Psychoendocrine validation of a short measure for assessment of perceived stress management skills in different non-clinical populations

BACKGROUND: We investigated the psychometric properties of a short questionnaire for combined assessment of different perceived stress management skills in the general population and tested whether scores relate to physiological stress reactivity. METHODS: For psychometric evaluation, we determined the factor structure of the questionnaire and investigated its measurement invariance in the participant groups and over time in three different independent samples representing the general population (total N=332). Reliability was tested by estimating test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and item reliabilities. We examined convergent and criterion validity using selected criterion variables. For endocrine validation, 35 healthy non-smoking and medication-free men in a laboratory study and 35 male and female employees in a workplace study underwent an acute standardized psychosocial stress task. We assessed stress management skills and measured salivary cortisol before and several times up to 60 min (workplace study) and 120 min (laboratory study) after stress. Potential confounders were controlled. RESULTS: The factor structure of the questionnaire consists of five scales reflecting acceptably distinct stress management skills such as cognitive strategies, use of social support, relaxation strategies, anger regulation, and perception of bodily tension. This factor structure was stable across participant groups and over time. Internal consistencies, item reliabilities, and test-retest reliabilities met established statistical requirements. Convergent and criterion validity were also established. In both endocrine validation studies, higher stress management skills were independently associated with lower cortisol stress reactivity (p's<.029). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the questionnaire has good psychometric properties and that it relates to subjective psychological and objective physiological stress indicators. Therefore, the instrument seems a suitable measure for differential assessment of stress management skills in the general population.

Bringing the Community into the Classroom: Teaching Immunizations Skills via a Community-based Project

Introduction or Statement of Problem Health care profession educators are challenged in their efforts to bring clinical experiences into the class room and to introduce students to community settings early in their didactic training. An immunization program directed at improving childhood immunization rates can introduce students to the community, to students of other disciplines and reinforce the knowledge and skills needed for immunization interventions. Successful interventions increase community demand for immunizations, improve access to services, and educate providers about immunization services and disease. Interventions serve to mold attitudes among health care professionals that foster commitment to universal immunization coverage and low disease rates. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Tailored instructional methods for students with diverse levels of computer knowledge and skills

The purpose of this online course is to ensure new nursing graduate students know how to use computer technologies required to complete academic and research activities. Powerful computers, high speed internet, digitalized resources and databases are widely available in educational institutes. New renovation and updates are being released at faster pace than ever. All these developments are necessary for a student to utilize computer programs and synthesize large amount of data in a limited time for any given academic research project. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Laparoscopic-Simulator Box: a Simple Design for Surgical Residency Programs to Improve Trainees’ Laparoscopic Skills

Introduction: Since the introduction and evolution of laparoscopic surgery, there have been some concerns related to surgical training in this field. Laparoscopic box trainers and virtual simulators appear as useful devices which have been demonstrating effectiveness in learning surgical skills. However, these tools remain inaccessible for many centers around the world. Our intent is to share our experience in successful design to inspire others in surgical residency programs to build such boxes for training in laparoscopic techniques and also to encourage the use of simulators in educational centers. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Using Video iPods to Teach Nursing Skills to BSN Nursing Stu

The use of technology has increased in several teaching institutions. These technologies include podcasting, webbased teaching and simulation. The purpose of this project is to compare student performance between students who are taught nursing skills by faculty demonstration and those taught nursing skills delivered via video iPods. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Use of an online discussion board to improve diagnostic skills

We have used the “Discussion Board” feature of an online classroom application (Blackboard) to present diagnostic questions for our advanced practice nursing students in their course on differential diagnosis. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Maturation of oral feeding skills in preterm infants.

AIM: Safe and successful oral feeding requires proper maturation of sucking, swallowing and respiration. We hypothesized that oral feeding difficulties result from different temporal development of the musculatures implicated in these functions. METHODS: Sixteen medically stable preterm infants (26 to 29 weeks gestation, GA) were recruited. Specific feeding skills were monitored as indirect markers for the maturational process of oral feeding musculatures: rate of milk intake (mL/min); percent milk leakage (lip seal); sucking stage, rate (#/s) and suction/expression ratio; suction amplitude (mmHg), rate and slope (mmHg/s); sucking/swallowing ratio; percent occurrence of swallows at specific phases of respiration. Coefficients of variation (COV) were used as indices of functional stability. Infants, born at 26/27- and 28/29-week GA, were at similar postmenstrual ages (PMA) when taking 1-2 and 6-8 oral feedings per day. RESULTS: Over time, feeding efficiency and several skills improved, some decreased and others remained unchanged. Differences in COVs between the two GA groups demonstrated that, despite similar oral feeding outcomes, maturation levels of certain skills differed. CONCLUSIONS: Components of sucking, swallowing, respiration and their coordinated activity matured at different times and rates. Differences in functional stability of particular outcomes confirm that maturation levels depend on infants' gestational rather than PMA.

Simulator Network project report: a tool for improvement of teaching materials and targeted resource usage in Skills Labs

During the last decade, medical education in the German-speaking world has been striving to become more practice-oriented. This is currently being achieved in many schools through the implementation of simulation-based instruction in Skills Labs. Simulators are thus an essential part of this type of medical training, and their acquisition and operation by a Skills Lab require a large outlay of resources. Therefore, the Practical Skills Committee of the Medical Education Society (GMA) introduced a new project, which aims to improve the flow of information between the Skills Labs and enable a transparent assessment of the simulators via an online database (the Simulator Network).

Social skills as predictors of communication, performance and quality of collaboration in project-based learning

The assumption that social skills are necessary ingredients of collaborative learning is well established but rarely empirically tested. In addition, most theories on collaborative learning focus on social skills only at the personal level, while the social skill configurations within a learning group might be of equal importance. Using the integrative framework, this study investigates which social skills at the personal level and at the group level are predictive of task-related e-mail communication, satisfaction with performance and perceived quality of collaboration. Data collection took place in a technology-enhanced long-term project-based learning setting for pre-service teachers. For data collection, two questionnaires were used, one at the beginning and one at the end of the learning cycle which lasted 3 months. During the project phase, the e-mail communication between group members was captured as well. The investigation of 60 project groups (N = 155 for the questionnaires; group size: two or three students) and 33 groups for the e-mail communication (N = 83) revealed that personal social skills played only a minor role compared to group level configurations of social skills in predicting satisfaction with performance, perceived quality of collaboration and communication behaviour. Members from groups that showed a high and/or homogeneous configuration of specific social skills (e.g., cooperation/compromising, leadership) usually were more satisfied and saw their group as more efficient than members from groups with a low and/or heterogeneous configuration of skills.

The effect of acute exercise and psychosocial stress on fine motor skills and testosterone concentration in the saliva of high school students

Little is known about the influence of different stressors on fine motor skills, the concentration of testosterone (T), and their interaction in adolescents. Therefore, 62 high school students aged 14–15 years were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (exercise, psychosocial stress) and a control group. Exercise stress was induced at 65–75% of the maximum heart rate by running for 15 minutes (n = 24). Psychosocial stress was generated by an intelligence test (HAWIK- IV), which was uncontrollable and characterized by social-evaluative-threat to the students (n=21). The control group followed was part of a regular school lesson with the same duration (n = 28). Saliva was collected after a normal school lesson (pre-test) as well as after the intervention/control period (post-test) and was analyzed for testosterone. Fine motor skills were assessed pre- and post-intervention using a manual dexterity test (Flower Trail) from the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2. A repeated measure ANCOVA including gender as a covariate revealed a significant group by test interaction, indicating an increase in manual dexterity only for the psychosocial stress group. Correlation analysis of all students shows that the change of testosterone from pre- to post-test was directly linked (r = 2.31, p = .01) to the changes in manual dexterity performance. Participants showing high increases in testosterone from pre- to post-test made fewer mistakes in the fine motor skills task. Findings suggest that manual dexterity increases when psychosocial stress is induced and that improvement of manual dexterity performance corresponds with the increase of testosterone.

Skills training and social influences for violence prevention in middle schools: A curriculum evaluation

This pilot study evaluated the effect of skills training and of social influences on self-reported aggressive behavior in a sample of 239 sixth-grade students. The effect of two intervention groups and one control group were compared. In the first intervention group, a 15-session, violence-prevention curriculum was taught by the teacher. In the second intervention group, the same curriculum was taught by the teacher with the assistance of peer leaders trained to modify social norms about violence. The control group was evaluated but did not receive any training. The design included four schools. In two schools, three classes were assigned to one of the two interventions or to the control group. In the other two schools, two classes were assigned to either intervention (teacher only) or control. Students were evaluated before and after the implementation of the curriculum using a standardized questionnaire.^ The primary outcome was the effect of the curriculum and peer leaders on self-reported aggressive behaviors. The secondary outcome was their impact on intervening variables: knowledge about violence, conflict-resolution skills, self-efficacy, and attitudes.^ The intervention had a moderate effect on reducing self-reported aggressive behaviors among boys in two of the six classes that received the curriculum. Both classes with peer leaders reduced their aggressive behavior, but this reduction was significant in only one. A peer leader selection problem could probably explain this lack of effect.^ In three of the four schools, both interventions had an overall significant effect on increasing knowledge about violence and skills to reduce violence. Students also developed a more negative attitude toward violence after the intervention. As hypothesized, attitude change was stronger among students from the teacher plus peer leader group. No intervention effect was observed on self-efficacy nor on attitudes toward skills to reduce violence. Limitations of the study and implications for violence prevention in schools are discussed. ^

Knowledge, beliefs, risk behaviors, and social skills for HIV/STD prevention in junior college students (grades 11--12) in Bombay, India

1230 year 11 and 12 college students, modal age 16 and 17, in three colleges in Bombay, India, were studied on sexual behaviors or risk of sexual behaviors, beliefs about sex, HIV/STD knowledge, perceived norms regarding sexual behaviors, and the relationships between social skills/anxieties in HIV/STD prevention and actual and anticipated sexual behaviors. A quantitative questionnaire examining HIV/STD risk behaviors, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, and the AIDS Social Assertiveness Scale (ASAS) were administered to these 1230 college students. Data indicated that 8% of males and 1% of females had had sexual experience, but over one third were not sure at all of being able to abstain from sexual activity with either steady or casual partners. Perceived norms were slanted toward sexual abstinence for the majority of the sample. Knowledge of protective effects of condoms was high, although half of those who had had sex did not use condoms. Logistic regression showed knowledge was higher among males, those who believed it was OK to have sex with a steady partner and that they should not wait until they were older, those who believed that condoms should be used even if the partner is known, and those who believed it was acceptable to have multiple partners. Gender differences in sexual activity and beliefs about sexual activity showed males were less likely to believe in abstaining from sexual activity. The 5 scales of the ASAS were scored and compared on ANOVA on: those who had had sexual experience (HS), those who anticipated being unable to refuse sex (AS), and those who did not anticipate problems in refusing sex (DS). Those in the AS group had greater anxieties about refusing sexual or other risk behaviors than HS and DS groups. There were greater anxieties about dealing with condoms in the AS and DS groups compared with the HS group. Confiding sexual or HIV/STD-related problems to significant others was more anxiety-provoking for the AS group compared with the HS group, and the AS group were more anxious about interactions with people with HIV. Factor analysis produced the same 5 factors as those found in previous studies. Of these, condom interactions and confiding in significant others were most anxiety provoking, and condom interactions most variable based on demographic and attitudinal factors.^ This age group is appropriate for HIV/STD reduction education given the low rate of sexual activity but despite knowledge of the importance of condom use, social skills to apply this knowledge are lacking. Social skills training in sexual negotiations, condom negotiations, and confiding HIV/STD-related concerns to significant others should reduce the risks of Indian college students having unwanted or unprotected sex. ^