Physician and patient communication training in primary care: Effects on participation and satisfaction.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 28(2) of Health Psychology (see record 2009-03297-015). There was a typographical error in the text on page 521, in the first sentence of the first full paragraph. The corrected sentence is provided in the erratum.] Objective: To assess the effects of a communication skills training program for physicians and patients. Design: A randomized experiment to improve physician communication skills was assessed 1 and 6 months after a training intervention; patient training to be active participants was assessed after 1 month. Across three primary medical care settings, 156 physicians treating 2,196 patients were randomly assigned to control group or one of three conditions (physician, patient, or both trained). Main Outcome Measures: Patient satisfaction and perceptions of choice, decision-making, information, and lifestyle counseling; physicians' satisfaction and stress; and global ratings of the communication process. Results: The following significant (p     

Is reading important in reading-readiness programs? A randomized field trial with teachers as program implementers.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness training, with and without a beginning decoding component. 33 teachers in 8 urban schools were assigned randomly within their schools to 3 groups: control, phonological awareness training, and phonological awareness training with beginning decoding instruction and practice. Following training, teachers in the 2 treatment groups conducted the treatments for about 20 wks. In each teacher's class, pre- and posttreatment data were collected on 12–14 children (N?=?404); 312 children were tested again the following fall. At the end of kindergarten, the 2 treatment groups performed comparably and outperformed controls on the phonological awareness measures. On alphabetic (reading and spelling) tasks, however, the group participating in phonological awareness training with beginning decoding instruction did better than the other 2 groups. In the fall of the next year, many of these between-group differences remained but were less impressive. Implications are discussed for bridging research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The marathon encounter group--vision and reality: Exhuming the body for a last look.

The marathon group, touted in the 1960s and 1970s as a near-miraculous massed-time tool accelerating true encounter with self and others, emerged as one form of the human potential movement with the power to influence both individuals and organizations. A melding of aspects of group psychotherapy, sensitivity training, and encounter groups, it suffered the fate of a technique grown too popular too fast without the tempering effect of sufficient scientific examination to slow its runaway expansion into a full-fledged social movement. This article combines a look at the history, development growth, and personal appearance of the marathon with the personal experience of the author of one of the two first dissertations on the topic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An activity‐based analysis of hands‐on practice methods

Abstract The success of exploration‐based training is likely to be strongly influenced by what activities the learner undertakes during training. This paper presents a study of the activities undertaken during training by 51 experienced computer users learning to use an application package through exercises, exploration or a combined approach to training. Results suggest that exploration learners practice procedures selectively, fail to consolidate skills through repetition, and do not devise activities which extend their knowledge beyond the scope of the training materials. It is argued that these characteristics may lead to subsequent difficulties in performance.     

On context and training.

Our initial reaction to this collection of articles was to exclude the Berger and Jurkovic (see record 1989-12730-001) offering on the grounds that it dealt with clinical practice rather than training psychologists in family systems approaches. However, we did realize a unifying theme in all these articles: that family therapists must consider the importance of context in accomplishing their goals, whether their context is a clinical or training setting. The authors showed an expertise in adapting their methods and concepts to different contexts, modifying goals as appropriate, and gaining in perspective, knowledge, and effectiveness through their openness to a synergistic process. Using case studies, Berger and Jurkovic illustrated the need to analyze and manage the institutional context of therapy in clinical practice. They demonstrated good, if somewhat routine, agency policies, joining with the other agency by using its language or concepts. In reading Lebow's and Ribordy's articles, we reflected on the need to train family psychologists to recognize and intervene on these different contextual levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Countertransference temptation and the use of self of self-disclosure by psychotherapists in training: A discussion for beginning psychotherapists and their supervisors.

Most recent articles on self-disclosure have addressed advanced questions of theory and technique related to self-disclosure in psychoanalysis. This article, however, takes up issues related to the use of self-disclosure by psychotherapists in training. Rather than arguing categorically that beginning psychotherapists should or should not use self-disclosure, the focus here is on the factors influencing the decision of whether or not to make a self-disclosure. Illustrated by 2 case examples, it is argued that because of their relative lack of experience in working with transference and countertransference, beginning therapists are especially susceptible to the temptation to use self-disclosure and nondisclosure to close off--rather than to analyze--a patient's intense transference feelings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APACS: a system for the automatic analysis and classification of conceptual patterns

Many existing inductive learning systems have been developed under the assumption that the learning tasks are performed in a noise-free environment. To cope with most real-world problems, it is important that a learning system be equipped with the capability to handle uncertainty. In this paper, we first identify the various sources of uncertainty that may be encountered in a noisy problem domain. Next, we present a method for the efficient acquisition of classification rules from training instances which may contain inconsistent, incorrect, or missing information. This algorithm consists of three phases: ( i ) the detection of inherent patterns in a set of noisy training data; ( ii ) the construction of classification rules based on these patterns; and ( iii ) the use of these rules to predict the class membership of an object. The method has been implemented in a system known as APACS (automatic pattern analysis and classification system). This system has been tested using both real-life and simulated data, and its performance is found to be superior to many existing systems in terms of efficiency and classification accuracy. Being able to handle uncertainty in the learning process, the proposed algorithm can be employed for applications in real-world problem domains involving noisy data.     

Consideration of Consulting Psychology/Organizational Educational Principles as they relate to the practice of industrial-organizational psychology and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology's Education and Training Guidelines.

This article is written on behalf of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) to present its reactions to the "Principles for Education and Training at the Doctoral and Postdoctoral Level in Consulting Psychology/Organizational" (R. L. Lowman et al, Education and Training Committee, see record 2003-04049-003). An overview of the history and practice of industrial-organizational psychology is provided. The Consulting Principles are then compared with SIOP Education and Training Guidelines (SIOP Guidelines, 1985 and 1999), and recommendations are made for enhancements to the Consulting Principles. The primary recommendation is for the addition of a second tier of competencies focusing on the knowledge, skill, and abilities that underlie the types of work described in the Individual-, Group-, and Organizational-Level Competencies. As an alternative, the Consulting Principles could focus on consulting skills and refer to the appropriate APA divisions regarding specialty areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

实物设计为依托的单片机课程体系改革

“单片机原理及应用”作为高校电子类专业的必修课，以单片机为控制器在课程设计、学科竞赛、毕业设计中应用非常广泛。利用热转印或感光制版技术完成PCB制作，以实物设计为依托构建单片机理论实践一体化教学模式，将单片机与多课程融合应用于地方院校电气电子类专业应用型人才的培养中，提升了学生的电路设计与调试能力，对于单片机课程体系的改革有一定的借鉴作用。     

建筑钢结构无损检测技术在中国

钢结构建筑以其抗震、节能、环保、资源再利用、工厂化生产等方面的优势,成为21世纪的建筑发展方向。给保障建筑质量的无损检测技术带来了新的发展机遇。介绍建筑用钢结构无损检测技术的发展历程、应用技术、检测标准、市场需求以及人员培训等概况,揭示出钢结构无损检测事业的广大发展空间。