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Assessment of interpersonal problem-solving skills.

A new instrument for assessing social skills of schizophrenic patients, Assessment of Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills (AIPSS), is a videotaped-based test with an examiner's administration and scoring manual. The test measures an examinee's ability to describe an interpersonal social problem, to derive a solution to the problem, and to enact a solution in a role-played simulation test. In a study using a sample of schizophrenic outpatients and a comparison group of nonpatients, we found that the test had adequate psychometric properties, and the patients demonstrated deficits on all scales relative to the nonpatients. The results of the study also provided partial support for the validity of an information-processing model of social skills, which was used as a basis for constructing the AIPSS. Thus, the AIPSS represents a departure from previous methods of assessing social skills.

Adult↗

Teaching medical decision making and students' clinical problem solving skills.

Medical students need to be taught explicitly about decision making to be prepared for the changing health care environment. Medical decision making curricula have received favourable responses from students and have influenced some aspects of student performance. Questions remain about the impact of the teaching on students' general problem solving skills. A 15 hour course covering decision making topics was presented during a preclinical elective preceptorship for 5 years. Problem solving ratings made by clinical supervisors for the third year psychiatry and internal medicine clerkships were not better for the students who had the instruction and clinical experience than for the students in the comparison group. The results suggest that this approach to teaching decision making requires further development and testing.

Curriculum↗

Hemisphericity and problem-solving ability.

149 freshmen undergraduates were administered the Higher Information Processing Scale and an anagram problem-solving task. Single-solution anagrams were chosen from lists of age-appropriate vocabulary words high in concrete imagery or low in imagery (abstract). Small but significant correlations were obtained between number of concrete anagrams solved and right- and integrated-hemispheric preference scores, respectively. Students categorized as "integrated preference" solved more high-imagery anagrams than any other group. Results lend support to the hypothesis that brain hemisphere specializations may exist but integration of the hemispheres may yield best performance.

Adult↗

Problem-solving skills of rural battered women.

Recent research suggests that battered women may have a problem-solving skill deficit, thereby limiting their ability to prevent and/or effectively deal with future battering incidents. Situations encountered by battered women were analyzed by gathering data of 30 women receiving outpatient mental health treatment and of women who used a domestic violence emergency shelter. These situations were administered in an open-ended questionnaire format to 14 battered and 20 nonbattered women. These subjects were asked to develop as many alternatives as they could for each situation. Nonbattered women generated significantly more total alternatives and effective alternatives than did battered women. Battered subjects were more likely to produce avoidant and dependent responses.

Adolescent↗

Evaluation of a social problem-solving skills program for third- and fourth-grade students.

The effects of a social problem-solving (SPS) training program for entire classrooms of third- and fourth-grade children were examined in two studies. In the first study, experimental children showed significantly greater improvement in knowledge and performance of SPS skills than control children. However, both positive and negative effects of the intervention (varying by classroom) were found on measures of behavioral adjustment, self-efficacy, and peer acceptance at a 6-month follow-up. The second study compared two different intervention strategies: (a) SPS training with teacher-student dialoguing, peer pairing, and self-monitoring, and (b) SPS training with dialoguing only. It was found that children in both the experimental and control groups improved significantly in performance of SPS skills but no differences between the groups were found for changes in behavioral adjustment, self-efficacy, and peer acceptance. The limitations of cognitively mediated interventions for young children were discussed.

Affect↗

[A longitudinal study of the development of spatial problem solving ability in the early blinds].

To collect longitudinal data on the development of the spatial problem solving ability in the early blinds, 27 children of schools for the blind (8: 11 to 14: 11 years old), who participated in the Yamamoto's (1990) experiment two years ago, were re-tested using the same method as before. Five blind children (6: 3 to 7: 10 years) were also newly added. Subjects walked, with the guidance of the experimenter, on a route from the first to the third points. After reaching the third point of each route, subjects were required to walk back by him/herself to the first point. The trials were repeated 12 times using different routes. Subjects revealed less angle errors and less distance errors than in the previous experiment, but they did not show any change in the percentage of "longer turns" at the third pont. The subjects' trails of walking changed from the nonlinear to the linear types as a function of age. Differences in the three performance measures and the developmental changes in the walking-trails of children were discussed, the latter with reference to the developmental transition of the spatial ability from the route to the survey types.

Adolescent↗

Teaching problem-solving and clinical reasoning: 20 years experience with video-supported small-group learning.

In the context of a curriculum reform the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Leuven, Belgium, introduced a new teaching project: video-supported small-group learning on problem-solving and clinical reasoning. The aim of this study is to reflect 20 years experience. The video-supported sessions for sixth-year medical students during their practical year in peripheral hospitals were constructed in four stages. The first stage is the video presentation of a case with history-taking and physical examination. The student and three tutors of internal medicine make notes and can ask further questions and perform additional physical examination acts after the video presentation. The coordinator of the course, who knows the patient, then simulates the patient and the doctor to answer the questions. The second stage consists of making up individually a synoptic problem list, integrating history and physical examination; a differential diagnosis list with the most likely diagnosis fitting the problem list; and a list with investigations to be asked for confirming the diagnosis. The third stage consists of three small student groups discussing the three lists requested in stage 2. Each small group of students, passively assisted by a tutor, has to come to the consensus lists. The fourth stage is the confrontation of the consensus lists of the three groups with the aim of coming to an overall agreement. At this stage tutors are more actively involved in the discussion. Several learning processes are involved in this way of teaching. During the first stage the students learn the traditional teaching 'see one, do one and teach one', a demonstration of a full history and physical examination. By asking for additional information they learn by a critical attitude and by developing a strategy of fact-finding. During the second and third stages, by making their lists and during the consensus processes, they learn the significance of individual findings, problem-framing and the synthesis of history and physical examination data in medical concepts. The third and fourth parts of the sessions bring up the process of clinical reasoning, formulation of a working hypothesis, the discussion of the pathophysiology of findings, clustering of problems and epidemiological considerations as incidence and prevalence. Finally, the exercise to select diagnostic tests gives the students the possibility of appreciating the value of sensitivity/specificity and risks, benefits and costs of diagnostic procedures. These video-supported clinical problem-solving and reasoning sessions were positively appraised by students, teachers and medical faculty over the years. Over 20 years, more than 90 cases have been recorded on video, with a widespread variation in diagnoses and clinical presentations. Small-group teaching with the aid of a video case, as described in this paper, can promote enjoyable learning for students and teachers.

Clinical Competence↗

The effect of a multimedia interactive tutorial on learning endodontic problem-solving.

New technology may create additional opportunities for learning in dental education. One of these new features is a multimedia approach, courseware combining sound, text, stills and video with interactive learning. A multimedia program was developed to train dental students and dental practitioners in decision making and problem solving in endodontics. This study compared the effects of the multimedia program with a more traditional approach consisting of written information, without interaction. 28, 4th-year dental students at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY, USA were randomly assigned to the multimedia or the text-based groups. They were given a written pre-test using 2 cases of dental pain and were instructed to study independently using either the multimedia program (group A) or the written information (group B). No restrictions were imposed on the amount of time to be invested, and the total study time was recorded for each student. 3 weeks after the pre-test, the students completed the post-test. A total of 18 students completed both the pre-test and the post-test and their scores were included in the final data. Statistical analysis of the average scores using paired t-tests revealed no significant difference between the performance of the students in either group, indicating that the multimedia approach to learning endodontic problem solving may successfully replace traditional learning strategies.

CD-I↗

Spatial problem-solving strategies as functions of sex.

Sex differences in spatial ability may be related to different problem-solving methods. Two spatial tests, Choosing A Path and Witkin's Rod and Frame Test, and related strategy questionnaires were given to 50 male and 50 female adults. Multivariate analyses of variance on the strategy questionnaires were significant. Women were more likely to use concrete and unorganized methods and to give up or skip problems. Spearman correlations between the males' and females' rank orders of strategies were high and significant, so that both similarities and differences between the sexes were demonstrated.

Adolescent↗

[Problem solving training: intervention for depressed women].

This is an exploratory and descriptive study which has aimed from the Problem Solving Training accomplished in 12 group sessions with women admitted to hospital suffering from depression, to evaluate the effect of this intervention. BECK Depression Scale, SPILBERGER Anxiety State Scale, MCKAY Problem List, a Written Simulation Exercises about coping in five situations and an interview about the perception of group participation were used for the assessment of the patients. It was concluded that the training had positive effects about the women as for the technique used as for the communication established and for group therapeutic factors which appeared in this scenery.

Adult↗

Social problem-solving skills of young physically abused children.

The ability of physically abused children to resolve hypothetical social problems was compared to the social problem-solving skills of a comparison group of nonabused children. Analyses indicated that the abused children generated a more narrow range of solutions and were more likely to perserverate on negative solutions. Implications for intervention and future research are made.

Child Abuse↗

Measuring the problem-solving ability of students and residents by microcomputer.

Potential uses for microcomputers in medical education include evaluation of students and residents. A computer program developed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia presents simulated patient cases and then scores participants' clinical problem-solving in the cases by comparing their performances with those of five faculty members. In the study reported here, the authors investigated the validity and reliability of this evaluation system. Total scores were significantly different among faculty members, residents, and third-year students on only the most difficult of the three cases included in the study. Performance was not related to the user's general analytic ability or to locus of control. This result suggested there is not a "type" of person who is better at medical problem-solving on a microcomputer. A prophecy formula was used to determine that nine cases would be needed to achieve an adequate level of reliability in measuring the ability of a student or a resident. Implications of selecting a battery of cases for the system are discussed.

Clinical Competence↗

Interpersonal cognitive problem-solving among children with mild mental retardation.

In this study we sought to determine whether interpersonal cognitive problem-solving skills could distinguish adjusted from nonadjusted classroom behavior among children with mild mental retardation. Discriminant analyses indicated that, irrespective of age or IQ, adjusted children had a larger number of relevant solutions to common problems as well as a higher ratio of aggressive solutions. Findings suggest that cognitive interpersonal skills may be as important, if not even more important, for this population as for youngsters without mental retardation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗