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Results for “PROBLEM SOLVING”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

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PubMed1998

Social problem-solving deficits and hopelessness, depression, and suicidal risk in college students and psychiatric inpatients.

The Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised was used to examine the relations between problem-solving abilities and hopelessness, depression, and suicidal risk in three different samples: undergraduate college students, general psychiatric inpatients, and suicidal psychiatric inpatients. A similar pattern of results was found in both college students and psychiatric patients: a negative problem orientation was most highly correlated with all three criterion variables, followed by either a positive problem orientation or an avoidance problem-solving style. Rational problem-solving skills emerged as an important predictor variable in the suicidal psychiatric sample. Support was found for a prediction model of suicidal risk that includes problem-solving deficits and hopelessness, with partial support being found for including depression in the model as well.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Relation between social problem-solving ability and subsequent level of psychological stress in college students.

A prospective design was used to examine the relation between social problem-solving ability and later psychological stress in college students during the first semester of the academic year. A new social problem-solving inventory measured not only general ability, but also more specific components of the problem-solving process (e.g., problem orientation, problem-solving skills; D'Zurilla & Nezu, 1990). The results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that general problem-solving ability was negatively related to later stress, even after prior stress level and number of life problems were controlled. More specific analyses indicated that subjects' problem orientation was a better predictor of stress than their problem-solving skills. Results are discussed in terms of the possible stress-reducing effects of perceived control and successful problem resolution.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

Immediate and sustained effects of planning in a problem-solving task.

In 4 experiments, instructions to plan a task (water jugs) that normally produces little planning altered how participants solved the problems and resulted in enhanced learning and memory. Experiment 1 identified planning strategies that allowed participants to plan full solutions to water jugs problems. Experiment 2 showed that experience with planning led to better solutions even after planning was no longer required, whereas control participants showed little improvement. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that although the most recent planned solution could be recalled following a long filled retention interval, retroactive interference (RI) between successive problems resulted in much lower recall of earlier solutions. RI during plan generation could also explain participants' choice of depth-first planning strategies.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed1983

Meaningfulness and problem-solving performance by younger and older adults.

Younger and older adults solved reasoning problems in either abstract or meaningful form. Contrary to expectation, older adults did not differ on the two versions, but younger adults were aided by meaningfulness. Results of a second task showed no age differences in the time to produce associations to problem elements or in the number of associations. There were differences in the quality of associations, and association quality was significantly related to performance on the reasoning problems for older adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Problem-solving tools for analyzing system problems. The affinity map and the relationship diagram.

The author describes how to use two management tools, an affinity map and a relationship diagram, to define and analyze aspects of a complex problem in a system. The affinity map identifies the key influencing elements of the problem, whereas the relationship diagram helps to identify the area that is the most important element of the issue. Managers can use the tools to draw a map of problem drivers, graphically display the drivers in a diagram, and use the diagram to develop a cause-and-effect relationship.

Audiovisual Aids↗
PubMed1982

Slow negative potentials during problem-solving.

Electroencephalographic changes by solving mathematical problems were tested on 52 healthy young subjects. Slow negative potentials appeared in the frontal lobe (Fz) when the subject was asked to add numerals presented by a slide projector, multiply them and add them while hearing other addition problems through headphones. The mean amplitude of the potential was larger in multiplication and in addition while hearing other addition problems than in addition.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1970

Cognitive model of problem-solving in chess.

By performing a series of five experiments with two subjects, several aspects of one of the subject's behavior in solving chess problems were found to be predictable, and a model was developed to explain this predictability. The heuristics used in this model may be applicable in developing future computer programs for chess play.

Cognition↗
PubMed2002

Community-based education and problem solving: the Community Health Scholars Program at the University of Florida.

BACKGROUND: Although many medical schools understand and support the need for community service as part of educational training, this goal has been difficult to operationalize. DESCRIPTION: The Community Health Scholars program, a joint effort between the Area Health Education Center and the University of Florida, places 1st-year medical students in clinical settings with underserved populations, both rural and urban. The stated goal of the experience is to solve a problem identified by the communities as well as provide exposure to community practice and environment. EVALUATION: The program provided notable services to many communities. More than 80% of participating students believed it was a good or excellent learning experience; more than 90% believed that the program affected their career choice; and 100% believed that the program should be continued. Although this is a 1st-year program, students were not surveyed until their last year, suggesting that the program may have a lasting effect. CONCLUSIONS: This collaborative program successfully provided a service-learning experience for students while promoting solutions to problems in underserved communities.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed2002

Counting on working memory in simple arithmetic when counting is used for problem solving.

A concurrent-task methodology was used to investigate relations between the availability of aspects of working memory resources and both strategy selection and execution while simple addition equations (e.g., 4 + 3 = 8) were being verified. Consistent with prior research in which production trials have been used, undergraduates selected a variety of procedures other than retrieval. Availability of working memory resources did not generally affect strategy selection. Disrupting central executive and phonological aspects of memory affected strategy execution, but only when min counting was used to solve the problems. These and other features of the results suggest that availability of working memory resources does not contribute to individual differences in strategy selection and time to execute retrieval processes.

Humans↗
PubMed2003

Redescription disembeds relations: evidence from relational transfer and use in problem solving.

How relational information becomes disembedded from its original context is an important issue for theories of cognition. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that a process called redescription disembeds relations, resulting in abstract and, therefore, more transferable and robust representations. In Experiment 1, participants solved simple problems involving an alternating sequence. Participants who discovered the alternating-sequence relation through redescription transferred the relation to a second type of problem more quickly and used it more consistently than did participants who had been directly instructed on the alternating-sequence strategy. Experiment 2 showed similar effects for participants who discovered the alternating-sequence relation through redescription, as compared with participants who had discovered the relation through information available in the display. The present results converge with previous experimental and correlational evidence that suggests that redescription creates abstract representations of relations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Industrial problem solving with microbeam analysis.

The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the microbeam analytical techniques and to help select the appropriate one to solve complex problems often arising in today's high-tech industries. Case histories are given to show how renowned analytical service laboratories and microbeam experts formulated their strategies to approach a real life problem, what type of conclusions were deduced from the data and, finally, how the problem was solved.

Electron Probe Microanalysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A problem solving approach to nutrition education and counseling.

This report applies problem-solving principles to the design and implementation of nutrition education and counseling programs. A framework is proposed that builds on an extensive body of research in mental health and health education that has demonstrated the efficacy of a problem-solving approach to helping people cope with stressful life events. Our framework uses problem-solving principles in helping participants in nutrition education or counseling programs to overcome obstacles they experience in changing their nutrition behaviors. Both research and clinical experience suggest that incorporating problem-solving techniques in nutrition education and counseling will increase long term change in nutrition behaviors.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2006

[Traumatic life events and problem solving skills in psychiatric outpatients: relationships with suicidal behavior].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence and the relationship of traumatic life events and problem solving skills to suicidal behavior in a group of psychiatric outpatients. METHOD: The study was conducted with 121 (57 % women) psychiatric outpatients. Patients who accepted participation filled in a questionnaire that contained questions about socio-demographics, clinical features, suicidal behavior, traumatic life-events, and a problem-solving inventory. Data were analyzed by means of t-tests, chi-square tests, one-way analysis of variance and multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Of the patients, 43.2 % (47.8 % women) reported having thought and 28.7 % (29.7 % women) reported having attempted suicide. 75.4 % of the sample experienced at least one traumatic life-event. On average, a person experienced approximately 2 (SD = 1.7) traumatic events. Two logistic regression analyses showed that inefficient problem solving was an independent predictor of both suicidal thoughts and attempts. Number of traumatic events appeared to be an independent predictor of suicidal attempts after the problem solving skills. In accordance with diathesis-stress model, both suicidal thoughts and attempts were found to be most frequent among persons with inefficient problem solving skills and who were also exposed to a large amount of traumatic life events. CONCLUSION: Suicidal behavior and traumatic life events are common among psychiatric patients. Findings indicate that inefficient problem solving may be an independent predictor of both suicidal ideation and attempts. Suicidal behavior, traumatic life-events and problem solving skills should be addressed during psychiatric assessment. Study findings imply that problem solving therapy may be an important approach that can be used for the treatment of psychiatric patients exhibiting suicidal behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Knowledge-driven problem-solving models in nursing education.

This paper compares the hypothetico-deductive model of clinical problem solving commonly used in current nurse education and practice with the knowledge-driven problem-solving model (Bordage, Grant, & Marsden, 1990). It is argued that the knowledge-driven model provides a more complete account of the processes involved in clinical problem solving. The knowledge-driven model emphasizes the organization and availability of relevant content knowledge stored in memory as the prime determinant of clinical problem solving. This contention is discussed in relation to the development of a clinical problem-solving task for nursing students and its implications for nursing curricula.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2006

Association of social problem solving with glycemic control in a sample of urban African Americans with type 2 diabetes.

The Social Problem-Solving Inventory--Revised, Short Form, was administered to 65 urban African Americans with type 2 diabetes to examine association of generic problem-solving styles and orientation with hemoglobin A1C (A1C). Eighty-five percent of participants had total social problem-solving scores in the Average range or higher. In linear regression models adjusted for education, each interquartile increase in impulsive/careless score was associated with a 0.82 increase in A1C (%) (p = 0.01), and each interquartile increase in avoidant score was associated with a 1.62 increase in A1C (%) (p = 0.004). After adjusting for depressive symptoms, the association of impulsive/careless style with A1C was attenuated, while the association of avoidant problem solving with A1C remained significant (p = 0.01). Associations of rational problem-solving style, positive orientation, and negative orientation with A1C and health behaviors were not statistically significant. Ineffective problem-solving styles may prove to be important targets for intervention to improve glycemic control.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Problem-solving abilities among mothers of infants with failure to thrive.

OBJECTIVE: Maternal problem-solving abilities, as they related to specific child-rearing situations, were examined and compared among mothers of infants with failure to thrive (FTT) and a matched group of comparison mothers. METHODS: Participants were 37 mothers of children diagnosed with FTT and 37 mothers with normally growing children matched on three child variables and five maternal variables. Participants were administered a means-ends problem-solving measure specific to parents of young children and measures of language ability, depression, negative affect, and stressful life events. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis of covariance results supported our main study hypotheses that mothers of infants with FTT would generate fewer problem-solving strategies that would be judged of poorer quality (i.e., less likely to result in positive outcomes) than mothers of healthy, normally growing infants. There were no significant associations obtained among problem-solving variables and individual difference variables (e.g., depression, negative affect, and stressful life events). CONCLUSIONS: Limited maternal problem-solving abilities may contribute to FTT by interfering directly with the quality of nurturance, feeling, and caloric intake the child receives. Recommendations are made for future research and interventions with mothers of children with FTT.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

The efficacy of problem solving therapy in reducing mental and physical health problems: a meta-analysis.

This paper describes a meta-analysis of 31 studies that examined the efficacy of problem solving therapy (PST). The meta-analysis, encompassing 2895 participants, showed that PST is significantly more effective than no treatment (d=1.37), treatment as usual (d=0.54), and attention placebo (d=0.54), but not significantly more effective than other bona fide treatments offered as part of a study (d=0.22). Significant moderators included whether the PST included problem-orientation training, whether homework was assigned, and whether a developer of PST helped conduct the study.

Adult↗