Use Of Skills Training Research Articles

Resourcefulness Skills Use by Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren: A Longitudinal Case Study Approach

In the U.S., over 2.7 million grandparents are primary caregivers to grandchildren. It is critical to understand the experiences of grandparent caregivers to design tailored, supportive programs. Our aim was to analyze 4 weeks of daily online journals of 129 grandmothers with respect to their use of a set of Resourcefulness Skills© following web-based skills training. Using a thematic analysis approach, coding was completed by a three person team using NVIVO 12. Percent agreement among coders was over 90% (Kappa = .956). Twelve cases were randomly selected for case study development. Comparative case study analysis was used to look within and across cases for instances where skills were used and how skill use changed over time. The pattern of skill use showed that grandmother caregivers used resourcefulness skills to deal with the grandchild’s behavior and developmental issues as well as within the entire family system to manage conflicted relationships with the grandchild’s parents, balance relationships with their spouse/partner, and maintain relationships with other relatives. Case studies will be presented to show skill use over the four weeks of journaling in the context of the family system, as well as the strategies used by participants who improved skill use over time and those who faced barriers to skill use. Findings highlight the use of journals as a means to assess enactment fidelity of treatment interventions and the importance of the family network in skills training program implementation and ways to help grandmothers make use of skills training in the family setting.

The future of nursing education

As I reflect on the last twenty years as a nurse educator I have witnessed the nursing education movement taking a number of sharp twists and turns and at the same time making inroads as well as finding its rightful place among other health care professionals. From an apprenticeship model at the time of Florence Nightingale, nursing has moved out of hospitals and today has taken a university-based education approach. In addition, regulatory bodies have called for the baccalaureate degree as entry to practice for the profession of nursing beginning in the year 2020. The role of the nurse has expanded from that of bedside nurse and handmaiden of the physician coordinator of care in the community, to researcher, to clinical nurse specialist, to manager, leader and nurse practitioner within the health care system. These new emerging roles call for higher education and are determined by emerging health care needs such as palliative care, and changing demographics due to aging of the population and diversity of race and culture. The writer believes that the impetus for nursing education to be heralded into the 21st century is contingent upon a more educated work force with the minimum of a baccalaureate education and a move toward master’s and doctoral degrees. Attainment of higher education can no longer take place in the traditional way of sitting in a classroom. Nor can prospective students afford the luxury of taking time off from work to undertake a period of study. Flexible learning options, including part time study, accelerated programs, bridge programs and work based learning, are needed to ensure that nursing education is packaged and delivered in the most cost-effective and time-efficient way. Therefore, these aspects have to be built into the programs through the delivery of educational technologies such as e-Learning and distance learning. The future of nursing education necessitates a concurrent need for a change in the modes of assessment, introduction of new learning technologies, and educational strategies. According to the literature, at present there is a heavy reliance on the Tylerian model in nursing. This means that the approach to curriculum development is routed in behavioral objectives and evaluation methods to assess if each objective is met or not. Students complain that they are recipients of experiences selected by the nurse teachers and curriculum committees. Nurse educators will have to respond differently and teach the curriculum differently. In order to prepare nurses with new and different perspectives and abilities who can function well in a rapidly changing environment, a new paradigm would need to emerge. Tanner 1990 has referred to this as the time when “nurse educators tacitly or explicitly agree to a new world view of educational practices.”1 The new paradigm will be reflective of major social changes, and the arising needs and transformation of healthcare. More emphasis will be on a range of collaborative activities, mechanisms, and structures which have arisen as likely options in recognition of the interdependence of service and education sectors. In order to run these flexible kinds of programs there must be adequate faculty preparation along with faculty practice to keep abreast of changes in the field of nursing. This will become the driving force to encourage new approaches to teaching and learning based on a philosophy consistent with modern demands and modern teaching pedagogies and flexible learning programs. Furthermore, the future of nursing education programs depends largely on available resources. This includes the use of skills training and simulations in a controlled setting. Teaching pedagogy will need to include a hybrid of strategies. Hybrid design is a mix of traditional classroom and online teaching methods. Creation of learning environments through technology allows for flexible course delivery. E learning methodologies allow for flexibility because students have access to course materials 24 hours a day 7 days a week. In this way students would be able to manage their academic responsibilities and home environments.

Certification pass rate of 100% for fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery skills after proficiency-based training

The fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS) program has been extensively validated for use as a high-stakes examination for certification purposes, but optimal methods for its use in skills training have not been described. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of implementing a proficiency-based FLS skills training curriculum and to evaluate its effectiveness in preparing trainees for certification. For this study, 21 novice medical students at two institutions viewed video tutorials, then performed one repetition of the five FLS tasks as a pretest. The pretests were scored using standard testing metrics. The trainees next practiced the tasks over a 2-month period until they achieved proficiency for all the tasks. A modified on-the-fly scoring system based on expert-derived performance was used. The trainees were posttested using the high-stakes examination format. No trainee passed the certification examination at pretesting. The trainees achieved proficiency for 96% of the five tasks during training, which required 9.7 +/- 2.4 h (range, 6-14 h) and 119 +/- 31 repetitions (range, 66-161 repetitions). The trainees rated the proficiency levels as "moderately difficult" (3.0 +/- 0.7 on a 5-point scale) and "highly appropriate" (4.7 +/- 0.1 on a 5-point scale). At posttesting, 100% of the trainees passed the certification examination and demonstrated significant improvement compared with pretesting for normalized score (468 +/- 24 vs 126 +/- 75; p < 0.001), self-rated laparoscopic comfort (89.4% vs 4.8%; p < 0.001), and skill level (3.6 +/- 0.9 vs 1.2 +/- 0.5; p < 0.001, 5-point scale). This proficiency-based curriculum is feasible for training novices and uniformly allows sufficient skill acquisition for FLS certification. Endorsed by the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), this curriculum is available for use as an optimal method for FLS skills training. More widespread adoption of this curriculum is encouraged.

Skills Training as an Adjunctive Treatment for Personality Disorders

Personality disorders are usually treated with either psychodynamic or supportive psychotherapy, with psychotropic medication often used as an adjunctive treatment. However, patients with personality disorders pose special treatment issues, because their problems are pervasive and long-standing and they have entrenched deficits in many areas of functioning. In this article, the authors consider the role of skills training in the treatment of personality disorders. They describe a two-pronged approach to the treatment of personality disorders based on a model of deficit compensation. Because skills training has only been investigated in a very limited way in personality disorders, the authors first review research on the use of skills training in Axis I disorders as background for a discussion of ways in which skills training may be applicable to the treatment of Axis II disorders. They describe a number of skills training approaches (social skills training, anger management, and conversational skills) that can be used for a variety of different Axis I disorders. Skills training approaches that are targeted to specific types of disorders (substance use disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, adolescent problems) are also described. The authors then review what is known about the use of skills training in borderline personality disorder and avoidant personality disorder, and propose skills training approaches that may be useful for patients with paranoid personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Case examples are provided to demonstrate how skills training for personality disorders can be applied in clinical practice.

The State, skill formation and productivity enhancement in the construction industry: the case of Singapore

The paper examines the links between skill formation processes and productivity improvement in the construction industry in Singapore. It critically examines the essential features of Ashton and Sung's New East Asian Skill Formation Model . This model, which is derived from the theory of the developmental State, points to the dominant role of the State and, for that matter the political élites, in the skills-formation process. It asserts that the State determines the skill needs at the national level and takes steps to ensure that those skills will be available in the economy when they are needed. Using Singapore as an example, Ashton and Sung show how an East Asian government has made effective use of skills training to achieve competitiveness. In spite of the significant strengths of this model, we argue that it does not tell the whole story. Consequently, this paper focuses on some neglected aspects of the skills-formation process in Singapore and argues that the Singapore government's skills-formation approach is not monolithic and that different approaches have been developed for different industries. The approach adopted for a particular industry depends on the characteristics of the industry and the government's priorities. Evidence is drawn from the construction industry to support this argument.

The State, skill formation and productivity enhancement in the construction industry: the case of Singapore

The paper examines the links between skill formation processes and productivity improvement in the construction industry in Singapore. It critically examines the essential features of Ashton and Sung's New East Asian Skill Formation Model . This model, which is derived from the theory of the developmental State, points to the dominant role of the State and, for that matter the political élites, in the skills-formation process. It asserts that the State determines the skill needs at the national level and takes steps to ensure that those skills will be available in the economy when they are needed. Using Singapore as an example, Ashton and Sung show how an East Asian government has made effective use of skills training to achieve competitiveness. In spite of the significant strengths of this model, we argue that it does not tell the whole story. Consequently, this paper focuses on some neglected aspects of the skills-formation process in Singapore and argues that the Singapore government's skills-formation approach is not monolithic and that different approaches have been developed for different industries. The approach adopted for a particular industry depends on the characteristics of the industry and the government's priorities. Evidence is drawn from the construction industry to support this argument.

The Wytiga Negotiation - Native Title and Skills Training

The debate as to the appropriate use of skills training in law school has matured to the extent that arguably the question is not whether skills should be taught but how and where skills should be taught. This note discusses The Wytiga Negotiation, a part of the integrated skills program in the LLB at Bond University School of Law. This note will discuss the procedures followed and the results obtained using a student survey completed immediately after the completion of the exercise. The Wytiga Negotiation The materials for the Wytiga Negotiation2 focus on negotiations pursuant to the provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA). The framework for the exercise is the NTA provisions for negotiation between parties to an application for native title.

Social skills training for alcoholics and drug addicts: a review.

Abstract Investigations that have employed social skills training with skill impaired alcoholics and drug addicts are reviewed. General definitions of assertion and social skill and research related to social skills acquisition are presented. While use of skills training with these populations is at an exploratory stage, preliminary findings suggest the utility of this approach for enhancing interpersonal performance. However, these results should be interpreted with caution due to various methodological problems. Generalization and maintenance of training, transfer measures, interaction between treatment components and subject characteristics, and validity of role played assessment procedures are all areas that warrant further attention. Usefulness of a more global social skills concept and approach also is discussed; suggestions for future directions of research are offered.