Do psychologically-minded clients expect more from counselling?

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between psychological mindedness and clients' expectations about counselling.

Design: A cross-sectional design was employed to assess correlations among study variables.

Methods: Participants were 104 counselling-centre clients at a mid-size, Southwestern US university.

Validation of a networked virtual reality simulation of temporal bone surgery.

Objectives: To assess the content validity and concurrent validity of a haptically (force feedback) rendered, virtual reality simulation of temporal bone surgery.

Methods: Eleven naive surgical trainees were given a 1-hour lesson on the operation, cortical mastoidectomy, in the virtual environment with the trainer on a networked simulator and then asked to perform this procedure on a real temporal bone.

Results: The simulator was found to be a convincing representation of temporal bone drilling and could be said to exhibit face validity.

A networked haptic virtual environment for teaching temporal bone surgery.

This paper describes a computer system for teaching temporal bone surgery using networked haptic work benches. The system enables an instructor and student to collaboratively explore and drill a volumetric bone model including significant anatomical features. Subjective evaluations by otologists have been favourable, and experimental trials are planned.

Surgical training using haptics over long internet distances.

This paper describes a collaborative surgical training prototype using haptics, which has been able to operate across the world. It allows two users to collaboratively manipulate a simulation of pliable human body organs, as well as guide each other's 'hands' over 22,000 km of internet connection. It uses a force impulse collection mechanism feeding haptics data to a single physics server program.