An initial evaluation of a clinical psychology practicum training program.

Assessed 2 groups of clinical psychology graduate student trainees (N?=?26) either 3 or 4 times over the 1st 2 yrs of training. Skills measured included the ability to both communicate and discriminate empathic responses. Faculty supervisory ratings of Ss and internship supervisory ratings were obtained. For comparison purposes, data were gathered from 9 graduate trainees who did not undergo systematic skills training. Results indicate that both experimental training groups (receiving skill training) improved in their ability to produce empathic responses as compared with the control group. The training group that received the more intense and experiential training showed greater improvement in ability to discriminate facilitative responses. Faculty ratings during practicum did not reveal improvement; however, internship supervisory ratings did reflect trainee improvement. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expert modeling, self-observation using videotape, and acquisition of basic therapy skills.

Self-observation and observation of an experienced therapist were evaluated as aids in learning listening skills. 48 female college students interviewed mock clients before and after training. Training groups observed a videotape of an experienced therapist lecturing about listening skills, an experienced therapist modeling listening skills, a novice therapist attempting to use listening skills, or the S's own pretraining interview. All groups' skills improved significantly. Ss completed measures regarding feelings during interviews and about training. Trends indicated that Ss observing themselves improved least on all measures of both skill and feelings, and yet expressed most positive reaction to their training. Ss observing the experienced model improved most of all the groups in use of skills. Results raise questions about the usefulness of videotaping and support greater use of expert modeling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training clients to help themselves: Outcome effects of training college student clients in facilitative self-responding.

Used training in facilitative self-responding to help clients alter what they say to themselves. The training was compared to empathy-based individual counseling for personal-social problems. 20 undergraduates served as Ss. Treatment consisted of 6 1-hr weekly sessions. Ss were compared on posttests of empathy, regard, genuineness, and concreteness of their self-help responses and self-ratings and observer ratings of interpersonal functioning and improvement on specific counseling goal behaviors. Significant treatment and Treatment * Measures interaction effects were observed, indicating significant differences in favor of the trained group for 6 of the 8 variables. Group differences on the 2 self-rating measures were not significant. The fact that minimally facilitative levels of self-responding and positive change as rated by observers was attained only by the trained group indicated the usefulness of the technique for self-help training. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitative training: Acquisition, retention, and modes of assessment.

Examined 10 hr. of didactic-experiential training in facilitative functioning for acquisition, retention, and equivalence of modes of assessing levels of facilitative functioning. 20 prerated moderate-level and 20 low-level functioning counselors-in-training were assigned to treatment and control groups according to a randomized block design. Results confirm previous research indicating that levels of facilitation can be increased, whether assessed from written or oral modes of responding. Prerated moderate Ss appeared more able to use the training for formulating higher facilitative oral responses in a counseling interview than low-level Ss. Posttraining levels of functioning were maintained throughout the 4-wk latency period by both prerated moderate- and low-level Ss. Equivalence in levels of facilitative functioning between written and oral modes of responding was not found for any of the prerated subgroups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training adolescents in self-disclosure and empathy skills.

Conducted a study to develop, implement, and evaluate a communication skills training program for adolescent high school students. 25 students were given 16 hrs of training in the skills of self-disclosure and empathy, and 23 other students served as a contact control group and received no formal skills training. Ss completed both a behavioral and paper-and-pencil assessment prior to and immediately following training. Ss who received training demonstrated significantly higher self-disclosure and empathy skill levels than did the untrained Ss. Results are discussed in terms of the high skill level attained by Ss and the implications for training adolescents or younger populations in communication skills. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment and training of role-taking and referential communication skills in institutionalized emotionally disturbed children.

Evaluated 125 institutionalized emotionally disturbed 8-15-yr-old children in terms of their role-taking and referential communication skills. On the basis of this screening process, the 48 Ss who performed most poorly on these measures were assigned randomly to 1 of 2 experimental training programs intended to remediate deficits in either role-taking or referential communication skills. As a group these institutionalized Ss were significantly delayed in the acquisition of both role taking and referential communication when compared with samples of their normal age-mates. Pre- and postintervention comparisons indicated that Ss of both experimental groups improved significantly in their role-taking ability. Ss of the communication training program also demonstrated significant improvement in referential communication skills. A 12-mo follow-up showed a trend for improvements in both test measures to be associated with improvements in social adjustment as rated by institutional staff. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes and behavior in counseling skill development.

To examine the association between attitudes and skill performance under laboratory conditions, 37 undergraduates received brief training in 2 counseling skills (reflection of feeling and interpretation) and then conducted interviews with coached clients. Ss with positive attitudes toward using reflection of feeling produced significantly higher quality reflective responses than did those with negative attitudes toward the use of this skill. By contrast, no significant association between attitudes toward interpretive responses and interpretation quality was found. In addition, Ss were able to use reflective responses when instructed, whereas they were less able to respond to instructions about the timing of interpretive responses. Results suggest that when trainees are relatively facile in the use of a skill, quality is associated with attitudes, whereas when facility is less, the association is attenuated. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics predicting social functioning and treatment response in clients impaired by extreme shyness: Age of onset and the public/private shyness distinction.

52 adults that were functionally impaired by extreme shyness participated in an interview that assessed factors surrounding shyness onset, social functioning, strategies for coping with shyness, and behavioral skill in social interactions. 34 Ss then participated in an 8-wk behavioral treatment program that provided training in social skills. Ss reporting early onset also described their parents as shy, while Ss reporting later onset had a childhood history of emotional or physical abuse. Ss with observable behavioral deficits were more likely to benefit from the behavioral treatment program than were shy Ss with few overt symptoms. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping skills training: An evaluation of a psychoeducational program in a community mental health setting.

40 21–60 yr old clients of a community mental health center were randomly assigned to either a coping-skills training program based explicitly on a psychoeducational model or a group-counseling control condition. Ss in the psychoeducational program were provided with 30 hrs of instruction and training in progressive relaxation, anxiety management, social skills, and self-reinforcement procedures. Group-counseling control Ss received an equal amount of attention devoted to analyzing personal problems with anxiety and interpersonal relations but with no direct skills training. Significant differences between the 2 groups on measures of general anxiety, fear, and assertiveness emerged immediately after treatment and at a 3-mo follow-up. Further analyses revealed that Ss were similar in terms of major demographic characteristics to clients who did not volunteer for training, that a greater percentage of program Ss than control Ss scored in the range of a sample of "normal" Ss on 2 of the 4 dependent measures, and that fewer program Ss were hospitalized within 1 yr after participation than were control Ss. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of trainee expectancies and specific instructions on counselling skill acquisition.

Examined the acquisition of counseling skill by 31 inexperienced undergraduate counselor trainees as a function of (1) brief, specific instructions on how to counsel and (2) Ss' pretraining expectancies pertaining to nondirective vs directive counseling style. The Reisman Direction-Unconscious Motivation Scale was used to identify Ss of high vs low directiveness expectancy, and Ss of these 2 groups were randomly assigned to training or control conditions. The training group showed significant training gains on 2 microcounseling criteria, while the directiveness-expectancy variable had no significant effect. Findings vis-à-vis the brief instructions illustrate that a significant training gain can be induced simply by alerting trainees to the evaluative criteria. It is concluded that such instructions could be used both as highly efficient means of instituting initial counseling skill in paraprofessional workers and as an apt control in assessing the effect of relatively more extensive counselor training programs. (French abstract) (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transfer of team skills as a function of type of training.

5 groups varying in training context (team vs. individual) and skill acquisition (individual, coordination, and communication skills) were compared at transfer on team (coordination of interceptions) and individual (number of interceptions) performance of a simulated radar-controlled aerial intercept task. Individual performance was unaffected by the training variables, but team performance was a positive function of the emphasis on coordination skills during training. When acquisition of coordination skills was held constant, context had no effect on transfer performance. Intrateam communications retarded performance but prohibiting these communications during training did not lessen their disruptive effect at transfer. This inhibitory influence of team communications reflected the verbal transmittal of information irrelevant to the task or more readily obtainable from the radar scopes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social-skills training with institutionalized elderly: Effects of precounseling structuring and overlearning on skill acquisition and transfer.

66 institutionalized elderly patients (mean age 65.5 yrs) were assigned to 6 experimental conditions and 1 control condition. Half of the treatment Ss received a precounseling structuring session prior to training. During training, one-third of the Ss received low overlearning, one-third received medium overlearning, and one-third received high overlearning. Controls were given a combination of attention and brief instructions. Analyses of covariance with level of cognitive functioning as the covariate revealed that all treatment groups acquired the skill. Results also indicate that (a) medium overlearning enhanced skill transfer, (b) high overlearning decreased skill acquisition and transfer, and (c) precounseling structuring had no effect on acquisition or transfer. Findings suggest that the method evaluated was effective in teaching a social skill to institutionalized elderly. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and noncognitive determinants and consequences of complex skill acquisition.

Integration of multiple perspectives on the determinants of individual differences in skill acquisition is provided by examination of a wide array of predictors: ability (spatial, verbal, mathematical, and perceptual speed), personality (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness), vocational interests (realistic and investigative), self-estimates of ability, self-concept, motivational skills, and task-specific self-efficacy. Ninety-three trainees were studied over the course of 15 hr (across 2 weeks) of skill acquisition practice on a complex, air traffic controller simulation task (Terminal Radar Approach Controller; TRACON; Wesson International, Austin, TX). Across task practice, measures of self-efficacy, and negative and positive motivational thought occurrence were collected to examine prediction of later performance and communality with pretask measures, Results demonstrate independent and interactive influences of ability tests and self-report measures in predicting training task performance. Implications for the selection process are discussed in terms of communalities observed in the predictor space. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructions and experiential feedback in the treatment of social skills deficits in adults.

36 adult outpatients (aged 19–70 yrs) with social skills deficits participated in an 8-session individual social skills, role-playing training program. Some Ss were given instructions on specific behaviors to modify during role playing; a 2nd group developed its own instructions; a 3rd group was given no instructions but simply role-played the scenes. Half the Ss in each condition also received experiential feedback, which was effective in helping clients become more socially skilled. Instructions on specific behaviors to modify did not significantly improve social skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design of a short-term training program in group facilitation skills.

Describes the program's 3 goals: having trainees develop as a group and examine their own group process, acquiring knowledge about issues in group dynamics, and learning group leadership skills. Feedback exercises to help trainees develop as a group and exercises that focus on conceptual issues in group dynamics are described briefly. The leadership skill, which is emphasized in training, is making interventions in an ongoing group. In a 4-stage process, trainees practice intervening in situations that successively approximate an actual group. A 3-dimensional model for viewing and evaluating interventions is also presented. The training program is intended for use with paraprofessionals or with prepracticum students in professional training programs. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills: does the type of mannequin make a difference?

Resuscitation (CPR) courses stress acquisition of psychomotor skills. The number of mannequins may limit the 'hands-on' time available for each trainee to practise CPR and impede acquisition of skill. This may occur because expensive, sophisticated mannequins are favoured over individual, simple mannequins. In a blind, prospective, controlled study we compared one-rescuer CPR skills of 165 trainees in two cohorts using their own individual light-weight torso mannequins (Actar 911 and Laerdal Little Anne) and a control cohort with four to five trainees sharing a sophisticated mannequin (Laerdal Recording Resusci Anne). No major significant differences (p = 0.18) were found when using the 'Berden scoring system'. Both the Actar 911 and the Little Anne were compatible with the Recording Resusci Anne. Trainees preferred the individual mannequins. We conclude that the results indicate that the use of individual mannequins in conjunction with a sophisticated mannequin neither results in trainees learning incorrect skills nor in significant improvement. Further analysis of the actual training in lay person CPR training courses and evaluation of course didactics to optimize training time appear indicated.     

An examination of learning processes during critical incident training: Implications for the development of adaptable trainees.

Three experiments are reported that examined the process by which trainees learn decision-making skills during a critical incident training program. Formal theories of category learning were used to identify two processes that may be responsible for the acquisition of decision-making skills: rule learning and exemplar learning. Experiments 1 and 2 used the process dissociation procedure (L. L. Jacoby, 1998) to evaluate the contribution of these processes to performance. The results suggest that trainees used a mixture of rule and exemplar learning. Furthermore, these learning processes were influenced by different aspects of training structure and design. The goal of Experiment 3 was to develop training techniques that enable trainees to use a rule adaptively. Trainees were tested on cases that represented exceptions to the rule. Unexpectedly, the results suggest that providing general instruction regarding the kinds of conditions in which a decision rule does not apply caused them to fixate on the specific conditions mentioned and impaired their ability to identify other conditions in which the rule might not apply. The theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive rehabilitation of memory functioning in amnesiac alcoholics.

Compared a multicomponent program of intensive memory skill practice for amnesiac alcoholics with a control program in which patients received only nonspecific cognitive activation to assess the extent to which improvement would generalize to memory tasks dissimilar to those used during training and to determine how long treatment gains would be maintained. 12 amnesiac patients (mean age 57.1 yrs) were randomly assigned to either the experimental memory training or the control program. DSM-III diagnoses showed that Ss included 7 with alcohol amnesiac disorder, 2 with dementia associated with alcoholism, 2 with alcohol dependence, and 1 with amnestic syndrome. Five of the experimental Ss and all of the controls completed their respective therapy programs and progress monitor assessment; 4 of the experimental Ss and 5 of the controls completed the entire outcome assessment. Results indicate that the control group showed improvement on most measures, and both groups improved significantly on several of the outcome measures that assessed generalization of memory skills. It is concluded that memory training designed to achieve specific learning goals is likely to be more effective with chronic amnesiacs than is a program of general memory skill rehearsal. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social intelligence and the selection of counselors.

Assessed the utility of 4 subtests of the Tests of Social Intelligence in counselor selection. Study 1, using 55 graduates found that the Tests of Social Intelligence generally assess a domain distinctive from the cognitive one usually used in decisions about admission to training programs. The 2nd study of 55 Ss found that the scores on the Tests of Social Intelligence in general, and on 1 test in particular, significantly correlated with S skill in identifying the most facilitative of 4 counselor responses to client statements. Results tentatively indicate that the Tests of Social Intelligence have potential worth for further investigation in the identification of counselor trainees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'effet du niveau d'experiencing du client et de l'aidant sur l'abandon d'un processus thérapeutique.

Studied the effect of client and therapist level of experiencing, beginning with the initial stage of psychological counseling, on early termination of therapy. Human subjects: 32 male and female Canadian adults (mean age 30–32 yrs) (personality disorders, neuroses, or interpersonal problems) (clients of therapists). 19 normal male and female Canadian adults (mean age 31 yrs) (graduate students) (therapists). Clients were subdivided into 2 groups: those who had terminated therapy (early or late), and those who had not terminated therapy. Ss were interviewed. Levels of experiencing were compared for the 2 groups of clients and for therapists who had counseled these clients. Tests used: The Global Assessment Scale, Psychiatric Symptom Index (F. Ilfeld, 1976), and Experiencing Scale (P. Mathieu-Coughlan and M. Klein, 1984). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)