ABSTRACT
Self-determination theory assumes that the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are associated with motivational regulation. As these basic psychological needs may have been affected by the shift to distance learning, students' motivational regulation and vitality may have suffered as well. The purpose of this study was to examine the motivational regulation, satisfaction, or frustration of the basic psychological needs and vitality of university students before and after the transition to forced distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Two student samples from Austria and Germany were studied: One was surveyed before the conversion to distance learning (N=1,139) and the other at the beginning of forced distance learning (N=1,835). The instruments used were the Scales for the Measurement of Motivational Regulation for Learning in University Students (SMR-L), the German version of the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Frustration Scale, a scale developed by the authors to differentiate the assessment of social relatedness, and the German version of the Subjective Vitality Scale. The results show that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs was significantly lower and the frustration thereof substantially higher during the distance learning period than before the pandemic. Intrinsic motivation and identified regulation were significantly lower during the forced distance learning period, and more controlled forms of motivation were higher than before the pandemic. Structural equation models showed that 42% of the students' vitality can be explained by motivational regulation and the satisfaction and frustration of their basic needs. Motivational regulation styles functioned (differentiated according to the degree of autonomy) as mediating variables between basic needs and vitality. In terms of theoretical implications, the distinction between approach and avoidance components of introjected regulation was shown to be adequate and necessary, as they explain the outcome vitality differently. The support and avoidance of frustration of basic psychological needs should be considered in distance learning to promote the quality of motivation and students' vitality.
ABSTRACT
During the pandemic restrictions imposed in spring 2020, many aspects of students' living and learning environments changed drastically. From the perspective of Self-Determination Theory, changes in social context interact with the satisfaction or frustration of basic psychological needs and, as a result, with study-related motivational regulation and vitality. In this study, we investigate the relationships between the contextual factors of online-based distance learning, basic psychological needs, forms of motivational regulation and subjective vitality in a sample of N = 1849 university students across eight universities in Austria and Germany. Based on structural equational modelling, the results stress the relevance of satisfaction with technological resources in regard to higher levels of satisfaction in all three basic psychological needs, while perceived overload is linked to lower levels of needs satisfaction and increased basic psychological needs frustration. Further, the estimated workload difference before and during the pandemic is not related to the motivational outcomes of the model. All relationships have been tested for mediation effects between basic psychological needs and the different forms of motivational regulation on subjective vitality: for the need for relatedness, no mediation is found, while the effect of the need for autonomy is fully mediated by autonomous regulation styles. The need for competence was associated with several mediating interactions with regulation styles. The results offer insight into students' perceptions of their study-related experiences during the pandemic and can help to develop effective methods in online-based and blended learning settings in the future.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Ezrin is known to be involved in intercellular interactions, and a shift from membrane-bound to cytoplasmatic protein expression has been associated with malignant potential. This association has primarily been demonstrated in cell lines and, as yet, little is known about the distribution of ezrin in primary benign and malignant breast tissues. We have, therefore, set out to investigate ezrin protein expression in a series of primary breast lesions. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect ezrin expression in 465 samples of normal breast tissues, benign breast tumours, pre-invasive breast lesions, breast cancer tissues and metastatic lymph nodes, and the protein expression patterns observed were correlated with clinicopathological parameters. RESULTS: Ezrin was detected in the cytoplasm of both benign and malignant breast tissues, but its expression was significantly higher in the malignant tissues (13 % vs 60 %, p < 0.0001; χ (2) test). We also detected a statistically significant higher ezrin expression in pre-invasive lesions compared to benign lesions (15 % vs 44 %, p = 0.04; χ (2) test). We did not find such a difference in ezrin expression between pre-invasive and invasive cancer samples, nor between invasive cancer samples and lymph node metastases. Within the group of invasive cancer samples, we found a significant correlation between ezrin expression and CK14 (rs:0.38, p < 0.007) and Her2 (rs:0.25, p < 0.002) expression. No such correlation was observed between ezrin expression and nodal status, grading, patient's age, hormone receptor status, and Ki67 or p53 expression. CONCLUSION: Taken together, we found that cytoplasmatic ezrin expression increases from benign to malignant breast tumour development. We hypothesize that the tissue architectural alterations that are associated with aberrant ezrin expression may point at pathophysiological mechanisms that may be instrumental for the design of novel therapies.
