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BackgroundAlthough previous research shows broad differences in the impact of online health information on patient-practitioner decision making, specific research is required to identify and conceptualize patient decision-making styles related to the use of online health information and to differentiate segments according to the influence of online information on patient decision making and interactions with health professionals. ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate patients’ decision making in relation to online health information and interactions with health care practitioners. We also aimed to present a typology of patients based on significant differences in their decision making. MethodsWe applied a large-scale cross-sectional research design using a survey. Data, generated using a questionnaire that was administered by companies specializing in providing online panels, were collected from random samples of baby boomers in the United Kingdom, the United States, and New Zealand. The total sample comprised 996 baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964, who had used the internet in the previous 6 months to search for and share health-related information. Data were analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, as well as one-way analysis of variance, chi-square tests, and paired sample t tests. ResultsAnalyses identified 3 key decision-making styles that served as the base for 4 unique and stable segments of patients with distinctive decision-making styles: the Collaborators (229/996, 23.0%), the Autonomous-Collaborators (385/996, 38.7%), the Assertive-Collaborators (111/996, 11.1%), and the Passives (271/996, 27.2%). Profiles were further developed for these segments according to key differences in the online health information behavior, demographics, and interactional behaviors of patients. The typology demonstrates that collaborative decision making is dominant among patients either in its pure form or in combination with autonomous or assertive decision making. In other words, most patients (725/996, 72.8%) show significant collaboration in their decision making with health care professionals. However, at times, patients in the combination Autonomous-Collaborative segment prefer to exercise individual autonomy in their decision making, and those in the combination Assertive-Collaborative segment prefer to be assertive with health professionals. Finally, this study shows that a substantial number of patients adopt a distinctly passive decision-making style (271/996, 27.2%). ConclusionsThe patient typology provides a framework for distinguishing practice-relevant and addressable segments with important implications for health care practitioners, including better-targeted communication programs for patients and more successful outcomes for health care services in the long term.

Women and U.S. racial/ethnic minority students are underrepresented in engineering graduate education and engineering practice. Demographic homogeneity in engineering research teams can negatively affect individuals, innovation, and research outcomes. Thus, it is important to explore factors that influence student intentions to complete engineering degrees, particularly for groups historically underrepresented in engineering. Social Cognitive Career Theory guided the development of new items to evaluate self-efficacy, feeling welcome and included, relationship with principal investigator, and research group environment. Results with 295 engineering graduate students found that female sex, engineering self-efficacy, and feeling welcome and included were independently positively associated with commitment to complete an engineering degree. Feeling welcome and included operated 30% through self-efficacy and 70% directly. The effects of female sex were unmediated by self-efficacy. Results suggest that proximal and distal contextual factors may operate independently from self-efficacy to influence retention in graduate engineering programs.

This paper shares the experience of a group of academic developers' engagement in collaboratively working towards the completion of an online open-access professional development (PD) course designed to support higher education teachers to engage with a new professional development framework. Committee members of the "Educational Developers in Ireland Network" set out to complete the course as a demonstration of their commitment to their own PD and to experience the process with a view to becoming facilitators of the course. An auto-ethnographic approach was used to capture this experience, and findings demonstrate an inspiring alternative to PD that supports academic developers in the quest to legitimise and prioritise their own PD in the context of highly pressurised roles.

The present study surveyed 970 Americans during the first two weeks of May 2020 to explore the science communication environment and the factors related to COVID-19 risk assessment and compliance with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 mitigation strategies. We asked respondents about the media sources used to seek information about the COVID-19 pandemic, their political identity, and general level of scientific intelligence as well as their COVID-19 specific intelligence. Controlling for demographic factors and ordinary science knowledge, we demonstrated that ordinary science COVID-19 intelligence, risk assessment, and mainstream media use were positively related to compliance with CDC guidelines for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Democrats' risk perception remained at a significantly higher level than Republicans, regardless of whether they tuned in to liberal sources, conservative sources, or conservative radio/podcast shows. All media sources used for seeking COVID-19 information significantly boosted Republican-leaners' risk perception level but that level of risk assessment never reached that of the Democrats in the sample. Independent voters decreased their compliance when using liberal media and increased their compliance when using conservative media, rejecting the more extreme positions of these media. Even occasionally listening to conservative radio/podcasts significantly decreased Democratic compliance with the public health guidelines. From the beginning of the pandemic, a polluted science communication environment was exacerbated by polarized media discussions of COVID-19, making it difficult for the public to recognize valid science, assess risk, and follow scientifically based disease mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Student voice agendas have been slow to permeate higher educational institutions. Curricula in universities, like those in primary and secondary education, are still usually made for students by teachers who, while they may have the best interests of the students in mind, rarely if ever engage students in curriculum decision-making. The need for more equitable, dialogic and democratic engagement by students is particularly relevant in the context of teacher education. It has been argued that pre-service teachers should experience democratic practices during their teacher education experiences in order to have the confidence, knowledge and skills to support democratic opportunities in schools. Purpose: Through the participatory action research project described in this paper we sought to position pre-service teachers as pedagogical consultants who would design feedback strategies, gather feedback with faculty and co-construct physical education teacher education (PETE) curricula. We saw this process as a democratic possibility that might create opportunities for pre-service teachers to critique and transform their own educational experiences. In this paper we detail the process we used to support dialogue about teaching and learning between students and faculty members and draw on the perspectives of the students, pedagogical consultant, lecturer and teaching and learning advocate involved in this project. Participants and setting: The project was undertaken with one cohort (77) of pre-service teachers during the final year of a four-year undergraduate PETE programme in an Irish university and focuses on the democratization of one PETE course. Data collection: Data were generated with and by the pre-service teachers, the pedagogical consultant, the lecturer and the regional teaching and learning advocate. The primary data collection methods were interviews and observation. Data analysis: The data were reviewed repeatedly looking for patterns, themes, regularities, paradoxes, variations, nuances in meaning and constraints [Rubin and Rubin 1995. "Qualitative Interviewing. The art of Hearing Data." London: Sage]. The authors coded all data sets independently using constant comparison [Glaser 1965. "The Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis." Social Problems 12 (4): 436-445] and then shared their processes and subsequent codes. Our analysis engages Greene's [1988. "The Dialectic of Freedom." New York: Teachers College Press] dialectical theory, to explore how naming and holding the tensions involved in this research and pedagogical enterprise was not stultifying but generative. Findings: Three key dialectics were constructed from the data: student-- teacher, critical reflection--learning and responsibility--accountability. We speak to each of these themes from the perspectives of the students, the pedagogical consultant and the lecturer who participated in this project. Discussion and conclusion: Our discussion turns to the challenges and benefits associated with the pursuit and realization of democratic possibilities in PETE.

A coordinated, evidence-based approach to teaching awards in higher education at institutional level has developed over the past decade in Ireland. Some research has suggested that teaching awards create substantial benefits in higher education by motivating and recognising excellent teachers. However, not all of the literature favours the existence of teaching award systems. The experience of participating in a teaching award system has rarely been captured or subjected to analysis or reflection. Specifically, there has been very little discussion in the literature about what individual academics derive from participating in an award process. This paper explores the benefits and tensions of participating in a regional teaching award process. The analysis provides insights relating to the expected and unexpected benefits and tensions associated with that experience. It also aims to inform academic developers about the enablers that supported participants through the process.

Workplace bullying is a significant problem in many adult work settings. Much of the research has been conducted by organizational psychologists. It is important for vocational scholars and practitioners to be knowledgeable about the phenomena of workplace bullying, as they are in a position to contribute to the literature base and to counsel perpetrators and targets of workplace bullying. Further, integration of workplace bullying constructs may improve the predictive ability of vocational theories. The authors discuss research findings related to workplace bullying that are relevant to the field of vocational psychology and formulate recommendations for both research and practice. Research on workplace bullying by vocational scholars could lead to a better understanding of individual career development and improved worker interventions.

Career counselors' multicultural competence has not been widely investigated. In this study, a national sample of 230 career counselors completed an online survey that included measures of career counseling self-efficacy and multicultural counseling competence. Beyond these self-report instruments, counselors responded to open-ended items that requested specific examples of their actual multicultural counseling practices. Results indicated that counselors rated themselves as multi-culturally competent, but those ratings were more closely linked to general career counseling self-efficacy than to external evaluations of their self-reported multi-cultural counseling practices. Findings also reinforced the importance of training and experience in developing multicultural competence. (Contains 3 tables.)

This article describes the development and validation of the Family Influence Scale (FIS). The FIS is designed to assess perceptions of how one's family of origin influences career and work choices. The purpose of Study 1 was to identify the domains of family influence. A 57-item scale was completed by a sample of 205 college students. Results supported a 32-item four-factor measure. The purpose of Study 2 was to refine the initial scale's items and examine construct validity using a larger and more diverse sample (n = 537). Results supported a four-factor solution composed of the following sub-scales: Informational Support, Financial Support, Family Expectations, and Values/Beliefs. Findings also provided support for the internal consistency and construct validity of the scale. (Contains 3 tables.)

This research draws on the experiences of a group of tertiary teachers who compiled a multi-purpose portfolio as an assessment component of a postgraduate certificate in tertiary teaching at a New Zealand University. The research was initially undertaken in response to feedback from some of the participants that the experience of compiling a portfolio generated intense emotions. The data for this study were the retrospective reflections of the tertiary teachers on the experience of creating a portfolio as well as the portfolios themselves. The authors chose a narrative research methodology as an appropriate way to investigate a process that essentially involved the storying of the participants' achievements and identities as tertiary teachers. The findings revealed that some participants felt uncomfortable about the blend of the formative (or developmental) and summative (or evaluative) functions of the multi-purpose portfolio and that producing the portfolio evoked a range of complex emotions. These findings have led to the reformulation of the portfolio task.

In this reaction to Diemer and Ali's article, "Integrating Social Class Into Vocational Psychology: Theory and Practice Implications," the authors point out concerns with binary schema of social class, highlight the contribution of social class to the social cognitive career theory, argue for a more nuanced look at ways that work provides social mobility in the United States, and note the need to integrate social class with other contextual variables.

This research examined communication and parent-adolescent understanding, including understanding about family conflicts, adolescent self-concepts, and immediate thoughts (or "empathic accuracy"). Fifty parent-adolescent triads completed questionnaires, held a discussion, and reported on immediate thoughts during the discussion using video-assisted recall methods. Alternative measures of understanding produced distinct results. Parental understanding of the child's self-concept was associated with frequent and open communication, high parent-child relationship satisfaction, and a strong child self-concept. Parental understanding of conflict perceptions was associated with high conformity and low relationship satisfaction. Parental understanding of the immediate thoughts of children was quite low overall and was not consistently related to communication, relationship satisfaction, or child self-concept. The results suggest that alternative measures of understanding reflect different family processes.

A review of British research on effective teaching of able students leads to a report on the Oxfordshire Effective Teachers of Able Pupils Project. This study found effective teachers shared similar beliefs about learning, had empathy with the needs of able children, created a secure classroom environment, held high expectations, used encouragement and praise, and stressed humor and fun. (Contains references.) (DB)

Reviews research on marital communication conducted during the 1980s. Notes increasing emphasis on attempting to identify factors that mediate relation between marital communication and satisfaction. Sees development of sophisticated technological and statistical procedures in 1980s enabling researchers to use multiple methods and obtain different perspectives on same interaction. (Author/NB)

Calls into question the assumption that family members share a common view of communication norms which underlies the widely used Family Communication Patterns (FCP) instrument. Presents empirical evidence of systematic intrafamilial disagreement on communication norms. (SR)

Introduces a special issue of "Communication Research," which examines (both quantitatively and qualitatively) how processes within individuals influence communication within marital and family life. (SR)