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The purpose of this paper is to make the case for bringing compassion to students in educational settings, preschool through graduate school (PK-20).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make the case for bringing compassion to students in educational settings, preschool through graduate school (PK-20).
Design/methodology/approach
First, the author defines what is meant by “compassion” and differentiates it from the related constructs. Next, the author discusses the importance of bringing compassion into education, thinking specifically about preschool, K-12 (elementary and middle school/junior high/high school), college students, and graduate students (e.g. law, medical, nurses, counselors and therapists-in-training). The author then reviews the scant empirical literature on compassion in education and makes recommendations for future research. In the final section, the author makes specific and practical recommendations for the classroom (e.g. how to teach and evaluate compassion in PK-20).
Findings
While there is a fair amount of research on compassion with college students, and specifically regarding compassion for oneself, as the author reviews in this paper, the field is wide open in terms of empirical research with other students and examining other forms of compassion.
Research limitations/implications
This is not a formal review or meta-analysis.
Practical implications
This paper will be a useful resource for teachers and those interested in PK-20 education.
Social implications
This paper highlights the problems and opportunities for bringing compassion into education settings.
Originality/value
To date, no review of compassion in PK-20 exists.
Yamini Hariharan, Christopher Meiers, Catherine Robert and Marilee Bresciani Ludvik
The aim of this paper is to explore mindfulness and self-compassion teachings and practices embedded in a leadership course and their outcome on stress regulation of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explore mindfulness and self-compassion teachings and practices embedded in a leadership course and their outcome on stress regulation of doctoral-level students.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight valid and reliable pre-and post-assessment inventories were administered prior to the first week of class and following the completion of the doctoral-level class. The test scores were measured for improvement and for differences between various demographic groups.
Findings
The results suggest significant improvement on almost every mindfulness subscale with approximately 5–22% of the variance in subscale scores attributed to participation. Doctoral students over 40 indicated more score improvement than students under 40, and doctoral students of color indicated more significant score increases than White students.
Research limitations/implications
The research involves doctoral-level students which limits generalizability to other levels of education. Based on the findings, scaling analysis should be conducted on other types of students for generalization purposes.
Practical implications
Institutions looking to incorporate wellness practices into curriculum can embed these types of practices into their course design.
Social implications
Faculty can become more intentional in how they engage students in mindful compassion skills within their academic programs.
Originality/value
The paper adds a quantitative study into the literature surrounding efficacy of wellness practices in structured curriculum. Institutions looking to provide more resources to students to improve their wellness may find the model useful on their campuses, particularly for students over 40 and students of color.
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Thipnapa Huansuriya, Piyakrita Kruahiran, Suppanut Sriutaisuk and Ramli Musa
The purpose of this paper was to establish the psychometric properties of the Asian Family Characteristics Scale (AFCS) in the Thai population.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to establish the psychometric properties of the Asian Family Characteristics Scale (AFCS) in the Thai population.
Design/methodology/approach
The 30-item AFCS originally developed in the Malay language was translated into Thai. Thai (n = 384) and Malay (n = 500) participants in Study 1 responded to the AFCS in their respective languages. The data were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis with a measurement invariance test. In Study 2, Thai participants (n = 495) filled out the AFCS and Chulalongkorn Family Index, International Personality Item Pool-NEO, Self-Compassion Scale, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Satisfaction with Life Scale.
Findings
Study 1 showed that the measurement model of the Thai AFCS fit the data from the Thai population. The measurement invariance test confirmed that the structure and meaning of the AFCS are equivalent across the Thai and Malay samples. Study 2 demonstrated the AFCS's convergent validity by showing that the AFCS score had a positive correlation with the Chulalongkorn Family Inventory, self-compassion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, satisfaction with life and a negative correlation with neuroticism, depression, anxiety and stress. The AFCS's discriminant validity was supported by nonsignificant correlations with extraversion and openness to experience.
Originality/value
This paper is an attempt to develop a family characteristic measure specifically for the Asian population. The results provide empirical evidence for measurement invariance and validity of the scale in another Asian language, enhancing its cross-cultural generalizability.
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Theo Gilbert, Martina Doolan, NTF, Sylvia Beka, Neil Spencer, Matteo Crotta and Soheil Davari
The purpose of this paper is to explore the neuroscience that underpins the psychology of compassion as a competency. The authors explain why this cognitive competency is now…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the neuroscience that underpins the psychology of compassion as a competency. The authors explain why this cognitive competency is now taught and assessed on modules of different degree subjects in a UK university.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is divided into first, an exploration of recent psychology and neuroscience literature that illuminates the differences, and relationship, between empathy and compassion for safeness building in teams. Within that, the role of oxytocin in achieving social and intellectual rewards though the exercise of cognitive flexibility, working memory and impulsive inhibitory control (Zelazo et al., 2016) is also identified. The literature findings are compared against relevant qualitative data from the above university, so far, nine years of mixed methods action research on compassion-focussed pedagogy (CfP).
Findings
These are that the concept and practice of embedding compassion as an assessed cognitive competency in university group work is illuminated and rationalised by research findings in neuroscience.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the study are that, so far, fMRI research methods have not been used to investigate student subjects involved in the CfP now in use.
Practical implications
The paper has implications for theory, policy and practice in relation to managing the increasing amount of group work that accompanies widening participation in higher education (HE).
Social implications
The social implications of what is outlined in the paper pertain to student mental health, and academic achievement; to policy and practice for HE curriculum design across subjects and disciplines; and for the HE remit to serve the public good.
Originality/value
A review of this kind specifically for student assessed group and its implications for student academic achievement and mental health has not, apparently, been published.
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Carolina Pantuza Vilar dos Santos, Evandro Luiz Lopes, Julia Costa Dias, André Gustavo Pereira de Andrade, Celso Augusto Matos and Ricardo Teixeira Veiga
Based on the assumption of the service-dominant logic (S-D logic) that every exchange is service-for-service and on the relevance of the beneficiary’s role in the co-creation of…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the assumption of the service-dominant logic (S-D logic) that every exchange is service-for-service and on the relevance of the beneficiary’s role in the co-creation of value, this paper aims to investigate the effects of engagement in the context of social marketing, where the value proposition is an invitation to practice mindfulness.
Design/methodology/approach
A field experiment was carried out with 72 volunteers, using a pre-test/post-test control group design. The treatment applied was a set of strategies to increase the engagement of the participants to attain a better result in five dependent variables associated mainly with the benefits of mindfulness practice. Measurements were made from a profile analysis, and submitted to Mann-Whitney and t-tests.
Findings
A large effect of group and time factors were observed in the multivariate test, as well as differences in the co-creation of value between groups.
Originality/value
This study can contribute to stimulate experimental transdisciplinary research in humans, using concepts from S-D logic and social marketing to promote positive behavioral change. This approach is probably more efficient at explaining and improving human behavior, given its complex nature.
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Christin Mellner, Walter Osika and Maria Niemi
Contemporary workplaces undergo frequent reorganizations in order to stay competitive in a working life characterized by globalization, digitalization, economic uncertainty, and…
Abstract
Purpose
Contemporary workplaces undergo frequent reorganizations in order to stay competitive in a working life characterized by globalization, digitalization, economic uncertainty, and ever-increased complexity. Managers are in the frontline of these challenges, leading themselves, organizations and their employees in high stress environments. This raises questions on how to support managers’ work-life sustainability, which is crucial for organizational sustainability. Mindfulness has been related to enhanced capacities to cope with challenges that are associated with organizational change. The authors evaluated short- and long-term effects of an eight-week mindfulness-based intervention in a company setting, which was going through reorganization.
Design/methodology/approach
Forty managers (42.5% males), mean age 54.53 (SD 5.13), were randomized to the mindfulness intervention or a non-active wait-list control. Self-report data were provided on individual sustainability factors in a work context: job demands and resources, psychological detachment, i.e. possibilities for letting go of work-related thoughts during leisure, control over work-nonwork boundaries, work-life balance, and mindfulness at baseline, postintervention, and at 6-month follow-up.
Findings
Linear mixed models (LMMs) analysis (all ps < 0.005 to 0.05) showed that the intervention group had a larger decrease in job demands and a smaller decrease in job resources, a larger increase in psychological detachment, work-nonwork boundary control, work-life balance, and mindfulness from baseline to postintervention when compared with the reference group. These initial effects were sustained at 6-month follow-up.
Originality/value
The study provides evidence that mindfulness practice can enhance managers’ long-term capacity to cope with challenging working conditions, and increase their work-life sustainability in times of organizational change and disruption.
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Ana Castillo, Leopoldo Gutierrez, Ivan Montiel and Andres Velez-Calle
This paper aims to analyze the ethical responses of the fashion industry to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic when the entire world was shocked by the rapid spread of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the ethical responses of the fashion industry to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic when the entire world was shocked by the rapid spread of the virus. The authors describe lessons from emergency ethics of care in the fashion industry during the initial months of COVID-19, which can assist fashion managers in improving ethical decisions in future operations.
Design/methodology/approach
Rapid qualitative research methods were employed by conducting real-time, in-depth interviews with key informants from multinational fashion companies operating in Spain, a severely affected region. A content analysis of news articles published during the first months of 2020 was conducted.
Findings
Five critical disruptions in the fashion industry were identified: (1) changes in public needs, (2) transportation and distribution backlogs, (3) defective and counterfeit supplies, (4) stakeholder relationships at stake and (5) managers' coping challenges. Additionally, five business survival responses with a strong ethics of care component were identified, implemented by some fashion companies to mitigate the damage: (1) adapting production for public well-being, (2) enhancing the flexibility of logistic networks, (3) emphasizing quality and innovation, (4) reinventing stakeholder collaborations and (5) practicing responsible leadership.
Originality/value
Despite the well-documented controversies surrounding unethical practices within the fashion industry, even during COVID-19, our findings inform managers of the potential and capability of fashion companies to operate more responsibly. The lessons learned can guide fashion companies' operations in a post-pandemic society. Furthermore, they can address other grand challenges, such as natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts and climate change.
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Tünde Erdös, Joshua Wilt and Michael Tichelmann
Little is known about how individual differences play out in the process of authentic self-development (ASD) through workplace coaching. This article explores whether the Big Five…
Abstract
Purpose
Little is known about how individual differences play out in the process of authentic self-development (ASD) through workplace coaching. This article explores whether the Big Five personality traits and affective, behavioral, cognitive and desire (ABCDs) components of the Big Five personality traits were relevant to ASD, specifically examining the role of affect as a potential mediator.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 176 clients' personality was assessed pre-coaching. Aspects of ASD (perceived competence, goal commitment, self-concordance and goal stability) were assessed post-coaching. Clients' affect balance (AB) scores were obtained post-session.
Findings
Multilevel path models showed that higher levels of mean AB (but not the slope) mediated the associations between personality and perceived competence and goal commitment. Personality predicted goal self-concordance, but these effects were not mediated by AB, neither personality nor AB predicted goal stability.
Research limitations/implications
The authors encourage randomized controlled trials to further test findings of this study. Ruling out method variance is not possible completely. However, the authors put forth considerations to support the authors' claim that method variance did not overly influence our results.
Practical implications
These results suggest the necessity of an optimal experience of affect for ASD in workplace coaching and the understanding of how ABCDs, AB and ASD are related beyond coaching psychology.
Social implications
A deeper understanding of personality processes is important for fostering ASD to meet the challenges of management development in the authors' volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) world.
Originality/value
This is the first study to test personality as a process in workplace coaching linking personality to one of the most valued leadership skills: authenticity.
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Teresa Di Filippo, Lucia Parisi and Michele Roccella
Impairment of intelligence in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients was described by Duchenne de Boulogne himself in 1868. Further studies report intelligence disorders with…
Abstract
Impairment of intelligence in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients was described by Duchenne de Boulogne himself in 1868. Further studies report intelligence disorders with mayor impairment of memory. The aim of the present study was to assess the presence of affective and personality disorders in a group of children affected by DMD. Twenty six male DMD patients, mean age eleven and four months years old, were assessed for their affective and personality disorder. Only eight subjects had a total IQ below average with major difficulties in verbal and visual-spatial memory, comprehension, arithmetic and vocabulary. All the subjects presented some disorders: tendency to marginalization and isolation, self-depreciation, sense of insecurity, hypochondriac thoughts and marked state of anxiety. These disorders are often a dynamic prolongation of a psychological process which starts when the diagnosis is made and continues, in a slow and latent fashion, throughout the evolution of the disease.
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