Construction and validation of a classroom climate scale: a mixed methods approach     

Verónica López  Javier Torres-Vallejos  Paula Ascorra  Boris Villalobos-Parada  Marian Bilbao  René Valdés 《Learning Environments Research》2018,21(3):407-422

Students’ perceptions of their classroom climate have been found to relate significantly to students’ learning outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to construct an instrument for assessing elementary-school students’ perceptions of classroom climate, based on a previous instrument that was being used in Chile by a public national school mental health program as a tool for aiding teachers in improving classroom management, but which showed poor psychometric properties. We used a six-staged mixed-methods approach to construct relevant items and dimensions based on this measure and by adapting previously-existing scales. Item development included participatory construction of items involving program officials, focus groups with students, and a pilot study. The final version was administered to a sample of 6813 elementary-school students. Results showed adequate reliability and construct validity, convergent validity with school climate, and divergent validity with peer victimisation. When consequential validity was explored through semi-structured interviews with program officials and school administrators, we found that the instrument was being used as a tool for helping teachers to improve their school climate and management skills. We discuss the importance of constructing instruments using a mixed-methods approach.  相似文献   

Child extrafamilial sexual abuse: predicting parent and child functioning     

Ian Manion  Philip Firestone  Paula Cloutier  Malgorzata Ligezinska  Joanne McIntyre  Ron Ensom 《Child abuse & neglect》1998,22(12)

Objective: This study evaluated the emotional and behavioral adjustment of parents and children within 3 months and 1 year after the discovery of child extrafamilial sexual abuse.Method: Ninety-two case parents (63 mothers, 29 fathers) and 56 children were compared to a nonclinical comparison group of 136 parents (74 mothers, 62 fathers) and 75 children. Parent adjustment was assessed using self-report measures while child functioning was assessed using a combination of child-, parent- and teacher-report measures.Results: Mothers, fathers and sexually abused children experienced clinically significant effects both initially and at 12 months post-disclosure. Children’s perceptions of self-blame and guilt for the abuse and the extent of traumatization predicted their self-reported symtomatology at 3 months and 1 year post-disclosure. Child age and gender also significantly contributed to the prediction of many of the child outcome measures. No abuse-related variable was related to any child self-report measure. Mothers’ satisfaction in the parenting role, perceived support and intrusive symptoms predicted their initial emotional functioning. Avoidant symptoms, child’s internalizing behavior and mothers’ initial emotional functioning were significant predictors of longer-term emotional functioning.Conclusions: Results emphasize the need to address children’s abuse-related attributions and underscore the need to expand our focus beyond the child victims to the traumatized families.  相似文献   

Assessing the Impact of a Ceremony in Honor of the Body Donors in the Development of Ethical and Humanistic Attitudes among Medical Students     

Andrea Oxley da Rocha  Joao Lins Maués  Gabriel Antônio Flores Chies  Ana Paula da Silva 《Anatomical sciences education》2020,13(4):467-474

Activities related to body donation programs, such as donor memorial ceremonies, provide the opportunity to complement student training, especially with regard to the ethical and humanistic elements involved in medical training. This study sought to assess the impact of a ceremony in honor of the body donors has on ethical and humanistic attitudes in medical students. Medical students were surveyed about their perceptions of changes in themselves, respect for donors and donor families, and their relationship with patients. The effect of the students' contact with the family of the donor was analyzed in students who had contact with the cadaver in the dissection room and had either participated or not participated in the donor memorial ceremony. A total of 370 questionnaires were answered by first-, second-, and third-year medical students at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre in 2017. The students who participated in the ceremony presented more positive responses in relation to commitment to their studies, reflection on death, and positive development of empathy when compared to those who did not attend the ceremony. Most of the students that attended the ceremony suggested the event led to an improvement in the doctor–patient relationship. These results suggest that cadaver dissection with accompanied memorial ceremony involving contact with donor families is an effective means of fostering ethical and humanistic attitudes among medical students from the beginning of the course.  相似文献