Identifying barriers to help-seeking: a qualitative analysis of students' preparedness to seek help from tutors

A qualitative study based on the first-hand accounts of students in higher education was conducted Participants were encouraged to explain, in their own terms, their own help-seeking behaviour. The focus for their explanations was 'help-seeking from academic staff'. The aim of the study was to construct a culturally sensitive account of barriers to help-seeking in a student population. The discussion focuses on how studies of this kind might complement and extend what is already known about help-seeking m the extant literature.     

Eye movements during REM sleep: the influence of personality and presleep conditions.

Male subjects scoring high (n=17) or low (n=14) on the Maudsley Neuroticism scale were randomly assigned to a positive (n=17) or negative (ego threat) (n=14) presleep condition and then slept a single night in the laboratory. The negative condition elicited significantly more rapid eye movement activity (REM density) than did the positive condition (pless than.03). There was a significant interaction for Groups X Conditions (pless than.007) indicating that low neuroticism subjects had greater REM density in the negative condition, and less REM density in the positive condition, compared to high neuroticism subjects under either condition. The low neuroticism subjects in the negative condition showed a discrepancy between greater REM density but less admission of stress on a presleep mood questionnaire compared to high neuroticism subjects. These results support the hypothesis that REM density is a correlate of stress-induced arousal that is subject to the modifying effects of individual differences.     

Concurrent second-order schedules of reinforcement

Responses on one key (the main key) of a two-key chamber produced food according to a second-order variable-interval schedule with fixed-interval schedule components. A response on a second key (the changeover key) alternated colors on the main key and provided a second independent second-order variable-interval schedule with fixed-interval components. The fixed-interval component on one variable-interval schedule was held constant at 8 sec, while the fixed interval on the other variable-interval schedule was varied from 0 to 32 sec. Under some conditions, a brief stimulus terminated each fixed interval and generated fixed-interval patterns; in other conditions, the brief stimulus was omitted. Relative response rate and relative time deviated substantially from scheduled relative reinforcement rate and, to a lesser extent, from obtained relative reinforcement rate under both brief-stimulus and no-stimulus conditions. Matching was observed with equal components on both schedules; with unequal components, increasingly greater proportions of time and responses than the matching relation would predict were spent on the variable-interval schedule containing the shorter component. Preference for the shorter fixed interval was typically more extreme under brief-stimulus than under no-stimulus schedules. The results limit the extension of the matching relation typically observed under simple concurrent variable-interval schedules to concurrent second-order variable-interval schedules.