Traducción, adaptación y validación del cuestionario OCFQ para medir las fallas cognitivas ocupacionales en el contexto cultural Colombiano, 2015.

Objetivos. El Objetivo general de este estudio es determinar si el Instrumento para evaluar las Fallas Cognitivas Ocupacionales (Occupational Cognitive Failures Questionnaire - OCFQ) desarrollado por Allahyari T. et al. (2011) , tiene validez transcultural y podría ser un Instrumento fiable y válido que se puede adaptar al contexto cultural Colombiano para la valoración de las Fallas Cognitivas en el ámbito laboral. Metodología. Se llevó a cabo la traducción, adaptación y validación del Cuestionario de Fallas Cognitivas Ocupacionales (OCFQ) al contexto cultural colombiano, siguiendo las recomendaciones de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) para el proceso de traducción y adaptación de instrumentos y posteriormente la evaluación de fiabilidad y validez del instrumento adaptado, en cuatro etapas: Etapa 1. Traducción - retro traducción, Etapa 2. “Debriefing” y Análisis de legibilidad, Etapa 3. Validez de contenido, usando el Índice de Validez de Contenido (CVI) y Etapa 4. Evaluación de propiedades métricas. Para la evaluación de Validez de Constructo se aplicó el Análisis Factorial por el Método de Componentes Principales y Rotación Varimax; la consistencia interna y la estabilidad temporal fueron evaluados mediante el Alpha de Cronbach (α) y el test-retest, respectivamente. Resultados. El Cuestionario OCFQ fue adaptado al contexto cultural Colombiano; el análisis de Legibilidad determinó que de acuerdo con el Grado en la escala Inflesz, el Cuestionario es Bastante Fácil de leer. Partiendo de la versión original de 30 ítems se obtuvo una nueva versión de 25 ítems, ya que después de la evaluación de Validez de Contenido se rechazaron 5 ítems. El Índice de Validez de Contenido (CVI) para la versión final del OCFQ adaptado es aceptable (CVI=0,84). Los resultados de las pruebas métricas muestran que la versión final del OCFQ adaptado tiene una buena Consistencia Interna (α=0.90) y el Índice de Correlación Interclases (ICC) fue de 0.91 mostrando una muy buena Estabilidad Temporal. El Análisis Factorial estableció para el Cuestionario OCFQ 4 factores que explican el 47% de la varianza total. Conclusión. La evaluación de las Fallas Cognitivas en el ámbito laboral requiere que se disponga de una herramienta válida y fiable. De acuerdo con los resultados en este estudio se puede establecer que el OCFQ adaptado al Contexto Cultural Colombiano podría ser un instrumento adecuado para medir las Fallas Cognitivas en el ámbito laboral en plantas industriales.

Actitudes hacia el VIH/SIDA, el cáncer y la enfermedad de Alzheimer

Esta revisión de la literatura tuvo como objetivo describir las actitudes hacia el VIH/SIDA, el cáncer y la Enfermedad de Alzheimer desde el modelo tripartito. Se revisaron 109 artículos publicados entre 2005 y 2015 en algunas bases de datos especializadas y herramientas de análisis de impacto. También se incluyeron fuentes secundarias ampliándose la búsqueda a los últimos 20 años (1995-2015). Los resultados mostraron que la mayoría de los estudios realizados sobre las actitudes hacia estas tres enfermedades son de tipo cuantitativo y la información se analizó con base en los componentes del modelo tripartito. Algunos aspectos sociodemográficos como el sexo y la edad están asociados con las actitudes hacia las tres enfermedades y predominan las creencias erróneas sobre ellas respecto a sus causas, curso y tratamiento. También predominan actitudes negativas hacia las tres enfermedades y las conductas e intenciones conductuales son diversas hacia cada una de ellas. No se hallaron antecedentes empíricos del estudio de la estructura de las actitudes propuesta por el modelo tripartito hacia las tres enfermedades. La Salud Pública ha liderado la investigación con base en el modelo de conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas propuesto por la OMS.

Liderazgo transformacional e inteligencias múltiples en empresas exitosas

En este trabajo se logra identificar una fuerte y positiva relación entre el liderazgo transformacional y la teoría de las inteligencias múltiples. Así pues, se ha encontrado que los líderes transformacionales usan, consiente o inconscientemente, la teoría de las inteligencias múltiples como herramienta para potencializar a cada uno de sus seguidores y conseguir un fin común dentro de la empresa.

Measuring students' emotions in the early years: the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School (AEQ-ES)

This article reports about the development and validation of a measurement instrument assessing elementary school students' achievement emotions (Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School, AEQ-ES). Specifically, the instrument assesses students' enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom pertaining to three types of academic settings (i.e., attending class, doing homework, and taking tests and exams). Scale construction was based on Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions. The instrument was tested using samples from German and American elementary school classrooms. The results of Study 1 (German sample) corroborate the reliability and structural validity of the new emotion measure. Moreover, they show that students' achievement emotions were linked with their control and value appraisals as well as their academic performance, thus supporting the external validity of the measure as well as propositions of Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions. Study 2 (American sample) corroborated the cross-cultural equivalence of the measure and the generalizability of findings across the German and American samples. Implications for research on achievement emotions and educational practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)

Translation, Communication and 'Learning' : Experiences from teaching a master program in Viet Nam

In Vietnam, as in other Asian countries, co-operation with foreign universities plays an important role for the development of higher education. This paper is based on personal experiences from teaching a Swedish Master Programme in Education Science at Vietnam National University in Hanoi. Using theories developed by Lev Vygotsky and Donald Schon, the programme is explored as an inter-cultural learning process. Three aspects are focused upon. Firstly, the fact that communication between students and teachers is conducted with the help of translators who support both teachers and students in their attempt to understand and make themselves understood. Secondly, the expressed need to connect the ideas and techniques which are studied in the programme to the students´ professional worlds. Thirdly, the need to construct a framework wherein the students can inquire into their own situations and to encourage them to try new and more productive ways to deal with problems they are confronted with.

Teaching Intercultural Communication in Foreign Language Education through Video Conferencing

Since 1980s, Western linguists and specialists on second language acquisition have emphasized the importance of enhancing students’ intercultural communication competence in foreign language education. At the same time, the demand for intercultural communicative competence increased along with the advances of communication technology with its increasingly global reach and the process of globalization itself.In the field of distance language education, these changes have resulted in a shift of focus from the production and distribution of learning materials towards communication and learning as a social process, facilitated by various internet-based platforms. The current focus on learners interacting and communicating synchronously trough videoconferencing is known as the fourth generation of distance language education. Despite the fact that teaching of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) faces the same or even greater challenges as teaching other languages, the intercultural communication perspective is still quite a new trend in CFL and its implementation and evaluation are still under development. Moreover, the advocates of the new trends in CFL have so far focused almost exclusively on classroom-based courses, neglecting the distance mode of CFL and leaving it as an open field for others to explore. In this under-researched context, Dalarna University (Sweden), where I currently work, started to provide web-based courses of the Chinese language in 2007. Since 2010, the Chinese language courses have been available only in the distance form, using the same teaching materials as the previous campus-based courses. The textbooks used in both settings basically followed the functional nationalism approach. However, in order to catch up with the main trend of foreign-language education, we felt a need to implement the cross-cultural dimension into the distance courses as well. Therefore in 2010, a pilot study has been carried out to explore opportunities and challenges for implementing a cross-cultural perspective into existing courses and evaluating the effectiveness of this implementation based on the feedback of the students and on the experience of the teacher/researcher.

What Culture? : Cultural representations in English as a foreign language textbooks

Teaching the cultural aspect of foreign language education is a complex and sometimes difficult task, especially since English has become an international language used in different settings and contexts throughout the world. Building on the idea that the spread of the English language and its international status in the world has made English an important school subject to develop students’ cross-cultural and intercultural awareness, this paper has studied what research reveals about the influence this has had on cultural representations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks. Findings from a systematic literature review that analyzed four different international studies on the topic are presented. The study showed that EFL textbooks often present stereotypical and overgeneralized representations of culture and that the cultural aspect of EFL education is not adequately addressed since focus tends to lean towards language proficiency. Results also indicated that though steps are made to include cultural representations from different international contexts, the target culture of countries where English is the first language remains dominant in EFL textbooks. The findings are discussed in correlation with the Swedish national curriculum and syllabus.

Travelling drum with different beats: experiencing African music and culture in Australian teacher education

This article reports on a study that examined the effectiveness of introducing African music and culture to Australian non-specialist primary teacher education students at Deakin University in Melbourne (Australia). The study demonstrates that African music enhanced the generic musical experiences, learning, motivation, interest, confidence and competence of students in their fourth year of teacher education. The research also addressed the significance and contribution of African music and culture as a cross-cultural experience for these beginning teachers who in turn could provide similar experiences for their own students. This study highlighted the author's role and cultural identity as a South African music educator in transmitting the music and culture represented in 'the travelling drum' to a cohort of students with a predominantly Eurocentric orientation. By extension, this curriculum initiative broadened students' understanding and application of indigenous methods of teaching and learning as part of a global experience. Such a curriculum represents a pathway to many other forms of non-Western indigenous knowledge of music, culture and pedagogy that can be mapped out as a journey along a multicultural route towards 'internationalising the curriculum'.

Race, identity and education achievements among Arab-Australian students

This paper discusses the challenge of managing cultural diversity in secondary schools, focusing on key structural, ideological, cultural, attitudinal and identity factors affecting the educational experiences and outcomes of Australian students from Arabic-speaking background (ASB). Recent research indicates that there are complex processes at play that hinder the ability of non English-speaking background (NESB) students to access constructive and meaningful education, and that such processes need further systematic investigation. It has also been argued that Australian schools are failing the test of social equity and that the dominant approach to curriculum and pedagogy does not meet the needs of the growing numbers of students from divergent cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. This paper focuses on identifying the social, cultural and attitudinal factors that affect the educational achievements of ASB students within a broad multidimensional approach to multicultural education. By linking thorough empirical research and innovative theory with practical, tested plans of action, this study proposes an in-principled approach to multicultural education that is extendable to a variety of schooling contexts while retaining its core focus on effecting positive learning outcomes. The key objectives of the larger study upon which this paper is based are to (a) address the disadvantages and barriers faced by NESB young people, particularly ASB young people, in achieving positive educational outcomes; (2) increase their chances for better life opportunities and self fulfilment; and (3) develop a good practice model for diversity management in Victorian schools. This latter objective will complement Victorian Government policies on cultural diversity and multicultural education.

The effects of cultural barriers on market entry strategies

The increasing interests worldwide urge researchers to examine the strategies used specifically for tackling the Chinese market. This urgency is brought forward by the fact of a low success rate of international businesses operating in China in the past twenty years. This paper identifies the fundamental barrier - cultural difference and its impact on Australia China business practices. It identifies the differences which impinge on basic decision making processes. It raises the issue of where cultural factors should be placed in organizations. It stresses that consideration of cultural differences plays an important role in the success of entering the Chinese market. Through a single case study of an Australian organisations operation in China, it is demonstrated that cultural differences should be considered at a strategic level rather than an operational level. This will allow appropriate strategies to be implemented rather than constant acijustments to strategies.

Youth alcohol and other drug use in the United States and Australia: a cross-national comparison of three state-wide samples

Although youth drug and alcohol harm minimization policies in Australia are often contrasted with the abstinence and zero tolerance policies adopted in the United States, there has been little research directly comparing youth substance use behaviour in the two countries. Three state representative samples in Victoria, Australia (n = 7898) and in the US states of Oregon (n = 15 224) and Maine (n = 16 245) completed a common cross-sectional student survey. Rates of alcohol use (lifetime alcohol use, recent use in the past 30 days), alcohol use exceeding recommended consumption limits (binge drinking: five or more drinks in a session), other licit drug use (tobacco use), and norm-violating substance use (substance use at school, use in the past 30 days of marijuana or other illicit drug use) were compared for males and females at ages 12-17. Rates were lower (odds ratios 0.5-0.8) for youth in Maine and Oregon compared to Victoria for lifetime and recent alcohol use, binge drinking and daily cigarette smoking. However, rates of recent marijuana use and recent use of other illicit drugs were higher in Maine and Oregon, as were reports of being drunk or high at school. In contradiction of harm minimization objectives, Victoria, relative to the US states of Oregon and Maine, demonstrated higher rates of alcohol use exceeding recommended consumption limits and daily tobacco use. However, findings suggested that aspects of norm-violating substance use (substance use at school, marijuana use and other illicit drug use) were higher in the US states compared to Victoria.

Smaller steps into longer journeys : experiencing African music and expressing culture

This paper outlines an exploratory research project that draws on survey data from both primary and secondary school music teachers in Victoria. The research stems from a study that I undertook in 2002-2003 with final year Deakin University undergraduate students. That project investigated the potential of African music to enhance the generic musical experiences, learning, motivation, interest, confidence and competence of non-specialist primary teacher education students. The research project being reported in this paper is an extension of the previous study to focus on practising music teachers at both primary and secondary school levels. The research addresses the significance and contribution of African music and culture as a cross-cultural experience for music teachers, their students and the wider community. It further considers my role as an African music practitioner in terms of transformation and acculturation. This paper outlines the progress of, and provides preliminary data about, the emergence of an innovative area of teaching and learning based on African music in Victorian schools. It also explores the notion of why cross-cultural and multi-cultural engagement matters in the contemporary context of educational change.

Masakhane: drumming up an effective music curriculum for pre-service teacher education

The introduction of African indigenous music to a generalist primary teacher education course transcended both cultural differences and personal inadequacies of students. It provided a cohesive bond for promoting the learning of music that is aptly represented by the African concept of masakhane (building together). This research demonstrated the effectiveness of Africa music for promoting cross-cultural music education, thereby providing a worthy model for implementation in other teacher education programs. According to findings from a questionnaire survey and interviews, students reported they were able to more effectively engage with, know, create, perform, teach and experience music through African rather than just the Western music. This experience provided students with new musical knowledge, understandings and skills as well as giving them insights into another musical tradition and culture. Students also perceived Indigenous African music as a source of motivation, interest and enjoyment, thereby promoting their creativity and musical learning. As global citizens, we need to embrace diversity and change not only in our immediate teaching contexts but also in broader educational policy. This curriculum clearly enhanced the effectiveness of music within a teacher education course and by extension has the potential to contribute to a greater professional and public good in education.

New technology in a developing country - a case study in the Maldives

In 1998, Maafahi Island was leased by the Maldives government to a private company for development as a multi-faceted primary production value-adding project. The project included boat building, agriculture and fish processing. As part of the agriculture project, a hydroponics facility was commenced in 2001, using a novel zero-runoff nutrient system. Virtually no information was available for using this system in tropical conditions; however Deakin University had been undertaking research on the system for tomato production. In 2004, two Deakin scientists visited the island with the specific purpose of assisting the project operators to ‘improve the greenhouse conditions’ and optimise the production from the greenhouse. In essence, the transition to successful production from ‘book learning’ and ‘no practical experience’ was found to be limited by a range of constraints, and demonstrated that a little knowledge is no substitute for a multidisciplinary approach. Progress had come to a standstill, not because of lack of horticultural expertise, but because of lack of understanding of fundamental science, and lack of understanding by equipment suppliers of the requirements imposed by the conditions.