Comparison of the Effects of Formal and Informal Accountability on the Correct Performance of a Lifeguard Rescue

We compared instructional strategies used to train lifeguards. Fifteen undergraduates participated in the study during their twice weekly 90 minute lifeguard classes. A checklist of 15 steps was used to define correct performance of a lifeguard (water) rescue. The dependent variable was the percentage of steps completed correctly. Data were collected from videotapes of 32 sessions. A multi-treatment reversal design was used to assess the efficacy of typical peer instruction, a triad where students verbally supported one another, a triad where members used a checklist to prompt correct performance, and a instructor-mediated condition where for each 90% or better correct performance the participant received a bonus grade point. The significance of the rescue was not enough to produce competent performance, neither was peer support, nor peer-mediated instruction using a checklist, but all participants achieved 90% correct performance or better during the instructor-mediated condition. Our results suggest that the instructor-mediated condition is considerably more effective than informal accountability.     

Mood changes associated with blood glucose fluctuations in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and their healthcare practitioners believe that extreme blood glucose (BG) fluctuations are characterized by changes in subjective mood states and emotional behavior, as well as physical symptoms. This study examined relationships between BG levels and self-reported mood in a group of 34 IDDM adults. The method followed a within-subject, repeated-measures design employed in previous studies of physical symptoms associated with diabetic glucose. Four times each day, participants completed a mood/symptom checklist just prior to a self-measurement of BG until 40 checklists had been completed. Half the items on the checklist described physical symptoms and half described mood states. In addition, half the mood items described negative states and half described positive states. Within-subject correlations and regressions showed that moods were related to BG for the majority of participants and that, like physical symptoms, mood-BG relationships were highly idiosyncratic. Low BG levels tended to be associated with negative mood states, primarily self-reported "nervousness." Positive mood items were almost always associated with high BG. High BG levels also frequently correlated with negative mood states, although the negative mood items that tended to relate to high glucose (anger, sadness) differed from those that tended to relate to low BG. The implications of these findings for self-treatment and glucose perception in the IDDM individual are discussed.     

TESTICULAR SELF-EXAMINATION: VALIDATION OF A TRAINING STRATEGY FOR EARLY CANCER DETECTION

Testicular self-examination (TSE) can lead to early diagnosis and treatment of testicular cancer, the third leading cause of death in young men. We evaluated the effectiveness of a brief and specific checklist for teaching TSE skills. Ten men were videotaped while performing testicular self-examinations before and after training. The TSE training resulted in large and significant increases in the number of TSE steps completed and duration of the TSE. Two urological validation measures supported the improvements observed in the mens' self-examinations. Subjects reported continued performance of TSE during a follow-up telephone interview. This pilot study indicates that a brief and specific checklist is an effective strategy for teaching early cancer detection skills.     

Blood glucose symptom beliefs of diabetic patients: accuracy and implications

Both diabetic patients and health care practitioners often assume that the subjective symptoms of extreme low and high blood glucose (BG) levels are easily recognized. This study tested the accuracy of BG symptom beliefs in a group of 26 insulin-dependent diabetic patients. A within-subject, repeated measures design was used to identify symptoms related to low and high glucose levels for individual subjects. On three occasions over a 1-year period, subjects completed symptom checklists just prior to 40 consecutive self-measurements of BG (an average of four times per day for 10 days). At the end of the year, subjects reported which symptoms they believed were related to their own low and high glucose levels. After determining whether each checklist item was empirically related to glucose levels and believed to relate to glucose levels, symptom beliefs were categorized as hits, false alarms, misses, or correct rejections. Across subjects, the frequency of accurate beliefs (hits and correct rejections) was higher than the frequency of inaccurate beliefs (false alarms and misses). Symptom belief accuracy differed greatly for individual subjects, however, and every subject had at least one inaccurate belief. False alarm beliefs were the more common type of error. Female subjects' symptom beliefs yielded more hits, as well as more false alarms. Males missed more symptoms, especially low BG symptoms, than females. Symptom belief accuracy was greater if symptom-glucose relationships remained stable across time.     

The effects of special education labels on teachers' behavioral observations,checklist scores,and grading of academic work

This study addressed the question: Do special education labels bias teachers' evaluations of children? Thirty primary level teachers were given different labels for the same child: learning disabled, educable mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, normal, or no label. Teachers made behavioral observations from the same video-tape, completed a checklist, and graded the same academic work purportedly completed by the target child. Teachers' behavioral observations and grading of the academic work were not influenced by the special education labels, but the checklist scores were. Implications for the philosophical debate about the effects of labeling and for methods of classroom data collection by teachers are discussed.     

THE EFFECT OF FEEDBACK ON THE ACCURACY OF CHECKLIST COMPLETION DURING INSTRUMENT FLIGHT TRAINING

This study examined whether pilots completed airplane checklists more accurately when they receive postflight graphic and verbal feedback. Participants were 8 college students who are pilots with an instrument rating. The task consisted of flying a designated flight pattern using a personal computer aviation training device (PCATD). The dependent variables were the number of checklist items completed correctly. A multiple baseline design across pairs of participants with withdrawal of treatment was employed in this study. During baseline, participants were given postflight technical feedback. During intervention, participants were given postflight graphic feedback on checklist use and praise for improvements along with technical feedback. The intervention produced near perfect checklist performance, which was maintained following a return to the baseline conditions.     

A feedback intervention to increase digital and paper checklist performance in technically advanced aircraft simulation

This study examined whether pilots operating a flight simulator completed digital or paper flight checklists more accurately after receiving postflight graphic and verbal feedback. The dependent variable was the number of checklist items completed correctly per flight. Following treatment, checklist completion with paper and digital checklists increased from 38% and 39%, respectively, to nearly 100% and remained close to 100% after feedback and praise for improvement were withdrawn. Performance was maintained at or near 100% during follow-up probes.     

Attitude, anxiety, and social readjustment toward learning disabilities by student teachers

84 student teachers from undergraduate classes at a western university in Kansas completed a 9-question checklist of learning disabilities before interacting with a behavioral disordered/learning disabilities teacher, a paraprofessional, and a high school learning-disabled student. After the dialog, the student teachers completed a Social Readjustment Rating Scale, Breskin Rigidity Test, the Self-evaluation Questionnaire: State and Trait Anxiety, and the same 9-question checklist with one additional question ("Now that you have seen a learning-disabled student has it affected your opinion of learning disabilities?"). The dialog affected 63% of the students' opinions while 31% stated the presentation did not affect their opinion (6% were missing or not completed). Persons who experienced more life-changes and problems tended to rate or view learning disabilities more negatively. The more trait anxiety experienced by the students, the lower they rated learning disabilities after the presentation.     

Bilingual computerized speech-recognition screening for clinical depression: Evaluating a cellular telephone prototype

This exploratory field study evaluated a bilingual computerized speech-recognition cellular telephone prototype of the Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression scale (CES-D). Thirty Spanish and 22 English speakers completed both computer-telephone and face-to-face CES-D methods and an oral depression checklist in counterbalanced order. Both language groups reported high positive ratings for the computer-telephone method, with the English sample preferring the computer-telephone over the face-to-face method. In both samples, the computer-telephone method yielded high internal consistency estimates, strong alternate form reliabilities, and similar high correlations to the depression checklist. Both groups reported significantly elevated scores with the computer-telephone method, but total score variances for both methods did not differ. Computer-telephone limitations included occasional misrecognitions and template training constraints.     

Problems in using an adjective checklist to measure fatigue

73 fatigued and 45 unfatigued members of the British Army completed a 16-item adjective checklist, derived from the Nowlis Mood Adjective Checklist. The items had been selected to provide a subjective measure of fatigue. Although the scores could differentiate between the two groups, they did not correlate with an objective measure of fatigue. Significant relationships were found between EPQ-scores and the checklist scores, suggesting that extraverts denied feeling fatigued while neurotics exaggerated their fatigue. Susceptibility to effects of social desirability, as measured by the lie-scale, was also found to decrease self-rated fatigue.     

Accuracy in discriminating blood glucose levels in a sample of children with type 1 diabetes

The present study explores accuracy in estimating blood glucose levels (BGL) in children with type 1 diabetes and analyzes the kinds of symptoms and cues which they use to estimate their BGL. Forty two children with type 1 diabetes completed a SI/IC-3 scale consisting of 28 items (22 symptoms and 6 feelings), indicating those which they perceived at the time and their intensity. They estimated their BGL and gave reasons for their estimation, before having a blood glucose level analysis performed. The results indicated great variability in the accuracy of estimating BGL. They showed failures in the correct discrimination of symptoms of hypoglycemia as well as the presence of false beliefs regarding indicative symptoms of hyperglycemia, and the absence of symptoms as an indicator for euglycemia, beliefs which provoke different and frequent errors in the estimation of BGL. Correct use of external signs is shown to be related to correct estimations of normal BGL, as well as hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. We discuss the implications these results could have on designing psychological intervention procedures for diabetics in the form of training programs to discriminate BGL accurately, taking into account these findings and previous studies completed in the same field.     

Stress and blood glucose in type II diabetes mellitus

Six adults with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus participated in a laboratory procedure to determine the effects of an acute Stressor, mental arithmetic, on blood glucose, cardiovascular, and subjective indices of stress. They then completed 12 days home monitoring of stressful events, subjective stress, and blood glucose. Diet and activity were controlled to evaluate the direct effects of stress on blood glucose in the natural environment. Laboratory results showed significant increases in blood glucose, cardiovascular (HR and SBP), and subjective stress ratings during the mental arithmetic task when compared to a resting condition. Home monitoring data were consistent with the laboratory findings; blood glucose range tended to be greater on high vs low stress days, especially when the difference between high and low stress was greatest. These findings suggest that the laboratory stress induction procedure was externally valid and that in the natural environment, stress has a hyperglycemic effect on blood glucose.     

Enhancing Adherence to a Problem-Solving Model for Middle-School Pre-Referral Teams

Abstract

Performance feedback and checklists were used to improve the degree to which middle-school teams adhered to elements of systematic problem solving as described in the Instructional Consultation literature (Bartels & Mortenson, 2002; Rosenfield, 1987). Direct observations of problem-solving meetings were conducted to determine levels of adherence to a problem-solving methodology. Performance feedback was provided to each participating school psychologist after a period of no feedback and was followed by the provision of a checklist of problem-solving steps to all team members. Visual analysis of the data indicated variable improvements in systematic problem solving following presentation of feedback and checklists. Feedback and prompts, while necessary, may not be sufficient to ensure adequate adherence to problem solving.     

Concurrent and Longitudinal Links Between Children’s Externalizing Behavior in School and Observed Anger Regulation in the Mother–Child Dyad

Two studies examined relations between children’s anger regulation and externalizing behavior utilizing community samples. The first study included 58 children from preschool through second grade and examined concurrent associations between regulation and externalizing behavior. The second study included 40 preschool and kindergarten children and examined regulation and externalizing behavior 2 years later. In both studies, anger reactivity and regulation strategies were assessed during home visits using the same observational task. In study 1, teachers completed a problem behavior checklist shortly after the home visit. In study 2, teachers completed a problem behavior checklist 2 years later. Results indicate that the dysregulation of anger is associated with externalizing problems concurrently and two years later. Findings also suggest that attention refocusing may be a successful strategy for reducing anger and externalizing problems among highly reactive children.     

Diagnostic importance of combined parent and teacher ratings on the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist

The Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (RBPC) was completed by parents and teachers for 105 child psychiatry outpatient boys aged 6 to 12 years. In addition, DSM-III diagnoses were determined independent of checklist results, and the children were divided into major diagnostic groups of externalizing, internalizing, and mixed disorders. Combined parent and teacher ratings proved more effective than separate ratings in distinguishing the externalizing and mixed groups from the internalizing group on the RBPC externalizing factors. The overall classification of individual boys with discriminant function analysis increased from 72% to 83% when the ratings of both parents, rather than one parent, were combined with teacher ratings. Enhancing diagnostic accuracy of type of psychiatric disorder by using combined parent and teacher behavior checklist ratings is discussed.     

Child dissociation and the family context

Forty boys and their parents completed measures of dissociation, state anxiety, and perceptions of parental behaviors. Mothers completed a behavior problems checklist about their sons. The results indicated a correspondence between fathers' and sons' dissociation scores. In addition, links were found between parental dissociation, parental inconsistency and rejection, and child dissociation. The findings are discussed in the context of several recently proposed models of the etiology of child dissociative disorders.     

Observing home-visiting quality at scale with the home visit rating scales and a supervisor checklist in Peru

As home-visiting programs expand, there is a need to develop cost-effective tools to monitor their quality at scale. We compare the Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS), an instrument to measure home-visit process quality widely used in the United States, to a checklist designed for the Peruvian national home-visiting program, Cuna Mas. Both instruments were administered to a sample of 554 home visits and an equal number of mother–child dyads by their 176 home visitors. While the HOVRS was scored on video recordings of the visits by trained coders, the checklist was scored live by Cuna Mas supervisors. We assessed the validity of both measures in their first application in rural Peru, compared their performance, and selected a subset of items in the checklist to propose a simplified, shorter, and more cost-efficient instrument. To this end, we reorganized checklist items into constructs that best mapped those covered by the HOVRS and selected the highest performing according to predefined criteria. We found that both the HOVRS and the checklist had high reliability and acceptable levels of validity. We argue that the simplified checklist could prove useful for quality monitoring of service delivery of at-scale home-visiting programs and as a tool to support in-service training.     

An Evaluation of the Concurrent Validity of the Porteous Checklist Using a Structured Interview Schedule

The concurrent validity of the Porteous Problem Checklist was examined by comparing the responses adolescents made to checklist items with their responses to similar or identical questions posed in an individual interview setting. The checklist was administered to 135 adolescents in three secondary schools. The pupils were then interviewed, using a structured interview schedule which focused on specific areas of concern to adolescents. The results supported the validity of the checklist as a means of quantifying and describing adolescent problems, and as a useful instrument in adolescent counselling and assessment.     

The relationship of diabetes knowledge to regimen compliance and metabolic control during pregnancy

Abstract

The relationship of diabetes knowledge to regimen compliance and metabolic control was examined in a sample of pregnant women with preexisting insulin-dependent and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (N = 27) and women who developed gestational diabetes during pregnancy (N = 45). Subjects completed self-report measures of diabetes knowledge and compliance with their diabetic regimen and blood glucose levels were monitored. Knowledge was positively, although modestly, related to dietary compliance, compliance with insulin administration and insulin reaction management recommendations, as well as fasting blood glucose levels. Findings suggest that among pregnant women, efforts to increase knowledge of diabetes specific to pregnancy may result in some improvement in selected aspects of the diabetic regimen.