Pädagogische Hochschule Wien

The Arbeitsbezogenes Verhaltens- und Erlebensmuster (AVEM) is a preventive diagnostic tool designed to assess typical work-related patterns of perceiving and coping with occupational stress. It aims to identify individuals at risk of burnout and other occupational health problems at an early stage. The present study examined cross-country differences in pattern distribution among teacher education students in Central Europe and tested the replicability of the work-related patterns in an international sample. The sample consisted of 3,005 first-year students enrolled in full-time teacher education programs at higher education institutions in Austria, Czechia, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia. The findings revealed that 36.97% of Austrian, 39.16% of German, 59.63% of Polish, 62.18% of Slovak, and 62.85% of Czech students were classified into risk patterns, indicating heightened vulnerability to occupational health problems. Latent profile analysis confirmed the original four-pattern solution, underscoring the diagnostic utility of the AVEM instrument. These findings suggest that AVEM can be implemented as early as the first year of teacher education to facilitate the early identification of vulnerable individuals. The concerning trends revealed in this study highlight the need for policy action, particularly the integration of psychological interventions into teacher education to support occupational health in prospective teachers.

Self-selection bias in voluntary questionnaire surveys poses a threat to the validity of research findings, particularly when studies address sensitive topics. This paper reports on an unexpected case of self-selection bias encountered in research on teachers’ grading beliefs and practices in Austria. Originally designed to examine the relationship between teachers’ grading beliefs and their actual grading behavior, the study revealed systematic differences between respondents and nonrespondents. Drawing on grade data from 154 teachers, linked with teacher questionnaire responses (n = 56) and nonresponses (n = 98), we found that survey respondents showed significantly different grading patterns compared to nonrespondents. Furthermore, school type (academic vs. vocational upper secondary schools) emerged as a key moderating factor. A subsequent qualitative study with 14 teachers from the nonresponding subgroups (mathematics teachers from both academic and technically orientated vocational schools) provided further insights into the mechanisms underlying this bias, including perceived low value of research topic for nonrespondents, school type specific teacher mentality, reluctance to disclose potentially questionable grading practices, and professional reputation concerns. By documenting this finding, the paper highlights the role of institutional factors (i.e., school type) and subject area in self-selection bias and emphasizes the need for more explicit consideration of such bias in research on teachers, especially when addressing sensitive topics like grading.

Purpose This study aims to examine how education for sustainable development operates within community-based, non-formal learning contexts in a rural Thai community. It explores how local actors use educational and social practices to promote sustainability and clarifies the role education plays in supporting sustainable community development. Design/methodology/approach The case study employed a participatory ethnographic approach based on ten days of fieldwork in Nong Bua, Thailand, as part of an international research program. Data were collected through observations, semi-structured interviews with local leaders and reflexive discussions and analyzed using grounded theory, applied both as a coding tool and model-building approach. The analysis focused on the role of education in sustainable community development and how it is enacted in practice. Findings Sustainability in Nong Bua is expressed through everyday practices of taking care and taking action. Education supports community development by fostering a shared mindset, collaboration and local leadership across formal, non-formal, and informal settings. Community initiatives – such as environmental campaigns, re-education programs and peer mentoring – illustrate how education enables transformative learning through participation, reflection and collective action, turning learning into meaningful social action. Originality/value The study proposes a conceptual model showing how education fosters sustainability through participatory, culturally grounded and transformative processes. Its originality lies in emphasizing the often-overlooked non-formal and informal initiatives that link learning with lived experience and local culture, advancing understanding of how Community-Based Education for Sustainable Development operates in practice.

Disc golf is a rapidly growing sport worldwide. Its increased popularity results in more people playing disc golf and therefore more injuries. Overuse injuries of the throwing arm, especially of the elbow and shoulder, are the most common complaints. The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to investigate a specific warm-up program to reduce the incidence of overuse injuries of the elbow and shoulder among Austrian disc golf players. Sixty players were randomly assigned either to the intervention or the control group. Players of the intervention group were instructed to perform a specific warm-up program at least three times per week during training or competition. Players of the control group performed their usual individual warm-up program. There were no significant differences between the intervention and control group regarding the incidence of overuse injuries of the elbow ( P = 0.950) and the shoulder ( P = 0.835) during the intervention period of six months. Integrating a specific warm-up program showed no significant effect on the incidence of overuse injuries of the elbow and shoulder among Austrian disc golf players. Le disc golf connaît une croissance rapide à l’échelle mondiale. Cette popularité croissante entraîne une augmentation du nombre de pratiquants et, par conséquent, une fréquence accrue des blessures. Les lésions de surcharge du membre supérieur dominant, en particulier au niveau du coude et de l’épaule, figurent parmi les plaintes les plus fréquentes. Le présent essai contrôlé randomisé visait à évaluer l’efficacité d’un programme d’échauffement spécifique sur la réduction de l’incidence des blessures de surcharge du coude et de l’épaule chez des joueurs autrichiens de disc golf. Soixante joueurs ont été répartis de manière aléatoire dans un groupe d’intervention ou un groupe témoin. Les participants du groupe d’intervention devaient réaliser un programme d’échauffement spécifique au moins trois fois par semaine, avant les séances d’entraînement ou les compétitions. Les participants du groupe témoin poursuivaient leur échauffement habituel, non standardisé. Aucune différence statistiquement significative n’a été observée entre les deux groupes sur l’incidence des blessures de surcharge du coude ( p = 0,95) et de l’épaule ( p = 0,84) au cours des six mois de suivi. Dans cette population de joueurs autrichiens de disc golf, la mise en œuvre d’un programme d’échauffement spécifique n’a pas permis de réduire de manière significative l’incidence des blessures de surcharge du coude et de l’épaule, comparativement à un échauffement habituel.

Abstract Our study investigates how individuals counteract societal negative attitudes towards aging by striving to maintain a youthful self-image, either by feeling younger than their actual age or by redefining what they consider “old age”. Based on the dual-process theory of developmental regulation, feeling younger is the result of an assimilative strategy, while adjusting the concept of old age is an accommodative strategy. We examined these strategies across different life domains, such as family, friendships, and work, hypothesizing that people emphasize youth-preserving strategies in areas critical to their identity. We focused on whether older adults more commonly adjust their definition of old age in important life domains (accommodative response), versus younger adults preferring to feel younger in domains that are deemed important (assimilative response). Analyzing data from 768 participants aged between 30 to 80 years through multilevel analysis, our research confirmed these hypotheses. Findings reveal that individuals indeed work to maintain a youthful identity in domains they find important. Younger participants felt younger in crucial life domains, whereas older participants adjusted their old age threshold in personally relevant domains. This behavior suggests a societal tendency to value youth, with individuals using both old age perception adjustment and feelings of youthfulness to protect their self-image and avoid the stigma of being old.

Abstract Solitude is a common daily experience that can have both negative and positive impacts on well-being depending on individual and situational factors. In this study, we examined whether media use moderates the relationship between being alone and loneliness, with a particular focus on whether this effect varies by age. To do so, we used data from two experience sampling studies, which were analyzed using multilevel regression models. In both studies, participants reported higher loneliness when alone. Media use moderated this effect in both studies: In the first study (N = 103, 55% women, mean age = 47 years, SD = 18 years, range = 19 to 79 years), media use was associated with higher overall loneliness, but it was associated with lower loneliness while being alone, particularly in older adults. The findings of the second study (N = 265, 56% women, mean age = 48 years, SD = 18 years, range = 17 to 83 years) were more nuanced: While using a computer or the internet was associated with lower loneliness when alone, watching TV was linked to greater loneliness when alone. These effects were not moderated by age. Reading and listening to the radio had no significant effects. These findings suggest that while some forms of media use may buffer against loneliness when alone, others may exacerbate it, and the effects may vary based on media type and age. The results highlight the importance of considering the specific ways in which individuals engage with media when addressing loneliness.

Feedback research increasingly focuses on the role of learners’ engagement in the feedback process. Process measures from technology-based learning environments that reflect writing behavior can provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying feedback effectiveness by making engagement visible. Previous research has shown that log data and similarity measures mediate the effects of automated feedback on learners’ revision performance. In the present study, we aimed to replicate and extend previous research using measures obtained from keystroke logging that represent the revision process on a more fine-grained level. We considered behavioral engagement (i.e., number of keystrokes and typing time) and writing pauses as potential indicators of cognitive engagement. In a classroom experiment, N = 453 English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners ( M age = 16.11) completed a writing task and revised their draft, receiving either feedback generated by a large language model (i.e., GPT 3.5 Turbo) or no feedback. A second writing task served as a transfer task. All texts were scored automatically to assess performance. The effect of automated feedback on learners’ revision and transfer performance was mediated through the different indicators of behavioral engagement during the text revision, although the direct effect of automated feedback on the transfer task was not significant. We found small effects of feedback on pause length and the number of pauses, but the indirect effects were not significant. The study provides further evidence on the role of learning engagement in feedback effectiveness and illustrates how online measures (i.e., keystroke logging) can be used to gain new insights into the effectiveness of automated feedback. The use of different process measures to assess learning engagement is discussed. • We investigate psychological processes underlying effects of automated feedback. • We use keystroke logging to measure task-level engagement. • AI-generated feedback is associated with higher levels of engagement during text revision compared to a no feedback control group. • Behavioral engagement mediates effects of automated feedback on revision and transfer performance.

Multiple programming tasks require synchronous collaboration between developers, giving rise to real-time collaborative programming tools that enable simultaneous editing of shared source code. However, most existing tools operate at the text level, propagating every keystroke–including syntactically invalid ones–without considering program structure. This results in excessive communication overhead, frequent propagation of build-breaking states, and poor synchronization. A major consequence is noticeable lag, especially under unstable network conditions, as collaborators are overwhelmed with unnecessary updates that disrupt their workflow and degrade the shared coding experience. In this paper, we introduce a novel structure-aware propagation model that transmits only syntactically valid code changes. For evaluation we implemented our tool as an IntelliJ plugin and evaluate it against three industry-standard tools–VS Code Live Share, Code With Me, and Replit–across eight representative programming scenarios. Our results show that it significantly lowers the number and size of propagated messages while maintaining consistent, buildable program states. Our findings demonstrate the potential of structure-aware propagation as a foundation for the next generation of real-time collaborative programming environments.