Students' Perceptions of FSBio 201, A CURE-Based Course that Scaffolds Research and Scientific Communication, Align with Learning Outcomes.

Incorporating active research opportunities into undergraduate curricula is one of the most cited elements demonstrated to improve inclusive excellence and retention in all STEM fields. Allegheny College has a long and nationally-recognized tradition of collaborative student-faculty research within the academic curriculum and as co-curricular opportunities. We present an example of the former, a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE), FSBio 201, that has been central to Allegheny's biology curriculum for over two decades. The course emphasizes biological research design, execution, and communication. We have coded and analyzed feedback from student evaluations and from the national CURE project database, both of which measure students' perceptions and attitudes toward the course. The majority of the student feedback related to the course learning outcomes of fostering independent research and communication skills was positive. However, we also see areas for improvement, such as how we employ peer-to-peer mentoring and how we teach quantitative and computer-based skills. We conclude that students' self-reported data are in line with our learning outcomes and provide FSBio 201 as a model for introducing college undergraduates to biological research.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Adapted for Preschoolers with Callous-Unemotional Traits: An Open Trial Pilot Study.

Children with co-occurring conduct problems and callous-unemotional (CU) traits show a distinct pattern of early starting, chronic, and aggressive antisocial behaviors that are resistant to traditional parent-training interventions. The aim of this study was to examine in an open trial the acceptability and initial outcomes of a novel adaptation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, called PCIT-CU, designed to target 3 distinct deficits of children with CU traits. Twenty-three Australian families with a 3- to 6-year-old (M age = 4.5 years, SD = .92) child with clinically significant conduct problems and CU traits participated in the 21-week intervention and 5 assessments measuring child conduct problems, CU traits, and empathy at a university-based research clinic. Treatment retention was high (74%), and parents reported a high level of satisfaction with the program. Results of linear mixed models indicated that the intervention produced decreases in child conduct problems and CU traits, and increases in empathy, with "medium" to "huge" effect sizes (ds = 0.7-2.0) that maintained at a 3-month follow-up. By 3 months posttreatment, 75% of treatment completers no longer showed clinically significant conduct problems relative to 25% of dropouts. Findings provide preliminary support for using the targeted PCIT-CU adaptation to treat young children with conduct problems and co-occurring CU traits.

Exploring the community pharmacist's role in palliative care: focusing on the person not just the prescription.

OBJECTIVE: Changes in health care provision have led to an emphasis on providing end of life care within the home. community pharmacists are well positioned to provide services to community-based palliative care patients and carers. METHODS: A multiple qualitative case study design was adopted. A total of 16 focus groups and 19 interviews with pharmacists, nurses, general practitioners and carers were undertaken across metropolitan and regional settings in Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Data were analysed thematically using a framework that allowed similarities and differences across stakeholder groups and locations to be examined and compared. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged: effective communication; challenges to effective communication; and: towards best practice, which comprised two themes: community pharmacists' skills and community pharmacists' needs. DISCUSSION: A key component of the provision of palliative care was having effective communication skills. Although community pharmacists saw an opportunity to provide interpersonal support, they suggested that they would need to develop more effective communication skills to fulfil this role. CONCLUSION: There is clear need for continuing professional development in this area - particularly in communicating effectively and managing strong emotions. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Community pharmacists are willing to support palliative care patients and carers but need education, support and resources.

Relative - not absolute - judgments of credibility affect susceptibility to misinformation conveyed during discussion.

People remember different details about the same events, and when they discuss events they exchange new - and misleading - information. Discussion can change memory, especially when the source of new information is highly credible. But we do not know whether the effects of credibility are based on absolute judgments - judging a source's credibility independently from our own credibility - or relative judgments - judging a source's credibility only in relation to our own credibility. We addressed this question by manipulating subjects' expectations, leading them to believe that they either had the same, higher or lower "visual acuity" than their partner while they watched a movie together. To create ample opportunities for the pairs to mention misleading details to one another, each member unknowingly saw a different version of the movie. The pairs then discussed some of the critical differences, but not others. Later, everyone took an independent recognition test. Subjects' susceptibility to misinformation depended on their own credibility relative to their partner's, supporting the idea that susceptibility to misinformation depends on relative differences in credibility.

Evidence for the efficacy of the MORI technique: viewers do not notice or implicitly remember details from the alternate movie version.

The MORI technique provides a unique way to research social influences on memory. The technique allows people to watch different movies on the same screen at the same time without realizing that each of them sees something different. As a result, researchers can create a situation in which people feel as though they share an experience, but systematic differences are introduced into their memories, and the effect of those differences can be tracked through a discussion. Despite its methodological advances, the MORI technique has been met with criticism, mostly because reviewers are worried that the MORI technique might not completely block the alternate movie version from view, leading people in these studies to see their partner's version of the movie as well as their own. We addressed these concerns in two experiments. We found no evidence that subjects noticed the alternate movie version while watching a movie via the MORI technique (Experiment 1) and no evidence that subjects remembered details from the alternate movie version (Experiment 2). Taken together, the results provide support for the MORI technique as a valuable research tool.

You say tomato? Collaborative remembering leads to more false memories for intimate couples than for strangers.

Research on memory conformity shows that collaborative remembering--typically in the form of discussion--can influence people's memories. One question that remains is whether it matters with whom we discuss our memories. To address this question we compared people's memories for an event after they discussed that event with either their romantic partner or a stranger. Pairs of subjects watched slightly different versions of a movie, and then discussed some details from the movie, but not others. Subjects were better at remembering non-discussed details than discussed details: when remembering discussed details they incorrectly reported information from their partner's version instead of their own. In addition, subjects who discussed the event with their romantic partner (rather than with a stranger) were even more likely to report false memories. We discuss our findings in relation to other research on memory conformity, social influences on false memories, and memory systems within romantic relationships.