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Biomedical subjects

H Winefield

Publications and source records attributed to H Winefield.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Responses to support groups for family caregivers in schizophrenia: who benefits from what?

With increasing focus on community-based mental health services, family caregivers require and deserve professional support. The aim of the paper is to provide information useful to mental health professionals planning to run support groups for family caregivers in chronic mental illness. The data presented here combine qualitative information with quantitative information. From 36 group members who were caring for a relative with schizophrenia, eight were selected with extreme positions on four intake dimensions: (i) length of time since patient's diagnosis; (ii) amount of carer-patient contact; (iii) level of psychological distress; and (iv) level of rejecting attitudes to the patient. Differences in the responses of these individuals to the group meetings, as shown by their comments on both short and long-term effects, suggest how meetings, as shown by their comments on both short and long-term effects, suggest how groups might be selected and structured for maximum effectiveness. While all carers wanted better mental health rehabilitation services, accurate information regarding their relatives' illness and respect from mental health professionals, their length of experience as carers fundamentally affected their responsiveness to the discussion topics.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Initial responses of first-year medical students to problem-based learning in a behavioural science course: role of language background and course content.

A trial of problem-based learning (PBL) was conducted with first-year undergraduate medical students who had no background knowledge of behavioural science and who included a substantial proportion with a first language other than English. Responses to standardized and open-ended evaluation questions showed greater variability and there was no clear preference for PBL over traditional methods. Students found the PBL exercise time-consuming and felt they needed more guidance. Feedback from clinicians and working in groups were seen as positive aspects of the exercise. Students with a first language other than English reported that language, but not cultural background, was an impediment to effective participation. It is recommended that this group of students be offered extra support for PBL in a subject-based setting, and that all students would benefit from a formal induction session.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

What do experienced GPs really need in communication skills training?

In studying the connections between the verbal interactions in general practice consultations and outcomes such as patient and doctor satisfaction, the authors developed an interest in the various sources of occupational stress for Australian GPs. Doctors and their patients do not necessarily agree about how satisfactory a consultation was, raising questions about whose definition of quality in medical care should prevail. Doctors' concerns about exceeding the Health Insurance Commission (HIC) norms for frequency and length of consultations seemed to inhibit them from providing the listening time some patients need. Complexity of consultations proved difficult to rate reliably. Experienced GPs in a preceptor role expressed mixed feelings about the value of communication skills training compared with changes in remuneration policies. We seek comment from readers about these observations.

Communication↗
PubMed1994

Sources of occupational stress for Australian GPs, and their implications for postgraduate training.

Following a study of process and outcomes in general practice consultations, we returned to the GP participants and asked them to comment on taped consultations which they had found unsatisfying. Their comments were then analysed for information about sources of occupational stress, coping strategies, and this method of self-monitoring. About two-thirds of the stressors which they described arose from their interaction with the patient, and the rest from sources either internal to the doctor or else external to the particular doctor and consultation. The subjects' comments about their coping techniques, and their acceptance of this method of self-monitoring, in conjunction with the findings about sources of occupational stress provide a basis for planning vocational education in general practice.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Teaching counselling skills to fourth-year medical students: a dilemma concerning goals.

Advocacy of communication skills training in medical curricula is common, but this paper highlights some paradoxes which become apparent when such training is instituted. Fourth-year medical students completed a standardized questionnaire measure of empathy, before and after intensive training in counselling and communication in general practice. Low rates of empathetic responding were shown, and no increase occurred after training. The results are discussed in terms of an emerging dilemma within medical education and practice, namely the conflict between the traditional view of the doctor as problem-solver and recent evidence of the health benefits of a more patient-centred style of medical practice.

Communication↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anger, suicidal ideation, and attempted suicide: a prospective study.

Anger, aggression, or hostility, or an emotional state consistent with these terms, has been accepted as being of fundamental importance to our understanding of suicidal behavior. However, the presumed association has not been investigated thoroughly in prospective studies. The results of the present 8-year longitudinal examination of anger with oneself and with society and its relationship to emerging suicidal ideation and attempted suicide in adolescents entering adulthood provide, at best, only equivocal support for such an association.

Adolescent↗