Executive Function Profiles in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in heterogeneous patterns of neuropsychological impairment. This study investigated heterogeneity in executive function (EF) using the Comprehensive Trail Making Test (CTMT) to evaluate 121 children and adolescents with TBI and 121 matched normal controls. The TBI group performed approximately two standard deviations below controls.

The Harm Principle Cannot Replace the Best Interest Standard: Problems With Using the Harm Principle for Medical Decision Making for Children.

For many years the prevailing paradigm for medical decision making for children has been the best interest standard. Recently, some authors have proposed that Mill's "harm principle" should be used to mediate or to replace the best interest standard. This article critically examines the harm principle movement and identifies serious defects within the project of using Mill's harm principle for medical decision making for children.

Serving Community Faculty Through a Dedicated Liaison.

Community-based medical schools rely heavily on volunteer faculty to provide medical education. Volunteer faculty consist of health care professionals, primarily physicians, who commit to educating medical students and residents. While these volunteer faculty are typically unpaid, many medical schools provide some benefits to them for volunteering their time.

Family Behavior Therapy for Alcohol and Drug Problems in Later-Life.

Alcohol and drug use problems among older individuals are a growing public health concern. However, few treatments have been developed for this population, despite an emerging body of literature suggesting that older substance users are more likely to benefit from interventions tailored to meet their specific needs. In particular, older adults with a history of substance abuse have expressed a preference for treatments that focus on financial problems, physical health, and mobility issues, and make attempts to prescriptively involve supportive others in treatment.

Impact of life stories on college students' positive and negative attitudes toward older adults.

Gerontological educators are increasingly interested in reducing college students' negative, and promoting their positive, attitudes toward older adults. Over the course of a semester, students from six 4-year institutions viewed three life story videos (documentaries) of older adults and completed pre- and posttest surveys that assessed their positive (Allophilia Scale) and negative (Fraboni Scale of Ageism) attitudes. The authors assessed changes in attitudinal scales between treatment (with videos, n = 80) and control (no video, n = 40) groups.

Effects of Instructor Attractiveness on Learning.

Although a considerable body of research has examined the impact of student attractiveness on instructors, little attention has been given to the influence of instructor attractiveness on students. This study tested the hypothesis that persons would perform significantly better on a learning task when they perceived their instructor to be high in physical attractiveness. To test the hypothesis, participants listened to an audio lecture while viewing a photograph of instructor.

Trauma and Chinese heroin users.

This qualitative study explores the traumas of Chinese heroin users. The results showed that the Chinese experience traumas during (childhood, later in life but prior to heroin-use onset, and throughout their heroin-use career. Themes related to the traumas include the historical economic transition, the value of family orientation, an emphasis on scholarly pursuits, the shame orientation, and a scarcity of resources conducive to recovery.

How we developed and piloted an electronic key features examination for the internal medicine clerkship based on a US national curriculum.

Background: Key features examinations (KFEs) have been used to assess clinical decision making in medical education, yet there are no reports of an online KFE-based on a national curriculum for the internal medicine clerkship. What we did: The authors developed and pilot tested an electronic KFE based on the US Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine core curriculum. Teams, with expert oversight and peer review, developed key features (KFs) and cases.

The construct of grooming in child sexual abuse: conceptual and measurement issues.

There have been claims that some child molesters engage in a "seduction stage" prior to committing abuse. These behaviors, commonly known as "grooming," are understood as methods child molesters use to gain access to and prepare future victims to be compliant with abuse. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding exactly what this process entails and how it is clearly distinguished from normal adult-child interactions.

JROTC as a substitute for PE: really?

Purpose: Even though physical education (PE) is an evidence-based strategy for providing and promoting physical activity, alternative programs such as the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) are commonly substituted for PE in many states. The purpose of this study was to compare student physical activity and lesson contexts during high school PE and JROTC sessions.

Method: The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time was used to assess PE and JROTC sessions (N = 38 each) in 4 high schools that provided both programs.

Responses to messages about health behaviors: The influence of repressive coping.

This study examined the impact of messages that promoted health behaviors on repressors (persons who report low levels of anxiety and a high need to appear socially desirable), high anxiety participants (persons who report high levels of anxiety and a low need to appear socially desirable), and low anxiety participants (persons who report low anxiety and a low need to appear socially desirable). It was hypothesized that repressors would be more influenced by messages encouraging health promotion behaviors than messages encouraging disease detection behaviors. Also it was hypothesized that low anxiety participants and high anxiety participants would be equally influenced by messages about both types of behavior.

The importance of the principle of clinical significance-defining significant to whom and for what purpose: a response to tingey, lambert, burlingame, and hansen.

Tingey, Lambert, Burlingame, and Hansen (1996) argue that although there are benefits and utility of clinical significance, extensions to the concept proposed a decade ago (Jacobson, Follette, & Revenstorf, 1984a) are necessary. The criticisms of the original paper and subsequent extensions are problematic and fail to appreciate the underlying principle of clinical significance, namely defining for whom and for what purpose significant change would be identified. This paper responds to several of the criticisms outlined in Tingey et al.