Investigating the Efficacy of a Hybrid EMT Course.

The Pennsylvania College of Technology implemented a region-wide hybrid emergency medical technician (EMT) training course in 2015, following the release of the National Emergency Medical Services Education Standards as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's transition away from a state-developed EMT exam and towards the EMT exam developed by the National Registry of EMTs. Previous classes were conducted by the training sites in the region utilizing a traditional, classroom-based model. 79.32% of students who completed training within the classes offered by the region between 2007 and 2013 successfully passed the state exam and became certified as EMT's (n=418), compared to 80.52% of the students who completed the current training program conducted by Penn College (n=186). This analysis finds the Penn College program's pass rates on the NREMT cognitive exam (both first attempt and within three attempts) exceed the previous pass rates on the state exam for the region and mirror the national pass rate metrics during the study period. This study concludes that the Penn College hybrid EMT course is an effective method of training new providers for the region.

An interactional test of the reformulated helplessness theory of depression in women receiving clinical treatment for eating disorders.

The study tested the Reformulated Helplessness model that individuals who show combined internal locus of control, high stability and high globality attributions for negative life events are prone to depression. Thirty-six women (M=29 years-8 months of age) receiving clinical treatment for eating disorders completed: the Attribution Style Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Stirling Eating Disorder Scales. An HRA yielded a three-way interaction among the attributional dimensions on depressive symptoms. Plotting of the slopes showed that the attribution of negative life events to the combination of internal locus of control, high stability, and a high globality, was associated with the optimal level of depressive symptoms. The findings supported the Reformulated Helplessness as a model of depression.

Examining the components of children's peer liking as antecedents of school adjustment.

Children's social interactions with their peers influence their psychosocial adjustment; consequently, the relationship between class-wide peer liking, same-gender peer liking, and school adjustment was explored in two age groups. Peer liking was analysed using the social relations model (SRM). In Study 1, 205 children (103 female and 102 male, M(age) = 7.15, SD= 7 months) completed measures of peer liking and school adjustment, and teachers completed the Short-Form Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment (Short-Form TRSSA). In Study 2, 197 children (98 female and 90 male, M(age) = 9.87, SD= 5.9 months) completed measures of peer liking and school adjustment. Both studies yielded evidence of reciprocal liking and individual differences in the ratings of liking awarded to, and elicited from, both peer groups. Multigroup path analysis, with groups created according to gender, revealed that elements of liking predicted different aspects of school adjustment with some variation according to age and gender. Together, these findings suggest that the SRM can be used to examine peer liking and underscore the importance of children's peers for school adjustment.

The relation between the lack of control attributional style for indulgent food consumption and bulimic symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: The study examined the potential link between the lack of control attributional style for indulgent food consumption and bulimic symptoms. METHOD: One hundred and 77 undergraduates (145 female; mean age=19 years-2 months) were administered the Eating Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Sterling Eating Disorder Scales across a five-month period. RESULTS: SEM analyses confirmed that: (1) uncontrollability attributions for indulgent food consumption were concurrently associated with bulimic symptoms, and (2) external locus of control and uncontrollability attributions for indulgent food consumption predicted changes in bulimic symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The findings yielded support for the conclusion that the lack of control attributional style for indulgent food consumption is a probable cause of bulimic symptoms.

The relation between trust beliefs and loneliness during early childhood, middle childhood, and adulthood.

Four studies examined the relation between trust and loneliness. Studies 1, 2, and 3 showed that trust beliefs negatively predicted changes in loneliness during early childhood (5-7 years), middle childhood (9-11 years), and young adulthood (18-21 years). Structural equation modeling yielded support for the hypothesis that the relation between trust beliefs and loneliness was mediated, in part, by social disengagement, which varied by age and gender. Study 4 showed that when young adults were primed for distrust rather than for trust cognitions, they showed greater withdrawal (loneliness) affect, lower willingness to disclose, and less perceived success in achieving rapport. The findings yielded support for the hypotheses that (a) low trust beliefs promote loneliness from childhood to adulthood and (b) social disengagement and cognitive schema mechanisms account for the relation.

An investigation of the impact of young children's self-knowledge of trustworthiness on school adjustment: a test of the realistic self-knowledge and positive illusion models.

The study aimed to examine the relationship between self-knowledge of trustworthiness and young children's school adjustment. One hundred and seventy-three (84 male and 89 female) children from school years 1 and 2 in the United Kingdom (mean age 6 years 2 months) were tested twice over 1-year. Children's trustworthiness was assessed using: (a) self-report at Time 1 and Time 2; (b) peers reports at Time 1 and Time 2; and (c) teacher-reports at Time 2. School adjustment was assessed by child-rated school-liking and the Short-Form Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment (Short-Form TRSSA). Longitudinal quadratic relationships were found between school adjustment and children's self-knowledge, using peer-reported trustworthiness as a reference: more accurate self-knowledge of trustworthiness predicted increases in school adjustment. Comparable concurrent quadratic relationships were found between teacher-rated school adjustment and children's self-knowledge, using teacher-reported trustworthiness as a reference, at Time 2. The findings support the conclusion that young children's psychosocial adjustment is best accounted for by the realistic self-knowledge model (Colvin & Block, 1994).

Associations between peer victimization, fear of future victimization and disrupted concentration on class work among junior school pupils.

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that peer victimization is associated with psychological maladjustment, and have implicated such maladjustment in disrupted ability to concentrate. AIMS: To investigate the levels of, and associations between, physical, verbal, and social exclusion victimization, fear of future victimization, and disrupted classroom concentration. SAMPLE: Participants consisted of 485 pupils aged 10-11 drawn from 11 junior schools in the UK. METHOD: Peer- and self-nominations of physical, verbal, and social exclusion victimization were collected in individual interviews. Self-reports of other variables were collected either individually or in small groups. RESULTS: A substantial minority of pupils reported high levels of fear of future victimization and disrupted concentration on class work, and girls reported higher levels of fear of future victimization than boys. All three types of self-reported victimization, all three types of peer-reported victimization, and fear of all three types of future victimization predicted disrupted concentration on class work. Fear of future social exclusion moderated the association between peer-reported social exclusion and disrupted concentration on class work. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to tackling victimization per se, allaying pupils' fears of it happening to them in the future is called for in order to address a hitherto largely overlooked correlate, and possible source, of disrupted classroom concentration.