This research aimed to investigate the social acceptance of using EdTech for personalized learning in elementary and secondary schools in Japan, along with its relationship with the social acceptance of educational reform, ethical and legal beliefs, and the conception of learning. We collected the data from 667 adults using a web-based survey. The results revealed that most participants accepted using EdTech for personalized learning but were reluctant about it if it would significantly change the current educational system or the positioning of schools and teachers. They also showed that most participants place little emphasis on legal restrictions for educational reform, suggesting a concern that EdTech might be introduced hastily by neglecting the discussion of legal issues. Regarding the ethical issues, most preferred that students, parents, and schools retain the right to choose whether to use EdTech. Moreover, those who had a deep conception of learning were more likely to accept using EdTech for personalized learning in an ideal way, suggesting that using it might increase the achievement gap. These results suggested that it is necessary to reach a consensus among students, parents, and teachers on how to use EdTech for personalized learning, based on an understanding of its possibilities and limitations.

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The purpose of this study was to develop a Self-Care Self-Efficacy Scale for hemodialysis patients. The subjects were 76 patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment, 44 males and 32 females. Their ages ranged from 35 to 83 years. They had been on dialysis for 1 to 416 months, with a mean ± 1 SD of 104.5 ± 78.2 months. An exploratory factor analysis of responses to 36 self-care behaviors in dialysis treatment identified 6 factors: (1) self-care skills, (2) positive cognition, (3) positive acceptance, (4) compliance, (5) modification of cognition, and (6) emphasis on physical condition. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for 28 items was 0.818. The alpha coefficients of the six subscales from Factor 1 to Factor 6 were 0.817, 0.735, 0.587, 0.712, 0.458, and 0.385, respectively, which were sufficiently high to ensure reliability. Factor 2 and Factor 3 were also calculated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS): these factors showed significant negative correlations with depression and anxiety scores. They also had significant positive correlations with the Self-Care Self-Efficacy Scale. These results warrant the reliability and validity of the Self-Care Self-Efficacy Scale. In the future, we intend to use this scale to improve the self-care abilities of dialysis patients in order to improve their mental health and enhance their quality of life during medical treatment.

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The reliability and validity of Digital Stroop Test (Dig. Str.) that was developed for a screening test of the executive function were evaluated by two studies. The Dig. Str. was developed to evaluate both Stroop effect and Reverse Stroop effect using a computer tablet. In Study 1, the reliability of the Dig. Str. was evaluated using test-retest paradigm. High correlations between scores (mean response time per correct response) on the two tests were obtained. In Study 2, the construct validity was examined using a sample of healthy old-aged community dwellers. Old-aged people showed significantly slower mean response times than college students. Based on these findings, the Dig. Str. can be regarded as a reliable screening equipment for executive function.

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In this study, we investigated the relationship between a newly developed scale—the Sense of Overcoming Practicums Scale (provisional name)—and nursing competency among novice nurses to examine the scale’s predictive validity. As a result, the scale was confirmed to have a three-factor structure and be reliable and valid. However, additional refinement will be needed as Factor 1 included a mixture of items from different constructs. The scale was found to have a significant positive correlation with nursing competency among novice nurses. Furthermore, the results of exploratory investigation by educational institution type revealed significant standardized partial regression coefficients (β) for positive evaluation of independence and self/others on competency among novice nurses who were vocational school and junior college graduates, and for independence and positive evaluation of self/others on competency among novice nurses who were four-year college graduates, respectively.

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A previous study reported that “kirakira name (both in katakana)” and “DQN name (DQN in capital alphabet and name in katakana)” were the most frequent notations in representative dictionaries and encyclopedias. However, it explored only dictionaries and encyclopedias, which made it unclear whether the same pattern was found in other media. Therefore, this study examined variations of notations and their frequencies of usage in mass media and academic community by analyzing newspapers and academic literature. Results showed that consistent with dictionaries and encyclopedias, “kirakira name (both in katakana)” and “DQN name (DQN in capital alphabet and name in katakana)” were the most frequent notations and similar notations were rarely used. In contrast, in newspapers, to avoid negative nuances, “DQN name (DQN in capital alphabet and name in katakana)” and its similar notations were never used. Moreover, to reduce the numbers of letters and sounds, abbreviated notations of “kirakira name (both in katakana)” were sometimes used. Understanding these differences by medium enables us to clarify the meaning and function of kirakira name and DQN name and efficiently use different methods to search and mention them depending on medium.

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There have been a number of studies on the competition in entrance examinations, but very few studies have empirically examined the middle school entrance examination, which is qualitatively different from senior high school and university entrance examinations because children must have parental support. The scope of the examination is beyond the knowledge acquired in school, and parents must be proactive in choosing whether their children should take the examination. In this study, an online survey was disseminated to Tokyo metropolitan area residents with children in the sixth grade (N = 800) to clarify the differences between families whose children took or did not take the middle school entrance examination. Reasons for allowing children to take the examination (or not) were also explored. Results indicated that a region with a perceived high examination rate, the mother's high level of education, and the child's same-sex parent had taken the exam increased the probability that children would take the middle school entrance examination. Additionally, an early birth order and higher parental age for parents of female children, along with the full-time working status of mothers of male children, were factors in favor of taking the middle school entrance examination.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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Several factors influence people’s ability to make moral judgments. Apart from manipulating experimental conditions, this association can be explored in terms of socio-demographic attributes such as the social status and background of individuals. This study aimed to investigate the impact of marital status, parental status, income level, and the type of work on people's tendency to make moral judgments. This study recruited participants from across Japan, who completed 60 moral dilemma tasks, personal moral dilemmas (22 questions), impersonal moral dilemmas (19 questions), and non-moral dilemmas (19 questions) used in Greene et al. (2001). This study found that marital status, parenthood, annual personal income, and work status only influenced moral judgments during personal moral dilemmas. However, this difference was not observed for impersonal moral dilemmas and non-moral dilemmas. This study suggests that individual socio-demographic attributes affect moral judgments during personal dilemmas since people experiencing them are strongly influenced by emotions. This result also supports the applicability of the dual-process model in Japanese culture.

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A problem with leadership theory research is that many theories have been constructed without envisioning their use in school settings. Based on the problem, this study has two objectives. The first is to understand the similarities and differences among leadership theory studies that have been receiving attention from the 1970s to the present. The second is to clarify the extent to which principals of schools actually emphasize and act on the characteristics listed in the first. The results revealed that there is a tendency to place more emphasis on “policy communication,” in which the principal presents educational activities with goals to be carried out in line by the teachers, rather than “empowerment collaboration,” in which the principal works with teachers to bring out their abilities and carry out their duties. It became apparent that the latter type of leadership, which has been the ideal of previous theory research on leadership, is not realistically emphasized in the school setting. Furthermore, it was possible to derive the possibility that leadership behavior based on both “empowerment collaboration” and “leadership dominance” is leadership with a common foundation.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify how the information program provided by GHQ influenced Japanese perceptions or attitudes regarding the notion of democracy during the Occupation period. In this period, many political changes including constitutional reform were implemented to democratize Japan. Further, to make Japanese people understand democratic ideology, GHQ actively disseminated information by using radio, movies newspapers, magazines, and other media. How was such information program accepted by the Japanese people and to what extent did it affect them? This study tries to answer these questions with historical archives as well as quantitative data from the representative social survey. The results revealed that the information program had a certain impact on Japanese people’s perceptions or attitudes related to democratic thinking. Especially, newspapers had the greatest impact. On the other hand, the strengths of the effects of the information on the individuals were not uniform, but diverse, probably because of the respective prior ideology or thoughts. The institutional reform and social conditions may also have played an important role whether Japanese people’s perceptions or attitudes related to democratic thinking persisted or not.

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