A systematic program to enhance clinician group skills in an inpatient psychiatric hospital

This article describes the collaborative effort of a team of discipline directors, administrators, and academicians to create a systematic program to enhance the group competencies of a large clinical staff working at a state hospital. The effects of the program were tested by a quasi-experimental field study. Quantitative measures of group process provided limited support for program effectiveness. Stronger support came from qualitative inquiry. The development and effectiveness of the program is examined within a larger context of group programs housed in large health care organizations.     

Influence of angle of view on judges' evaluations of inverted cross in men's rings

The present study focuses on two factors that may influence the accuracy and precision of a judge's evaluation of the angular deviation error in "inverted cross" (angle of the arms away from the horizontal axis). 16 Greek judges of competitive gymnastics participated in an evaluation of the magnitude of the error in the skill. Photographs of the performance of 8 gymnasts were shown to the judges in triplicates in random order from three angles of observation (0 degrees, 45 degrees, and 90 degrees) on a computer screen. The precision in the judges' judgments was best at the 45 degrees angle of observation and at angular deviations of 16 degrees to 30 degrees. Accuracy was influenced both by the judge's angle of observation and the gymnast's angular deviation, as well as by the interaction. Overall, judges may need to improve their ability to evaluate performance through training. Training may incorporate a variety of exercises in judging the inverted cross through augmented feedback of knowledge of results.     

Competitive state anxiety and performance in young female rhythmic gymnasts

The study was designed to examine the competitive state anxiety and self-confidence of rhythmic gymnasts participating in the Greek national competition. 86 participants, ages 11 and 12 years, completed the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2, 1 hr. before competition. The athletes, classified by performance (high and low performance) and participation in the finals (finalists and nonfinalists), responded to the three subscales: Cognitive Anxiety, Somatic Anxiety, and Self-confidence. Analyses indicated differences in Self-confidence between high versus low performance groups and finalists versus nonfinalists. No significant differences were found on Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety. In a regression analysis, Self-confidence was the only significant predictor of performance for this sample. Implications refer to the development of strategies to enhance self-confidence in order to improve the gymnast's performance during competition.     

A PHYSIOGNOLINGUISTIC APPROACH TO READING ASSESSMENT: AN ALTERNATE FORM OF MISCUE ANALYSIS

This article is a good natured parody of an area of controversy, informal classroom reading assessment, which has been receiving a great deal of journal coverage in recent years. Any similarity between this article and actual research being conducted is completely gratuitous.