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The COVID-19 pandemic has had massive impacts across the globe. Children with developmental delays are an increasingly vulnerable population, highlighting the importance of ensuring they have access to high-quality virtual services during this time. The Early Discovery program currently provides therapeutic interventions for children with mild developmental delays. We sought to compare the outcomes of 2 cohorts within the Early Discovery program using different delivery approaches (n = 238 families): children who received services in person before the pandemic (n = 126) and children who received services via telehealth in the acute phase of the pandemic (n = 112). Both groups of children showed significant improvements in language skills posttreatment, and, with regard to auditory comprehension, both groups showed similar rates of improvement. However, children receiving in-person services before the pandemic showed greater improvements in expressive communication skills than children receiving telehealth services during the pandemic. Results indicate that the Early Discovery program was able to make adjustments during the pandemic that assisted families in maintaining progress in improving their child's language skills.
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique opportunity to adapt in-person communication skills training to a virtual format. Objective: Examine use of serious illness communication skills by learners after participating in an intensive virtual communication skills training. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting/Subjects: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Clinical Fellows. Measurements: Family Meeting Communication Assessment Tool (FAMCAT) assessed fundamental and advanced communication skills. Results: As compared to a historical benchmark obtained after a prior in-person course, the virtual course showed equivalent or better use of communication skills across fundamental skills and advanced skills. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that a virtual communication skills training is associated with the use of serious illness communication skills in the clinical setting by learners.
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Introduction: The low level of social skills during the social distancing period triggers high levels of aggression in children. Teachers and parents find teaching difficult because of their limited knowledge and the pandemic situation. Therefore, teachers and parents must be trained to develop children's social skills proportionally. Training children's social skills should be done face-to-face because it is related to the ability to modify behaviour. Of course, this cannot be done, so it is necessary to design training designs in such a way as to deliver digital-based learning, namely virtual learning. This research aims to develop a social skills training design for preschools during the social distancing pandemic of COVID-19. Methods: The research method using Research and Development (R&D) refers to the ADDIE research development model: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation, which aims to produce an effective training design to develop early childhood social skills for teachers and parents through digital-based learning, namely virtual learning. Results: The design has been tested and validated by 3 experts;experts in the field of character education, linguists, and experts in educational technology both quantitatively and qualitatively and has met the acceptability criteria. Therefore, design training has proved effective in improving the competence of teachers and parents in developing the social skills of children ages early during social distancing. These results can be seen from the activities of the trainers and trainees on the implementation of the training in the very good category, said to be practically based on the positive responses of the trainees (teachers and parents) in the very good category, can increase the knowledge and competence of participants based on the results of the learning evaluation. Conclusion: The design training has proved effective in improving the competence of teachers and parents in developing the social skills of children ages early during social distancing. © 2023, Sanglah General Hospital. All rights reserved.
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AIM: This study evaluated an advanced care planning (ACP) training program incorporating online skills in shared decision making (SDM). METHOD: The New World Kirkpatrick Model was employed to assess the efficacy of the training program at four levels: reaction, learning, behavior, and results. Reaction measured the participants' satisfaction and difficulty with the training program alongside the status of support received from workplaces engaging in ACP. Learning evaluated the changes in SDM skills. Behavior assessed the changes in the relationship between patients and healthcare professionals when the latter were involved in the SDM process. Results evaluated whether the participants were willing to participate in ACP educational programs as a facilitator and whether their motivation for continuous learning changed through throughout the training program. The relationships among patients, healthcare providers, and third-party roles were analyzed in SDM role-playing via structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS: Between September 2020 and June 2022, 145 multidisciplinary participants completed the entirety of the training program. The most common responses to the training were "satisfied", "slightly difficult", and "I received some support from my workplace". The SDM skills significantly improved from the first to the third workshop, evaluated using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. In the first workshop, SDM was primarily performed by healthcare providers; however, in the third workshop, patient-centered SDM was adopted. Of the participants who completed the program, 63% intended to participate in future ACP educational programs as ACP education facilitators. CONCLUSION: This study ascertained the validity of this training.
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This publication is devoted to the peculiarities of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic from the point of view of students of Ukrainian educational institutions. The study involved 110 participants from two educational institutions in Ukraine. In the course of the research, it turned out that the students highlighted the partial advantages of distance learning (free time for personal development and gaining new experience), as well as the disadvantages - there are no people around who admire you. They also emphasize the features of psychological comfort outside the university classrooms, but only in front of a computer monitor. © 2023 The Author(s)
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Without intercultural communication skills, an unbalanced power-dynamic will continue to affect the success of individuals, organizations, and societies in the global market. The COVID-19 crisis has revealed an urgent demand for virtual learning opportunities for working professionals. This instrumental qualitative case study documented the experiences of a group of international working professionals participating in a virtual international business English training. Drawing on intercultural communicative competence and experiential e-learning models, the study documented innovative practices designing and implementing the training, the experiences of the working professionals who participated in the training, and how the training enhanced the working professionals' intercultural communication skills. Data collected included online questionnaires, artifacts, videoconference interviews, and the research journal. Data analysis for the study followed Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis process. As a result, dissertation findings identified innovative practices for designing and implementing a virtual international business English training program for working professionals centering attention on intercultural communication. The study bridged the gap between existing knowledge and instructional practices in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Incorporating experiential learning was a novel insight into improving the theoretical models utilized in the study. Learner confidence as an important factor in improving language and intercultural communication was another notable finding. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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The International Classification of Diseases-11 th Revision (ICD-11) includes the diagnosis of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Clinical practice guidelines support the use of phased care for individuals with CPTSD. This case study illustrates the use of synchronous telehealth to deliver phased treatment to a rural woman veteran with CPTSD. Mrs. A experienced sexual, physical, and emotional abuse throughout her life, perpetrated by family members, intimate partners, and military authority figures. She sought treatment for posttraumatic nightmares and body image issues;she also had pain related to fibromyalgia and chronic migraine headaches. Mrs. A participated in 19 sessions of Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) Narrative therapy via synchronous telehealth. Trauma and eating disorder symptoms were assessed before and after treatment and the patient demonstrated clinically significant improvement on measures of these disorders. Patient-provider working alliance and quality of life were assessed post-treatment. Synchronous telehealth use drastically increased with the onset of COVID-19;however, little information on treating CPTSD via synchronous video teleconferencing is available. This case study illustrates an evidence-based, phased therapy for CPTSD while highlighting the feasibility and value of in-home delivery of psychotherapy for CPTSD via synchronous telehealth.Copyright © The Author(s) 2023.
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Background. Intensive care settings have been shown to present a demanding work setting with health related and work-related consequences for intensive care medical staff. The health-related consequences observed are high levels of burnout, traumatic stress, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and fatigue. Specific stressors mentioned by staff is high workload, moral distress, end-of-life issues, and interpersonal issues/conflicts with colleagues, patients, and relatives. During the covid-19 pandemic, the need for healthcare organizations to attend to the occupational psychological health of staff has been evidently clear. Although, the prevalence of stress in intensive care has been previously observed and reported on, at least since the 70s.Purpose and aims. Overall purpose of thesis was threefold;to improve knowledge on occupational psychological health among healthcare staff, particularly in intensive care settings, to develop a behavioural intervention to improve communication skills and management of distress to enhance occupational health, and to evaluate the implementation of psychological support to ICU staff. The thesis included four studies and the specific aim of study I was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a Swedish version of the Work-related Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (WAAQ), a self-report questionnaire measuring psychological flexibility at work. Study II evaluated the relationship between psychological flexibility (measured by WAAQ) and other aspects of occupational psychological health, i.e., perceived stress, general mental health, and work engagement, in a sample of intensive care medical staff. Study III evaluated the effects of a Behavioral Skills Training (BST) program on dependent measures of occupational psychological health in a sample of intensive care medical staff. Finally, study IV evaluated the implementation and feasibility of a psychological support model rapidly developed and implemented for ICU staff during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic.Methods. Four studies were included in the thesis. Study I used a cross-sectional design to evaluate reliability and validity of a measure of psychological flexibility, WAAQ, in a sample of healthcare professionals. In a subsample of participants, a longitudinal design was used to evaluate test-retest reliability. Measures used in the study were three self-report questionnaires, WAAQ, PSS-10 (Perceived Stress Scale-10), and UWES (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale) and the sample consisted of 184 healthcare professionals. Study II evaluated the relationship between psychological flexibility (WAAQ), work engagement(UWES), perceived stress (PSS-10), and general mental health (GHQ-12) in a cross-sectional design in a sample of intensive care medical staff. A longitudinal design was used in a subsample (n=46) to further evaluate the relationship between WAAQ and UWES. Study III evaluated the effects of the BST program in a pre-post uncontrolled trial with three assessment points (pre, mid, and post). Study IV used a cross-sectional and qualitative design to evaluate implementation of the support model.Results. In study I, WAAQ showed good internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. Furthermore, it showed a significant negative relationship with perceived stress and significant positive relationship with work engagement. In study II, a hierarchical regression analysis showed WAAQ to explain variance in UWES when controlling forPSS-10 and GHQ-12. Additionally, WAAQ had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between perceived stress (PSS-10) and work engagement (UWES), and the relationship between general mental health (GHQ-12) and work engagement (UWES). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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There are limitations and difficulties in the management of traditional in-person standardized patient (SP) practice. The latest developments in online communication tools and the COVID-19 pandemic have promoted the needs for online clinical skills training objectively. However, existing commercial online platforms may not meet the requests for SP-based medical simulation. This paper described the methodology applied to develop a smartphone-based online platform for the management of clinical skills training and assessment with remote SPs, and aimed to determine whether this new platform is acceptable or useful through a pilot run in September 2020. The post-run survey including questionnaire inspired by technological acceptance model and determinants of the perceived ease of use was used to assess the acceptability and usefulness of the platform. Twenty four-year students of clinical medicine participated in the pilot study with twenty SPs and ten faculties. Data from the post-run survey showed that there was a general recognition that the platform is easy to use among all the users. Two questions regarding the usefulness of the platform showed significant differences between the SPs/faculties and the students. More SPs found the platform useful as a training method than the students did. The faculties showed more attempts than the students to use this platform for clinical skills training in the future. This smartphone-based online platform was widely accepted among the tested students, SPs and faculties, which meets the requests and challenges of the new era. It provides an effective approach for clinical skills training and assessment with remote SPs.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Students, Medical , Humans , Pilot Projects , Communication , Clinical Competence , Pandemics , Smartphone , Patient SimulationABSTRACT
Background. Intensive care settings have been shown to present a demanding work setting with health related and work-related consequences for intensive care medical staff. The health-related consequences observed are high levels of burnout, traumatic stress, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and fatigue. Specific stressors mentioned by staff is high workload, moral distress, end-of-life issues, and interpersonal issues/conflicts with colleagues, patients, and relatives. During the covid-19 pandemic, the need for healthcare organizations to attend to the occupational psychological health of staff has been evidently clear. Although, the prevalence of stress in intensive care has been previously observed and reported on, at least since the 70s.Purpose and aims. Overall purpose of thesis was threefold;to improve knowledge on occupational psychological health among healthcare staff, particularly in intensive care settings, to develop a behavioural intervention to improve communication skills and management of distress to enhance occupational health, and to evaluate the implementation of psychological support to ICU staff. The thesis included four studies and the specific aim of study I was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a Swedish version of the Work-related Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (WAAQ), a self-report questionnaire measuring psychological flexibility at work. Study II evaluated the relationship between psychological flexibility (measured by WAAQ) and other aspects of occupational psychological health, i.e., perceived stress, general mental health, and work engagement, in a sample of intensive care medical staff. Study III evaluated the effects of a Behavioral Skills Training (BST) program on dependent measures of occupational psychological health in a sample of intensive care medical staff. Finally, study IV evaluated the implementation and feasibility of a psychological support model rapidly developed and implemented for ICU staff during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic.Methods. Four studies were included in the thesis. Study I used a cross-sectional design to evaluate reliability and validity of a measure of psychological flexibility, WAAQ, in a sample of healthcare professionals. In a subsample of participants, a longitudinal design was used to evaluate test-retest reliability. Measures used in the study were three self-report questionnaires, WAAQ, PSS-10 (Perceived Stress Scale-10), and UWES (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale) and the sample consisted of 184 healthcare professionals. Study II evaluated the relationship between psychological flexibility (WAAQ), work engagement(UWES), perceived stress (PSS-10), and general mental health (GHQ-12) in a cross-sectional design in a sample of intensive care medical staff. A longitudinal design was used in a subsample (n=46) to further evaluate the relationship between WAAQ and UWES. Study III evaluated the effects of the BST program in a pre-post uncontrolled trial with three assessment points (pre, mid, and post). Study IV used a cross-sectional and qualitative design to evaluate implementation of the support model.Results. In study I, WAAQ showed good internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. Furthermore, it showed a significant negative relationship with perceived stress and significant positive relationship with work engagement. In study II, a hierarchical regression analysis showed WAAQ to explain variance in UWES when controlling forPSS-10 and GHQ-12. Additionally, WAAQ had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between perceived stress (PSS-10) and work engagement (UWES), and the relationship between general mental health (GHQ-12) and work engagement (UWES). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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In the Internet era, there is a mismatch between the skill demands of the IT industry in China and the employment prospects of computer science graduates. The COVID-19 pandemic has particularly highlighted co-existing challenges for industry recruitment and student employment. Many education institutions see IT skills training as a way to solve this conflict. The present paper employs a mixed methods approach to explore factors regarding computer science students' employability. The study used a questionnaire informed by an indepth literature review, full scale development theory and the theory of competency-based education. Reliability analysis and factor analysis methods were used to assess component reliability and structural validity. A total of 323 valid questionnaires were collected and subjected to mean and variance analyses to explore significant differences, including in terms of gender, in student employability. The results show that: (1) employability is divided into nine factors; (2) IT skills training can improve employability; (3) the employability level of computer science students who participate in IT skills training is high; (4) there are significant gender differences in professional ethics, scientific spirit and job-seeking skills, but no significant gender differences in humanistic qualities, computer cognition and operation skills, software design and development skills, system use and innovation skills, sustainable development capacity and teamwork skills. The identification of student employability factors can help education institutions to improve their training and can be used as a standard for students' self-evaluation and selfimprovement. The paper also provides suggestions for education institutions about how to set up IT skills training programmes to enhance students' future employment prospects in the IT industry.
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As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) are engaging more with others in virtual group formats for social, educational, and professional reasons. This study extends prior research by evaluating the efficacy of common behavioral interventions, including behavioral skills training, provided via group video conferencing to teach skills that are important when interacting with others in a virtual format. Four adults with NDD were taught to use their cameras and microphones appropriately and to make encouraging statements to one another while discussing current events and social skills-based lessons via Zoom™. Two of the three skills increased and maintained for all participants even after the experimenter faded the contingencies for appropriate responding. The third skill maintained after the experimenter arranged for the response to produce natural consequences. Tests for generalization across group leads and activities yielded promising results. Findings suggest that adults with NDD benefit from group-based telehealth services to improve skills needed to interact successfully with others in a virtual format.
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Digital literacy refers to a set of competencies related to the skilled use of computers and information technology. Low digital skills can be a barrier for older adults' full participation in a digital society, and COVID-19 has increased this risk of social exclusion. Older adults' digital inclusion is a complex process that consists of the interplay of structural and individual factors. The ACCESS project unwrapped the complexity of the process and developed an innovative, multilevel model that illustrates how societal, institutional, material and pedagogical aspects shape adults' appropriation of digital literacy. A holistic model describes factors contributing to older adults' digital literacy, acknowledging sociocultural contexts, environments, learning settings and instruction practices for learning digital literacy. Instead of seeing older adults' reasons for learning digital skills purely as individual choice, this model recognizes the interpersonal, institutional and societal aspects that implicitly or explicitly influence older adults' acquisition of digital literacy. The results offer a tool for stakeholders, the research community, companies, designers and other relevant stakeholders to consider digital skills and the given support. It demands diverse communication between different stakeholders about the things that should be discussed when organizing digital support in digitalized societies.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , Aged , COVID-19/epidemiology , Literacy , Learning , Multilevel AnalysisABSTRACT
Background: Local children with developmental disabilities were deprived of learning opportunities due to recent social and health incidents, resulting in elevating challenging behaviors and familial conflicts. This study explored the acceptability and feasibility of the World Health Organization's Caregiver Skills Training Programme (WHO CST) in alternative delivery modes under new normal and post COVID-19 period. Method: CST was delivered via eLearning (EL), videoconferencing (VC), and in-person hybrid (IP) modes to 34 parent-child dyads, being randomly assigned to modes of asynchronous non-interfering EL (n = 9), synchronous with online coaching VC (n = 7), synchronous with in-person coaching IP (n = 9) and Wait-list Control WLC (n = 9). Data from two standardized scales of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and Post-session and Home Visit Feedback Form by Caregivers that included both structured and open-ended questions were collected before and after intervention. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in studying the collected data. Results: High levels of acceptability and feasibility of the training programme were supported by ratings on comprehensiveness and relevance, agreement with their personal values, duration, and usefulness. IP and VC groups yielded more positive changes than EL and WLC groups with 3, 16, 13, and -3% in General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), -13, -15, -6 and 0% in Difficulties-total, and 36.5, 35.5, 5.8 and 2.4% in Prosocial Scale at Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for EL, VC, IP, and WLC groups respectively from baseline to 12 weeks after intervention. Results from two standardized scales echoed with qualitative observations that the programme helped improve caregivers' well-being, child's communication, and behaviors across intervention groups. Conclusions: Current findings revealed that CST delivered in three alternative modes were acceptable and feasible, and yielded positive impacts toward both caregivers and children. In-person coaching, and skill-practicing sessions were effective in mitigating child's challenging behaviors while personal interaction, either face-to-face or virtual, is a significant factor in uplifting caregivers' well-being, whereas the self-learning model was appreciated by the busy caregivers. In clinical practice, needs and goals of families and the constraints of remote interventions at the settings should be balanced.
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Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government declared a state of emergency and many applied behavior analysis clinics temporarily closed. The current study described a pilot of an existing manualized caregiver behavior skills training, the Online and Applied System of Intervention Skills (OASIS), to promote telehealth caregiver training during the pandemic and facilitate the start of early intervention for families on waitlists. The OASIS telehealth curriculum trains caregivers to use applied behavior analysis with their children with autism spectrum disorder. Pre/post measures suggest that OASIS modestly improved parent knowledge, improved perceived quality of life, decreased stress, improved caregiver self-efficacy, and was viewed positively by participating families.
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BACKGROUND: As the aging population is increasing significantly, the communication skills training (CST) on transitional care (TC) is insufficient. AIMS: This study aimed to test the effectiveness of an intervention (the online TC CST [OTCCST] and TC) through the perspectives of healthcare providers (HCPs), older patients, and family members. METHODS: A total of 38 HCPs caring for older patients were randomized to the experimental (n = 18) or control groups (n = 20), and 84 pairs of patients and family members were enrolled (experimental: n = 42 vs. control: n = 42). The primary outcome was HCP communication confidence; while secondary outcomes included patient quality of life (QoL), activities of daily living (ADL), rehospitalization counts, and family caregiving burden. Data were collected from HCPs using a scale measuring confidence in communicating with patients. Patient outcomes were assessed using the McGill QoL Questionnaire-Revised and Barthel Index. Family members were assessed with the Caregiver Burden Inventory. Rehospitalization counts were tracked for 3 months post-discharge. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Experimental group HCPs showed a significant improvement in communication confidence over the control group (p = 0.0006). Furthermore, experimental group patients had significantly fewer rehospitalization counts within 3-month post-discharge (p < 0.05). However, no significant group differences were found in patient QoL and ADL nor in family caregiver burden. CONCLUSION: The OTCCST can effectively improve HCP communication confidence, and the combination of OTCCST and TC can reduce rehospitalization counts for older patients. The OTCCST allows HCPs to learn asynchronously at their convenience, ideal for continuing education, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Transitional Care , Humans , Aged , Quality of Life , Activities of Daily Living , Aftercare , Pandemics , Patient Discharge , CommunicationABSTRACT
The study examined the efficacy of the Polish adaptation of the PEERS® curriculum for adolescents on the autism spectrum. Twenty-nine adolescents (aged 11-16) were randomized into a Treatment and a Waitlist Control Group. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, the Treatment Group received part of the intervention online (in hybrid mode). Results showed large effects of PEERS® increasing the teens' social skills, knowledge about social skills, and the number of get-togethers with peers. Most of the effects were maintained over a six-month follow-up period. There was no impact of the delivery mode on the treatment effects. The study demonstrates the feasibility and efficacy of the Polish adaptation of PEERS® and encourages future research on the online/hybrid delivery of Social Skills Training.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic resulted in the curtailment of face-to-face clinical skills training in 2020. To meet Title X workforce needs, the National Clinical Training Center for Family Planning transitioned onsite intrauterine contraception training to a virtual format using online didactic material and livestreamed training and telementoring. Videos demonstrated the placement and removal of intrauterine contraceptives, and all necessary supplies were shipped directly to participants. Attendees reported a high level of skill uptake and impact on their practice. This pilot study suggests that virtual skills training is suitable for providers unable to travel to in-person events.
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Objectives: Suburbanization is associated with an individual's health. This study aimed to investigate the effect of life skills training on the hope and health of women referred to comprehensive health service centers in the suburbs of Khoy city. Study design: quasi-experimental study (Pre-test/Post-test with a control group). Methods: in this study, out of 5 comprehensive health service centers, two centers were selected as intervention and comparison groups, and from each center, 37 women were randomly selected. At first, both groups completed the Goldberg general health questionnaire and the Miller hope questionnaire, and the intervention group was taught life skills. At the end of the training, both groups were re-evaluated. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and dispersion indices were used in data analysis. Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Tests were used in inferential statistics. Results: Group training in life skills did not significantly affect hope (P.value = 0.972) and various aspects of health (P.value = 0.421). Conclusions: It seems that only interventions such as life skills training will not improve suburban women's hope and health. Perhaps improving social infrastructure and comprehensive living conditions in suburban areas will promote hope and health.