Don't bother me: learning as a function of task autonomy and cognitive demands

Positive mental health literacy for teachers: adaptation and construct validation

Mental health promotion has been gaining recognition as an important teacher competency. Hence, it is imperative that teachers have adequate mental health literacy (MHL). However, most studies and programs on teacher MHL focus on teachers' knowledge of mental disorders, whereas very few have explored their knowledge of positive mental health, perhaps due to the lack of measures for this construct. In this study, we adapted and validated the Mental Health-Promoting Knowledge Scale (MHPKS), a measure of positive MHL, for teachers. We looked into its factor structure and examined its relationships with knowledge of mental disorders, and mental health and teaching-related outcomes. The sample included 470 Filipino preservice teachers. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the single-factor model of the MHPKS. Positive MHL was found to be positively associated with knowledge of mental disorders, well-being, teaching engagement, and teaching satisfaction. It predicted well-being, teaching engagement, and teaching satisfaction above and beyond the variance accounted for by knowledge of mental disorders, indicating construct validity. MHPKS is a valid tool that can be used to complement measures of knowledge of mental disorders for a more holistic assessment of teacher mental health knowledge.

Synergistic effect of autonomy and relatedness satisfaction on cognitive deconstruction

We connected self-determination theory (SDT) and escape theory to deepen the understanding of the antecedents of cognitive deconstruction by introducing autonomy and relatedness satisfaction. Based on three laboratory experiments, results showed a limited determining role of autonomy satisfaction (Experiment 1); however, the causal relationship strengthened when autonomy satisfaction was in conjunction with relatedness satisfaction (Experiments 2 and 3). Relatedness satisfaction constantly predicts all symptoms of cognitive deconstruction. Importantly, all independent explanatory powers of the two require satisfactions when explaining that the symptoms of cognitive deconstruction were qualified by their interaction terms. Regardless of relatedness satisfaction, autonomy satisfaction always positively relates to time orientation. The relationship between autonomy satisfaction and meaninglessness is only negative when relatedness satisfaction is low. The relationship between autonomy satisfaction and delayed gratification is only positive when relatedness satisfaction is high.

Intervention research and its influence on nonintervention research in human resource development

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify how intervention research weighed in nonintervention research in the field of human resource development (HRD) by examining the number, citation frequency and use of experimental studies in HRD academic journals.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 2,700 articles published between 1990 and 2014 from Advances in Developing Human Resources (ADHR), European Journal of Training and Development (EJTD), Human Resource Development International (HRDI) and Human Resource Development Quarterly (HRDQ) were reviewed and analyzed to identify 91 experimental studies in the field.

Findings

The total citation frequency of the 91 articles was 1,100 (14 from ADHR, 222 from EJTD, 56 from HRDI and 808 from HRDQ). The authors reviewed the 1,100 subsequent studies that cited 91 experimental research studies and coded them to identify the research methods that each article adopted and to determine whether the studies used the citation to make causal statements. As a result, the authors found 459 causal statements from 1,100 citations. In particular, they identified the citation frequency of the causal statements used in nonintervention research to examine how often nonintervention studies used causal statements from intervention studies.

Research limitations/implications

The results of the citation frequency could be different according to the search engines and timeframes. Books, technical reports, non-English studies, non-academic articles and inaccessible articles were not considered in this study. Theoretically, this study aimed to illuminate the magnitude of HRD experimental research conducted over 25 years and to what extent it influenced non-experimental studies. In addition, this study emphasized the importance of using the causal statements from experimental research to improve empirical validation in other studies.

Practical implications

When HRD practitioners need to identify alternative interventions to replace previous ones or to justify the use of specific interventions, they could consider causal statements from empirical studies as valid evidence. Further, HRD practitioners might collaborate with researchers to receive more direct and relevant information from experimental research.

Originality/value

Significantly, this study provides an integrative review of experimental research conducted in the field of HRD in terms of the number, citation frequency and proportion of using experimental research. An additional contribution is that it summarizes the research methods used in HRD studies over 25 years.