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Life Skills (life + skill)
Selected AbstractsDealing with the offer of drugs: the experiences of a sample of pre-teenage schoolchildrenADDICTION, Issue 7 2003James McIntosh ABSTRACT Aims To investigate the ways in which pre-teenage children anticipate and deal with the offer of drugs. Design A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with 10,12-year-old schoolchildren. Setting The cities of Glasgow (Scotland) and Newcastle (England), UK. Participants A sample of 216 pre-teenage children. Forty-three had used drugs on at least one occasion, 42 had been offered but had not used drugs and 131 had neither used drugs nor been offered them. Most of the results reported in the paper relate to the experiences of the 42 children who had declined the offer of drugs. Findings While children who had not been exposed to drug offers expressed a high degree of confidence in their ability to deal with them, those who had actually had to cope with such offers experienced a variety of difficulties. The ease with which an offer could be declined appeared to depend upon two main factors: who was making the offer and the context in which it was being made. According to the children, offers from people with whom they had a close relationship and those in which pressure or encouragement were involved were particularly difficult to deal with. Conclusions The paper concludes that there is a need to equip young people better with the interpersonal tools they require to deal with the various situations they are likely to encounter in which drugs may be offered. It is suggested that a broadly based life skills approach to drug education may provide the best way of helping young people to deal with these situations. [source] Education for Self-Support: Evaluating Outcomes Using Transformative Learning Theory,FAMILY RELATIONS, Issue 2 2001Suzanne Christopher This paper describes the use of transformative learning theory to evaluate a family-empowerment project focusing on life skills. The project was designed in response to welfare reform in Montana. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 34 participants. Results revealed evidence of transformative learning outcomes such as an empowered sense of self and new connectedness with others. Respondents also spoke of factors built into the program designed to foster transformative learning. Implications are presented. [source] The patient's view on quality of life and eating disordersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, Issue 1 2007Simone de la Rie MA Abstract Objective: This study investigated the personal views of eating disorder (ED) patients on their quality of life (QOL). Method: The views of 146 current ED patients and 146 former ED patients on their QOL were studied using a self-report questionnaire. Patients were requested to name the most important aspects of their life and they subsequently rated themselves on these aspects. Qualitative analysis clustered items into meaningful categories. Results: A sense of belonging was mentioned most often (93.0%) by the participants. Work or education, health and well-being were also mentioned frequently. Furthermore, participants stated a sense of self, disease-specific psychopathology, life skills, leisure activities, a sense of purpose, financial situation, living condition, and pets. Current ED patients more frequently mentioned disease-specific psychopathology than former ED patients. Current ED patients reported poor QOL on most domains, particularly on self-image and well-being. Former ED patients reported better QOL than current ED patients, but ratings were just above average. Conclusion: The views on QOL of ED patients broadens the scope of relevant domains of QOL. The assessment of these views may be a useful adjunct to the use of standardized QOL measures. © 2006 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2006 [source] Going for the Goal: Improving youths' problem-solving skills through a school-based interventionJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Todd C. O'Hearn This study evaluated Going for the Goal (GOAL), a school-based intervention designed by Danish and colleagues to teach life skills to at-risk urban adolescents. We extended previous evaluation of GOAL by including an assessment of means-ends problem-solving skills. The 10-week program was administered to 479 middle school students by 46 trained high school student leaders in a predominantly Hispanic community. The program focused on setting positive, reachable goals; anticipating and responding to barriers to goal attainment; using social support; and building on one's strengths. Results demonstrated gains in knowledge of the skills being taught and improvement in problem-solving skills. Leaders also showed an increase in their knowledge of life skills. The approach maximizes both community resources and ecological validity while giving high school leaders the chance to benefit in their role as helpers. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Social learning and life skills training for hatchery reared fishJOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2001C. Brown With the stress placed on our natural resources, many fisheries increasingly rely on restocking from hatchery-reared sources in an attempt to maintain commercially viable populations. However, the mortality rates of hatchery-reared fishes during the period directly following release are very high. The successful development of restocking programs is consequently dependent upon production and release strategies that lead to improved migratory, antipredator and feeding behaviour in hatchery fish. While relevant individual experience prior to release might improve performance, social learning potentially provides a process whereby fish can acquire locally adaptive behaviour rapidly and efficiently. It is now well over a decade since Suboski & Templeton (1989) raised the possibility of using social learning processes to improve the post-release survival of hatchery-reared fishes. This period has witnessed considerable progress in the understanding of how social learning operates in fish populations. We review new methods and recent findings that suggest how social learning protocols could realistically be applied on a large scale to enhance the viability of hatchery fish prior to their release into the wild. We also suggest a practical pre-release training protocol that may be applied at the hatchery level. [source] The SMILES Program: A Group Program for Children With Mentally Ill Parents or SiblingsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2004Erica Pitman AdvDipAppSocSc The Simplifying Mental Illness + Life Enhancement Skills program, for children with a mentally ill parent or sibling, is a 3-day program that aims to increase children's knowledge of mental illness and to better equip them with life skills considered beneficial for coping in their family. Self-report data from 25 children who attended 3 of these programs, in Canada and Australia, indicate that these aims were achieved. Their parents also report benefits for their children. [source] Approach to treatment of mental illness and substance dependence in remote Indigenous communities: Results of a mixed methods studyAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2009Tricia Nagel Abstract Objective:,To develop and evaluate a culturally adapted brief intervention for Indigenous people with chronic mental illness. Design:,A mixed methods design in which an exploratory phase of qualitative research was followed by a nested randomised controlled trial. Setting:,Psycho-education resources and a brief intervention, motivational care planning (MCP), were developed and tested in collaboration with aboriginal mental health workers in three remote communities in northern Australia. Participants:,A total of 49 patients with mental illness and 37 carers were recruited to a randomised controlled trial that compared MCP (n = 24) with a clinical control condition (treatment as usual, n = 25). Intervention:,The early treatment group received MCP at baseline and the late treatment group received delayed treatment at six months. Main outcome measures:,The primary outcome was mental health problem severity as measured by the health of the nation outcome scales. Secondary measures of well-being (Kessler 10), life skills, self-management and substance dependence were chosen. Outcome assessments were performed at baseline, six-month, 12-month and 18-month follow up. Results:,Random effects regression analyses showed significant advantage for the treatment condition in terms of well-being with changes in health of the nation outcome scales (P < 0.001) and Kessler 10 (P = 0.001), which were sustained over time. There was also significant advantage for treatment for alcohol dependence (P = 0.05), with response also evident in cannabis dependence (P = 0.064) and with changes in substance dependence sustained over time. Conclusions:,These results suggest that MCP is an effective treatment for Indigenous people with mental illness and provide insight into the experience of mental illness in remote communities. [source] Development of an English as a second language curriculum for hepatitis B virus testing in Chinese Americans,CANCER, Issue S12 2005Gloria D. Coronado Ph.D. Abstract Chinese Americans are at disproportionately high risk of liver cancer. A major risk factor for liver cancer in Asia is infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV): Approximately 80% of liver cancers are linked to HBV, and chronic carriers of HBV are > 100 times more likely to develop liver cancer compared with noncarriers. However, many adults, particularly those who have immigrated to the U.S., remain untested and therefore unvaccinated or unmonitored for the disease. Chinese Americans are mostly foreign born, and more recent arrivals face multiple social and health challenges. Many require special attention from public health professionals because of low levels of acculturation and difficulties learning English. It has long been established that an English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum can teach immigrant adults and their family's important life skills, such as job training and citizenship. The authors report on their plans to develop and pilot test a culturally appropriate curriculum that will motivate Chinese ESL students to obtain a blood test for the detection of the HBV. Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society. [source] Making a home, finding a job: investigating early housing and employment outcomes for young people leaving careCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 3 2006Jim Wade ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from a new study of outcomes for young people leaving care funded by the Department for Education and Skills. It reports findings for a sample of 106 young people in relation to progress made in housing and employment some 12,15 months after leaving care. The generally poor employment outcomes of care leavers are acknowledged, but ingredients that make for success are also highlighted, including the value of settled care and post-care careers, sound career planning and, significantly, the value of delaying young people's transitions from care. Early career paths also interconnect with how young people fare in housing, in developing life skills and with other problems in their lives after leaving care. Housing outcomes were more encouraging and predominantly shaped by events after leaving care, and faring well in housing was the factor most closely associated with positive mental well-being in young people. Some groups that are at risk of faring badly are identified, including young people with mental-health problems, young people with persistent offending or substance misuse problems and, in some respects, young disabled people. The implications of these findings for leaving care services are considered. [source] | ||||||||||||||||