University Students’ Classroom Emotional Climate and Attitudes during and after COVID-19 Lockdown

With the advent of COVID-19, universities around the world have been forced to move to a fully online mode of delivery because of lockdown policies. This led to a flurry of studies into issues such as internet access, student attitudes to online learning and mental health during lockdown. However, researchers need a validated survey for assessing the classroom emotional climate and student attitudes towards learning in universities that can be used for online, face-to-face or blended delivery. Such a survey could be used to illuminate students’ perceptions of the experiences that make up learning at university level, in terms of such factors as care from teachers, collaboration and motivation. In this article, we report the validation of a University Classroom Emotional Climate (UCEC) questionnaire and an Attitudes to Learning scale, as well as their use in comparing the classroom emotional climate and attitudes during COVID-19 lockdown (fully online delivery) with post-lockdown (mixed-mode delivery). Female students experienced the post-lockdown condition significantly more positively than during lockdown for all scales except Care, while the only significant difference for males between the during and post-lockdown was their choice to engage with learning (Control) and the degree of Challenge that they found with the learning materials.

Burning up and burning out. Human Sustainability in a Time of Emotional Climate Change

The world is focused on countering climate change to guarantee our survival. But as our planet burns up, we are burning out. The costs of mental health disorders dwarf those of climate change and yet do not get commensurate attention from global leaders. Health care providers and organizations have acted first but need support of the financial markets and public decision-makers. In this paper, we argue that the economic and social toll of mental health and wellbeing issues deserve equal attention from business and public leaders because Human Sustainability is as important as Environmental Sustainability for our ability to endure and thrive as a species in harmony with others.

Specificity of the affective sphere of spouses with higher and lower levels of transgression

Within the understanding of psychotransgressionism, personality is a network of five equipollent psychons: cognitive, instrumental, motivational, emotional and personal. The strength of the individual psychons lies at the basis of the tendency to undertake transgressive actions of a pro-development nature. In the presented research, we focused on the affective sphere of spouses as a manifestation of the functioning of one of the psychons – emotional. The analysis of the results obtained confirmed the assumed hypothesis. Spouses with a higher level of transgression were characterized by a greater positive affective shift than spouses with a lower level of transgression. The emotional climate brought into mutual relations by spouses with a higher level of transgression may foster building satisfying and stable marital relationships.

“What do you think people feel?” Emotional climate during a pandemic: Adaptation and validation of a scale

Our study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of an instrument to assess emotional climate during the COVID-19 pandemic using a sample of 601 Portuguese individuals. Two sub-samples were created, one to perform an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), composed of 300 participants, and the other to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), composed of 301 individuals. Two factors were found: positive and negative emotional climate. In the EFA, both factors established a negative and significant correlation. However, the CFA presented a better fit with two independent factors. Reliability analysis indicated acceptable values for both dimensions. There was also evidence of discriminant, convergent, and criterion validity. More negative emotions were perceived regarding the social climate. Results were discussed in the frame of different positive and negative psychosocial variables related to positive and negative emotional climates, as well as positive emotional climate as a resource for collective resilience.

Expressed Emotion and Attributions in Parents With Schizophrenia

We examined expressed emotion (EE) and attributions in parents with schizophrenia and compared them to parents without serious mental illness (SMI) in order to better understand the emotional climate of families in which a parent has schizophrenia. Parenting practices and parental reports of child behavior were also compared between the two groups. The relationship of EE to attributions was examined in each group separately. Relationships between parental mental health, EE, and attributions were explored in the parents with schizophrenia only. The Camberwell Family Interview was used to determine both EE and attributions in 20 parents with schizophrenia and 20 parents without SMI. We found that more parents with schizophrenia were rated as high EE than those without (60 and 35%, respectively) although this was not a statistically significant difference. Parents with schizophrenia demonstrated significantly more hostility and criticism toward their children than those without SMI and made more child-blaming attributions. Blame was associated with increased hostility, less warmth, and fewer positive remarks. Parental warmth was related to greater parenting self-efficacy, less harsh parenting practices, better child behavior, and a more positive parent–child relationship. We conclude that EE and attributions are potential explanatory variables to be considered in the development of preventative and early intervention strategies for families with a parent with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder. Blame and warmth are modifiable factors that could be targeted within family and parenting interventions.

Human resources in a healthcare institution as the management efficacy improvement factor

The article analyzes the current HR of the local healthcare organization. There was carried a SWOT-analysis of personnel management has been out, disclosed the main problems of the management system of a medical institution. Development strategies and an algorithm for improving personnel policy are formulated in order to increase the efficiency of management and the quality of medical care to the population.Purpose of the study. Is to analyze the current personnel policy, SWOT-analysis of personnel management, develop a strategies and set of practical recommendations for improving the management system of a public health institution while ensuring high quality medical services to the population.Materials and methods. An analysis of the personnel policy in a phthisiatric institution (Makeevka Municipal TB Dispensary, Donetsk region) was carried out, the heads of the main structural divisions were questioned. The analysis results are structured using the SWOT scale.Results. Based on the results of the sociological survey, the main advantages and disadvantages of personnel policy were identified, a SWOT analysis matrix was drawn up, and strategies for the development of a budgetary healthcare institution were developed. The breakthrough strategy is based on improving the material and technical base, attracting funding and investment, increasing the speed and quality of TB care at the regional level using information technology, while the survival strategy is based on increasing the income of health workers, social protection, improving working conditions and developing personnel motivation systems. The main recommendations include increasing the number of employees, creating a strategy for the formation of qualified personnel, improving the quality of the working environment, creating a favorable psycho-emotional climate, and developing an effective system of incentive payments.Conclusion. The medical industry is in dire need of modernization in order to improve personnel processes, financial, economic and regulatory support. The conducted research and developed recommendations will have a beneficial effect on the achievement of the main strategic goal - improving the health and quality of life of the population of the state.

A survey on perception of homoeopathic undergraduate students towards learning environment in an Indian scenario

Background and aims – This research was an attempt to understand the views of students of homoeopathic undergraduate schools in West Bengal, India and to identify areas of strength and weakness in the learning environment. Methodology – An institutional, cross-sectional, observational study was carried out involving 430 students in May, 2013 in two Government homoeopathic medical colleges in West Bengal, India. A seven-item close-ended questionnaire with four point Likert scale was used to determine students’ perceptions of the learning environment, intellectual climate and teacher-student relationship in homoeopathic schools. The questionnaire generated seven subscales – flexibility, student to student interaction, emotional climate, supportiveness, meaningful experience, organization, and breadth of interest. Results – 46.5% of students belonged to rural areas and Bengali was the mother tongue of 93.7% students. 39.5% preferred Bengali as the medium of instruction and group study was preferable to 77.9% students. 47.7% students were dissatisfied with the teaching process and 79.8% preferred the use of multimedia over conventional classroom teaching. Flexibility remained low (mean=1.9, SD=0.9); meaningful experience (theoretical teaching) score was high (mean=2.6, SD=0.9). Scores did not vary significantly (P>0.05) across the pre-clinical and clinical students, but few subscales produced significant differences individually among students of different years. Internal consistency scores of the scale remained questionable (Cronbach’s α 0.310-0.446); however, the scale showed acceptable test-retest reliability (Cohen’s κ 0.680-0.838). Conclusions – This study emphasized the areas requiring improvement in homoeopathic school environment based on students’ perspective. Changes in curriculum, faculty and infrastructure should be planned to improve students’ satisfaction.

Moral and psychological state of the company as an example of effective management

In today's world, the process of developing and updating the concept of personnel management continues. Management methods, tools and technologies are being improved, innovative management technologies are being approved. Increasingly, the staff of the organization is seen as a base for the formation of its competitive advantages. Of particular importance is the environment in which the employee is. Moral and psychological atmosphere, psychological and emotional climate in the organization, formed and maintained corporate culture of the organization are components of the success of the organization, its competitive advantages, and, at the same time, an indicator of effective management. The relevance of the study is that in times of rapid technology development, in the pursuit of innovation, constant reorganization of the organization, the desire to make the employee more efficient and productive, the line of understanding between proactivity and employee productivity is lost. All this has a negative impact on productivity, physical and mental health, especially in difficult post-covid times. The main purpose of the proposed study is to analyze the importance of moral, psychological and psycho-emotional state of the organization as components of management. To achieve this goal, the following tasks are set: to give examples of traditional and innovative methods of personnel management, to prove the need to update the modern concept of management; show the components of a favorable moral, psychological and psycho-emotional climate of the organization, ways of their formation and diagnosis; to reveal the content and significance of corporate culture as a tool for managing the organization; show the effectiveness of innovative socio-psychological methods and technologies in the management of organizational behavior as team building, emotional intelligence, corporate humor, etc .; on the example of domestic and foreign experience to prove the need to restore the psycho-emotional health of employees in modern covid and post-covid times. Modern socio-psychological methods of management are generalized, the expediency of their application in the management of the organization is substantiated. A list of traditional and innovative methods of influencing staff, including foreign experience of management innovations. The components of a favorable moral-psychological and psycho-emotional climate of the organization, methods of their formation and diagnosis are determined. Special attention is paid to such innovative personal technologies as corporate culture, team building, emotional intelligence, corporate humor. The need to restore the psycho-emotional health of employees of the organization in modern covid times of fasting has been demonstrated by the example of foreign experience. It is concluded that the focus of management should be on the corporate well-being and psychological health of employees, psycho-emotional recovery and support in difficult times of the pandemic. The topic of finding solutions to the problem of psychological fatigue and excessive stress of employees, the search for new tools and technologies to restore psycho-emotional health in the post-pandemic period.

Levels of Academic Leaders’ Emotional Intelligence, Team Emotional Climate & Team Member Job Satisfaction

The study intended to examine leaders’ emotional intelligence, emotional work climate and job satisfaction among several teams of higher educational institutes. A few studies have examined the effects of these variables but seldom studies existed which examined the level of these variables. The aim of this study was to find out the difference between the true mean and the comparison value. Questionnaire survey of 30 team leaders and 120 team members was conducted. The paper applied one sample t-test using the SPSS 20 software to test the hypothesis. The study found out that there is a slight difference between the true mean and the comparison value. Although the difference is statistically significant but not large enough to be practically significant. Therefore, the subjects recruited were treated as normal.

Strengthening and Supporting the School Communities: A Case of Regional Schools in Lithuania

The paper discusses how the school microclimate could be improved within the school community, based on the results of a research carried out in 15 regional schools in Lithuania. The analysis is specifically focused on how the school community could be strengthened by improving the relationship between teachers and schools’ administration. Following the methodology of the thematic analysis, the paper highlights key issues which might be important to reconsider the formation of a positive relationship, internal communication, democratization of governance, reduction of competition between teachers, strengthening the confidence in the teacher, respect for each other as well as fostering an open, tolerant culture. The results of the research indicate the need to strengthen collaboration and engagement-based community: a need to develop a participatory culture, to develop teachers’ support systems, to rethink how to involve parents more actively into the school life, to ensure more effective feedback system (teachers-administration-parents). The paper also highlights a need to improve the emotional climate of schools, to develop clear guidelines for evaluating teachers’ activities, to ensure smooth internal communication, informing and involving teachers about planned changes, and allowing all members of the community to feel part of the organization, not only by informing about the activities being carried out, but also by enabling critical opinions to be expressed; to form different working groups involving different educators (e. g. primary school and subject teachers) on different issues of school performance development.