The Colorado Personalized Education for Physicians program focuses on assessing interpersonal communication skills through such techniques as video- and chart-stimulated recall, Myers Briggs Type Inventory, and Learning Style Inventory. Participants improve their patient communication skills through preceptorships or miniresidencies. (SK)

Exercise can help decrease pain and improve function in people with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. Physicians must provide individualized, realistic, enjoyable exercise programs that help affected joints, build fitness, and maximize patient compliance. Physicians must also provide appropriate follow-up care, adjusting the exercise program…

Presents interview with Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of international hospice care movement. Saunders describes her background and experiences that led her to form the hospice movement and discusses the need for pain control for terminally ill patients. Saunders also notes her opposition to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. (NB)

Telemedicine, the ability to examine patients while physically removed from them by using high-tech virtual treatment, is used increasingly to diagnose and prescribe treatment for patients in nontraditional settings. In Los Angeles (California), Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and King-Drew Medical Center communicate in real time with…

A study of 652 physicians enrolled in the Maintenance of Competence program found that, for those with less than 10 years of experience, learning was often stimulated by audits of practice. Physicians with more than 30 years of experience most often initiated learning in response to patient interaction. (Author/JOW)

Explored factors influencing patient satisfaction with and utilization of information booklets. Patients (N=36) rated five booklets, and strongly preferred one with a grade-eight reading level. The relationship of preference and recall was investigated. No difference between those who seek or avoid information was found. Additional findings are…

Most children and parents use strategies that protect them from psychopathology in coping with cancer. Studies involving children with cancer, their parents, their perceptions, emotions, and coping strategies are reviewed. A psychosocial support model is proposed which may be helpful when support is needed with problems of adjustment. (Author/EMK)

Presents a flexible prevention program model that operationalizes contemporary theories of female development. Beginning with preadolescents, it teaches girls to recognize when they feel fat and to tell the stories that lie underneath. The program validates feelings, reframes experiences, and provides understanding of societal pressures.…

A method for balanced appraisal of the effectiveness of health education and promotion interventions has been needed. A review instrument, which makes possible a standardized analysis of effect studies, is presented. Insights into methodological qualities, specific effects and the process by which the effect was achieved are provided. (EMK)

Demonstrates the usefulness of the Rasch model in evaluating the cross cultural equivalence of health-related quality of life instruments (HRQOL). Results from 195 U.S. cancer patients and 118 Austrian cancer patients identity biased items, providing a better estimate of each cultural group's HRQOL. (SLD)

Drawing on nursing home records, examines the relationship between vision impairment and disruptive behaviors among nursing home residents (N=89). Results indicate that vision status is a significant independent contributor to disruptive behaviors among long-term care residents. Findings show vision to be an important comorbid impairment in…

Reports on a project that tested the feasibility of recruiting and training volunteers as lay health educators who could coordinate and reinforce the educational efforts of health care providers. The program proved successful in identifying, recruiting, and training volunteers from racially and religiously diverse institutions. Favorable outcomes…

This study examined the relationship between diagnostic group membership (lifetime depressed, n=367; lifetime mixed psychiatric, n=367; nonpsychiatric, n=367) and scores on the Depression-Subtle (D-S) and Depression-Obvious (D-O) scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. D-O scores were significantly related to group membership,…

Seven different short forms of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Revised (WAIS-R) were compared in a mixed clinical sample of 306 adults to evaluate short form predictions of the full scale IQ. The seven-test short form of C. Ward (1990) was the best predictor across ranges of intellectual functioning, supporting its use when time is limited.…

The comparative validity of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) scores for 123 African American and 561 Caucasian clients from a community mental health center was studied by contrasting mean MMPI-2 scores and correlations between these scores and therapists' ratings. Correlations were not significantly different for racial…