assess the impact of the intervention. Results: Of the 589 individuals included (mean age of 16.8 ± 2.5 years), 56.7% were males. EG (n = 241) consisted of students from the public school and CG (n = 348) by students from public and private schools. The last part of the questionnaire consisted of 30 questions to assess students’ knowledge, and in 23 of these questions, both groups showed no differences at baseline. After the intervention, the EG showed significant improvements (p < 0.05), while the CG revealed only slight improvements. Conclusions: Students from Huambo province have a significant lack of knowledge on human biology and sexuality. Rigorous development and evaluation of interventions addressing multiple individual and environmental level factors is needed, notably for effective education in human biology and sexuality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martelize Gropp ◽  
Ensa Johnson ◽  
Juan Bornman ◽  
Rajinder Koul

Background: Communication in the intensive care setting (ICS) is critical for both the patient and the medical staff to provide efficient care and thus alleviate possible patient adverse effects. Persons with complex communication needs are particularly vulnerable in ICSs and therefore require additional communication support.Aim: This study focused on the perspectives of nurses about communication with patients with communication needs in ICSs using paper-based communication boards, namely the translated Vidatak EZ Board, before and after a training session.Setting: A 1650-bed public hospital with a 26-bed ICS in a semi-urban, low socio-economic area in South Africa served as the research setting.Methods: A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test group design with withdrawal and a control group was used. Data were gathered using a custom-designed questionnaire completed by ICS nurse participants recruited from a public hospital.Results: Responses of some nurses did not change in post-test 1, but their responses did change in post-test 2. Some of the nurses’ perspectives changed, as expected from the pre-test to post-test 1. Nurses recommended specific adaptations to the communication board.Conclusions: Most nurses agreed that communication is crucial in ICSs and that a communication board can be implemented; however, limited success was observed implementing the board following a short training. The inter-professional collaboration between nurses and speech-language therapists to provide optimal health care to patients in ICS is emphasised.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-146
Author(s):  
Sunardi Sunardi ◽  
Renidayati Renidayati

The increasing number of the elderly causes complex problems for the elderly, families and communities. Physiological and psychological changes make the elderly feel useless, experience decreased motivation and independence. One of the efforts to increase the independence of the elderly in order to remain qualified is the application of therapeutic modalities in the form of occupational therapy and group psychotherapy. This study aims to determine the changes in the independence of the elderly before and after Ocupasi therapy and Group Psychotherapy at PSTW Sabai Nan Aluih Sic Cincin, Padang Pariaman Regency. The study used a quantitative approach with "Quasi Experimental pre and post test with control group which was held from March to November 2019. The study sample was 63 elderly people who were taken by purposive sampling." The research instrument used the Katz AD Index. Data analysis used Paired sample t-test and Independent t test. The increase in the average independence of the dementia elderly was greater in the elderly who were given Ocupasi therapy and Group Psychotherapy by 18.83 compared to those who received Ocupasi therapy of 7,121. Conclusion The elderly who received occupational therapy and group psychotherapy experienced an increase in independence compared to the elderly who only received occupational therapy. It is recommended that nursing home nurses receive occupational therapy training modified with group psychotherapy and that the training module needs to be improved.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Yosefin Candra Erladini

Abstract-The present study was motivated by the author’s eagerness to investigate the effectiveness about  techniques of puzzle games in understanding the concept when learning social sciene at Junior High School of 40 Bandung. This research was aimed to explain the ability of understanding the concept when learning social sciene before and after applying the techniques of puzzle games, explaining the effect from techniques of puzzle games when learning social sciene, and showing the effectiveness from techniques of puzzle games when learning social sciene. The study employed quasi experimental study with the design of pretest-posttest control group. According to hypothesis test showed the difference between the ability of understanding the concept social sciene at experimental class and the capability at controlled class, after the experimental class being given techniques of puzzle games treatment when learning social sciene. Consequently, it can be conclude that implementing the techniques of puzzle games was really effective to be used in understanding the concept when learning social sciene.Keywords: Techniques of puzzle games, The understanding of concept, Sosial sciene.


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