The perceptions of commune health workers about an education strategy received for counselling fathers about infant and breastfeeding involvement

Objective To evaluate the perceptions of healthcare workers in Vietnam about the efficacy of a continuing education strategy about father involvement and breastfeeding counselling. Design One group, post-test only, quasi-experimental design Method A questionnaire based on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT; Bandura, 2004) was disseminated to participants (N=28). This questionnaire measured self-efficacy, outcome expectations, socio-structural factors, goal setting and behaviour. Multiple regressions were analyzed predicting participants’ practice of client focused father involvement consulting. Results Bivariate correlations demonstrated the anticipated patterns of association between SCT-based constructs. Multiple regression analysis indicated that outcome expectations and barriers were significant predictors of client focused father involvement consulting. Conclusions Participants reported that the education increased their self-efficacy, outcome expectations and client focused father involvement consulting behaviour. Future education should be accessible, increase counselling confidence and address beliefs about the outcomes and challenges of father involvement consulting.

An Exploration of the Impact of Ontario Integrated Secondary Programs Through the Perceptions of their Graduates

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of participating in an integrated program at the secondary level on students’ lives based on their postsecondary perceptions. A basic interpretive qualitative design was employed in this study. Ten semistructured interviews were conducted with graduates of integrated program as the means of data collection. It was found that the integrated programs accomplished objectives in close alignment with the mandated curriculum expectations regarding integrated programs. Some of the most powerful impacts related to students' learning skills, such as collaboration and social skills, and how to create as well as participate in community. A strong connection between participating in integrated programs and vocational guidance was also identified. The results led to the recommendation that integrated programs be explored as a platform for delivering 21st century education as they closely paralleled the objectives prescribed by a number of authors who detailed the role of education in the 21st century.