Improve Problem Solving Research Articles

Newer variations of cognitive-behavioral therapy: Behavioral activation and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy

Recent innovations in the treatment and prevention of depression that build on the foundation of cognitive-behavioral therapy represent promising directions for clinical practice and research. Specifically, behavioral activation and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy have been a recent focus of attention. Behavioral activation is a brief, structured approach to treating acute depression that seeks to alleviate depression by promoting an individual's contact with sources of reward through increasing activation, improving problem solving, and decreasing avoidance and other barriers to activation. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is a brief group intervention that seeks to prevent depressive relapse by promoting mindful attention, acceptance, and skillful action to help individuals interrupt habitual cognitive and affective patterns associated with risk of relapse. Each approach is supported by at least two large-scale, randomized clinical trials; however, many important questions remain. We examine current research on both approaches by addressing the robustness of findings, the extension to novel populations, and the processes by which clinical benefit is achieved.

Design and Validation of an Instrument To Assess Metacognitive Skillfulness in Chemistry Problem Solving

The influence of metacognition on learning and problem solving has been demonstrated, and it is becoming increasingly clear that promoting metacognitive activity can produce substantial improvements in problem solving and learning in chemistry. This article reports the development and validation of an instrument designed to evaluate students’ metacognitive skillfulness in solving chemistry problems: the Metacognitive Activities Inventory (MCAI). This inventory may be used as a diagnostic tool to inform the implementation of interventions, as well as to evaluate the effect of changes in instruction. Reliability of the MCAI was measured in terms of internal consistency, and validity was examined in two dimensions: face validity, and construct validity. Evidence reported in this study indicates that the MCAI is a robust, reliable, and valid instrument.

A Randomized Trial To Test The Effectiveness Of Art Therapy For Children With Asthma

RATIONALE: Art therapy has been used to help children struggling to cope with an illness, but has not been tested in a controlled trial with children who have asthma. METHODS: Twenty three children with asthma were randomized to an active art therapy or wait-list control group. Those in the active art therapy group participated in 60-minute art therapy sessions once a week for seven weeks. Sessions included specific art therapy tasks designed to encourage expression and talk about the burden of chronic illness. Measures taken at baseline, immediately after, and 6 months after the art therapy was completed included the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale, the Pediatric Quality of Life Asthma Module, and the Beck Youth Inventories. RESULTS: Before and immediately after art therapy comparisons indicated 1) improved problem solving and affect drawing scores; 2) improved worry, communication, and total quality of life scores; and 3) improved Beck anxiety and self concept scores in the active group relative to the control group. At six months, the active group maintained some positive changes relative to the control group including 1) drawing affect scores; 2) worry and communication quality of life scores; and 3) the Beck anxiety score. CONCLUSIONS: This was the first randomized trial demonstrating that children with asthma receive benefit from art therapy that includes decreased anxiety and increased quality of life.

Determining the views of preschool and primary school Teachers over the support of problem solving skills at children

It was aimed in this study to determine the views of preschool and primary school teachers over the development and support of problem solving skills at children within the content of the project named “Improving Problem Solving Scale for Children at Preschool and Primary School 1-5 Grades and Normatic Study of Turkey” supported by TUBITAK. For this aim, focus group management was used. The working group consisted of 11 teachers working at official and private preschool educational institutions and primary schools. Interviews with preschool and primary school teachers were carried out in two sessions of 90minutes.

The Effect of Programming Education Using Pico Cricket on Improving Problem Solving Ability

The Effect of Programming Education Using Pico Cricket on Improving Problem Solving Ability

A Study of Mathematics Web-Based Learning in Schools

Teaching Mathematics to intermediate school boys is a challenging process which can greatly benefit from software technology and web-based learning. In this research we study the difficulties and opportunities of using this technology in teaching Mathematics to 13 year old boys studying Mathematics at school. For students' we identify the basic requirements at home, e.g., Mathematics computer software packages, availability of internet access and ability of the parents to provide computers, software and the internet for their sons. We assess the expected improvement in grades, motivation and communication between home and school. For the teaches', we assess the expected improvement in teachers' productivity, teachers' experience, qualifications in computing and Mathematics packages and their anticipated expectations such as improvement in problem solving, grades of students. Our main objective is to determine the expected results resulting from applying computer software and web-based learning in teaching Mathematics.

Improving Problem Solving of Elementary Students With Mild Disabilities

Twenty-one 4th- and 5th-grade students with learning disabilities and emotional disabilities were assigned at random to a control condition or to an experimental condition in which they were taught, over a 9-week period, a five-step self-determination strategy for solving school- or home-related problems. Maintenance was assessed 3 weeks after the completion of the posttests. Results revealed that students in the experimental condition statistically outperformed students in the control condition in their abilities to learn a problem-solving strategy and to apply that strategy to scenarios. Experimental condition students also demonstrated their ability to generalize the use of that strategy to a classroom problem and retained their learning on a 3-week postintervention maintenance test. Results are discussed in terms of future research and implications for practice.

An Assessment of the Effect of Collaborative Groups on Students' Problem-Solving Strategies and Abilities

Improving students' problem-solving skills is a major goal for most science educators. While a large body of research on problem solving exists, assessment of meaningful problem solving is very difficult, particularly for courses with large numbers of students in which one-on-one interactions are not feasible. We have used a suite of software tools and pedagogies of small-group student collaborations to assess both student problem-solving strategies and student abilities as they change over time. This paper reports the use of these tools to probe the effectiveness of using small group interaction to improve problem solving.

Reading Texts and Writing Problems to Improve Problem Solving

Lessons for helping students translate the grammar and structure of application problems into math operations. Two instructional activities carried out in a ninth-grade Romanian classroom are described and a number of reading and writing strategies suggested that can be used to assist students in understanding and solving mathematics problems.

Evidence‐based practice and the developing world

Evidence‐based practice and the developing world

The Family Forum: Directions for the Implementation of Family Psychoeducation for Severe Mental Illness

The Family Forum: Directions for the Implementation of Family Psychoeducation for Severe Mental Illness

Simulation-based executive cognitive assessment and rehabilitation after traumatic frontal lobe injury: A case report

Purpose. To investigate whether identifying specific deficits after brain injury can lead to a more focused and potentially effective cognitive rehabilitation technology.Method. Cognitive simulation assessment was undertaken in a 47-year-old man with trauma-related prefrontal damage and persisting occupational and cognitive-behavioral difficulties at 15 months post brain injury.Results. Results revealed significant difficulties in measured levels of activity, initiative, information utilization, response flexibility, and effective decision-making strategies which accorded well with his real-life complaints despite normal neuropsychological test scores. This profile of findings was then used to design a two-stage intervention program. The first stage focused on participant education and awareness about his simulation-based problem solving difficulties. In the second stage specific goals were formulated to improve problem solving impairments that were then the target of weekly training sessions using pertinent decision-making and problem-solving vignettes. A parallel version of the cognitive simulation assessment was undertaken post-cognitive training (3 months after initial assessment) and revealed significant improvements in targeted executive cognitive-behavioral areas.Conclusion. Results of this cognitive rehabilitation probe supported the feasibility and validity of undertaking a cognitive simulation approach to identify residual executive function deficits after traumatic brain injury, even with a normal neuropsychological test profile. Further studies are needed to establish the reliability, generalizability and maintenance of such gains.

Anticipating Student Responses to Improve Problem Solving

I have been a Mathematics Teacher and Educator throughout all four publications of the Standards documents (NCTM 1991, 1995, 1989, and 2000). Over the years, while concentrating on improving various aspects of my teaching, specifically, improving my students' ability to problem solve, I have been perplexed to see students pick numbers out of a problem and perform an operation with no regard for the context. To address this issue by teaching problem-solving lessons made me realize that I did not know the difference between students solving a problem and actual problem solving. A lesson beginning with a problem or task does not make it a problem-solving lesson, especially when students would inevitably solve it the way I had intended. Instead of problem solving, my students were trying to figure out what I was thinking. To prevent the temptation of leading students in this way of thinking required careful planning of problem-solving lessons.

Problem solving skills for schizophrenia.

The severe and long-lasting symptoms of schizophrenia are often the cause of severe disability. Environmental stress such as life events and the practical problems people face in their daily can worsen the symptoms of schizophrenia. Deficits in problem solving skills in people with schizophrenia affect their independent and interpersonal functioning and impair their quality of life. As a result, therapies such as problem solving therapy have been developed to improve problem solving skills for people with schizophrenia. To review the effectiveness of problem solving therapy compared with other comparable therapies or routine care for those with schizophrenia. We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Register (September 2006), which is based on regular searches of BIOSIS, CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO. We inspected references of all identified studies for further trials. We included all clinical randomised trials comparing problem solving therapy with other comparable therapies or routine care. We extracted data independently. For homogenous dichotomous data we calculated random effects, relative risk (RR), 95% confidence intervals (CI) and, where appropriate, numbers needed to treat (NNT) on an intention-to-treat basis. For continuous data, we calculated weighted mean differences (WMD) using a random effects statistical model. We included only three small trials (n=52) that evaluated problem solving versus routine care, coping skills training or non-specific interaction. Inadequate reporting of data rendered many outcomes unusable. We were unable to undertake meta-analysis. Overall results were limited and inconclusive with no significant differences between treatment groups for hospital admission, mental state, behaviour, social skills or leaving the study early. No data were presented for global state, quality of life or satisfaction. We found insufficient evidence to confirm or refute the benefits of problem solving therapy as an additional treatment for those with schizophrenia. The small number of participants, the quality of reporting of methods and results were of concern. More trials with adequate reporting of methods to minimize bias, adequately powered, with validated, reliable and clinically meaningful outcomes are needed to provide robust evidence to guide policy and practice.

Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Substance Use Disorders

Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Substance Use Disorders

The Effect of Alternative Procedural Explanation Types on Procedural Knowledge Acquisition during Knowledge-Based Systems Use

This study applies Adaptive Character of Thought-Rational (ACT-R), a theory of cognitive skill acquisition, to identify two techniques theorized to provide learners with a simplified and situation-responsive set of production rules to use in a problemsolving context. The two techniques are abstraction (an optimization technique that produces a generalized rule set) and goal structuring (another optimization technique that produces a differentiated rule set). Accordingly, abstraction and goal structuring explanations were provided to users through a knowledge-based system (KBS). Due to cognitive effort constraints on procedural learning, a subset of volunteer participants was extracted for analysis based on an exhibition of attentive learning behavior. Results of the study found that while intermediary stages of development were not detectable, participants receiving goal-structuring explanations exhibited better problem solving performance, and the joint presentation of abstraction explanations led to further problem solving improvements. Abstraction explanations did not lead to improved problem solving, however, when provided in absence of goal-structuring explanations. These findings extend ACT-R to a new venue, increase understanding of ACT-R theory, and provide developers of KBS with more substantive knowledge on optimization of KBS explanation design when knowledge transfer to less expert users is an objective.

Statistics in Business and Industry: Implementation

There are many statistical tools available to be utilized for general business improvement and industrial problem solving. However, there is a wide gap between the tools available and those that are actually used in business and industrial organizations. Thus it is important for statisticians to direct serious attention to bridging this gap if statistics is to be relevant in business and industry. In this paper we look at some ideas for implementing statistical methods in business and industry.

Students THINK: A Framework for Improving Problem Solving

The results of research about students' and teachers' use of an interaction framework (THINK) to guide group communication about problem solving. Students who used the THINK framework demonstrated greater gains in problem-solving achievement than students who did not use the framework. Teachers reading this article will understand the THINK framework and how to apply it to classroom use.

Multiple-Family Group Treatment for English- and Vietnamese-Speaking Families Living With Schizophrenia

Multiple-Family Group Treatment for English- and Vietnamese-Speaking Families Living With Schizophrenia

Improvement in measures of psychological distress amongst amphetamine misusers treated with brief cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT)

This trial of cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) based amphetamine abstinence program ( n = 507) focused on refusal self-efficacy, improved coping, improved problem solving and planning for relapse prevention. Measures included the Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS), the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and Amphetamine Refusal Self-Efficacy. Psychiatric case identification (caseness) across the four GHQ-28 sub-scales was compared with Australian normative data. Almost 90% were amphetamine-dependent (SDS 8.15 ± 3.17). Pre-treatment, all GHQ-28 sub-scale measures were below reported Australian population values. Caseness was substantially higher than Australian normative values {Somatic Symptoms (52.3%), Anxiety (68%), Social Dysfunction (46.5%) and Depression (33.7%)}. One hundred and sixty-eight subjects (33%) completed and reported program abstinence. Program completers reported improvement across all GHQ-28 sub-scales {Somatic Symptoms ( p < 0.001), Anxiety ( p < 0.001), Social Dysfunction ( p < 0.001) and Depression ( p < 0.001)}. They also reported improvement in amphetamine refusal self-efficacy ( p < 0.001). Improvement remained significant following intention-to-treat analyses, imputing baseline data for subjects that withdrew from the program. The GHQ-28 sub-scales, Amphetamine Refusal Self-Efficacy Questionnaire and the SDS successfully predicted treatment compliance through a discriminant analysis function ( p < .001).