A longitudinal study of emotional intelligence training for otolaryngology residents and faculty.

IMPORTANCE: Emotions underlie and influence physician communications and relationships with patients and colleagues. Training programs to enhance emotional attunement, or emotional intelligence (EI), for physicians and assess training effects are scarce. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether an EI training program for otolaryngology residents and faculty affects patient satisfaction. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Prospective longitudinal, cohort study of physician residents and faculty in an EI training program at the Department of Otolaryngology, University of Kansas Medical Center, with annual training from 2005 to 2011. INTERVENTIONS: Three levels of interventions included 4 years of repeated EI assessment, 7 years of highly interactive EI training with high-risk/high-stress simulations, and ongoing modeling and mentoring of EI skills by faculty. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Four levels of outcome of the EI training were assessed with the following questions: Did participants enjoy the program? Could they apply the training to their practice? Did it change their behavior? Did it affect patient satisfaction? The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) was administered to faculty and residents, and the Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey was completed by patients. RESULTS: Ninety-seven percent of participants (103 of 106) reported that they enjoyed the programs, and 98% (104 of 106) reported that they have or could have applied what they learned. Participants demonstrated improvement in mean EQ-i scores from 102.19 (baseline/pretraining) to 107.29 (posttraining and assessment 1 year later; change, 6.71; 95% CI, 3.44-9.98). This increase was sustained in successive years, and these results were supported with linear growth curve analysis. The total department mean EQ-i score in pretraining year 2005 was 104.29 ("average" range), with posttraining scores in the "high average" range (112.46 in 2006, 111.67 in 2007, and 113.15 in 2008). An increase in EQ-i scores and EI training corresponded with an increase in patient satisfaction scores. Percentile rank patient satisfaction scores before EI training ranged from 85% to 90%; after training, scores ranged from 92% to 99%. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Emotional intelligence training positively influences patient satisfaction and may enhance medical education and health care outcome.

Exercise self-efficacy and symptoms of depression after cardiac rehabilitation: predicting changes over time using a piecewise growth curve analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac rehabilitation is often recommended after experiencing a cardiac event and has been shown to significantly improve health outcomes among patients. Several psychosocial variables have been linked with cardiac rehabilitation program success, including exercise self-efficacy. However, little is known about temporal patterns in patients' exercise self-efficacy after program completion. OBJECTIVE: This study examined changes in exercise self-efficacy among 133 cardiac rehabilitation patients and whether symptoms of depression impacted the rate of change in exercise self-efficacy. METHOD: Participants completed questionnaires at the beginning and end of cardiac rehabilitation and at 6-month intervals for 2 years. RESULTS: Growth curve analyses showed that exercise self-efficacy levels were highest at the beginning of cardiac rehabilitation, significantly declined 6 months after cardiac rehabilitation, and leveled off over the next 18 months. Results also showed that baseline depressive symptoms interacted with time: Compared with participants with fewer symptoms, participants high in depressive symptoms began cardiac rehabilitation with lower levels of exercise self-efficacy and evidenced significant declines 6 months after cardiac rehabilitation. At no time were they equal to their counterparts in exercise self-efficacy, and their means were lower 2 years after cardiac rehabilitation than before cardiac rehabilitation. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings imply that patients show unrealistic optimism surrounding the ease of initiating and maintaining an exercise program and that integrating efficacy-building activities into cardiac rehabilitation, especially for patients who show signs of distress, is advisable.

Twelve tips for getting started using mixed methods in medical education research.

BACKGROUND: Mixed methods research, which is gaining popularity in medical education, provides a new and comprehensive approach for addressing teaching, learning, and evaluation issues in the field. AIM: The aim of this article is to provide medical education researchers with 12 tips, based on consideration of current literature in the health professions and in educational research, for conducting and disseminating mixed methods research. CONCLUSION: Engaging in mixed methods research requires consideration of several major components: the mixed methods paradigm, types of problems, mixed method designs, collaboration, and developing or extending theory. Mixed methods is an ideal tool for addressing a full range of problems in medical education to include development of theory and improving practice.

Fostering young people's support for participatory human rights through their developmental niches.

The last 6 decades of empirical research on civic engagement among young people living in democracies and of the recognition of international human rights have seen the achievement of many milestones. This article focuses on some connections between these 2 areas and examines the ways in which everyday settings such as neighborhoods and the schools that exist within them can foster support for human rights (especially the practice of participatory rights) among adolescents. Secondary analysis of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement Civic Education (CIVED) Study (data collected in 1999 from nationally representative samples of 14-year-olds in 28 countries) is presented. A cluster analysis of 12 attitudinal scales in 5 countries sharing the Western European tradition (Australia, England, Finland, Sweden, and the United States) is presented. A new conceptual model is also introduced, a modification of Super and Harkness's Developmental Niche. This model frames an analysis unpacking some findings from the CIVED Study and focusing on the everyday experiences and neighborhood niches for the development of participatory human rights. The larger message is that research on social justice attitudes among young people is a valuable form of social advocacy and action.

Sample size in psychological research over the past 30 years.

The American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Statistical Inference was formed in 1996 in response to a growing body of research demonstrating methodological issues that threatened the credibility of psychological research, and made recommendations to address them. One issue was the small, even dramatically inadequate, size of samples used in studies published by leading journals. The present study assessed the progress made since the Task Force's final report in 1999. Sample sizes reported in four leading APA journals in 1955, 1977, 1995, and 2006 were compared using nonparametric statistics, while data from the last two waves were fit to a hierarchical generalized linear growth model for more in-depth analysis. Overall, results indicate that the recommendations for increasing sample sizes have not been integrated in core psychological research, although results slightly vary by field. This and other implications are discussed in the context of current methodological critique and practice.