Communication skills for eating-disordered clients.

Posits that eating-disordered clients usually have poor communication skills, despite their general level of intelligence and education. Reasons for poor communication include misconceptions, boundary problems, and personality features. Five steps of healthy communication are presented: (1) recognizing the message, (2) deciding whether to communicate it and how fully, (3) choosing the words, (4) conveying the message, and (5) checking the outcome. The therapist's treatment approach to these problem areas includes affect identification, role play, teaching social norms and communication skills, and fortifying the ability to listen and reality test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal skills training for premedical students.

Premedical students participated in a 2?-hr orientation to 1 of 2 programs of communication-skills training: Interpersonal Process Recall or Human Relations Training. Ss were assessed on personality characteristics with the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale, Adjective Check List, and a scale measuring intolerance of ambiguity before the orientation session; following the session they indicated the perceived effectiveness of and satisfaction with the 2 programs. Although both programs were very positively evaluated by Ss, anxious and defensive Ss perceived the Interpersonal Process Recall program as potentially more effective and satisfying. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individualizing social skills training for behavior-disordered children.

Individualized social skills training was compared with nonindividualized social skills training and wait-list control conditions. Participants were 35 behavior-disordered children at a treatment center. Role-play tests indicated that children in both the individualized and nonindividualized conditions mastered the content of the training sessions. Observations of recess play indicated that the increase in cooperative play after treatment was significantly higher for the individualized training group. There were no significant differences in observed aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer versus professional models for study skills training.

Compared a peer model and professional model for teaching study skills to college freshmen. 17 freshmen in the professional model received 10 hrs of instruction in study skills in 2 groups taught by 1 professional. In the peer model, freshmen were divided into 16 pairs of tutors and tutees. The tutors learned the study skills in 5 90-min weekly seminars. Between meetings, the tutors individually taught these skills to the tutees. Ss in both models significantly improved study skills relative to attention and waiting-list control groups. The peer model was as effective as the professional model in study skills change. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Telephone-based coping skills training for patients awaiting lung transplantation.

Impaired quality of life is associated with increased mortality in patients with advanced lung disease. Using a randomized controlled trial with allocation concealment and blinded outcome assessment at 2 tertiary care teaching hospitals, the authors randomly assigned 328 patients with end-stage lung disease awaiting lung transplantation to 12 weeks of telephone-based coping skills training (CST) or to usual medical care (UMC). Patients completed a battery of quality of life instruments and were followed for up to 3.4 years to assess all-cause mortality. Compared with UMC, CST produced lower scores on perceived stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and negative affect and improved scores on mental health functioning, optimism, vitality, and perceived social support. There were 29 deaths (9%) over a mean follow-up period of 1.1 year. Survival analyses revealed that there was no difference in survival between the 2 groups. The authors conclude that a telephone-based CST intervention can be effectively delivered to patients awaiting lung transplantation. Despite the severity of pulmonary disease in this patient population, significant improvements in quality of life, but not somatic measures or survival to transplant, were achieved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social skills training: Behavior rehearsal in groups and dating skills.

Minimal dating, identified as a significant target problem, generally has been thought to result from either conditioned anxiety or negative self-evaluations. In the present study, minimal dating was formulated as the result of a social skills deficit. In accord with this formulation, 2 direct skill-training programs involving behavior rehearsal with and without extrasession tasks were evaluated against attention-placebo and waiting-list controls. 48 college males reporting anxiety and shyness about meeting females were carefully screened and assigned to 1 of 2 groups included in each of 4 treatment conditions. Results indicate that 3 of the 4 skill-training groups showed significant (p     

Measuring effects of a skills training intervention for drug abusers.

Examined the effectiveness of a supplemental skills training and social-network-development aftercare program with 130 drug abusers (aged 15–55 yrs) from 4 residential therapeutic communities. The program included training in assertiveness, problem-solving, stress management, and giving and receiving praise; training techniques included group discussion, modeling, role playing and feedback. Pre- and posttesting with a problem situation inventory showed that the intervention produced positive effects on Ss' performance at the conclusion of treatment. Performance improved in situations involving avoidance of drug use, coping with drug relapse, social interaction, interpersonal problem solving, and coping with stress. It is concluded that as a reentry strategy, the supplemental intervention is an effective adjunct to residential treatment. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social skills training for job maintenance in a psychiatric patient.

Treated a 28-yr-old male psychiatric patient who was having difficulty maintaining his job due to temper outbursts and sensitivity to criticism with social skills training using a multiple-baseline methodology. Targeted behaviors were successfully trained to criteria over a 4-mo period, and independent ratings of work performance by the supervisor indicated significant improvements. Behaviors and ratings of work performance were maintained at a 3-mo follow-up, and S was still performing well on the job 8 mo later, supporting the efficacy of skills training as a clinical strategy for improving vocational adjustment. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A behavioral analysis of structured skills training.

Studied the effects of communications training using a frequency count method to measure trainee behavior. Results show increases in empathic responses in advanced and beginning structured training groups and increases in questioning and self-disclosure in encounter groups. Data are interpreted within a reinforcement framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Successful interpersonal skills training with schizophrenic inpatients.

Studied the effectiveness of a set of techniques for increasing the interpersonal skills of 16 nonassertive (Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Questionnaire) male schizophrenic inpatients (average age 29 yrs). Ss participated in 12 sessions of interpersonal skills training. The effectiveness of the procedure was evaluated with both self-report (Subjective Units of Discomfort Scale) and behavioral measures. The behavioral measures involved ratings of S performance during both role-played and spontaneously enacted interpersonal situations. Several of the situations were used in training, and others were used only during the assessment sessions. To promote extrasession generalization of behaviors, dyads were formed and were given homework assignments to complete. Compared to a control group matched on age, length of total hospitalization, and pretreatment level of skills, the interpersonal skills training group significantly improved on measures of loudness, fluency, affect, latency, eye contact, content, and self-reported assertiveness. These improvements were apparent across both role-played and spontaneously enacted situations and across trained and untrained situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of controlled research on social skills training for schizophrenia.

A meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials of social skills training for schizophrenia was conducted. Outcome measures from 22 studies including 1,521 clients were categorized according to a proximal-distal continuum in relation to the presumed site of action of skills training interventions, with content mastery tests and performance-based measures of skills assumed to be most proximal, community functioning and negative symptoms intermediate, and general symptoms and relapse most distal. Results reveal a large weighted mean effect size for content-mastery exams (d = 1.20), a moderate mean effect size for performance-based measures of social and daily living skills (d = 0.52), moderate mean effect sizes for community functioning (d = 0.52) and negative symptoms (d = 0.40), and small mean effect sizes for other symptoms (d = 0.15) and relapse (d = 0.23). These results support the efficacy of social skills training for improving psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral training for increasing effective job-interview skills: Follow-up and evaluation.

Presents data concerning the social validation of an empirically based training model for increasing job-interview skills. The model combined role-playing, modeling, and guided discussion. 46 master's-level counselors trained in the use of the model conducted over 320 workshops for approximately 4,100 secondary and postsecondary students. Data generated by these counselors indicate that the model was easily employed as an effective training procedure. Also, student participants reported high levels of consumer satisfaction and identified several components of the model as being most beneficial. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helping skills training for undergraduates: Outcomes and prediction of outcomes.

The authors examined outcomes and predictors of outcomes for 85 undergraduates in 3 helping skills classes. After training, trainees used more exploration skills in helping sessions with classmates (as assessed by perceptions of helpees and helpers/trainees as well as behavioral counts of skills), were perceived by helpees as more empathic, talked less in sessions, conducted better sessions (from helpee and helper/trainee perspectives), and reported higher self-efficacy for using helping skills. In addition, trainees' confidence increased while learning exploration skills, dropped while learning insight skills, and then increased again while learning action skills. The authors were not able to predict outcome from the variables used (grade-point average, empathic concern and perspective taking, perfectionism). Suggestions for training and future research on training are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of social skills training groups and social skills bibliotherapy with psychiatric patients.

The effectiveness of a systematic social skills group training program was compared to both a bibliotherapy program group and a typical hospital treatment control group (10 18–56 yr old patients per group). Assessment instruments included self-report (Rathus Assertiveness Schedule), observational, and in vivo measures. Results on the observational measure show that the skills training group improved significantly more than the control group, and this difference was maintained at follow-up. The skills group also showed superior improvement on the self-report measure. Results fail to demonstrate the efficacy of bibliotherapy. Findings concerning generalization of social skills group treatment effectiveness were encouraging in that 2 of 3 measures employed to test for generalization showed significant effects. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral training of social skills in shy males.

31 college males who had reported themselves unable to interact with women in specific social situations were asked to record every interaction for 1 wk. Following this, a series of behavioral tests was given. When compared to a group of confident Ss, shy Ss interacted with fewer women, in fewer situations, and for less time outside of the laboratory. In laboratory test situations shy Ss rated themselves and were rated by Os as being more anxious. Pulse rate was monitored during the behavioral testing. Confident Ss had significantly less pulse rate change during the test situations. After pretesting, shy Ss were randomly assigned to either an assessment control group or an analogue treatment group, with treatment consisting of 3 sessions of behavior rehearsal, modeling, and coaching. On posttesting, Ss who had received treatment showed less physiological responsivity to the testing stimuli, reported less anxiety, and were rated as being more skillful in the test situations. Behavioral diaries revealed that following treatment Ss who received training changed more than control Ss on several measures of frequency and duration of interactions with women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of selected techniques for training resident assistants in human relations skills.

Investigated the effect of 3 instructional techniques on 40 undergraduate resident hall assistants' use of attending behavior, reflection of feeling, and summarization of feeling in a microcounseling session. The 3 techniques combined a tape-recorded lecture on the criterion behaviors with either a discussion, modeling, or role-playing procedure. Ss in all 3 experimental groups maintained eye contact for a significantly longer period of time than did controls. Reflection of feeling responses were recorded a significantly greater proportion of the time for the lecture-discussion and lecture-modeling treatments than for controls. Males in the lecture-modeling treatment summarized feelings a significantly greater proportion of the time than any other group. Need for periodic supervised practice of target behaviors is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meta-analytic evaluation of skills training research for individuals with severe mental illness.

A meta-analysis of 68 studies examined the effectiveness of skills training for individuals with severe mental illness and the influence of such factors as methodological rigor, choice of outcome measures, and service settings. The methodological quality of these studies was generally very good. Skills training was found to be moderately to strongly effective in increasing skill acquisition and reducing psychiatric symptoms. However, effect size varied by type of outcome measure, with situationally specific measures yielding larger effects than measures of skill usage and role functioning. Studies rarely examined whether acquired skills were used outside the training setting. Surprisingly, most studies were confined to inpatient settings, and most focused exclusively on social skills. Implications are discussed for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of coping skills training on adolescents at risk for substance use.

279 high-risk secondary school students completed one of the following treatment conditions: (1) coping skills school intervention, (2) coping skills school plus parent intervention, or (3) comparison control. Ss in the coping skills conditions improved on a measure of coping skills acquisition, whereas those in the control group did not. All Ss improved on a variety of personality and school behavior variables. There were some modest increases in self-report of substance use; however, these were smaller than would be expected in a high-risk population over the study period. The findings suggest that preventive intervention with high-risk youth has some positive effect on risk factors, although the differential efficacy of coping skills training with high-risk youth was not supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social skills training to improve alcoholics' vocational interpersonal competency.

Many clients seeking vocational assistance may already possess the necessary job skills for satisfactory employment but need training to develop adequate interpersonal skills for finding and holding a job. In this study, 3 clients admitted to an alcohol abuse treatment program volunteered for social skills training related to difficult on-the-job situations. In a multiple-baseline single-case design across behaviors, modeling alone and modeling plus focused instruction were employed to improve several target behaviors. In general, though modeling was somewhat successful, the addition of focused instructions greatly enhanced treatment effects. Furthermore, these behavioral changes were maintained at a 6-mo follow-up session. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)