Why don't health professionals check patient understanding? A questionnaire-based study

Checking patient understanding, by asking questions about information presented in a medical consultation, is a core communication skill but its use is not frequently assessed. The newborn hearing screening commenced in England with a pilot of its implementation in January 2002. Because it is a new screening test, it provided an opportunity for studying the effective communication of novel information. A randomized controlled trial of training newborn hearing screeners to present information about the screening test and to ask questions to check understanding was commenced but had to be prematurely ended as the majority of the screeners did not ask the questions. The aim of this study was to understand why the screeners did not ask questions to check understanding of the information provided. Questionnaires were sent to screeners who participated in the study to elicit their responses to the use of the questions to check understanding. A response rate of 87% (26/30) was achieved. Screeners who reported not asking the questions were more likely to express a lack of confidence in their ability to ask questions, and to perceive asking questions as an ineffective way of increasing patient understanding. The study suggests that the ability and willingness of healthcare professionals to use simple communication skills may have been overestimated and training needs to target skills as well as beliefs about the effectiveness of using them.     

FOK判断与可接近信息之间的关系

通过三个实验,用语义联想集大小不同的中文单字词研究了靶项目联想集的大小与FOK判断等级和准确性的关系。实验一通过两种不同联想集大小的靶子,比较外显的、提取出的信息和内隐的、语义网络中固有的被激活信息量对FOK判断等级和FOK判断准确性是否有不同的影响。实验二和实验三通过不同的靶子呈现时间和学习遍数,比较不同的识记强度对不同大小联想集的靶子的FOK判断等级和FOK判断准确性的影响。实验结果表明：FOK判断等级随外显的、提取出的信息总量的增多而增高,随内隐的、语义网络中固有的被激活信息量的增多而降低。FOK判断准确性随靶子本身的激活强度的增强而增高,随内隐的、语义网络中固有的被激活信息的激活强度的增强而降低,FOK判断准确性取决于这两种激活强度的综合作用。     

走神的理论假设、影响因素及其神经机制

围绕“为什么会走神”这一问题, 文章首先介绍了走神的两个理论假设：解耦合假设和执行控制失败假设。接着论述了影响走神的各种因素, 并探讨了走神的神经机制。最后指出未来研究应着眼于走神的潜在功能来发展理论假设; 整合影响走神的各种因素到一个模型中, 从而更好地发现各因素对走神的综合影响; 应用同步脑电和功能磁共振成像技术以更精确地探索走神的神经机制。此外, 对特殊群体的走神研究以及走神的跨文化研究也是很有必要的。     

情绪调节自我效能感与主观幸福感：情绪调节方式的中介作用

本研究的目的在于探讨青少年情绪调节自我效能感与主观幸福感之间的关系及情绪调节方式在其中的中介作用。采用《情绪调节自我效能感量表》、《情绪调节方式量表》和《主观幸福感量表》对1128名中学生进行测查,结果表明：(1) 情绪调节自我效能感与情绪调节方式、生活满意度、积极情感、消极情感关系紧密;(2) 情绪调节自我效能感和情绪调节方式可显著预测主观幸福感;(3) 减弱调节在情绪调节自我效能感与主观幸福感间起部分中介作用。     

疏离与关怀:传染病患者的社会交往伦理探析

现代社会围绕传染病涉及医学、伦理、社会文化等多因素相互影响和作用,整个社会呈现出不同的道德认识、评价、情感选择方式,构成了传染病患者与医生、与社会其他人之间的复杂道德关系和张力互动。关注传染病患者伴随生活世界转换而与社会的疏离及自我放逐,在社会人道关怀和个体社会责任强化中,完善社会控制,重建公共交往伦理,对于保持社会和谐和公正意义重大。     

An Investigation of Sound-Symbolism in the Context of Tactile Feeling

Sound symbolism suggests a non-arbitrary relationship between speech sounds and the concepts to which those sounds refer (Hinton, Nichols, &; Ohala, 2006 Hinton, L., Nichols, J., &; Ohala, J. J. (2006). Sound symbolism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]). Supporting evidence comes primarily from studies investigating how speech sounds relate to semantically compatible visual concepts. The present study therefore attempted to examine sound symbolism in the context of tactile perception. Contrary to the propositions of sound symbolism, participants in Experiment 1 did not consistently assign names with plosive consonant to objects with curved frames. Experiment 2, however, found that names with fricative consonants were more likely to be applied to materials with rough surfaces. The results suggested the existence of a direct relationship between speech sounds and their referent concepts that could be crucial in revealing the phenomenon of sound symbolism. A future study was also proposed to study the contributions of mouth shape and airflow to associations between speech sounds and tactile feelings. (161 words)     

Aroused at Home: Basic Autonomic Regulation during Orthostatic and Physical Activation is Altered in Children with Social Anxiety Disorder

Previous research has documented altered autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity to laboratory-based social stress tasks in children with social anxiety disorder (SAD). It is unclear, however, whether these alterations are caused by the unfamiliar and possibly threatening lab environment or whether they generalize to other, more representative contexts. Sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic functioning was assessed in the home (minimizing environmental threat) during a supine baseline phase and two physical activation phases (orthostatic stress, stair stepping) in children (9–13 years) with SAD (n?=?27) and healthy control children (n?=?27). Relative to controls, children with SAD showed tonic autonomic hyperarousal as indicated by higher heart rate and electrodermal activity during the supine baseline phase. Further, there was evidence for stronger cardiac and vascular sympathetic reactivity (T-wave amplitude, pulse wave transit time) to moderate physical activation in children with SAD. Higher autonomic arousal during rest was related to measures of trait social anxiety and general psychopathology. Groups did not differ on parasympathetic parameters. Our results extend previous laboratory findings and provide the first evidence for alterations in children with SAD during basal autonomic regulation and in the absence of explicit social evaluative threat. They may further help to clarify conflicting study results from previous laboratory studies. The findings underline the importance of psychophysiological assessment using different environments and tasks to elucidate the physiological bases of SAD.     

执行功能对言语顿悟问题解决的影响:基于行为与ERPs的研究

执行功能是否影响顿悟问题解决,顿悟问题解决中的表征重组阶段是否涉及执行功能仍存在争议。基于此,通过2个研究探讨执行功能对顿悟问题解决的影响。研究1初步探讨执行功能与个体顿悟能力之间的关系,结果发现个体的执行功能与其顿悟问题解决成绩之间存在显著正相关,刷新功能可以显著预测顿悟成绩;研究2使用汉字字谜任务,通过行为与ERPs技术探讨执行功能对言语顿悟问题解决的影响,其中研究2a,行为实验发现高工作记忆刷新能力的个体反应时显著小于低工作记忆刷新能力的个体,说明执行功能中工作记忆刷新亚成分影响顿悟问题解决。研究2b脑电结果发现,"顿悟"条件较之"无顿悟"条件诱发了一个更强的早期成分P2和N2,以及中晚期P3。P2可能主要反映人脑对思维僵局的早期觉察,受到执行功能高低的影响。280~500 ms内,中晚期P3则主要体现以新旧思路交替为特征的僵局打破过程,不受执行功能高低的影响,结果表明汉字字谜顿悟问题的表征重组阶段并未受到执行功能的影响,更倾向认为该阶段为一个突进的过程。综合2个研究说明,执行功能影响顿悟问题解决,其主要作用于顿悟问题解决过程的问题空间搜索阶段,而表征重组阶段是一个突进式的过程。     

Yin yoga and mindfulness: a five week randomized controlled study evaluating the effects of the YOMI program on stress and worry

Background and objectives: The YOMI program is a psychoeducational training and physical practice-based program that bridges knowledge from evidence-based psychotherapy with the practice of mindfulness and yin yoga. It consists of 10 content-specific sessions and does not include home assignments. The primary purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the effects of the five-week YOMI program on perceived stress, worry and mindfulness in a non-clinical sample.

Design and method: In this randomized controlled trial participants were assigned to two groups. Group 1 participated in the five-week intervention twice a week while Group 2 was assigned to a waiting-list condition and participated in the intervention after Group 1. All measures were administered through self-report questionnaires, conducted via a web-based program.

Results and conclusions: The results of the study indicated significant effects of the YOMI program on decreasing stress and worry, and increasing mindfulness. Notably these changes were still present at five-week follow up. Consistent with the hypotheses, results suggested that the YOMI program established a group setting where individuals learned to use tools and methods to facilitate better self-directed practice. The study shows moderate to large effect sizes.