Reflective journals have emerged as an effective means of monitoring and developing reflective practice in higher education, as part of a wider metacognitive strategy to transform traditional learning approaches. In addition, assessment procedures of reflective journals appear to be an important factor in enhancing commitment to learning and reflection. This paper explores the effects of the use of journal writing and formative feedback on the quality of reflective practice, by presenting a case study of reflective learning in a master’s degree program in the North of Italy, in 2014/2015. The article contributes to the current debate about the effectiveness of one-to-one writing tuition by analyzing student writing through qualitative analysis and quantitative trend assessment. In particular, it provides evidence on formative feedback efficacy in developing the quality of reflective practice. Unlike much of the research into writing support, this study seeks to evaluate the impact of feedback use not only by measuring student perceptions of effectiveness or level of satisfaction, but also by assessing the development of reflective practices.

Interest in the reflective practitioner as a model of a ‘good professional’ has increased in several professional fields and is also valued within social work education as a key aspiration to address the uncertainties and challenges encountered in contemporary working environments. Reflecting on their own professional identity, as well as theories, values, and devices used in professional practice, can help practitioners deal with complex work demands and help students be better equipped to transition from university to work. Work-integrated learning (WIL) provides students with an opportunity to integrate academic learning with ‘real-world’ experiences to develop both valuable self-monitoring and professional self-constructive ability. This paper presents a case study in social work higher education in which WIL class-based teaching was combined with the use of reflective journals to explore the role of WIL in developing reflective practices for professional identity formation. 21 reflective journals by social work students are analysed. The findings suggest that teaching practices based on WIL enable professional identity formation by developing reflective practices, and that different learning conditions sustain specific dimensions of professional identity, i.e. professional expertise, membership to a professional community and sense of professional self.

Health care is a critical context due to unpredictable situations, demanding clients, workload and intrinsic organizational complexity. One key to improve the quality of health services is connected to the shift in organization perspective of viewing patients as active consumers rather than passive users. Therefore higher levels of customer orientation are expected to improve organizational service effectiveness. According to a cultural perspective to customer orientation, the aim of the study is to explore how different leaders’ behaviors (task-oriented and relationship-oriented) interact with customer orientation of health organizations. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to contribute to this topic, by considering the leaders’ point of view. Since leader’s experience of customer orientation is influenced by social processes in the work environment, workplace social support was inserted as moderator in the relationship between leader behavior and customer orientation. A survey study was conducted among 57 Health Department Directors belonging to the National Health Service in the North of Italy in 2016. Findings showed that workplace social support moderated the influence of leadership concern for relationship on costumer orientation. Practical implications of the study are discussed.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led the worldwide healthcare system to a severe crisis in which personnel paid the major costs. Many studies were promptly dedicated to the physical and psychological consequences of the COVID-19 exposure among healthcare employees, whereas the research on the other working populations has been substantially ignored. To bridge the current lack of knowledge about safe behaviors related to the risk of COVID-19 contagion at work, the aim of the study was to validate a new tool, the SAPH@W (Safety at Work), to assess workers’ perceptions of safety. Methods: A total of 1085 participants, employed in several organizations sited across areas with different levels of risk of contagion, completed an online questionnaire. To test the SAPH@W validity and measurement invariance, the research sample was randomly divided in two. Results: In the first sub-sample, Confirmatory Factor Analysis demonstrated the adequacy of the SAPH@W factorial structure. In the second sub-sample, multi-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that the SAPH@W was invariant across gender, ecological risk level, and type of occupation (in-person vs. remote working). Conclusions: The study evidenced the psychometric properties of the SAPH@W, a brief tool to monitor workers’ experiences and safety perceptions regarding the COVID-19 risk in any organisational setting.