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PubMedDate not supplied

A creative writing program to enhance self-esteem and self-efficacy in adolescents.

PURPOSE: To describe the rationale, content, and results of a group creative writing program to increase adolescent self-esteem and self-efficacy. METHODS: Subjects were low-income, at-risk minority youth (N = 11). Free writing in response to specific exercises, sharing their own stories in their own language, and responding to their peers were used daily for 2 weeks as part of the high school English class. The program was oriented toward health rather than problems, with the content created by the adolescents. FINDINGS: The opportunity to tell their own story, in their own language in a safe, structured setting with positive feedback led to higher self-efficacy and self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that a writing intervention focused on building self-in-relation self-esteem and the four aspects of self-efficacy resulted in increased sense of well-being.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

A quarter-long exercise that introduces general education students to neurophysiology and scientific writing.

Providing large numbers of general education students with an introduction to science is a challenge. To meet this challenge, a quarter-long neurophysiology project was developed for use in an introductory biology course. The primary goals of this multistep project were to introduce students to the scientific method, scientific writing, on-line scientific bibliographic databases, and the scientific literature, while improving their academic literacy skills. Students began by collecting data on their own circadian rhythms in autonomic, motor, and cognitive function, reliably demonstrating the predicted circadian changes in heart rate, eye-hand coordination, and adding speed. Students wrote a journal-style article using pooled class data. Students were prepared to write the paper by several methods that were designed to improve academic language skills, including a library training exercise, "modeling" of the writing assignment, and drafting of subsections of the paper. This multistep neurophysiology project represents a significant commitment of time by both students and instructors, but produces a valuable finished product and ideally gives introductory students a positive first experience with science.

Circadian Rhythm↗

PubMed1995

Programmed writing and therapy with symbiotically enmeshed patients.

This paper illustrates how programmed writing lessons to be completed as homework assignments can be used in conjunction with traditional verbal psychotherapy. Each patient was involved in a symbolically enmeshed relationship. Special benefits for patients from the combination of programmed writing lessong with traditional psychotherapy were: (1) increased couple communication; (2) possibly more rapid change; (3) possibly shorter-term therapy; (4) increased forgotten trauma discovery; (5) and increased explicit and specific instructions. Patients were informed from the outset that the use of programmed writing lessons would or might: (1) help the therapist get a better idea of what was going on in regard to the development, values, rules, etc. of their symbiotic relationships; (2) decrease the time spent in therapy, and (3) encourage self-realization through self-directed assignments between sessions. For psychotherapists there are advantages of: (1) putting the responsibility for change on the shoulders of patients rather than on themselves; (2) using programs of theoretical and therapeutic approaches that may not be well known to the therapist; (3) reducing the frequency of sessions and administering written homework assignments when the therapist is on vacation; and (4) increasing the number of patients that can be seen for unit of therapist's time.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

On writing from clinical experience.

Papers that present the life of the analytic session offer material through which analysts can together study analytic process and therapeutic action and arrive at consensus on how to improve psychoanalytic theory and practice. But some analysts have been deterred from publishing clinical material of that kind because of concerns about preserving confidentiality, protecting the therapeutic relationship, reporting accurately, being scrutinized, worrying about losing their colleagues' support, and not feeling authorized to present their views. Here conscious, preconscious, and unconscious constraints against writing and publishing are explored, and an example is given of successful self-analysis of a writing inhibition. The debate over the ethics of writing is reviewed and an argument made that detailed clinical description is useful in advancing analytic understanding. Finally, a clinical example shows how the analysand usefully analyzes the experience of reading what the analyst has written, and how the analyst's self-analysis may be promoted in resonance with the analysand's experience.

Consciousness↗

PubMed2005

Writing about patients: V. analysts reading about themselves as patients.

The narratives of twenty analysts written about when they were patients are presented. Their stories provide suggestions about practices to avoid when writing clinical material, but no generalized prescriptions emerge. Individualization and sensitivity to the situation for each pair remain the best guide. The experiences these analysts recount run the gamut of emotions, from negative through neutral to positive. The neutral responses came mainly from twelve analysts who in the course of an interview about their own writing told of having been written about as patients. The other eight, volunteers who initiated contact for the sole purpose of reporting their experience of having been written about, appear on average to be motivated by stronger affective reactions. The era in which the analyst wrote also seems to have influenced the reactions; in earlier times, not asking permission was accepted professional practice. Today, however, it is increasingly common to ask permission when extended clinical examples are published. One problem specific to analyst-patients was concern about the loss of their role as patient when their analyst engaged them collaboratively in the writing.

Humans↗

PubMed2006

Writing for scientific publication: tips for getting started.

Pediatricians in training and clinical practice may be eager to submit their first scientific publication by writing a letter to the editor, case report, review article, or short clinical series. Unfortunately, the would-be author encounters a literary developmental delay when facing the blank page or computer screen. This article is dedicated to the novice author and offers practical tips on writing the first manuscript. Authors are encouraged to draw from their extensive experience writing other materials and to approach the task in a systematic way. Computer technology and software developments should facilitate the process.

Computers↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Beyond strategies: teacher beliefs and writing instruction in two primary inclusion classrooms.

Links between teachers' pedagogical beliefs and teaching practices were investigated with respect to process writing instruction. Participants included 5 teachers, 44 general education students, and 23 special education students in 2 elementary multi-age inclusion classrooms. Findings suggested that, although the teachers shared similar views on inclusion and were convinced of the uniqueness of their respective instructional approaches, they nuanced their writing instruction to conform to their implicit theories about teaching, learning, and disability. One set of teachers believed that the writing "breakdowns" of students with disabilities required a structural approach-sequenced, individualized, phonics-based instruction targeting individual performance levels. Another set of teachers advocated a relational approach, wherein students with disabilities are "protected" and "empowered" in learning communities characterized by shared activities, student choice, and interpersonal communication.

Child↗

PubMed1993

The write-say method for improving spelling accuracy in children with learning disabilities.

We evaluated a teaching strategy designed to improve spelling accuracy in children with learning disabilities. The write-say method provides immediate feedback to dual sensory modalities (i.e., visual and auditory) following the administration of a daily spelling test. Four males and three females (mean age = 11.61 years) with learning disabilities were introduced to the write-say procedure within a multiple-baseline design. Compared to control conditions (i.e., studying words on one's own), experimental procedures significantly enhanced subjects' spelling accuracy in a brief period of time. The write-say procedure was also advocated as a cost-effective method of spelling instruction for small classroom settings.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

The spelling for writing list.

Four different vocabulary lists based on the study of children's writing were used to generate a basic spelling list for students with learning disabilities and other poor spellers. For each vocabulary list, the smallest number of different words that accounted for 80% of the words children used in their writing were identified. Words that were common to only one or two of the lists or not normally used by children until fourth grade or later were eliminated. Each word was assigned a grade placement based on difficulty, pattern of occurrence in children's writing, and placement on current vocabulary lists and spelling materials. The resulting spelling list of 335 words is provided.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Errors of inflection in the writing of normal and poor readers.

This study investigated the speech and writing of 18 normal and 11 poor readers in second grade in order to determine whether children make morphological errors in writing that they do not make in speech. Ten sentences with complex syntactic structures were elicited, both orally and in writing (e.g., "Who do you think eats fries?" "Point to the dog that licks babies"). Each sentence provided opportunities for the children to erroneously omit, add, or substitute an inflection. In the spoken task, virtually no inflectional errors were observed in either group. In contrast, in the written task, good readers omitted an average of 0.4 inflections out of a possible 20 whereas the poor readers omitted an average of 7.6 inflections each, a highly significant difference. This suggests that poor readers have adequate grammatical knowledge, but poor explicit awareness of morphological structure.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Use of letter writing as a means of integrating an altered body image: a case study.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To describe the use of letter writing as a technique to assist patients in adjusting to an altered body image after dramatic cancer treatment. DATA SOURCES: Published articles and books. DATA SYNTHESIS: Gestalt therapy, psychosynthesis, and journaling techniques evolve into a technique that can assist patients who are challenged to accept altered body parts. CONCLUSIONS: Described in a case study presentation, letter writing was found to assist female patients with recurrent breast cancer in adjusting to reconstruction of lost breasts. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Nurses can use letter writing as a means of assisting patients through the grief process associated with body image alterations.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Expressive writing intervention for adolescents' somatic symptoms and mood.

The effects of a widely used expressive writing intervention on adolescents' somatic symptoms, distress, and positive psychological functioning were evaluated. Eighth-grade (n=106) students were randomly assigned to write about either an emotional or a neutral topic for 3 consecutive days. Students completed measures of somatic symptoms, medical visits, distress, and positive functioning at baseline, postintervention, and 2 and 6 weeks later. Somatic symptoms and medical visits were unchanged as a result of the intervention. However, significant Time Condition effects indicated that optimism scores increased, negative-affect scores decreased, and positive-affect words in student essays increased in the experimental condition. Expressive writing shows promise as a cost-efficient intervention to address the emotional concerns of young adolescents; further work with clinical populations may lead to even more robust results.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Visuospatial stimulus-bound automatic writing behavior: a right hemispheric stroke syndrome.

Three cases of visuospatial stimulus-bound automatic writing behavior were identified among 80 patients (4%) with acute right cerebral hemispheric stroke. All cases had similar clinical characteristics and writing behavior, and visuospatial stimulus-bound automatic writing was related to visually perceived letters. This syndrome might be specific for right hemispheric stroke and might be included among other hypergraphic syndromes attributable to right hemispheric damage.

Aged↗

PubMed2001

Writing for the popular press: to inform and entertain.

Many doctors write for consumer publications. Even more would like the chance to do so. This article explains how to bridge the gap between writing scientific papers and writing for the popular press, and offers realistic guidance on how to find a way into this competitive market.

Career Choice↗

PubMed2005

Where love flies free: women, home, and writing in Cook County Jail.

Several definitions of "home," drawn from dozens provided by the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language, underscore how a large urban county jail becomes many forms of home for the women detainees there. Drawing on the women's poetry and the mechanics of creative writing workshops facilitated by the author for the last seven years at Cook County Jail, this essay describes some of the realities of the criminal (in)justice system and how the women's writing becomes a way of writing against the grain of official discourse, thus altering certain definitions of this "home."

Attitude↗

PubMed2006

Fingerspelling and sign language as alternative codes for reading and writing words for Chilean deaf signers.

The study examined the role of sign language and fingerspelling in the development of the reading and writing skills of deaf children and youth. Twenty-six deaf participants (13 children, 13 adolescents), whose first language was Chilean Sign Language (CHSL), were examined. Their dactylic abilities were evaluated with tasks involving the reading and writing of dactylic and orthographic codes. The study included three experiments: (a) the identification of Chilean signs and fingerspelled words, (b) the matching of fingerspelled words with commercial logos, and (c) the decoding of fingerspelled words and the mapping of these words onto the writing system. The results provide convergent evidence that the use of fingerspelling and sign language is related to orthographic skills. It is concluded that fingerspelling can facilitate the internal representation of words and serve as a supporting mechanism for reading acquisition.

Achievement↗

PubMed1996

ENFI--an approach to teaching writing through computers.

An ongoing challenge for teachers of deaf students is to give these students a natural environment for writing English. Electronic Networks for Interaction (ENFI) provides a natural approach to teach writing skills to these students, making English more accessible. ENFI can be used in a variety of classroom activities giving opportunity to use writing for communicative purposes without struggling with the language.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

PubMed2006

Further reflections on the impact of clinical writing on patients.

Though it is unlikely that instituting universal guidelines will ever be possible for patient approval of the analyst's use of clinical material outside of the treatment setting, the author offers some supplementary reflections to those already available in the literature. Broadly applied informed consent guidelines would increase the distortion that already exists in our clinical literature due to self-imposed restraints by writers. Moreover, the powerful irrational forces mobilized by consent in the dyad are not easily 'held' by traditional applicable legal categories. Metapsychological formulations of the intrapsychic and intersubjective impact of patient participation in the writing process on individual analytic dyads are needed. Notions of privacy protection, validation, dyadic co-construction, or writing-as-containment by a third as rationales for informed consent fail to encompass the transindividual and external sources of human identity and the ineradicable lack of unity in the unconscious. Nevertheless, theoretical affinity and preferred technique may be mediating factors in positive outcomes of the consent process. Some paradigms not only accommodate more comfortably but also actively seek the intersubjective repercussions of informed consent. As an alternative or complementary viewpoint, the author offers the hypothesis that the clinical ramifications of either disguise or consent are not exclusively, nor even necessarily, concerned with what patients read about themselves, but what they assess or intuit--directly or indirectly through the material presented--of their analyst's unconscious strivings. To truly triangulate the clinical reporting project, it is wisest to consult the third ear of a colleague to assess the potential impact on patients on what might be being unconsciously transmitted by the analyst in the writing and the consent process.

Confidentiality↗