Deliberate Training Research Articles

Teachable Q&A Agent: The Effect of Chatbot Training by Students on Reading Interest and Engagement

Reading requires appropriate strategies to spark initial interest and sustain engagement. One promising strategy is the pedagogical approach of learning-by-teaching, transforming learners into active participants. Integrating this approach into digitalized and individualized reading contexts has the potential to foster the development of young readers. Currently, AI techniques are primarily used in chatbots as tutors, with limited focus on tutee chatbots that employ the learning-by-teaching pedagogy. Therefore, this study adopted a teachable Q&A agent and probed into the effect of chatbot training, employing AI techniques and utilizing student-generated questions and answers, with the aim of enhancing students’ reading interest and engagement. Ninety-five fifth graders participated in a 9-week reading program. A quasi-experimental design was conducted. The results proved that incorporating a learning-by-teaching approach into the chatbot training activity significantly enhanced their reading interest and engagement. However, the quantity of certain question types is negatively correlated with interest and engagement. This implies that asking diverse questions poses a certain level of challenge to young readers, which requires deliberate training and incubation. Additionally, the identification of four distinct student clusters exhibited the affordances and limitations of tutee chatbots for reading.

Introspective Capabilities in Large Language Models

This paper considers the kind of introspection that large language models (LLMs) might be able to have. It argues that LLMs, while currently limited in their introspective capabilities, are not inherently unable to have such capabilities: they already model the world, including mental concepts, and already have some introspection-like capabilities. With deliberate training, LLMs may develop introspective capabilities. The paper proposes a method for such training for introspection, situates possible LLM introspection in the 'possible forms of introspection' framework proposed by Kammerer and Frankish, and considers the ethical ramifications of introspection and self-report in AI systems.

Author’s agency in a research article: From the grammar of language to the grammar of communication

Introduction. Writing for publication has been developed for two last decades as an independent field of research to help authors publish their research articles. Starting from the assessment that preparing the publication in a journal is an academic activity that requires learning to construct the author’s positioning in the manuscript, this paper points out the shortage of professionals to assume institutional organisation of training courses in Russia.Aim. This paper aims to suggest a framework for informal practices based on autonomy and the collective organisation of authors to construct an authorial position in the manuscript or author’s agency toward a target journal.Methodology and research methods. Various approaches applied in this paper are based on activity theory: situated learning, Change Laboratory, and expansive learning.A review of Russian and foreign research in writing for publication shows that only one of the three types of authorial agency, that is, transformative agency, might help the author to prepare a manuscript for publication in a target journal. The framework needed for emerging author’s transformative agency re-conceptualises the model of the Change Laboratory for situated learning that aims at the author’s socialisation in the discursive practices of a target journal. Situated learning for writing for publication is based on the principles of the Change Laboratory: collectivity; double stimulation; overcoming the contradiction by ascending from the abstract to the concrete.Results. A framework for three cycles of expansive learning aimed at the emergence of the author’s agency toward a target journal has been developed. The first cycle allows selecting a journal and revealing its implicit rules for manuscript production. The second cycle is focused on step-by-step manuscript revisions. Finally, a change of journal and/or author whose manuscript is discussed involves the third cycle of expansive learning.Scientific novelty. The paper considers manuscript production for publishing in a journal as an academic activity requiring deliberate training in native and foreign languages. The framework for three cycles of expansive learning in writing for publication conceptualises the publication as the author’s participation in social practices involving the journal as a discursive community.Practical significance. The framework suggested in this paper for emerging transformative agency in writing for publication might imply an alternative to the institutional training courses. Three cycles of expansive learning aim to develop the author’s publication competence and improve the quality of research articles.

Play-Way Approach and Implementation of Early-Childhood Education Curriculum in Selected Early Childhood Development Centers in Eastern Uganda

Play is children’s serious business and their avenue to learning. This study was conducted to explore the role of play-way approach in the implementation of Early-Childhood Education (ECE) Curriculum in selected Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centers in Eastern Uganda. It was informed by the work of Dewey, Froebel, Montessori and other seasoned Advocates of play in the domain of education. A mixed methods approach was adopted with a parallel exploratory design. The qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were employed. The specific objectives of this study were threefold to: 1. Establish the extent to which play is adopted in the implementation of the ECE curriculum. 2. Assess the role of play in the implantation of the ECE curriculum. 3. Identify challenges associated with play in the implementation of the ECE curriculum. The motivation for conducting this study was anchored on the advent of the increasing concerns of participatory approaches intended to enhance learners’ acquisition of meaningful literacy skills. A sample size of 504 respondents was used consisting 274 children of ECD, 103 Caregivers, 14 headteachers and 113 Centre Management Committee members, whose views were investigated using questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The purpose of the study was to critically examine the extent to which play-based-learning impacts on the implementation of ECE curriculum. The problem identified was that whereas efforts had been made by researchers in identifying challenges associated with ECE curriculum implementation which inhibited children’s readiness to realise a breakthrough to meaningful literacy in ECD centres, no effort had been made to establish the use of play-way approach in the same context. Findings revealed that play had been adopted to a small extent, also without proper integration content and yet, active participation, enjoyment and increase in attendance were reported as attributed to roles of play. Unfortunately, some Caregivers lacked skills and knowledge of adopting play as an approach to learning. It was concluded that whereas learning became interesting, fun and real at ECD centres where play-way approach was adopted, it was boring and stressful at ECD centres where play-way approach was not employed. It was, therefore, recommended that Care-givers required serious deliberate training on play-way approach and its alignment with content in view of and focus on the 21 st century skills, proper guidelines be developed and provided to Caregivers on the use of play-way approach, instructional materials which stimulate the use of play be developed at every ECD centre and peer mentorship strategies be designed to build the capacity of Care-givers with a focus on play-way approach. Keywords: Play, Early Childhood Education and Curriculum. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-33-08 Publication date: November 30 th 2022

Team is brain: leveraging EHR audit log data for new insights into acute care processes.

To determine whether novel measures of contextual factors from multi-site electronic health record (EHR) audit log data can explain variation in clinical process outcomes. We selected one widely-used process outcome: emergency department (ED)-based team time to deliver tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We evaluated Epic audit log data (that tracks EHR user-interactions) for 3052 AIS patients aged 18+ who received tPA after presenting to an ED at three Northern California health systems (Stanford Health Care, UCSF Health, and Kaiser Permanente Northern California). Our primary outcome was door-to-needle time (DNT) and we assessed bivariate and multivariate relationships with six audit log-derived measures of treatment team busyness and prior team experience. Prior team experience was consistently associated with shorter DNT; teams with greater prior experience specifically on AIS cases had shorter DNT (minutes) across all sites: (Site 1: -94.73, 95% CI: -129.53 to 59.92; Site 2: -80.93, 95% CI: -130.43 to 31.43; Site 3: -42.95, 95% CI: -62.73 to 23.17). Teams with greater prior experience across all types of cases also had shorter DNT at two sites: (Site 1: -6.96, 95% CI: -14.56 to 0.65; Site 2: -19.16, 95% CI: -36.15 to 2.16; Site 3: -11.07, 95% CI: -17.39 to 4.74). Team busyness was not consistently associated with DNT across study sites. EHR audit log data offers a novel, scalable approach to measure key contextual factors relevant to clinical process outcomes across multiple sites. Audit log-based measures of team experience were associated with better process outcomes for AIS care, suggesting opportunities to study underlying mechanisms and improve care through deliberate training, team-building, and scheduling to maximize team experience.

Bridging the gap between self-assessmentand faculty assessment of clinical performance in restorative dentistry: A prospective pilot study.

Purpose/ObjectivesThe current study was undertaken to investigate whether self‐assessment of clinical skills of undergraduate dental students could be bridged with faculty assessment by deliberate training over an extended period. A secondary aim was to explore students' perception of self‐assessment and its effect on their learning and motivation.Material and MethodsA prospective pilot study was conducted at the Department of Restorative Dentistry at Damascus University. Sixteen students participated in the study, ranging in age between 22 and 23 years. A modified Direct Observation of Procedural Skills form with a grading rubric was used to register and guide students' self‐assessment; both were pretested on four students before the study. In total, four clinical encounters were completed by each student. Students were trained on how to conduct proper self‐assessment before and after each clinical encounter. A postcourse questionnaire was used to investigate students' perception of self‐assessment.ResultsBias in self‐assessment decreased consistently after each encounter, and the difference in bias between the first (bias = 0.77) and the last encounter (bias = 0.21) was significant with a medium effect size (p = .022, d = 0.64). The percentage of disconfirming performance dimensions decreased from 39.7% to 26.9%. Students' ability to exactly pinpoint strengths improved consistently and significantly. However, their ability to pinpoint areas of improvement was volatile and showed no significant difference. Bland–Altman graph plots showed higher levels of agreement between self‐assessment and faculty assessment. Moreover, students' perception of self‐assessment was very positive overall.ConclusionsThese findings suggest the possibility that the gap between self‐assessment and faculty assessment could be bridged through deliberate training. Future longitudinal research using a larger sample size is still required to further explore whether self‐assessment can be actively bridged with faculty assessment by deliberate training.

Recovery from Work: Advancing the Field Toward the Future

Unwinding and recovering from everyday work is important for sustaining employees’ well-being, motivation, and job performance. Accordingly, research on work recovery has grown tremendously in the past few decades. This article summarizes research on recovery during work breaks, leisure-time evenings, weekends, and vacations. Focusing on day-level and longitudinal field studies, the article describes predictors as well as outcomes of recovery in different recovery settings and addresses potential between-group and cross-cultural differences. It presents findings from intervention research demonstrating that recovery processes can be improved by deliberate training programs. The article then discusses how future recovery research can address emerging themes relevant to the future of work—changing boundaries between work and nonwork life, increased reliance on teams and technology, and changes in employment arrangements. We conclude with an overall summary, open research questions, directions for methodological improvements, and practical implications.

Deliberate training and incidental learning through the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media: Capitalising on a European tool to enhance visual literacy and intercultural dialogue globally

This article addresses visual literacy as a crucial competence for fostering intercultural literacy and intercultural dialogue. Visual literacy has been defined as a combination of skills needed to interpret the meaning of images, latent reasons behind their making and their impact on audiences. Individuals need to develop such skills to critically read the ‘vocabulary’ (content) and ‘grammar’ (composition) of images they are constantly flooded with to fully understand and appreciate the underlying meaning of visual representations of their own culture and other cultures, as well as the people belonging to different cultural groups. The Council of Europe’s Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media (AIEVM) has been designed to promote interculturality through the reflection on the other, as portrayed in visuals. By analysing AIEVMs produced by 18 adult learners of English in two contexts – featuring explicit intercultural training prior to AIEVM completion vs. its application without such previous input – the present study examines the impact of pertinent training in visual and intercultural competence development. The data suggest heightened levels of metacognition and critical thinking in the former context. Results for both groups also disclose the development of a powerful sense of self-discovery and empathy toward alterity, induced by the commonalities detected between the respondents themselves and the depicted. Overall, implementing the AIEVM seems to narrow the gap between the intercultural awareness discerned in both contexts, yet the dissimilar depth of the narratives produced corroborates the value of prior intercultural learning. The article concludes with a critical overview of the potential of the AIEVM, comprising prospective courses of action to supplement this instrument to sharpen users’ visual literacy and boost deeper intercultural reflection.

Context-specific Knowledge Is the “Key” to Salsa Music

ABSTRACT Introduction Previous research has shown ways in which both formal training and informal exposure affect perceptual experience and the development of musical abilities. Here we asked what types of training and exposure are necessary to acquire the context-specific knowledge associated with expertise. We specifically focused on the perception of salsa music: a genre that is rich in rhythmic complexity, but has received relatively little attention in experimental settings. Methods We examined specific groups within the exposure and training populations: those with musical training in the production of salsa rhythms (Study 1) and “native listeners” who grew up listening to salsa music without formal training (Study 2). Using two clave patterns (3–2 and 2–3 son clave) and three constructed alternatives, we asked participants to choose the correct clave pattern for a variety of music excerpts. Results We found that informal listening exposure was not enough to detect the salsa–clave pairings. Instead, proficiency was only developed when training and exposure were both domain-specific. Discussion Our results show the importance of deliberate training and the degree to which expertise comes to fruition through context-specific focus, thus helping to illuminate the complex relationship between the local and the universal in musical-cultural experience.

Joint Trauma System Clinical Practice Guideline (JTS CPG): Prehospital Blood Transfusion. 30 October 2020.

This Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) provides a brief summary of the scientific literature for prehospital blood use, with an emphasis on the en route care environment. Updates include the importance of calcium administration to counteract the deleterious effects of hypocalcemia, minimal to no use of crystalloid, and stresses the importance of involved and educated en route care medical directors alongside at a competent prehospital and en route care providers (see Table 1). With the paradigm shift to use FDA-approved cold stored low titer group O whole blood (CS-LTOWB) along with the operational need for continued use of walking blood banks (WBB) and point of injury (POI) transfusion, there must be focused, deliberate training incorporating the different whole blood options. Appropriate supervision of autologous blood transfusion training is important for execution of this task in support of deployed combat operations as well as other operations in which traumatic injuries will occur. Command emphasis on the importance of this effort as well as appropriate logistical support are essential elements of a prehospital blood program as part of a prehospital/en route combat casualty care system.

Advanced Multimodal Communication Curriculum for Pediatric Residents.

BackgroundMedical educators juggle competing demands as they seek to integrate medical advancements and new technology with the call for earlier introduction to clinical experiences. Newer models of medical education place even greater emphasis on the importance of deliberate training of providers who can deliver compassionate patient-centered care. The need for adaptable, effective communication skills training has never been more relevant than now, in our high-tech and ever-evolving learning climate.MethodsAt a large pediatric academic center, we used Kern's six-step approach to complete a needs assessment, identify goals and learning preferences of trainees, and ultimately develop and evaluate a multimodal communication curriculum. This curriculum was rooted in the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's Pediatric Milestones, with the goal of enhancing knowledge, skills, and competency. Pediatric interns were randomized to either the new curriculum (n = 19) or the existing didactic-based communication training (n = 17) from 2019 to 2020. We evaluated the impact of the new and traditional curriculum through evaluations by expert facilitators, learner surveys, and faculty-assigned resident milestones.ResultsMany trainees self-identified performance gaps in communication skills at baseline. Eighteen residents attended 1 to 6 in-person deliberate practice workshops. Workshop participation by the residents varied over time due to a variety of factors. All residents, regardless of curricular exposure, showed statistically significant improvement in communication milestones from first to second year and those enrolled in the deliberate practice curriculum highly valued the workshops and coaching.DiscussionOur curriculum demonstrates the value of deliberate practice opportunities for residents to gain skills in advanced communication. Residents appreciated this type of training and the time devoted to expand these skills. Lessons learned and barriers to implementation from this curriculum can be helpful for educators interested in integrating active, deliberate practice, simulation-based communication training into their current educational model.

Teacher Preparedness to Utilize Emergent Literacy for Teaching Initial Literacy in Selected Schools of Mansa District

Effective teaching of initial literacy in Grade 1 demands more of the teacher’s attention to
 pupils’ emergent literacy skills and consideration of how they learn. The emergent literacy
 skills children acquire lay a firm foundation for their learning to read and write in the
 conventional sense. Some of the skills that children develop under emergent literacy
 include phonological awareness and phonological sensitivity, which give children the
 ability to hear, recognize, manipulate and distinguish the sounds of the language they have
 acquired. These are key language skills which teachers will need to utilize in their teaching
 of reading and writing skills to Grade 1 learners in the classroom.
 A study was carried out whose purpose was to investigate whether primary school teachers
 in Mansa District utilized emergent literacy skills in their teaching of conventional reading
 and writing skills to the learners in Grade 1 considering the fact that emergent literacy lays
 a firm and solid foundation for continuous development of the literacy skills. The study
 was a descriptive survey and qualitative in nature since it required the researcher to
 describe the state of affairs as found and observed in their natural setting in the research
 sites. The qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were used. The sample for
 this study comprised 62 Grade 1 teachers and 3,594 Grade 1 primary school pupils. Only
 those schools teaching initial literacy in the local familiar language using the Breakthrough
 to Literacy (BTL) methodology were targeted for this research.
 The findings indicated that: (1) Teachers lacked knowledge about emergent literacy and
 did not know how useful it was for continuous literacy development among the children.
 (2) Most of the teachers ignored pupils’ prior literacy knowledge and considered their
 learners as complete illiterates who knew nothing about literacy skills. (3) Teachers never
 designed extra teaching and learning materials for teaching literacy. Rather, they relied on
 the New Breakthrough to Literacy (NBTL) kit materials. (4) The class sizes were large and
 meaningful scaffolding was lacking in most of the classes.
 This study concluded that the Ministry of Education in Zambia should consider emergent
 literacy as the foundation for conventional literacy development in Grade 1. One
 recommendation was that teachers should be equipped with knowledge of emergent
 literacy through deliberate training. They need to understand and appreciate emergent
 literacy as an essential body of knowledge to be utilized for successful conventional
 literacy development among Grade 1 learners.

Functional preservation and enhanced capacity for visual restoration in subacute occipital stroke.

Stroke damage to the primary visual cortex (V1) causes a loss of vision known as hemianopia or cortically-induced blindness. While perimetric visual field improvements can occur spontaneously in the first few months post-stroke, by 6 months post-stroke, the deficit is considered chronic and permanent. Despite evidence from sensorimotor stroke showing that early injury responses heighten neuroplastic potential, to date, visual rehabilitation research has focused on patients with chronic cortically-induced blindness. Consequently, little is known about the functional properties of the post-stroke visual system in the subacute period, nor do we know if these properties can be harnessed to enhance visual recovery. Here, for the first time, we show that 'conscious' visual discrimination abilities are often preserved inside subacute, perimetrically-defined blind fields, but they disappear by ∼6 months post-stroke. Complementing this discovery, we now show that training initiated subacutely can recover global motion discrimination and integration, as well as luminance detection perimetry, just as it does in chronic cortically-induced blindness. However, subacute recovery was attained six times faster; it also generalized to deeper, untrained regions of the blind field, and to other (untrained) aspects of motion perception, preventing their degradation upon reaching the chronic period. In contrast, untrained subacutes exhibited spontaneous improvements in luminance detection perimetry, but spontaneous recovery of motion discriminations was never observed. Thus, in cortically-induced blindness, the early post-stroke period appears characterized by gradual-rather than sudden-loss of visual processing. Subacute training stops this degradation, and is far more efficient at eliciting recovery than identical training in the chronic period. Finally, spontaneous visual improvements in subacutes were restricted to luminance detection; discrimination abilities only recovered following deliberate training. Our findings suggest that after V1 damage, rather than waiting for vision to stabilize, early training interventions may be key to maximize the system's potential for recovery.

Validity of Shunt Pumping Test as a Screening Modality for Shunt Block: An Experimental Study

Abstract Purpose To ascertain the validity and efficacy of shunt compression test in evaluating a blocked shunt. Methods An experimental model was created using a Chhabra shunt, and 25 physicians with 1 to 3 years of experience in neurosurgery were asked to assess the block in the model where artificial blocks were created. Results The sensitivity of test to detect any block was found to be 0.76 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.7–0.81), specificity was 0.71 (0.59–0.81), positive likelihood ratio 2.59 (1.81–3.7), and negative likelihood ratio 0.34 (026–0.45). Odds ratio for proximal block was 4.33 (95% CI: 2.01–8.92), and for distal block, it was 10.63 (95% CI: 10.63–22.32). Furthermore, predictive probability for shunt block was maximum when both the ends were considered to be blocked by the investigator and the test was found to be poor in predicting a patent shunt. Conclusion This is not a very reliable screening test to detect presence of a shunt block. Predicted probability for shunt block was maximum when both the ends were considered to be blocked by the investigator. This study results are not in conformity with the previously held belief that delayed refilling of chamber would clearly aid the diagnosis of proximal end block. It is strongly felt that a deliberate training of shunt compression test would aid a better diagnostic ability.

A coach perspective on the use of planned disruptions in high-performance sports.

In elite sports, a case is increasingly made for the structural inclusion of what we label as planned disruptions. These are structured and deliberate training activities whereby athletes are exposed to increased and/or changing demands under controlled circumstances. Despite the growing body of evidence in support of planned disruptions (Sarkar & Fletcher, 2017), there is a lack of knowledge on which strategies coaches use in an applied context and why they use them. The present study, therefore, aimed at exploring the different types of planned disruptions high-performance coaches use and the desired outcomes of these disruptions. To this end, thematic analysis (Braun, Clarke, & Weate, 2016) was used to analyze semistructured interviews with 9 talent development and elite-level coaches (M age = 42.9, SD = 8.3; 6 male, 3 female). Results indicated that coaches use a combination of 9 types of planned disruptions (i.e., location, competition simulation, punishments and rewards, physical strain, stronger competition, distractions, unfairness, restrictions, and outside the box). These strategies were used to familiarize athletes to pressure, create awareness, develop or refine personal resources, and promote team processes. Three additional themes emerged, namely, the surprise use of planned disruptions, periodization, and the impact on personal relationships. The findings in the present study can guide further applied and theoretical explorations of the use of planned disruptions.

A New Take on Asceticism: Asceticism as Training and Secession Suspended between Individuality and Collectivity

AbstractInspired by Peter Sloterdijk’s Du mußt dein Leben ändern. Über Anthropotechnik (2009), I present a novel take on asceticism as deliberate training. Understanding humans as training animals, I discuss how, with the emergence of kosmos or Axial Age religions, humans came to acknowledge this element and made it a pivotal part of their lives. After presenting three important complements to Sloterdijk’s argument, I present a new take on asceticism by relating it to the two main currents in classical scholarship, those of Durkheim and of Weber. Underlying the two perspectives is the transition in asceticism, highlighted by Sloterdijk in his understanding of the phenomenon as basically constituting training programs, from a ritually determined to an ideologically defined form encompassing one’s entire life. Finally, I argue with Durkheim and Sloterdijk that asceticism should not be reduced to a religious phenomenon only, nor to one exclusively characteristic of religions. It is a basic feature of human life enacted on a continuum suspended between the two poles of individuality and collectivity.

The Educational Qurʾan: “Maybe Youp Will Understand (laʿallakum taʿqilūn)”

AbstractThis article addresses the Qurʾan in light of Peter Sloterdijk’s etymologically founded understanding and elaboration of askēsis as “training” or “exercise.” Approaching asceticism as a broad cultural phenomenon and not as, for example, renunciation, self-denial, or privation exclusively, the article demonstrates that the Qurʾan is a text characterized by ascetic norms and values. The Qurʾan is an educational project, employing a variety of pedagogical strategies to train its adherents how to think and react in a particular way. Through an outline of four examples of such strategies (the use of “learning terms,” metaphorical language, formulaic repetition, and polemical speech), I argue that the Qurʾan follows other (post-)axial religions in constructing an ascetic, deliberate, and self-reflexive mental training program for its followers.

You can't see, when I do: A study on social attention in guide dogs

This study aimed at improving our understanding of the ontogenesis of dogs’ attention toward humans. To this aim, dogs’ attention towards their handler while performing a ‘Stay-in-place’ task was analyzed, in condition of increasing difficulty represented by the introduction of distractors. To highlight the role of experience in the absence of deliberate training to look at humans, two population of dogs were tested: dogs who had just completed training as a guide dog (Trained) and dogs who had been living with their visually impaired owner for one year (Working). The main finding was that Trained dogs looked with longer looks at their handler (the trainer; mean ± SE: 2.3 ± 0.4 s) than at an unfamiliar experimenter (1.0 ± 0.2 s; P < 0.05), while Working dogs, looked at their handler (the visually impaired owner; 1.0 ± 0.2 s) with gazes as short as those paid to the experimenter (1.2 ± 0.1 s). Performance of the ‘Stay-in-place’ task was worse in Working than in Trained dogs (χ2 = 4.24 P < 0.05). The different attention pattern is likely to be explained by the relevance that the trainer acquires as a predictive source of signals, in consequence of his/her role in the entire training process; the same relevance is not acquired by visually impaired owners, who are only involved in training at a later stage. It is also possible that working dogs learn that looking at their visually impaired owner is less useful for predicting immediate events, rather than looking elsewhere. The results highlight how dogs’ attention towards humans is shaped by the specific experiences they undergo, even as adults. Our results also imply that changes in training procedures may be necessary in order to prevent decrement in attention towards the owner by guide dogs.

Awareness of Social Infrastructures for Victims of Child Abuse Among Primary Health Workers in Ogun State, Nigeria.

There is a significant dearth of information on available social infrastructures for helping victims of child abuse among all cadres of primary health-care workers. The aim of this study was to assess the level of awareness of social and legal structures among primary health-care workers, which can help in reducing incidences and taking action. The survey was a cross-sectional survey of 20 primary health-care centers and 86 health workers in Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria. The result showed a low level of awareness among health workers. A large percentage of health workers were unaware of any social infrastructure or hospital protocol for child abuse reporting: 68.4% of medical officers, 54.5% of nurses, and 66.7% of other health workers. There is a need for deliberate training among health workers on social infrastructure, which can help victims of child abuse.

SWIMMING – THE STRUCTURE AND VOLUME OF TRAINING LOADS IN THE FOUR-YEAR TRAINING CYCLE OF AN ELITE OLYMPIC ATHLETE

Abstract Introduction. The improvement of outcomes in sport requires the creation of appropriate conditions for training and the search for more effective forms of its organisation and effective technology. Starting with this belief, the aim of the work is to identify the size and structure of the training loads and determine the effectiveness of the training process of an elite athlete in the Olympic macrocycle (2004-2008). Material and methods. We analysed loads in the four-year training cycle from 2004 to 2008. The parameters of the loads relating to the intensity (T1-T5) and type of training (general, special, and specific) were analysed. The present study also attempted to assess the impact of the work on the results obtained. Due to the nature of the competitive effort, we used the measurable parameter of distance (m, km) in the load analysis depending on the type and intensity of the physical effort. Results. This work reports on the implementation of a specially designed four-year training programme. The material gathered and the conclusions resulting from its analysis have made it possible to identify organisational and training solutions suitable for the athletic proficiency phase. The analysis of training loads indicated that in the training of a highly skilled swimmer, the general work is particularly important and that the largest volume was realised in the second intensity range (T2). Conclusions. The positive training and competition outcomes were the result of a deliberate training process. The training proved to be effective, leading to an increase in the athlete’s training status. This was achieved primarily owing to the training loads, which were accurately planned and implemented according to the special requirements of the race distance and the individual characteristics of the swimmer.