Throw that epidemiologist out of the emergency room! Using the television series ER as a vehicle for teaching methodologists about medical issues

BACKGROUND: Epidemiology and biostatistics graduate students have diverse backgrounds, but many have little prior training in medicine or biology. This lack of content knowledge in future health researchers has recently been raised as a concern. METHODS: As part of a graduate course on the epidemiology of major diseases, the television series ER was used as a vehicle for learning more about diseases in general, and to become familiar with medical terminology and the ICD-10 by practicing coding on the patients seen. Furthermore, we wanted to provide human faces to the type of disease data students usually work with. RESULTS: In this article, the authors discuss how the ER sessions were organized and the problems that were encountered. The course evaluation concluded that the students found the exercise to be an interesting break from regular teaching.     

How do medical students judge preclinical studies? Results of questionnaire analysis after the 1st and 2d year of studies

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: For some years the evaluation of medical teaching has been demanded. In addition to questioning individual teachers, comparisons have to be made, but only a high response rate will provide representative results. A questionnaire study of medical students at the Hannover School of Medicine was undertaken to assess attendance at lectures, reasons for absence, importance of courses and practicals for passing preclinical examinations and as preparation for clinical studies. METHODS: Questionnaires were given to two groups of students in the summer term of 1996, a) after the first year and b) after concluding the preclinical course. RESULTS: The response rate for the two years was 92 and 87%, respectively. The reasons given for a high absentee rate at some lectures were, first of all, lack of time especially in the natural sciences--physics, chemistry and biology--but also in medical psychology, medical sociology and terminology, and secondly their lack of relevance to the clinical course. However, especially high acceptance and clinical relevance was assigned to gross anatomy. A high percentage of students were also in employment at the same time, mostly in medicine-related jobs (87%). Most students wanted continuous assessment in their compulsory subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Regular and representative questioning of students should provide encouragement for improving the medical course and a basis for ideas on reform.     

Test anxiety, academic performance, and cognitive appraisals.

Investigated the impact of test anxiety on test performance and the cognitive appraisals of test-anxious students. To overcome limitations of previous research, state and dispositional measures of test anxiety were used over repeated performance trials. 62 Ss who were enrolled in an undergraduate statistics course that required multiple examinations were administered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and served as Ss. Ss' expectations, thoughts, and performance were assessed at each of the 4 examination occasions. Results indicate that test anxiety was related to poor test performance both early and late in the term. When state anxiety levels were controlled for, the test anxiety–test performance relation was apparent only during the later stages of the course. The pattern of Ss' anxiety and appraisals suggests that test-anxious Ss experienced most doubt and concern early in the term. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the Job versus Graduate School Training of Forensic Engineers—An Instructor and Professional Engineer’s View

This paper provides insights from a graduate forensic engineering course for civil engineers and analyses its success from the instructor and student perspectives. The objective of the study was to evaluate teaching methods and settings for training of forensic engineers in light of new body of knowledge needs for the profession. The assessment methodology used student feedback before, during, and after the semester-long course and the instructor’s observations and prior forensic engineering consulting experience. The course was structured around student learning objectives that paralleled actual engineer training in professional consulting firms. The students used hands-on learning, field investigations, library-based research, and report writing. Focus was placed on learning basic research skills and applying scientific method which were at low levels among students. This is of concern to the profession as these skills, along with analytical ability, form part of the basic tool set of most engineers. By the end of the course, writing and review skills had improved significantly and student perceptions of the specialized skills turned more favorable. The students overwhelmingly appreciated inclusion of guest lectures by forensic engineers to demonstrate the relevance of this field. It was concluded that inadequate technical writing and reading skills, symptomatic of students in many engineering programs can be corrected through a forensic engineering course.     

Test prediction and performance in a classroom context.

This study focused on students' ability to predict and postdict test performance in a classroom context. Ninety-nine undergraduate students participated during a semester-length course in which the relation between self-assessment and performance was stressed. Research questions were (a) Can students accurately predict test performance? (b) Does accuracy vary with performance? (c) Does prediction accuracy increase over multiple tests? and (d) Do prior performance and predictions of performance influence subsequent predictions? High-performing students were accurate, with accuracy improving over multiple exams. Low-performing students showed moderate prediction accuracy but good postdiction accuracy. Lowest performing students showed gross overconfidence in predictions and postdictions. Judgments of performance were influenced by prior judgments and not prior performance. Performance and judgments of performance had little influence on subsequent test preparation behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic control and action control in the achievement of college students: A longitudinal field study.

A contradiction to the typical pattern of academic success occurs when bright, enthusiastic high school students fail after entering university. Two measures, perceived academic control and action control (i.e., preoccupation with failure) were administered to 524 college students at the beginning of a 2-semester course. Achievement-related cognitions, emotions, motivation, and final grades were measured at the end of the course. High-academic-control students exerted more effort, reported less boredom and anxiety, were more motivated, used self-monitoring strategies more often, felt more in control of their course assignments and of life in general, believed they performed better, and obtained higher final grades. Failure-preoccupied students received higher final grades, which corroborated their self-reported performance. Of note, high-control, high-failure-preoccupied students outperformed the other 3 groups by 1 to 2 letter grades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pigmented variant of benign oncocytic lesion of the pharynx

The goal of this study was to analyse students' perceptions of anatomy teaching. A questionnaire was distributed to two classes of first year dental students taught anatomy in both problem-based learning (PBL) and traditional formats. The questionnaire explored the students' most preferred techniques for learning anatomy, their examination preferences and their perceived level of mastery of anatomy. Fifty-seven (95%) students completed the survey. The most commonly used study aids were atlases, dissection and lecture notes (in descending order). Students expressed the desire for the final examination to include both written and oral components. Six months after the final examination, the students reported their perceived level of mastery of anatomy as either "very good" or "OK". Even in the PBL curriculum 39% of both classes felt it is necessary to have quizzes during the course to motivate and guide them in studying anatomy.     

Counselor trainee anxiety during the initial counseling interview.

Investigated the nature and extent of anxiety experienced by beginning practicum students in their initial client interviews. Ss were 20 of 21 students enrolled in a master's level course in supervised counseling experience. Anxiety was assessed by self-report, skin conductance, and heart rate measures obtained in anticipation of and during stimulus situations of reading an article and counseling a client. The design was a 2–2 (Periods?×?Sessions) within-Ss factorial. Results indicate that Ss were more anxious on physiological and self-report measures of anxiety during the counseling interview than during reading. Although most of the self-report data were not related to autonomic arousal during the interview, baseline autonomic data were highly related to autonomic response during the interview. Also, self-report predictions of anxiety were related to self-report anxiety during the interview. It is concluded that (a) the counseling interview is an anxiety-evoking situation, (b) much of the anxiety can be accounted for by Ss' expectations, and (c) anxiety is most meaningfully discussed within the framework of response dimensions. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive processes in mathematics anxiety and test anxiety: The role of appraisals, internal dialogue, and attributions.

In this study, I explored the functional similarities and differences in the cognitive processes involved in mathematics anxiety and test anxiety. Ninety-six students in an undergraduate psychology statistics course completed test and math anxiety measures shortly after the commencement of their course. Before and after each of their five midterm examinations, students completed questionnaires that assessed their anxiety, appraisals, internal dialogue, and performance attributions. Results indicated that both math and test anxiety accounted for unique variance in preexam appraisals, negative internal dialogue, postexam appraisals, pre- and postexam anxiety levels, and several types of performance attributions. Only test anxiety, however, accounted for variance in subjects' actual examination performances. I address the implications of a cognitive theory for math anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prevalence, distribution, and correlates of math anxiety in college students.

Investigated factors related to the prevalence and intensity of math anxiety in college students. 652 Ss in 2 math courses and 1 psychology course at a large university were tested on the Math Anxiety scale (part of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales), the A-Trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Spielberger's Test Anxiety Inventory. Results indicate that math anxiety occurs frequently among college students and that it is more likely to occur among women than among men and among students with inadequate high school math backgrounds. Higher levels of math anxiety were related to lower mathematics achievement test scores, higher levels of test anxiety, and higher levels of trait anxiety. Implications for the identification and treatment of math-anxious students and for the process of educational/vocational counseling are discussed. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A consciousness-sampling analysis of test anxiety and performance.

To evaluate cognitive-interference, reassertion, and reaction-to-performance models of test anxiety, 82 university students completed the Test Anxiety Scale, provided state measures of anxiety just before and after a course examination, described their preparation for the test, and reported thought content and state anxiety up to 6 times during the test. Test Anxiety Scale scores were predictive of pre- and posttest state anxiety but not performance or problem-solving thought frequency during the test. Thought content was significantly but weakly correlated with performance, which was well correlated with posttest state anxiety but not with pretest anxiety. Pretest state anxiety was virtually uncorrelated with posttest state anxiety, with the correlations gradually declining during the test. Question-answering thought content correlated inversely with anxiety during the test. There was no group for whom anxiety appeared to facilitate performance. Preparation correlated only with performance. Results appear inconsistent with a cognitive-interference interpretation of test anxiety and suggest that, in the naturalistic setting used, anxiety is more clearly an effect than a cause of poor performance. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anticipatory anxiety in women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Examined (1) the prevalence and course of anxiety before the 1st 6 infusions of cancer chemotherapy and (2) the contribution of trait anxiety, side effect expectations, and prior occurrence of posttreatment side effects to anxiety before infusions. 53 women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer participated. Anxiety was most prevalent and intense before the 1st infusion. Trait anxiety predicted anxiety before the 1st and subsequent infusions. Prior occurrence of posttreatment nervousness also predicted anxiety before subsequent infusions, even after accounting for trait anxiety and other posttreatment side effects. Results are discussed in terms of the role that anxiety proneness, response expectancy, and classical conditioning may play in the development of anxiety before repeated chemotherapy infusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal look at the relation between depression and anxiety in children and adolescents.

Elementary school students (n?=?330) and their parents (n?=?228) participated in a 3-year longitudinal study of the temporal relation between anxiety and depressive symptoms in children. Every 6 months, children and parents completed depression and anxiety questionnaires for a total of 6 waves. Structural equation modeling revealed that individual differences on all measures were remarkably stable over time. Nevertheless, high levels of anxiety symptoms at 1 point in time predicted high levels of depressive symptoms at subsequent points in time even after controlling for prior levels of depression symptoms. These findings were consistent across self- and parent reports. Results support the temporal hypothesis that anxiety leads to depression in children and adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety, depression, and assertion across alternating intervals of stress.

The course of self-reported anxiety, depression, and assertion was charted 63 days before 12 students were exposed to a significant war-related stressor as well as 8, 37, and 316 days later. Although the majority of respondents reported higher levels of anxiety and depression as well as lower levels of assertion 8 days after the trauma, the estimates observed 37 and 316 days after the trauma were not significantly different than the estimates observed 63 days before the trauma. A single-case analysis as well as a series of diagnostic interviews revealed, however, that one of the students developed chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. The results are examined from an epidemiological and etiological perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model of the relationships among measures of affect, aptitude, and performance in introductory statistics.

Investigated a number of variables believed to influence the achievement of first-year undergraduate university students enrolled in an introductory statistics course. 166 students completed a self-report inventory consisting of affective measures such as attitude toward learning statistics, motivational intensity, and anxiety experienced in their statistics course. In addition to measures of achievement in the course, the authors obtained measures of performance in previous mathematics and psychology university courses. Two structural equation models were tested relating achievement in the course to variables in the inventory. The general structure of the models was based on R. C. Gardner's socio-educational model of second-language learning (1985). Results support the hypotheses that both motivation and aptitude contribute to the prediction of achievement in statistics as suggested by R. N. Lalonde and R. C. Gardner (1993). Furthermore, support for a direct link between anxiety and achievement in statistics was found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Microsurgical anatomy of the human ophthalmic artery: a mesoscopic study of its origin, course and collateral branches

In the present paper we have studied the gross (mesoscopic) anatomy of the ophthalmic a. in humans, using magnification by microsurgical systems to obtain data on the origin and course of this artery and its main collateral branches. Comparison of our results with previous reports indicates that, although the anatomical variations of the vascular system are well known, some patterns of frequency may be emphasised. Thus, the ophthalmic a. was usually found as a collateral branch of the internal carotid a., although other origins were also found. The ophthalmic a., once inside the orbit, followed a course above the optic nerve in most cases. All the collateral branches of the ophthalmic a., with the exception of the muscular branches, showed great constancy.     

Anxiety and the process of deciding about a major and vocation.

Investigated whether general anxiety or anxiety about choice of a college major and choice of a vocation are related to educational-vocational decidedness. 427 college students enrolled in a general studies physics course completed a research instrument tapping 10 independent variables including 6 anxiety type scales plus self-report biographic data. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to determine which of the independent variables could predict the measures of educational-vocational decidedness. Of the 10 independent variables, 9 were found to be related to at least 1 of the dependent variables, thus supporting the relationships hypothesized between anxiety and career decision making. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomy, relatedness, and the initiation of health risk behaviors in early adolescence.

Examined the relationships among sociodemographic characteristics, family processes, and the initiation of health risk behaviors in early adolescence. Ss were 189 6th and 7th graders from a public middle school. A path-analytic model was used to analyze data. Results showed that students who received autonomy support from parents were less likely to initiate sexual intercourse. Students who were emotionally detached from their parents were more likely to fight and use substances. Those who were emotionally detached tended to come from families with low levels of cohesion and acceptance. Sociodemographic variables, such as family structure, gender, and ethnicity, had both direct and indirect effects on health risk behaviors, but the indirect effects were quite small. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dissertation in professional psychology programs: II. Model and evaluation of a preparatory course.

Although 90% of professional psychology programs require the doctoral dissertation, the curricular preparatory strategies for this extensive project are less uniform. The structure and content of a course designed explicitly to prepare the clinical psychology student for the complex dissertation process are described. Attitudinal assessments before and after the course, which was taught annually for 4 yrs (n?=?35 students), supported its effectiveness. The course significantly enhanced students' self-appraised knowledge and skills, strengthened self-efficacy expectations concerning the requisite tasks of the dissertation, and reduced anxiety about the process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor trainee anxiety during counseling.

Physiological and subjective anxiety measures were assessed to determine if counselor trainees experienced greater anxiety levels during a counseling interview than during a conversation. 28 counselor trainee volunteers from a graduate level practicum course participated in 10-min conversation and counseling sessions. Anxiety was assessed by self-report, skin conductance, and heart rate measures. Results indicated that on 2 of 3 indicants of anxiety, trainees were more anxious during counseling than during conversing: Covariance analyses indicated significant treatment and interaction effects for conductance data, no significant effects for heart rate data, and a significant treatment effect for self-report data. Habituation heart rate and conductance data were highly related to respective physiological data during anticipation and stimulus periods, and preexperimental self-report data were moderately related to postexperimental self-report data. Results suggest that (a) counselor trainees are more anxious during counseling than during conversing, (b) trainees' expectations account for much of their anxiety, and (c) habituation physiological and self-report data may be useful in identifying trainees who will experience anxiety during a counseling interview. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)