Offering a choice between two adjuvant chemotherapy regimens: a pilot study to develop a decision aid for women with breast cancer.

Background: The primary objective of this study was to develop a decision aid which would encourage and assist patients to become involved in treatment decision making, and help clinicians to objectively educate patients about the benefits and risks of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. A secondary objective was to investigate the factors influencing this treatment decision-making process for women when choosing between adriamycin and cyclophosphamide (AC) versus cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) chemotherapy.

Methods: An educational visual instrument called a Decision Board was developed consisting of written and graphical material.

The reliability and validity of in-training evaluation reports in obstetrics and gynecology.

In a specific Obstetrics and Gynecological program, the program and certifying ITERs were evaluated for their measurement qualities. The internal consistency of the ITERs is supported. The tendency for high inter-item correlations suggest overall judgment of candidates may be influencing individual item rankings--particularly on the Program ITER.

Transfer of student learning in medical education.

Transfer of learning among the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains and among three clinical disciplines--medicine, pediatrics, and surgery--was examined in the final year of a medical student clerkship program. Rather than following the traditional psychological approach, the authors used a model based on ethnographic analysis followed by performance measurement. The general assumption that what students learn in one subject area is transferred to another area was questioned.

Computer models of personality: implications for measurement.

Computer models of human behavior have long existed in the world of science fiction; however, in reality, progress has been slow. Research has concentrated, in recent years, on the simulation of memory and cognition. Computer models of personality, although fascinating and potentially useful, have been neglected.