Evaluation of a Mental Skills Training Program for Musicians

This study explored the effects of a 9-week music-specific mental skills training program delivered to students at a music conservatoire in England (n = 14). Pre- and post-testing involved a battery of questionnaires, public performances, and participant feedback. In comparison with a control group (n = 9), the experimental group demonstrated significant changes in their views toward practice activities and specific practicing behaviors, a significant increase in self-efficacy for performing, and an increase in imagery vividness. Comments from participants in the experimental group revealed greater levels of self-awareness, confidence, facilitative views toward and heightened control over anxiety, and healthier perspectives toward music-making.     

Personal Performance Plan: Application of Mental Skills Training to Real-World Military Tasks

Recently, several authors have discussed the potential benefits of interdisciplinary cooperation between the military and the field of performance psychology. The purpose of this article is to build upon their suggestions by presenting a phased approach to mental skills training grounded in performance, learning, and military literature that can be applied to a wide variety of military tasks. After discussing the basis for the model's content, structure, and training approach, details of the mental training protocol are provided, a case example involving Army Infantry Soldiers is presented, and directions for future research and lessons learned are offered.     

Confusions in Psychological Skills Training

A critical examination of the idea of psychological skills training is undertaken. Questions are raised concerning the conceptual validity and generalizability of programs that attempt to train psychological skills us a means of “giving psychology away.” Although the critique presented is primarily conceptual, specific references and illustrations are drawn from recent research and theorizing in applied psychology, as well as from published literature in counseling and psychological education.     

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Group Skills Training in a Community Mental Health Setting: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Effective and affordable therapies are needed for treating people with severe and persistent mental illness in a community mental health setting. In this pilot study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a modified dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) protocol for improving symptoms and functioning in a cohort of persons with severe and persistent mental illness. We provided six months of weekly DBT skills training in a group setting. Depression symptoms decreased significantly after treatment. There was a wide range of number of sessions attended, with a minority of the participants completing the full course of treatment. Increased attendance was correlated with improvements in depression symptoms, overall symptoms, quality of life, and community functioning. The study findings suggest that the group skills training component of DBT can be successfully implemented in a community mental health center and that further research to determine its efficacy in comparison to other treatments is warranted.     

Development,Implementation, and Evaluation of anAthlete-Informed Mental Skills Training Program for EliteYouth Tennis Players

Informed by athletes’ psychological needs, the current qualitative study developed, implemented, and evaluated a 15-month mental skills training (MST) program for elite youth athletes. The MST was divided into 3 phases that included a 9-month preintervention, a 2-month intervention, and a 4-month evaluation phase. The intervention consisted of 3 interactive workshops that were delivered to 11 competitive British youth tennis players (8–15?years of age) and their coach (age 34). The intervention was informed by data that were collected throughout a 9-month preintervention phase including longitudinal observations, field notes, and semistructured interviews. The intervention was evaluated over 4 months through observations, field notes, athlete-workshop data, and a semistructured interview with the coach. Results reinforced the value of the longitudinal preintervention phase by highlighting that the establishment of rapport between the researcher and athletes enhanced the meaningfulness and content of the MST program. In addition, an increase in athletes’ use and regulation of psychological skills and characteristics (PSCs) was identified as a result of athletes’ improved understanding of psychological skills (i.e., self-talk, imagery, performance routines) and characteristics (i.e., focus, emotional control, PSCs). Finally, the MST program fostered a shared subject-specific language between athletes and their coach, enhancing the openness and frequency with which PSCs were talked about. Practical guidelines for future sport psychology interventions with youth athletes and their coaches are provided.

Lay Summary: A 15-month mental skills training program was conducted with youth tennis players to enhance their ability to regulate their focus and emotional control. Practical guidelines for future interventions with youth athletes and their coaches are provided.     

医学教学中的医患沟通教育

医患沟通教育是现代医学生的必修科目,良好的沟通技巧是降低医患纠纷的重要手段.培养适合现代社会需要、具有良好沟通能力的高素质医学生是医学院校的根本目标.从理论上和实际角度阐述了医学教育中加强医患沟通教育的重要性,提出了改革医患沟通教育教学方法的建议,为提高医疗服务质量、构建和谐医患关系打下了良好基础.     

Neuropsychological Assessment of Mental Capacity

The assessment of mental capacity to assist legal determinations of competency is potentially a growth area for neuropsychology, although to date neuropsychologists have published relatively little in this area. In this paper a systematic review of methods used to assess capacity is presented, including coverage of specialized tests and interviews used for this purpose. A neuropsychological model for conducting capacity assessments is proposed. This model involves comprehensive assessment of a wide range of cognitive abilities as well as assessment of specific skills and knowledge related to the type of capacity being assessed. The purpose of proposing this model is to stimulate further discussion and debate about the contribution neuropsychologists might make in this area.     

Implicit Theories of Mental Skills Abilities in Collegiate Athletes

We aimed at studying athletes' mental skills-related implicit beliefs and their susceptibility to changes. Collegiate athletes (n = 68) responded to the Theories of Mental Skills scale to determine their implicit beliefs of mental skills abilities within sport. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of two manipulation articles and complete a mental skills task. Following the manipulation, participants' beliefs were reassessed to determine changes from pre- to postmanipulation. The results revealed that implicit beliefs could be manipulated, shedding light on the malleability of implicit beliefs. The findings provide information on the nature of athletes' perceptions of mental skills.     

Evaluation of Training in Mental Health

Abstract

This paper reports on the use of cinema therapy at a psychiatry clinic for inpatients. The program, “Watching Cinema Group Therapy,” was used with over 500 inpatients over the course of one year. We found that using movies for group psychotherapy sessions encouraged the patients to talk about their beliefs, thoughts, and feelings while discussing the characters and stories. We also used the movies as a reward for patients who had developed a therapeutic alliance. It motivated the patients to be active instead of simply remaining in their rooms. As a follow-up to full-length films, it was more useful to show short scenes to patients who had been administered high doses of drugs. Movies can be an important, positive, and productive means of treatment and teaching.     

体感游戏训练对生物运动工作记忆容量的影响

传递生物体运动信息的生物运动在工作记忆中有着独立于一般视觉客体的存储空间。尽管研究发现电子游戏训练可提高工作记忆(如一般视觉客体)容量,但尚未有研究探讨游戏训练对生物运动工作记忆容量的影响。本研究采用Kinect体感游戏训练,首次对该问题进行探讨。实验中控制组被试与实验组被试均先后做两次生物运动记忆实验,但实验组在第一次实验后进行为期14天的体感游戏训练。结果发现,尽管生物运动工作记忆绩效在后测时较前测有显著上升,但是游戏训练并未显著提高实验组的记忆绩效,说明生物运动工作记忆并不受体感交互游戏训练影响。     

An Evaluation of Training in Basic Counselling Skills

A 60-hour course to train community-health professionals in the basic skills of counselling families of children with disabilities was evaluated. Three groups of diverse professionals (25 females and 1 male in all) were trained. The overall approach followed the didactic-experiential programme of Truax and Carkhuff (1967). Teaching methods included discussion, role-play, and feedback. Hypothesised changes occurred in trainees as a result of the course in contrast with a non-training waiting period. There were significant improvements in theoretical knowledge, self-perceptions of counselling ability and counselling behaviour. Evidence from a sub-group of the sample indicated that changes were maintained for up to nine months afterwards. The validity of the results is further supported by a separate study demonstrating benefits in families with whom the trainees subsequently worked. It is concluded that such courses are cost-effective in enhancing the professional skills of health-care workers.     

Life Matters: Exploring the Influence of Games and Mental Skills on Relatedness and Social Anxiety Levels in Disengaged Adolescent Students

LifeMatters is a 10-session life skills program implemented with youth that uses mental skills training and games to meet the three basic psychological needs of relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Forty disengaged students (20 experimental, 20 control) 16–17?years of age from a YMCA vocational school completed self-report measures before and after the intervention period. The school focuses on services for adolescents who find it difficult to gain an education through mainstream education due to behavioral and developmental issues. Mixed between-within subjects analyses of variance showed that there was a significant decrease in social anxiety, Wilks’s λ?=?.84, F(1, 26)?=?5.07, p?=?.03, partial?η²?= .16, and a significant increase in relatedness Wilks’s λ = .87, F(1, 26) = 4.2, p = .05, partial η² = .14, over time for the experimental group compared to the control group. Analyses of covariance showed no significant difference between the two groups in change on social anxiety levels, F(1, 25)?=?1.34, p?=?.26, partial η²?=?.05, when controlling for relatedness, and no significant difference between the two groups in change in relatedness levels, F(1, 25) = 1.34, p = .26, partial η² = .05, when controlling for social anxiety. This study provides insight into the potential effectiveness of using games and mental skills training to increase relatedness and decrease levels of social anxiety in disengaged students.

Lay Summary: LifeMatters is a life skills program combining mental skills training and physically active games. Disengaged students who took part in the program reported lower levels of social anxiety and higher levels of relatedness compared to students who did not take part.     

心理健康培训对医护人员心理健康服务的影响

为探讨医护人员心理健康培训现状以及对心理健康服务的影响,采用《医护人员心理健康教育培训问卷》与《心理健康服务行为量表》对664名医护人员进行问卷调查。结果发现,分别有91.6%、65.2%的医护人员学习过心理健康相关课程或接受过相关培训,70.3%通过科普宣传途径学习心理健康知识;心理健康教育和培训正向预测心理健康服务,能够增加8.5%解释变异量。因此,医护人员接受心理健康教育与培训的内容和途径较为单一,对医护人员加强心理健康相关教育培训,可以增加其心理健康服务。     

Delivery of Psychological Skills Training to Youngsters

The aim of the present study was to explore sport psychologists’ experiences of working with children and adolescents to understand how they have adapted both content and delivery of psychological skills training when consulting with young athletes. Interviews with 12 experienced sport psychology consultants from the United Kingdom were inductively content analyzed. Four main higher order themes relating to content and delivery emerged: consultancy skills, relating to youngsters, delivery medium, and maintaining engagement. The findings imply that psychologists experience challenges unique to youth populations but also have developed content and delivery strategies to overcome these.     

Executive Functions and Mental Attentional Capacity in Preschoolers

ABSTRACT

The structure of executive functions in preschoolers is controversial. Miyake and colleagues found that, in adults, inhibition, shifting, and updating are correlated but distinguishable processes; this finding was sometimes replicated with schoolchildren. Based on schoolchildren data, Im-Bolter, Johnson, and Pascual-Leone proposed a four-component model, with mental attentional capacity and inhibition as basic resources, and shifting and updating as executive processes that partly rely on those resources. Studies on preschoolers propose either a single factor or two factors. We tested 118 children (36 to 73 months old) using measures of mental attentional capacity (Mr. Cucumber, Direction Following Task, and Backward Word Span), inhibition (Bear/Dragon and Day-Night Stroop), shifting (Dimensional Change Card Sort) and updating (Magic House). Confirmatory factor analyzes showed that the best-fitting model comprises two highly correlated factors – one loading the mental attentional capacity measures, the other loading inhibition, shifting, and updating measures. Performance in inhibition, shifting, and updating tasks showed qualitative changes with increasing attentional capacity. In preschoolers, shifting and updating seem to emerge tied to inhibition – but only when sufficient capacity enables children to perform executive control tasks. This seems consistent with Im-Bolter’s et al.’s proposal of two basic resources.     

论医学生医患“交往技巧”能力的培养

论述了培养医学生医患“交往技巧”能力的重要性,即医学生医患“交往技巧”应该成为医学教育重要的组成部分;阐释了医学生医患“交往技巧”能力培养的五个原则,即人本主义的彰显,主体间意识的觉醒,人文知识素养的提升,思维模式的转换和“这一个”的关注.     

Relationship Skills Training in Schools: Some Fieldwork Observations

The importance of training in relationship skills is emphasised. Following a review of the British and American literature on relationship skills training in schools, a year-long relationship skills course with a group of Australian secondary-school students of low academic achievement is described. The course had mixed success. Issues and problems pertaining to the course and to doing this kind of work in schools are discussed. These issues include: theoretical assumptions, content of course, size of group, composition of group, training methods, facilitating motivation and participation, and assessment. Though its difficulty should not be underestimated, relationship skills training in schools represents an exciting challenge.     

The Effect of Mental Practice and Goal Setting as a Transfer of Training Intervention on Supervisors' Self-efficacy and Communication Skills: An Exploratory Study

Mental practice, where goal setting was either implicit or explicit, was investigated in a pulp and paper mill as a post-training intervention with regard to self-efficacy and the transfer of newly taught communication skills to the work setting. Six months after the supervisors had been trained, a 2×2 ANCOVA showed that self-efficacy was significantly higher for the supervisors who engaged in either mental practice or in mental practice combined with goal setting than for those in the goal setting only or control conditions. Self-efficacy correlated significantly with goal commitment and communication skills on the job. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the supervisor's imagery skills moderated the effect of mental practice on self-efficacy. Both the supervisors in the mental practice and in the goal setting and mental practice conditions were observed by peers to have improved their communication behaviour on the job. No change in communication behaviour was observed on the part of supervisors who set goals but did not engage in mental practice or were assigned to the control group.     

反思性学习与临床技能教学的提高

反思性学习是一种终身学习方法,具有培养自学与思考能力的优点,是解决当前临床技能教学内在矛盾的有效方式之一.反思性学习理念要求教师重新设计教学环节,帮助学生养成良好的记录习惯,认真对待错误,时刻检省自身学习态度,并通过不断重复培养良好的心理素质.