Riitta Kärkkäinen

Parents' Perceptions of Their Child's Resilience and Competencies.

This study examined parental views of their child’s educability through the parents’ perceptions of their child’s resilience. The purposes of the study were: (1) to examine psychometric properties of the rating scale created to measure parental views of their child’s educational and psychological resilience, (2) to explore whether the parents’ views of the child’s resilience were related to their notions of the child’s competencies and (3) to examine how parents’ perceptions of their child’s resilience were related to the parent’s social position and the child’s gender. Data were collected by questionnaire from the parents of fifth-grade children (N=391). The parental rating scale consisted of three dimensions of resilience, all with satisfactory reliability. Parents’ views of their child’s resilience were related to their perceptions of child’s abilities and school success, suggesting that the parental rating scale had concurrent validity. The results also indicated that parents’ views of their child’s resilience were related to their gender and education and to the child’s gender. Furthermore, parents’ views of their child’s educational resilience, based on parents’ trust in their child’s internal capacities, were related to the parental definition of their child’s cognitive-verbal competencies, in particular.RésuméCetter étude a examiné la façon dont les parents conçoivent l’éducabilité de leur enfant au travers de leur propre perception de la résilience de l’enfant. Les objectifs de cette étude étaient (1) d’examiner les propriétés psychométriques de l’échelle créée pour mesurer les points de vue parentaux sur la résilience éducative et psychologique de l’enfant, (2) d’explorer si ces points de vue sur la force de résistance de leur enfant étaient liés dans l’esprit des parents aux compétences de celui-ci et (3) de considérer comment les perceptions des parents de la résilience de leur enfant étaient liées à leur propre position sociale et au sexe de l’enfant. Les données ont été récoltées au moyen d’un questionnaire soumis aux parents d’élèves de CM2 (5ème classe, 11–12 ans) (N=391). L’échelle parentale comprenait trois dimensions de résilience, chacune ayant un degré de fiabilité satisfaisant. Le point de vue parental sur la résilience de leur enfant était lié à leur perception des aptitudes et de la réussite scolaire de celui-ci, suggérant ainsi que l’échelle de mesure attribuée aux parents avait une validité concrète. Les résultats ont aussi indiqué que la façon dont les parents perçoivent la résilience de leur enfant est liée à leur position sociale, à leur sexe, ainsi qu’au sexe de l’enfant. En outre, le point de vue parental sur la résilience éducative de leur enfant, fondé sur la confiance de ceux-ci en les capacités innées de l’enfant, était tout particulièrement relié à leur définition des compétences verbo-cognitives de l’enfant.

To be or not to be? Pupils' explanations of the malleability of their academic competencies

Purpose: The present study set out to examine the grounds on which pupils explain their possibilities of improving their competencies in mathematics and Finnish. Sample: A total of 103 girls and boys of the third grade (age nine years) and the sixth grade (age 12 years), children of academically and vocationally educated parents, were interviewed. Design and method:  The children were asked to rate their potential for improving their academic competencies on both intrapersonal and normative criteria and to give reasons for their ratings. The reasons given were content-analysed based on the data itself. Results: Effort was the most frequently cited explanation by far, and the ratings on intrapersonal criteria were explained with partly different factors and in more variable ways than those on normative criteria. Conclusions: The findings suggest that reference to effort is an explanation that helps the pupil to deal with the threat of a low academic self-concept determined on normative grounds and thus to retain a quantum of hope in regard to her/his prospects of personal development.

Systematic review: Factors associated with return to work in burnout

Background Professional burnout predicts sick leave and even permanent withdrawal from the labour force. However, knowledge of the barriers to and facilitators of return to work (RTW) in such burnout is limited. Aims To identify factors associated with RTW of burned-out individuals to inform occupational health care (OHC) RTW policy. Methods A systematic search of peer-reviewed quantitative and mixed-method studies published from January 2005 to July 2016 in English and Finnish in ARTO, CINAHL (EBSCO), Medic, PsycINFO (ProQuest), PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases, followed by a manual search. We included studies that identify burnout with valid burnout measures and measure the degree of RTW or sick leave as outcomes. We excluded studies with heterogeneous samples without subgroup analyses of RTW in burnout cases. Results We included 10 studies (three experimental and seven observational) of the initial 1345 identified. The studies reported work-related factors; enhanced communication (positive association) and low control at work (negative association) and individual-related factors; male gender (positive association), covert coping (negative association), high over-commitment to work (positive association) and burnout-related factors; unimpaired sleep (positive association), duration of sick leave over 6 months (negative association) and part-time sick leave (positive association) associated with RTW in burnout. Associations between burnout rehabilitation and RTW, and the level of symptoms and cognitive impairment and RTW remained unclear. Conclusions Few quantitative studies, of varied methodological quality, explore factors associated with RTW in burnout. Further research is needed to build an evidence base and develop guidelines for supportive OHC actions.

Are parents’ academic gender stereotypes and changes in them related to their perceptions of their child’s mathematical competence?

In the course of their child’s school years, a group of parents were asked to assess their child’s mathematical competence and indicate whether they endorsed the gender stereotype pertaining to it. Once the child had entered upper primary school, the consistent stereotypic parents tended to rate their boys’ mathematical competence higher than the parents of girls did. Additionally, the parents whose attitude turned into an anti‐stereotypical one perceived their girls’ mathematical competencies as higher than those of the boys, which was related to their perception that the boys’ competencies were getting worse while the girls’ competencies were getting better.

Occupational health care return-to-work practices for workers with job burnout

Abstract Background: Occupational health care supports return to work in cases of burnout; however, there is little research on return-to-work practices. Aim: To describe occupational health care return-to-work practices for workers with burnout and to identify potential for the development of the practices. Methods: Open-ended interviews and essays were used to collect data from 25 occupational health care professionals. A qualitative content analysis method was used. Results: Occupational health care was involved in the return-to-work support in the off-work, work re-entry and maintenance phases during the return-to-work process. However, occupational health care had no influence in the advancement phase. The key return-to-work actions were: (i) defining burnout, (ii) supporting disengagement from work, (iii) supporting recovery, (iv) determining the return-to-work goal, (v) supporting re-engagement with work, (vi) monitoring the job–person match, (vii) re-evaluating the return-to-work goal, (viii) supporting the maintenance of the achieved return-to-work goal, and, where appropriate, (ix) supporting an alternative return-to-work goal. There were varied return-to-work practices among the occupational health care centers evaluated. Conclusions: The occupational health care return-to-work practices for workers with burnout are described with recommendations to further develop common practice guidelines.

Return-to-Work Coordinators’ Practices for Workers with Burnout

Introduction Return-to-work (RTW) coordinators facilitate RTW of workers with work disabilities. However, little is known about RTW coordinators’ practices for workers with burnout. The aims of this study were to describe RTW coordinators’ activities in supporting workers with burnout during the RTW process, and their experiences with factors influencing the support. Methods Interviews and essay assignments were conducted with 15 RTW coordinators employed in universities and central hospitals in Finland. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results RTW coordinators were involved in the RTW process during early intervention, off-work, and work resumption phases. Seven groups of activities were identified: monitoring staff well-being; initiating RTW process; planning RTW; providing tools to support recovery; monitoring progress of the RTW process; supporting re-engagement with work; and monitoring coping with work. RTW coordinators’ activities depended on their institutional positions. Factors influencing the support included common understanding about burnout syndrome: co-occurring illnesses, dimensions of burnout, unpredictability of the recovery, personality characteristics, private life psychosocial factors, conflicts within the work community, and openness about burnout and its causes. Conclusions Complexity of the burnout problem challenges the support from the RTW coordinators. Understanding the causes and the consequences of burnout is important for the RTW coordinators to provide adequate and timely support for the workers with burnout in collaboration with the other stakeholders involved in the RTW process. Burnout-, individual-, and work-related factors should be considered in the RTW coordination to prevent and to reduce the negative consequences of burnout.