Purpose: This study develops and investigates the changes in anxiety symptoms and quality of life (QoL) among participants of the online Strength-informed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (SACT) across three tests. Methods: A small-scale, quasi-experiment with no control group was conducted. Repeated-measures analysis was employed to assess the changes of the three tests, which were the pre-experimental, post-test, and 3-month follow-up test. A total of 47 adolescents (ages 10–12) completed the 45-min intervention that lasted 10 weeks. Results: Compared with the pre-experimental, the post-test indicated significant anxiety symptoms reduction but not a statistically significant increase in QoL. The 3-month follow-up test indicated reduced anxiety symptoms and improved QoL compared with the pre-experimental. The with-in subject changes were substantial. Conclusions: The online SACT is a promising model to reduce anxiety symptoms and promote QoL among adolescents during the current COVID-19 pandemic, which show both short- and long-term benefit to the participants.
The competency of social workers and social work students is pivotal. Using 931 social work undergraduates and social workers in China, the present study developed the Social Work Core Competency Inventory (SW-Core) to assess social work core competencies, and further examined its psychometric properties. This study comprised three phases. In the first phase, the ‘hierarchy competency model of social work’ was adopted as a framework to review the related literature. The six categories of competency and the corresponding item pool (fifty-five items) were constructed. In the second phase, six social work undergraduates, four Master of Social Work (MSW) students and ten social workers attended the semi-structural cognitive interviews. On the basis of their cognitive feedback and professional experience, eight core competencies were identified, and forty-seven items were retained. Finally, through exploratory factor analysis, a twenty-four-item eight-factor inventory was formulated among the first undergraduate sample (n = 315) that explained 75.87 per cent variances. The factor structure was further validated by a confirmatory factor analysis using the second undergraduate sample (n = 311). Results corroborated that the internal consistency of the eight subscales of the three samples ranged from 0.64 to 0.88. Furthermore, the multigroup confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the number of factors and factor loadings was invariant between genders, junior and senior students, and social work undergraduates and social workers. In sum, the twenty-four-item self-evaluative SW-Core was a valid measurement to assess the core competencies of social work. This also can be used as a tool to evaluate social work education in the future.
The Sickness Questionnaire (SicknessQ) is a 10-item inventory used to measure sickness-related symptoms. This study extended its psychometric properties in the Chinese context. A total of 992 clinical and non-clinical participants from three samples were included. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated a 9-item two-factor structure (mental and physical symptoms) of the Chinese version of Sickness Questionnaire (SicknessQ-C). The internal consistency of the two subscales in this instrument ranged from .71 to .85. The incremental and predictive validities of SicknessQ-C demonstrated that this instrument contributed more to explaining the variance of flourishing than the measurement of negative emotion symptoms.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected public health and the prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms among adults in Hubei Province, China. In this study, a total of 2,930 (662 males and 2,268 females) adults answered a questionnaire obtaining information on their demographics, posttraumatic stress symptoms (i.e., intrusion and avoidance), social media exposure, social media involvement, and self-efficacy. Results of the latent profile analysis identified four latent profiles of posttraumatic stress symptoms, which are, no symptoms, high intrusion–low avoidance, moderate symptoms, and high symptoms. The multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed the contributors to the posttraumatic stress symptoms subgroups. Adults with high social media involvement were classified into the high intrusion–low avoidance group, whereas adults with low self-efficacy were included in the moderate symptoms group. Meanwhile, adults with high social media involvement and low self-efficacy were included in the high symptoms group. Interventions may focus on decreasing social media involvement for the adults in the high Intrusion–low avoidance group, improving self-efficacy for the adults in the moderate symptoms group, and reducing social media involvement and improving self-efficacy for the adults in the high symptoms group.
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