This study was an investigation of the relationship between past and present learning experiences of first-year college students and of how the psychological capital and academic self-efficacy they had accrued from past learning experiences were correlated with their current learning engagement. Longitudinal data were collected to examine how students’ learning experiences in high school impacted their learning in college. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping techniques were employed in data analysis. Results indicated that psychological capital and academic self-efficacy functioned as mediators between students’ past learning experience and present learning engagement. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of these two psychological constructs and suggest that postsecondary institutions should provide learning environments that support these factors to ensure student success.
In recent years, COVID-19 has led to a blossoming of online counseling (OC) as an important and alternative way to help people in need. In this regard, the present study aims to explore and clarify therapists' practical implementation and preparation of OC in the post-pandemic era by developing scales. In total, 306 Taiwanese licensed therapists participated in this study and filled out the developed scales (75 males and 231 females, 246 of whom have provided OC to clients). The psychometric analysis revealed that the two scales developed in this study, the implementation of OC scale and the preparation of OC scale, have positive reliability and validity. The former consists of three factors: standardized process, presence of infrastructure, and similarity in practice, and the latter comprises two factors: intent to conduct OC and perceived benefits for clients. In addition, the results indicated that therapists who are elder, more experienced, or working in community mental health facilities showed better practical implementation and preparation of OC. Findings from this study carry useful reference for strengthening therapists' preparation for and the effectiveness of OC.
The purpose of this study is to develop a tool that can measure the educational well-being of elementary school students and to analyze the fit of the developed instrument. The measurement tool was based on four levels which include: (1) parents’ support, (2) teachers’ care, (3) students’ care in school, and (4) peer cooperation. It also had eight facets which include: (1) basic need, (2) family companionship, (3) happy learning, (4) teacher-student interaction, (5) safety protection, (6) school rules, (7) peer learning, and (8) peer interaction. The participants of this study were grades 5 and 6 students in Taiwan. Pre-testing with 197 grade 6 students was done to assess the validity and reliability of the developed scale. For the formal study, a total of 960 grade 6 students and 834 grades 5 and 6 students were recruited to join. The data collected underwent item analysis, reliability estimation, and confirmatory factor analysis. The results of the analyses were as follows: (1) the confirmatory factor analysis supported the four latent factors of the educational well-being scale; (2) the Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.73 to 0.89 for the elementary school students; (3) the cross-validation analysis with split-half samples implies that the study had a well-constructed stability model and that the scale had construct validity; and (4) the average scores of grade 5 students on the 8 facets and their overall score on educational well-being were all significantly higher than that of grade 6 students. Finally, several suggestions were proposed for future studies based on the results obtained.
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