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Extensive Training (extensive + training)
Selected AbstractsReliability and validity of a structured interview guide for the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (SIGH-A)DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 4 2001M. Katherine Shear M.D. Abstract The Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, a widely used clinical interview assessment tool, lacks instructions for administration and clear anchor points for the assignment of severity ratings. We developed a Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (SIGH-A) and report on a study comparing this version to the traditional form of this scale. Experienced interviewers from three Anxiety Disorders research sites conducted videotaped interviews using both traditional and structured instruments in 89 participants. A subset of the tapes was co-rated by all raters. Participants completed self-report symptom questionnaires. We observed high inter-rater and test-retest reliability using both formats. The structured format produced similar but consistently higher (+ 4.2) scores. Correlation with a self-report measure of overall anxiety was also high and virtually identical for the two versions. We conclude that in settings where extensive training is not practical, the structured scale is an acceptable alternative to the traditional Hamilton Anxiety instrument. Depression and Anxiety 13:166,178, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Disruption of self-organized actions in monkeys with progressive MPTP-induced parkinsonism.EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 2 2004Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by motor symptoms, usually accompanied by cognitive deficits. The question addressed in this study is whether complexity of routine actions can exacerbate parkinsonian disorders that are often considered to be motor symptoms. To examine this question, we trained four vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) to perform three multiple-choice retrieval tasks. In order of ascending complexity, rewards were freely available (task 1), covered with transparent sliding plaques (task 2), and covered with opaque sliding plaques cued by symbols (task 3). Thus, from task 1 to task 2 we added a motor difficulty , the recall of context-adapted movement; and from task 2 to task 3 we added a cognitive difficulty: the recall of symbol,reward associations. The more complex the task, the longer it took to learn, but after extensive training the performance was stable in all tasks, with similar retrieval durations. The monkeys then received systemic 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) injections (0.3,0.4 mg/kg) every 4,7 days, until the first motor symptoms appeared. In the course of MPTP intoxication, the behavioural performance declined while the motor symptoms were absent or mild , the retrieval duration increased, and non-initiated choices and hesitations between choices became frequent. Interestingly, this decline was in proportion to task complexity, and was particularly pronounced with the cognitive difficulty. Furthermore, freezing appeared only with the cognitive difficulty. We therefore suggest that everyday cognitive difficulties may exacerbate hypokinesia (lack of initiation, abnormal slowness) and executive disorders (hesitations, freezing) in the early stages of human PD. [source] Electrical Nanoscale Training of Piezoelectric Response Leading to Theoretically Predicted Ferroelastic Domain Contributions in PZT Thin Films,ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 16 2008Simon Bühlmann Piezoelectric contributions from mobile 90° domains are locally activated by electrical training of a PZT thin film. The high response state of 160 pm V,1 corresponds well with theoretical predictions. This state relaxed at modest trainings within minutes but was stabilized after extensive training. Our findings indicate that dramatic domain reconfigurations must take place. [source] Pharmacy support staff involvement in, and attitudes towards, pharmacy-based services for drug misusersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY PRACTICE, Issue 6 2009Jenny Scott Abstract Objective This study aimed to examine involvement of pharmacy support staff in delivering services to drug misusers; to quantify their participation in related training; and to examine relationships between attitudes, practice experience and training. Methods The setting was a random sample of 10% of UK community pharmacies (n = 1218) using a postal questionnaire with two reminders. Pharmacy managers were used as gate-keepers to access pharmacy support staff, which included dispensary technicians and medicines counter assistants. Key findings Six hundred and ninety (56.7%) pharmacies responded, and 1976 completed questionnaires were returned from 610 (50.1%) pharmacies. A further 80 (6.6%) opted out. Three-fifths of staff had no input into decisions about whether their pharmacy provided services for drug misusers. One-third working in pharmacies that provide services were uncertain or negative about whether their pharmacy should do so. Staff were more involved in needle exchange (91%) and decisions to sell needles (95%) than supervising consumption of therapies (64%) or handing out dispensed medicines to drug misusers (73%), suggesting managers perceive needle exchange and sales as appropriate roles. Three-quarters of those working in pharmacies that provide services had not received any training to do so. Those who had undertaken training and who worked in pharmacies that provided services had significantly more positive attitudes compared to those had not undertaken training but also worked in pharmacies that provided services, or those who had undertaken training but did not provide services. Conclusions Pharmacy support staff were involved extensively in drug-misuse services but the majority had not been trained to do so. Attitudes were more positive in those who were involved in service provision and had undertaken training. The findings suggest a need for more extensive training and for further exploration of the views of managers on appropriate roles, particularly the clinical versus supply nature of needle exchange. This is timely given the recent publication of guidelines by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on needle exchange. [source] RELIABILITY OF SENSORY ASSESSORS: ISSUES OF COMPLEXITYJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 1 2009JANNA BITNES ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to investigate whether the sensory performance of assessors in a sensory panel maybe explained by complexity of evaluated product. We aimed to investigate whether we could observe a decline in sensory performance when increasing the complexity of the product. The products increased in number of constituents from mixtures of sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid and caffeine in water, to the foods ice tea and tomato soup constituting different levels of the same substances. Candidates who succeeded evaluating one product were not always successful evaluating others. Few subjects were successful in everything. The conclusion was that there is only minor systematic decline with increasing complexity of products. The authors emphasize that definition of complexity involves more than just counting number of constituents and taste sensations, and suggest that minor differences in the task given to the assessor might explain different performances. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Practical use of the research presented in the present paper is in a sensory evaluation context. It is important for the users of sensory data to find out how the profiling should be organized to achieve optimum output, and in specific, the need for extensive training when dealing with a more complex product. The present study hypothesized that sensory assessors would have more difficulties evaluating a more complex product. However, the results showed that panel leaders should be more concerned with the task variables in the sensory evaluation. Even a minor shift in task variables had a stronger impact on the performance and reliability of the assessors than increasing number of constituents and/or stimuli sensations of the product. This study did not demonstrate a need for extensive training when dealing with a more complex product as hypothesized. [source] TRAINING EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE OF DESCRIPTIVE PANELISTSJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 6 2004DELORES H. CHAMBERS ABSTRACT The amount of training necessary to adequately "train" a descriptive panel is a matter of contention. The objectives of this research were to compare the performance of descriptive panelists after short-term (4 h), moderate (60 h) and extensive training (120 h). Seven screened panelists were chosen to evaluate three commercial tomato pasta sauces after each training period. Panelist performance improved with increased training. Sample differences were observed in all texture attributes and some flavor attributes, even after the shortest training time (4 h). However, more differences were found with at least 60 h of product training. After 120 h of training, product differences for all texture attributes and most of the flavor attributes studied could be ascertained by the trained panelists. These results suggested that only limited training may be necessary to find differences among products for many texture attributes and some flavor attributes. However, extensive training may be required to reduce variation among panelists and increase the discriminant abilities of panelists. [source] Using instructional logs to identify quality in educational settingsNEW DIRECTIONS FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, Issue 121 2009Brian Rowan When attempting to identify educational settings that are most effective in improving student achievement, classroom process (that is, the way in which a teacher interacts with his or her students) is a key feature of interest. Unfortunately, high-quality assessment of the student-teacher interaction occurs all too infrequently, despite the critical role that understanding and measuring such processes can play in school improvement. This article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of two common approaches to studying these processes,direct classroom observation and annual surveys of teachers,and then describes the ways in which instructional logs can be used to overcome some of the limitations of these two approaches when gathering data on curriculum content and coverage. Classroom observations are expensive, require extensive training of raters to ensure consistency in the observations, and because of their expense generally cannot be conducted frequently enough to enable the researcher to generalize observational findings to the entire school year or illuminate the patterns of instructional change that occur across the school year. Annual surveys are less expensive but often suffer from self-report bias and the bias that occurs when teachers are asked to retrospectively report on their activities over the course of a single year. Instructional logs offer a valid, reliable, and relatively cost-effective alternative for collecting detailed information about classroom practice and can overcome some of the limitations of both observations and annual surveys. [source] The content of optometric eye examinations for a young myope with headachesOPHTHALMIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL OPTICS, Issue 5 2008Rakhee Shah Abstract Background:, A recent review found standardised patient (SP) methodology to be the gold standard methodology for evaluating clinical care. We used this to investigate the content of optometric eye care for a young myopic patient with headaches suggestive of migraine. Methods:, We recruited 100 community optometrists who consented to be visited by an unannounced actor for an eye examination and to have that eye examination recorded. The actor received extensive training to enable accurate reporting of the content of the eye examinations, via an audio recording and a checklist completed for each clinical encounter. The actor presented as a 20-year-old student seeking a private eye examination and complaining of symptoms suggestive of migraine headaches. The results of each clinical encounter were recorded on a pre-designed checklist based on evidence-based reviews on headaches, clinical guidelines and the views of an expert panel of optometrists. Results:, The presence of headache was detected in 98% of cases. Eight standard headache questions were considered to be the gold standard for primary care headache investigation. Although none of the optometrists asked all of these questions, 22% asked at least four of the eight questions. Sixty-nine per cent of practitioners asked the patient to seek a medical opinion regarding the headaches. The proportion of the tests recommended by the expert panel that was carried out varied from 33% to 89% and the durations of the eye examination varied from 5 to 50 min. Conclusion:, SP encounters are an effective way of measuring clinical care within optometry and should be considered for further comparative measurements of quality of care. As in research using SPs in other healthcare disciplines, our study has highlighted substantial differences between different practitioners in the duration and depth of their clinical investigations. This highlights the fact that not all eye examinations are the same and that there is no such thing as a ,standard sight test'. We recommend that future optometric continuing education could usefully focus on migraine diagnosis and assessment. [source] Advanced da Vinci surgical system simulator for surgeon training and operation planningTHE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ROBOTICS AND COMPUTER ASSISTED SURGERY, Issue 3 2007L. W. Sun Abstract Background Although patients benefit considerably from minimally invasive surgery, the use of new instruments such as robotic systems is challenging for surgeons, and extensive training is required. Method We developed a computer-based simulator of the da Vinci Surgical System, modelling the robot and designing a new interface. Results The simulator offers users a two-handed interface to control a realistic model of the da Vinci robot. The simulator can be applied (i) to provide an environment in which to practice simple surgical skills and (ii) to serve as a visualization platform on which to validate port placement and robot pose for operation planning. Conclusions Virtual reality is a useful technique for medical training. The simulator is currently in its early stages, but this preliminary work is promising. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Emergence of Graphic Symbol Functioning and the Question of Domain Specificity: A Longitudinal Training StudyCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2002Tara C. Callaghan The impact of social scaffolding on the emergence of graphic symbol functioning was explored in a longitudinal training study. Links among graphic, language, and play domains in symbolic development were also investigated. The symbolic functioning of 16 children, who were 28 months at the outset of the study, was assessed in comprehension and production tasks across the three domains at monthly intervals from 28 to 36 months, and again at 42 months. Training was delivered in between monthly assessments during weekly visits. Half of the children received training, which consisted of the experimenter drawing common objects and highlighting the relation between pictures and their referents, for 16 consecutive weeks early in the study (early training, ET). The remaining half received a placebo version of training for these 16 weeks, followed by actual training for 4 weeks in the fifth month (late training, LT). After the first 4 months of training the ET group was found to have accelerated comprehension and production of graphic symbols relative to the LT group. After the fifth month, the LT group reached the same level of graphic symbol performance as the ET group. There were strong positive correlations found among graphic symbol functioning and language and play, and between play and language. These findings support the view that graphic symbolic development can be influenced by cultural scaffolding, that more extensive training is needed early rather than later in development, and that interrelationships exist among symbolic domains. [source] | |||||||||||||