In: International journal of intercultural relations: IJIR ; official publ. of SIETAR, the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research, Band 99, S. 101951
Abstract Since members of rescue forces such as firefighters have to deal with sometimes extreme and dangerous situations, high-quality basic trainings are indispensable for their professional success. There is therefore an obvious need for standardized tools assessing the training quality. This paper aims to develop and validate such an evaluation instrument. In Study 1, a qualitative analysis (N = 21) was used to identify core characteristics of good firefighter basic trainings and served as theoretical basis for the generation of corresponding items. In Study 2 (N = 257), the item set was piloted and reduced, its structure was assessed in exploratory factor analyses, and first validations were conducted. Study 3 (N = 451) tested the proposed factor structure via confirmatory analyses and validated the questionnaire comprehensively. Factor analyses showed a six-factor structure. The scales of the newly created Feedback Instrument for Rescue forces Education – Basic education (FIRE-B) are to be judged as reliable. Moreover, there are several clear indications of validity. Thus, the present research contributes to the understanding of critical factors and processes of basic trainings. Furthermore, the FIRE-B has a high practical relevance, both in the assessment of training quality and in the identification of opportunities for improvement.
AbstractOccupational work is a cornerstone for refugees' integration in a receiving country, and residents' perceptions of refugees is a key factor in this process. As compared to migrants in general, refugee migrants have been forced to leave their home country, which should have multiple implications for their integration in receiving countries. In the current study, we investigated whether residents' perception of migration forcedness affects their expectations about migrants' occupational future time perspectives (OFTP) in the receiving country, which in turn should correspond to expectations about migrants' occupational integration efforts. We tested our hypotheses in a preregistered online experiment with N = 190 working adults in Germany (71% women; age: M = 50.26, SD = 10.78). The results confirmed the hypothesized negative relation between perceived migration forcedness and expected OFTP, the hypothesized positive relation between expected OFTP and expected occupational integration efforts, and the hypothesized mediation mechanism of expected OFTP. Overall, our results demonstrate that residents' perception of migration forcedness and related OFTP are relevant processes that affect the integration of migrants into the labor market of receiving countries.