Skills-based Approach Research Articles

Assessing the influence of health literacy on health information behaviors: A multi-domain skills-based approach

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between five domain-specific skills of health literacy: Find Health Information (FHI), Appraise Health Information (AHI), Understand Health Information to act (UHI), Actively Manage One’s Health (AMH), and E-health literacy (e-Heals), and health information seeking behaviors and three categories of health outcomes. MethodsA survey was implemented and data was collected from 1062 college going adults and analyzed using bivariate tests and multiple regression analysis. ResultsAmong the five domain-specific Health Literacy skills, AHI and e-Heals were significantly associated with the use of traditional sources and the Internet for healthcare information respectively. Similarly and AMH and e-Heals were significantly associated with the use of traditional sources and the Internet for health lifestyle information respectively. Lastly AHI, AMH and e-Heals were significantly associated with the three categories of outcomes, and AFH was significantly associated with cognitive and instrumental outcomes, but not doctor-patient communication outcomes. ConclusionConsumers’ ability to use different health sources for both healthcare and health lifestyle information, and the three categories of health outcomes are associated with different domain-specific health literacy skills. Practice implicationsHealth literacy initiatives may be improved by focusing on clients to develop domain-specific skills that increase the likelihood of using health information sources and accrue benefits.

When Training Is Not Enough: Preparing Students for Employment in England, France and Sweden

The proliferation of work placements and the rise of professionalisation in higher education are, in France, frequently condemned as evidence of a quest for greater employability, driven by a skills-based approach. A comparative analysis of the methods used to prepare students for employment shows the degree to which the social mechanisms are homogeneous in England (employability) and in Sweden (bildning). In France, the transition from higher education to employment entails a process of pre-professionalisation. This is characterised by the dominant role of professional skills and their incorporation into the structure of initial higher education itself. Rather than the outcome of a process of marketisation, this mechanism of pre-professionalisation is explained by the persistence of an idealised conception of “matching” that still profoundly marks the relations between education and employment in France.

Growing the Good Stuff

This ethnographic study reports on one elementary literacy coach’s response to high-stakes testing and her approach to support third- through fifth-grade teachers in a Title I school in Texas. Sources of data included field notes and observations of classes and meetings, audio/video recordings, and transcribed interviews. The findings illustrate how the literacy coach used her knowledge and beliefs about teaching reading along with her position of leadership to craft alternative responses to an environment that endorsed a skills-based approach to teaching reading and placed a strong emphasis on test preparation. Specifically, the literacy coach enriched the skills-based reading curriculum with reading workshop, supported teachers’ learning and growth with teacher-centered inquiry groups, and focused on language and authentic literature as a way of preparing students for the test. These findings suggest that the literacy coach played an important role in supporting teachers with negotiating the demands of a high-stakes testing environment and in ways that did not necessarily compromise the literacy coach’s beliefs. These findings also suggest the importance of a supportive school environment where teachers have a sense of community for support and professional growth.

An interprofessional graduate level training program (patient as teacher): A patient-centered, skills-based approach to dementia

There are currently over 5 million people with Alzheimer's disease in the United States. Knowledge of how to care for this population is critical for health care providers regardless of specialty or profession. Programs have successfully exposed medical students to the experience of dementia by pairing student volunteers with patients. We expanded this program to be an interprofessional, elective course offered as part of graduate medical curriculum. The Memory and Aging Center (MAC) is a state and federally funded Alzheimer's Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The campus is focused on graduate education for health professions. Using the Northwestern University Buddy Program ™ as a model, we developed a full year interprofessional elective course offered through the School of Medicine and available to medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and physical therapy students. Course work includes 2 hours per month spent with a patient with mild dementia (the teacher) and a written description of the experience submitted for review by faculty. One hour of class per month alternates didactic learning topics taught by interprofessional faculty (diagnosis of dementia, management of behavioral symptoms, medications in dementia and palliative care issues) with discussions about the experience, allowing cross-professional learning. Nine patients diagnosed with mild dementia were recruited from the UCSF MAC. Nine students enrolled (3 from Nursing, 1 from Dentistry, 1 from Medicine and 4 from Pharmacy). Students and teachers submitted a brief biography to faculty for matching. The first class was attended by 8/9 students in October 2014. An introductory reception was held later that month and attended by 9 students and 8/9 teachers. Outings started in November and included exercise, dining and museum visits. The journal submissions indicate a positive experience for students, including insight into the struggles people with dementia face in their everyday lives. Evaluation will include pre and post tests of dementia knowledge as well as course evaluations by both patients and students. An experience previously validated through research as a volunteer program, has the potential to be integrated into formal curriculum and successfully offered as an interprofessional opportunity.

Comparison Of Cardiovascular Fitness Between Students In Games-Concept And Skills-Based Approach In Physical Education Lessons

Strategies used in physical education (PE) lessons are important to help students improve in their fitness. Cardiovascular fitness, in particular, is still the key area of fitness for children to be developed in during PE lessons. In general, there are two main different strategies in PE lessons - the games-concept approach (GCA) and skills-based approach (SKA). This study will provide physical educators insight into the effectiveness of the two different approaches in improving children’s cardiovascular fitness. PURPOSE: To compare the effectiveness of the GCA and SKA in PE lessons in improving children’s cardiovascular fitness. METHODS: Twenty-four male participants were randomly assigned into either the GCA (n=12, age 9.6 ± 0.52 years) or SKA (n=12, age 9.6 ± 0.52 years) PE class. Both groups underwent an intervention: a 6-week prescribed PE programme based on the approach in PE they were assigned to. They were taught by the same, trained PE teacher with knowledge of the GCA and SKA. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and heart rate (HR) were recorded for each stage (warm-up, games-time, cool down) of every PE lesson. A 1.6km run-test was taken pre- and post-intervention as a means to assess the cardiovascular fitness of the participants. RESULTS: Pre-post-intervention 1.6km run test results showed significant difference in the GCA group (from 10.6 ± 1.9 to 9.6 ±1.6 minutes), t(11)=5.601, p<0.01; but not in the SKA group (from 13.2 ± 1.7 to 12.6 ±1.5 minutes), t(11)=1.096, p=0.30. Separate independent t-test results showed no significant difference between average RPE but showed significant difference between average HR during games-time between GCA (140.4 ± 9.2bpm) and SKA (158.8 ± 9.5bpm), t(22)=-4.825, p<0.001. CONCLUSION: GCA in PE lessons is more effective in improving cardiovascular fitness of children than SKA. As GCA involves more modified game-play, this time is translated to more activity time, which involves the use of large muscle groups. However, the more ‘traditional’ SKA emphasizes more on skills-practice, which creates more waiting time and less activity time. These differences in the approaches are shown by the higher average HR achieved in GCA PE lessons than SKA PE lessons. Supported by the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Start-Up Grant, SUG34/13DT.

Historical Apprenticeship and the Historian’s Craft A Competency-Based Pathway

Abstract A skills-based approach encourages us to see learning as a journey between the simplest and the most elaborate level of competence, which can be developed over a whole lifetime. Teachers in a middle school in Vitry-sur-Seine (to the south of Paris) have developed a competency-based approach to history that focuses on the key techniques of professional historians, including developing hypotheses by analyzing sets of documents and writing historical narratives. The link between “academic history” and “school history” strengthens students’ learning.

Building Social Resilience in Providers, Patients, Families, and Systems: SRM’s Skills-Based Approach for Healthcare Practitioners (P09)

disruptive change. This calls for timely strategies that build adaptable and flexible workplaces that foster the well-being and resilience of staff and patients. Thriving depends upon capacity to anticipate, improvise, adapt, and overcome. Research from neuroscience and brain imaging has led to new understandings about the impact of stress, distress, and trauma on the human mind-body system. The essential role of the nervous system in responding to threat and fear and its capacity to rebound from distressing events has been scientifically well documented. The workshop presents key neuroscience concepts relevant to enhancing resilience in healthcare administrators, workers, and their patients, enabling participants to develop a neurobiological lens as part of a “well-being toolkit.” The Social Resilience Model (SRM) is a neurobiologically oriented set of skills designed to teach practical ways to stabilize the

Comparison of two theory-based, fully automated telephone interventions designed to maintain dietary change in healthy adults: study protocol of a three-arm randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundHealth behavior change interventions have focused on obtaining short-term intervention effects; few studies have evaluated mid-term and long-term outcomes, and even fewer have evaluated interventions that are designed to maintain and enhance initial intervention effects. Moreover, behavior theory has not been developed for maintenance or applied to maintenance intervention design to the degree that it has for behavior change initiation.ObjectiveThe objective of this paper is to describe a study that compared two theory-based interventions (social cognitive theory [SCT] vs goal systems theory [GST]) designed to maintain previously achieved improvements in fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption.MethodsThe interventions used tailored, interactive conversations delivered by a fully automated telephony system (Telephone-Linked Care [TLC]) over a 6-month period. TLC maintenance intervention based on SCT used a skills-based approach to build self-efficacy. It assessed confidence in and barriers to eating F&V, provided feedback on how to overcome barriers, plan ahead, and set goals. The TLC maintenance intervention based on GST used a cognitive-based approach. Conversations trained participants in goal management to help them integrate their newly acquired dietary behavior into their hierarchical system of goals. Content included goal facilitation, conflict, shielding, and redundancy, and reflection on personal goals and priorities. To evaluate and compare the two approaches, a sample of adults whose F&V consumption was below public health goal levels were recruited from a large urban area to participate in a fully automated telephony intervention (TLC-EAT) for 3-6 months. Participants who increase their daily intake of F&V by ≥1 serving/day will be eligible for the three-arm randomized controlled trial. A sample of 405 participants will be randomized to one of three arms: (1) an assessment-only control, (2) TLC-SCT, and (3) TLC-GST. The maintenance interventions are 6 months. All 405 participants who qualify for the trial will complete surveys administered by blinded interviewers at baseline (randomization), 6, 12, 18, and 24 months.ResultsData analysis is not yet complete, but we hypothesize that (1) TLC-GST > TLC-SCT > control at all follow-up time points for F&V consumption, and (2) intervention effects will be mediated by the theoretical constructs (eg, self-efficacy, goal pursuit, conflict, shielding, and facilitation).ConclusionsThis study used a novel study design to initiate and then promote the maintenance of dietary behavior change through the use of an evidence-based fully automated telephony intervention. After the first 6 months (the acquisition phase), we will examine whether two telephony interventions built using different underlying behavioral theories were more successful than an assessment-only control group in helping participants maintain their newly acquired health behavior change.Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT00148525; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00148525 (Archived by Webcite at http://www.webcitation.org/6TiRriJOs).

The future of leadership development: how can L&amp;D professionals design and develop our next generation of leaders?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to inform L&amp;D Professionals of our research finding and the key highlights from our published book, so that they can use this information when reviewing or designing Leadership Development Programmes. Design/methodology/approach – We wanted to discover the common themes present in successful leadership. We researched over 60 leaders from businesses of various sizes and structures. They completed a set of multiple choice questions (personality profiling questions) and then we asked them a set of open question to identify their likes/dislikes, keys to success, areas for development, values and main issues they face. Findings – We found that the leaders profiled across a broad spectrum of personality types (from the multiple choice questions), and yet there were strong similarities in the themes in the open question answers. We concluded that successful leadership was not dependant on a personality type but could be developed and learnt while staying true to your own personality. Research limitations/implications – We would have liked to research more leaders and define the research specifically by type of organization. As the purpose of the research was to inform our writing of a useful and practical leadership development book, we did not feel it was essential for this purpose. Practical implications – We would like this to inform the shape of future leadership development towards a more “whole person” development and away from the traditional skills-based approach. This will support leaders to be healthier, more successful and better role models. Social implications – Leaders are one of the most important roles in the world, and we need healthier, more rounded, emotionally regulated, more focused leaders to be appropriate role models for future generations. It is also important that a diverse range of leadership styles is accepted and developed in organizations. Originality/value – What is new in our paper is the development of the idea, supported by our research that Leaders can be authentic and successful without the need for a personality transplant. We have brought together our research with our psychological qualifications and business experience to produce a leadership development approach that is deep in its thinking and construction but easy and practical to use and apply.

Skills for Psychological Recovery: Evaluation of a post-disaster mental health training program.

Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) is a brief skills-based approach to assist community members to better cope after a disaster or other tragedy. This paper reports on an evaluation of a large SPR training and support program following floods and cyclones in Queensland, Australia. The program sought to recruit, train and support competent SPR trainers; provide systematic high-quality training in SPR skills for practitioners; improve the confidence of a large number of practitioners to use SPR; and encourage practitioners' use of SPR with community members. Trainers recruited to the program facilitated 49 training sessions for 788 practitioners across Queensland. Trainers were assessed by practitioners to have high-level competencies to run training sessions. Practitioners reported improved confidence to use each SPR intervention following training and at 6months post-training. Based on available data, more than 6 out of 10 practitioners used an SPR intervention during the follow up period, with each intervention used by over half of the practitioners at both 3 and 6months. The most frequently reported barrier to using SPR was not having seen a community member with problems requiring SPR. For trainers, a psychology background and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) orientation were unrelated to their competencies to facilitate practitioner training sessions. For practitioners, a psychology background and to some extent a CBT orientation were related to confidence to use SPR interventions. In summary, this study provides details of an evaluation of a large-scale mental health training and support program to enhance response to meet the mental health needs of those affected by disaster.

Quand la formation ne suffit pas : la préparation des étudiants à l’emploi en Angleterre, en France et en Suède

The proliferation of internships and the rise of professionalisation in higher education are, in France, frequently condemned as evidence of a quest for greater employability, driven by a skills-based approach. A comparative analysis of the methods used to prepare students for employment shows the degree to which the social mechanisms are homogeneous in England (employability) and in Sweden (bildning). In France, the transition from higher education to employment entails a process of pre-professionalisation. This is characterised by the dominant role of professional skills and their incorporation into the structure of initial education itself. Rather than the outcome of a process of commodification, this mechanism of pre-professionalisation is explained by the persistence of an idealized conception of “matching” that still profoundly marks the relations between education and employment in France.

Instrumental delivery and ultrasound : a multicentre randomised controlled trial of ultrasound assessment of the fetal head position versus standard care as an approach to prevent morbidity at instrumental delivery

To determine whether the use of ultrasound can reduce the incidence of incorrect diagnosis of the fetal head position at instrumental delivery and subsequent morbidity. Two-arm, parallel, randomised trial, conducted from June 2011 to December 2012. Two maternity hospitals in the Republic of Ireland. A cohort of 514 nulliparous women at term (≥37 weeks of gestation) with singleton cephalic pregnancies, aiming to deliver vaginally, were recruited prior to an induction of labour or in early labour. If instrumental delivery was required, women who had provided written consent were randomised to receive clinical assessment (standard care) or ultrasound scan and clinical assessment (ultrasound). [Correction added on 17 April 2014, after first online publication: Sentence was amended.] Incorrect diagnosis of the fetal head position. The incidence of incorrect diagnosis was significantly lower in the ultrasound group than the standard care group (4/257, 1.6%, versus 52/257, 20.2%; odds ratio 0.06; 95% confidence interval 0.02-0.19; P < 0.001). The decision to delivery interval was similar in both groups (ultrasound mean 13.8 minutes, SD 8.7 minutes, versus standard care mean 14.6 minutes, SD 10.1 minutes, P = 0.35). The incidence of maternal and neonatal complications, failed instrumental delivery, and caesarean section was not significantly different between the two groups. An ultrasound assessment prior to instrumental delivery reduced the incidence of incorrect diagnosis of the fetal head position without delaying delivery, but did not prevent morbidity. A more integrated clinical skills-based approach is likely to be required to prevent adverse outcomes at instrumental delivery.

African American Clergy Involvement in Marriage Preparation

Marital stability has been linked to multiple social and economic advantages, particularly for African Americans. Clergy provide the majority of marriage preparation in the United States, but historically African American denominations have not been sampled systematically. To address this issue, we conducted an exploratory survey investigating African American clergy members’ behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions about providing marriage preparation. Data were collected from 141 members of the seven primarily African American denominations and compared with 793 clergy from the 15 largest, predominantly White, congregations. African American clergy were significantly more likely than clergy in the comparison group to say they addressed premarital content effectively, say they utilized a skills-based approach to teaching communication, require a longer waiting period, more sessions, more homework assignments, and consider marriage preparation a valuable part of their ministry and to believe that couples had benefited from marriage preparation.

Teaching Culturally Sensitive Care to Dental Students: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Dental schools must prepare future dentists to deliver culturally sensitive care to diverse patient populations, but there is little agreement on how best to teach these skills to students. This article examines this question by exploring the historical and theoretical foundations of this area of education in dentistry, analyzes what is needed for students to learn to provide culturally sensitive care in a dental setting, and identifies the discipline-specific skills students must master to develop this competence. The problems associated with single-discipline, lecture-based approaches to teaching culturally sensitive care are outlined, and the advantages of an interdisciplinary, patient-centered, skills-based approach to teaching culturally sensitive care are described. The authors advocate for an approach to teaching culturally sensitive care that builds upon learning in the behavioral sciences, ethics, and public health. Component skills and perspectives offered by each of these curriculum areas are identified, and their contributions to the teaching of culturally sensitive care are described. Finally, the need to consider the timing of this instruction in the dental curriculum is examined, along with instructional advantages associated with an approach that is shared by faculty across the curriculum.

Effect of life skills training on physical activity patterns amongst school adolescents in Delhi: a non-randomized interventional study

Effect of life skills on physical activity behavior of adolescents is little explored. To assess impact of life-skills training on the level of physical activity amongst adolescents. A nonrandomized interventional study with a control group. All students studying in Class IX and XI of two schools in Delhi were included. Data was collected at baseline, 15 days and 3 months after the life-skills training. Two life-skills training sessions were conducted for each standard following collection of baseline data. There were 180 students in the intervention and 183 students in the control group. A significant increase was noted in the level of light-moderate, vigorous physical activity, and stretching and strengthening exercises (p<0.001) in an intervention group over the period of 3 months following the training. The number of students enrolled in physical education classes also increased. A skills-based approach helped to improve the level of physical activity amongst the school adolescents.

New Emerging Issues about Guidance and Counselling in an Accreditation of Prior and Experiential Learning Process

In this article, we take a look at guidance and counselling provided in French Business Schools, which are part of higher education sector, during the process of accreditation of prior and experiential learning (APEL) based on skills-oriented frames of reference. Based on qualitative research carried out on a sample of APEL guidance counsellors, we focus on three characteristics of the guidance provided in Business Schools, i.e. a characteristic tied to the nature of the required exercise, the impact of a skills-oriented and skills-based approach, and its similarity to certain coaching stances. We then analyse the central role played by self-examination in the APEL process, as well as the similarities and differences between guidance and counselling and guidance and counselling stances in APEL and coaching processes.

Schools for the future: subtle shift or seismic change?

This paper centres around a discussion of the design and rebuild of a secondary school in Birmingham (England) as part of the Building Schools of the Future (BSF) Programme. The BSF Programme was influenced by a vision of future schooling in which learning environments are transformed by the integration of ICT into teaching and learning practices. The vision behind the BSF Programme suggests that schools of the future will embrace a learner-centred and skills-centred perspective and that the boundaries between home and school learning will become eroded. By contrast, the vision of the senior management team of this particular Birmingham shool emphasised the importance of subject-based learning (for example mathematics, science, English), and was moving away from a skills-based approach to the curriculum. The paper draws on Young and Muller’s three scenarios for future schooling, in order to provide a framework for analysing the design of Park View School in Birmingham. The authors argue that the design of the new school is leading to new practices of teaching and learning that had not been anticipated by the senior management team. However, the BSF vision for how ICT would become embedded into the life of the school had not been realised at the time of writing this paper, and this, the authors argue, is because this vision is at odds with a focus on subject-based learning.

Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language: A Comprehensive Approach

The aim of this book is to provide a compromise between past and present theories of language teaching and learning. The book is organized into six main parts. In the first part, the author highlights the strengths and weaknesses of both the skills-based approach and the whole-language approach. He then presents a theory that emphasizes the strengths of both and shares the weaknesses of neither. Part two consists of six chapters that are devoted to the integration of subsidiary skills with main language skills. Part three consists of four chapters that focus on the integration of main language skills with subsidiary skills. Part four consists of four chapters that are devoted to integrating main language skills with each other. Part five deals with the integration of all language skills through literature. Part six consists of two chapters that address error correction and assessment. In following the above organization, the author aims at building gradually toward whole language, and weaving error correction and assessment into the suggested approach.

Effects of Skills-Based Versus Whole Language Approach on the Comprehension of EFL Students with Low and High Listening Ability Levels

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative impact of skills-based and whole language approaches on the listening comprehension of English as a foreign language (EFL) students with low and high listening ability levels. The subjects for the study were 96 pretested EFL students, divided into two treatment groups for 15 weeks. In the skills-based group, listening was taught as a set of discrete skills. In the whole language group, students spoke, listened, and wrote to one another about topics of their own choice and read about topics of interest to them. All subjects were posttested on a listening comprehension test of the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Statistical analyses of the listening comprehension scores revealed that training in listening skills was somewhat effective, but insufficient for developing the listening comprehension of low ability listeners, and that the whole language approach was effective only for high ability listeners. Findings suggest that instruction in listening subskills does not automatically lead to the improvement of listening comprehension, and that the whole language approach to teaching listening cannot work without basic skills. It is concluded that these two methods are not mutually exclusive but tend to complement one another. The goal should be to achieve a balance between the two approaches in heterogeneous classrooms. This would also enable the teacher to move from more closely-controlled exercises to more student-directed activities.

How to Integrate the Electronic Health Record and Patient-Centered Communication Into the Medical Visit: A Skills-Based Approach

Background: Implementation of the electronic health record (EHR) has changed the dynamics of doctor–patient communication. Physicians train to use EHRs from a technical standpoint, giving only minimal attention to integrating the human dimensions of the doctor–patient relationship into the computer-accompanied medical visit. Description: This article reviews the literature and proposes a model to help clinicians, residents, and students improve physician–patient communication while using the EHR. Evaluation: We conducted a literature search on use of communication skills when interfacing with the EHR. We observed an instructional gap and developed a model using evidence-based communication skills. Conclusion: This model integrates patient-centered interview skills and aims to empower physicians to remain patient centered while effectively using EHRs. It may also serve as a template for future educational and practice interventions for use of the EHR in the examination room.