Stanislav Sabaliauskas

Objectives: This cross-sectional, descriptive correlational research investigated the relationship between stress, academic motivation, and subjective vitality among nursing students. Methods: Participants were recruited through a non-probability purposive sampling approach. An anonymous online survey was conducted with 188 first- to fourth-year study nursing students, assessing their perceived academic stress using the Perceptions of Academic Stress Scale, academic motivation using the Student Academic Motivation Scale (SAMS-21), and subjective vitality using the Subjective Vitality Scale. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlational analysis, and multivariate analysis were employed in this study. Results: The results indicate that students experience moderate stress levels during exam sessions, with higher stress associated with workload and examinations. Academic motivation was characterized by high extrinsic motivation, which identified regulation and intrinsic motivation to know. A significant difference in a form of extrinsic motivation—introjected regulation—was found between student groups, with a tendency for this motivation to decrease over the years of study. No statistically significant relationship was found between students’ academic stress and subjective vitality. Conclusions: Academic stress related to workload and exams is determined by both demographic factors, such as age and year of study, and psychological factors, including academic self-perception and amotivation, which highlight the multifaceted nature of the stress experienced by nursing students. Students’ subjective vitality is related to intrinsic motivation—to know and achieve—and to all extrinsic motivation. External forms of regulation, especially introjected regulation, are significantly related to students’ subjective vitality.

A high level of nurses’ general self-efficacy is a crucial factor in ensuring the quality and safety of healthcare. Nurses’ self-efficacy abilities help effectively manage stress and anxiety, reduce the risk of burnout, and improve their professional efficiency. Nurses often face heavy workloads, challenges, technological changes, and experience emotional strain, making their self-efficacy levels dependent on the work environment. High self-efficacy is associated with greater job satisfaction and better mental health. Although self-efficacy is linked to psychological well-being and professional effectiveness, the factors influencing nurses’ self-efficacy have not yet been sufficiently explored. The aim of this study is to review and present the latest literature data on nurses’ general self-efficacy in clinical practice. The methods employed are a systematic literature review which was conducted using the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases, searching for articles analysing issues related to nurses’ general self-efficacy in clinical activity. Results and conclusions. Twelve articles were selected for the systematic literature review. The analysis of the literature showed that nurses’ self-efficacy directly correlates with lower levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout. Half of the selected publications revealed that nurses’ self-efficacy is above the average level. The researched studies demonstrated that personality traits, work environment, and organizational support significantly influence self-efficacy, which is associated with greater job satisfaction, self-esteem, and professional resilience. A decline in self-efficacy can significantly deteriorate nurses’ psychological well-being.

Self-regulation is linked to the ability to learn successfully, adapt to change, and project one’s future behavior. This study aims to evaluate the impact of metacognitive strategies on self-regulation skills in the creation of educational content. Nine expert sports coaches participated in the research, and a mixed-methodology research plan was used to conduct the research. The results highlight the transformative effects of metacognitive strategies on self-regulation skills and sports coaches’ experiences. The use of metacognitive strategies had a positive effect on the improvement of self-regulation skills. The facilitation program based on metacognitive questioning significantly affected the expert sports coaches’ self-reported self-regulation skills. The results of the thematic analysis revealed that coaches’ behavior was characterized by greater freedom in organizing their professional activities. Development of self-regulatory skills through changing educational practices encourages coaches’ curiosity and openness to innovation, recognition of otherness, broadening of horizons, understanding of complexity, and disclosure of connections.

Introduction: Teaching is a profession that involves challenges to emotional health. Teachers experience high levels of work-related stress, which causes symptoms such as anxiety, depression and burnout. Teachers’ mental health affects not only their own well-being, but also the quality of education and student achievement. Coping strategies can effectively improve teachers’ emotional health. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between teachers’ emotional health and stress coping.Methods: The sample consisted of 385 teachers from Lithuania, with an average age of 50.2 (±9.62) years and 24.9 (±11.8) years of school experience. The WHO-5, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6), the Spanish Burnout Inventory, Educational Version (SBI-Ed) and the Coping Strategies Scale were used in the study.Results: The study results show that teachers’ age, seniority, size of residence, and marital status do not affect their emotional health, but their financial situation and hobbies have a positive impact on enthusiasm. Effective coping strategies such as problem solving, exercise, and hobbies improve emotional well-being, whereas negative coping methods such as self-isolation and alcohol consumption lead to psychological distress and lower enthusiasm at work.

The qualitative research aimed to reveal how a teacher creates a meaningful learning environment for primary school students in order to stimulate their motivation for learning. Eight primary school teachers participated in the focus group interviews. During the inductive analysis of the research data, five thematic categories were identified, that reflected the types of teachers activities encouraging students to learn and creating preconditions for meaningful learning of students.

Research on interpersonal behaviour is becoming increasingly important in a variety of social contexts and cultures. In educational practice, its importance is based on interactions as the educational context, in which learning, value formation and meaningful activities take place. The aim of this was to adapt the Interpersonal Behaviours Questionnaire (IBQ) in Sport into Lithuanian and to analyse its reliability and validity. 241 physically active men (mean age 27.01 ± 7.67) participated in this study. The adapted questionnaire showed good reliability (Cronbach α 0.927), content, criterion and structural validity (CFI 0.928, TLI 0.917, RMSEA 0.070, χ²/df 2.21) of Lithuanian version of IBQ in sport. The structural validity of the scale showed that supportive behaviours are strongly related to autonomy, competence and relatedness needs (rs ranged from .843 to .877), while supportive and thwarting behaviours have a moderate inverse relationship. However, supportive and thwarting behaviours are not diametrically opposed (r = −.597). Thus, the study shows that the IBQ in sport is valuable for analysing interpersonal relationships explaining the links between supportive and thwarting behaviour. The IBQ in sport can be a valuable tool for advancing research, enriching and improving educational practice in this field. Graphical abstract

Self-regulation is not only as a feature, but also as a process that learners use to control and organize their thoughts and turn them into skills used in learning. Self-regulated learning relies on the activation and use of metacognitive skills. Metacognitive strategies help learners to become aware of their thinking processes during learning. Self-regulation skills are significant when operating in difficult or extreme conditions that requires effort. Conscious observation and reflection enable to improve personal metacognitive skills and significantly contribute to changing behaviour, that is, to improving self-regulation processes. The aim of this research is to assess the impact of a metacognitive strategy-based training program on coaches’ self-regulation skills. A mixed methods study was chosen for the research. The facilitation program for improving self-regulation skills had a positive impact on coaches’ self-regulation skills. At the end of the program, the total self-regulation index of the coaches increased. The training programme based on metacognitive questioning allowed for enhancing self-regulation skills of experienced coaches. Self-reflection and implementation of metacognitive strategies influenced coaches’ cognition, thinking competences and behaviour. The coaches’ behaviour manifested itself in curiosity and openness to innovation, recognition of otherness, broadening of the horizons, awareness of complexity and disclosure of connections.

Self-regulation can be understood not only as a feature, but also as a process that learners use to control and organize their thoughts and turn them into skills used in learning. Self-regulated learning relies on the activation and use of metacognitive skills. Meanwhile, metacognitive strategies applied by educators help learners to become aware of their thinking processes during learning. Self-regulation skills are significant when operating in difficult or extreme conditions that require exceptional human abilities and efforts. Conscious observation and reflection on own activities enables an individual to improve personal metacognitive skills. Observing and reflecting on own behaviour can significantly contribute to changing behaviour, that is, to improving self-regulation processes. The aim of this research is to assess the impact of a metacognitive strategy-based training program on coaches’ self-regulation skills. Results. The facilitation program for improving self-regulation skills had a positive impact on coaches’ self-regulation skills. At the end of the program, the total self-regulation index of the coaches increased. The training programme based on metacognitive questioning allowed for enhancing self-regulation skills of experienced coaches. Self-reflection and implementation of metacognitive strategies influenced coaches’ cognition, thinking competences and behaviour.

Recent research highlights the impact of prolonged pandemics and lockdown on the mental health of youngsters. The second wave of COVID-19 brought an increase in mental health problems among young people. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the main factors arising from intra-individual, inter-individual, and environmental contexts that predict good psychological well-being in a group of adolescents after a second prolonged period of social restrictions and distance education. The study included 1483 school students from 11 to 19 years old. The survey assessed self-reported students’ psychological well-being (WHO-5 index), physical activity, sedentary behavior, school social capital, communication with peers and relationships with parents, existing emotional and behavioral problems. The results indicated that 58% of adolescents were of good psychological well-being in spring 2021, after half a year in lockdown. Almost 19% of adolescents had depression risk. The study revealed that during a period of prolonged isolation, male gender, better relationships between young people and their parents, the absence of serious emotional and behavioral problems, less sedentary behavior, and higher school social capital were found to be significant factors predicting adolescents’ psychological well-being. Lower physical activity is an important contributor to students’ poor well-being. Finally, the lack of face-to-face communication with peers was revealed as a specific factor in predicting adolescents with depression risk.

In the context of current changes in the education process due to the pandemic, the main aims of this study were to highlight social capital factors within the school community that are associated with better students’ outcomes in the context of distance learning. This study was a cross-sectional population-based study. The research sample consisted of 1483 students, whose ages varied from 11 to 19 years old (56.9% were girls). Academic success in this study was measured in terms of average grade and students’ perception of their learning process or outcomes by six single items. A Five-item WHO-5 questionnaire was used to measure students’ psychological well-being. Social capital was measured in terms of relationship, trust, reciprocity, and communication within different social contexts in the school community in total by 16 items. School social capital and social support scales were developed from these items. Students’ gender and age were also taken into consideration. The research results show that although social capital from parents and peers also matters, the relationship with teachers emerges as the main and the most important resource in supporting positive attitudes and outcomes in to learning (std.β varied from 0.116 to 0.439). The results also show that higher psychological wellbeing is associated with higher perceived school social capital (std.β 0.260) and social support (std.β 0.326) and mediates the effects of the latter two for better academic success outcomes. The findings also highlight the importance of close and trusting social ties, especially between students and their teachers as well as parents for better learning outcomes in times of crises and in the context of distance learning. The study results prove that social support and social capital at school are essential factors for sustainable psychological development. The results presumably support the idea that the school is sustainable if it is developing as an ecosystem not solely aimed at academic outcomes. The results of the current study may aid policymakers and practitioners in developing interventions, policies and practices that focus resources where they will have the greatest benefit.