Getting used to academic public speaking: global self-esteem predicts habituation in blood pressure response to repeated thesis presentations

Development and validation of the oral presentation evaluation scale (OPES) for nursing students

BACKGROUND

Oral presentations are an important educational component for nursing students and nursing educators need to provide students with an assessment of presentations as feedback for improving this skill. However, there are no reliable validated tools available for objective evaluations of presentations. We aimed to develop and validate an oral presentation evaluation scale (OPES) for nursing students when learning effective oral presentations skills and could be used by students to self-rate their own performance, and potentially in the future for educators to assess student presentations.

METHODS

The self-report OPES was developed using 28 items generated from a review of the literature about oral presentations and with qualitative face-to-face interviews with university oral presentation tutors and nursing students. Evidence for the internal structure of the 28-item scale was conducted with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA and CFA, respectively), and internal consistency. Relationships with Personal Report of Communication Apprehension and Self-Perceived Communication Competence to conduct the relationships with other variables evidence.

RESULTS

Nursing students' (n = 325) responses to the scale provided the data for the EFA, which resulted in three factors: accuracy of content, effective communication, and clarity of speech. These factors explained 64.75% of the total variance. Eight items were dropped from the original item pool. The Cronbach's α value was .94 for the total scale and ranged from .84 to .93 for the three factors. The internal structure evidence was examined with CFA using data from a second group of 325 students, and an additional five items were deleted. Except for the adjusted goodness of fit, fit indices of the model were acceptable, which was below the minimum criteria. The final 15-item OPES was significantly correlated with the students' scores for the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension scale (r = -.51, p < .001) and Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (r = .45, p < .001), indicating excellent evidence of the relationships to other variables with other self-report assessments of communication.

CONCLUSIONS

The OPES could be adopted as a self-assessment instrument for nursing students when learning oral presentation skills. Further studies are needed to determine if the OPES is a valid instrument for nursing educators' objective evaluations of student presentations across nursing programs.

Caught Between Autonomy and Insecurity: A Work-Psychological View on Resources and Strain of Small Business Owners in Germany

While research on personality factors and economic success of entrepreneurs has flourished over the years, studies on their specific working conditions and their impact on health and career are surprisingly scarce. This study used a qualitative approach to comprehensively mirror the working situation of German small business owners. To reflect the broadness of this employment type and avoid sampling bias, we applied a quota sampling strategy based on a preliminary typology of solo self-employed respondents we derived from a large quantitative survey. We investigated 29 small business owners who reported, for example, on health complaints, recovery opportunities, and obstacles and resources while running their businesses. Thematic analysis was employed to develop a specific frame model for small business owners based on established work-related stress theories which allowed us to derive concrete hypotheses for further quantitative research. The main results emphasized the meaning of active actions and the workers' own responsibility for creating working conditions and enabling autonomy. Besides personal preferences regarding the chosen career path, marketability, flexibility, and social networks played a role and explained health and career issues. When it came to practical implications, voluntariness played an essential role for selecting this specific career path. Those being pushed into self-employment as their only viable job opportunity should receive particular support through career counseling to sustain their health.

PTSD psychotherapy improves blood pressure but leaves HPA axis feedback sensitivity stable and unaffected: First evidence from a pre-post treatment study

Although key to development of tailored drugs for augmentation treatment of psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the biological correlates of PTSD remission are still unknown, probably because pre-post treatment studies searching for them are rare. Not even the feedback sensitivity of the otherwise well-studied hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis nor arterial blood pressure (BP), which was previously reported to be elevated in PTSD patients, have so far been analyzed during PTSD treatment. To narrow this knowledge gap, we first performed an overnight dexamethasone suppression test (DST) in a mixed-sex cohort of 25 patients with severe PTSD vs. 20 non-traumatized healthy controls (nt-HC). In addition to hormones, BP and heart rate (HR) were measured at each of the four assessment points (APs). Second, the same parameters were assessed again in 16 of these patients after 12 sessions of integrative trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (iTF-CBT). In relation to nt-HC, PTSD patients showed a significant elevation in HR and diastolic BP while their systolic BP, DST outcomes and basal serum cortisol levels (BSCL) were not significantly altered. In response to iTF-CBT, PTSD symptoms and dysfunctional stress coping strategies improved significantly in PTSD patients. Most important, also their systolic and diastolic BP levels ameliorated at distinct APs while their DST outcomes and BSCL remained unchanged. To our knowledge, this is the first pre-post treatment study assessing the stability of the DST outcome and BP levels during PTSD treatment. Our results provide first evidence for a non-involvement of HPA axis feedback sensitivity in PTSD symptom improvement and, furthermore, suggest a possible role for BP-regulating pathways such as the sympathetic nervous system in PTSD remission. Limitations arise from the small sample size, the lack of an untreated patient group and drug treatment of patients.

Converging evidence that subliminal evaluative conditioning does not affect self-esteem or cardiovascular activity

Self-esteem moderates the relationship between stress and (cardiovascular) health, with low self-esteem potentially exacerbating the impact of stressors. Boosting self-esteem may therefore help to buffer against stress. Subliminal evaluative conditioning (SEC), which subliminally couples self-words with positive words, has previously been successfully used to boost self-esteem, but the existing studies are in need of replication. In this article, we aimed to replicate and extend previous SEC studies. The first 2 experiments simultaneously examined whether SEC increased self-esteem (Experiment 1, n = 84) and reduced cardiovascular reactivity to a stressor in high worriers (Experiment 2, n = 77). On the basis of these results, the 3rd experiment was set up to examine whether an adjusted personalized SEC task increased self-esteem and reduced cardiac activity in high worriers (n = 81). Across the 3 experiments, no effects were found of SEC on implicit or explicit self-esteem or affect or on cardiovascular (re)activity compared to a control condition in which the self was coupled with neutral words. The results do not support the use of the subliminal intervention in its current format. As stress is highly prevalent, future studies should focus on developing other cost-effective and evidence-based interventions.

Teacher's sleep quality: linked to social job characteristics?

Besides dealing with high workload, being a teacher is challenging with respect to the social context. There is increasing evidence that adverse social job characteristics challenge sleep quality. The current study tests whether restraint sleep quality (defined as worse sleep quality before than during vacation) is related to time-related job stressors, job resources, and social job characteristics. Forty-eight elementary school teachers (42% women) participated both during the last week before and the first week after vacation. Before vacation, teachers were asked for demographics and working conditions with reference to the last 30 d, and sleep quality with reference to the last 7 d. After vacation sleep quality during vacation was assessed and used as reference for working time sleep quality. Results showed mean levels of sleep quality increased during vacation. In teachers with restrained working time sleep quality (38%), experiences of failure at work, social exclusion, and emotional dissonance were more frequent than in teachers with unrestrained working time sleep quality (Ps<0.05). Groups did not differ in time-related stressors, time control and social support from supervisors. Emotion work, social exclusion and individual experience of failure seem to challenge sleep quality in teachers.

Adaptation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis to daily repeated stress does not follow the rules of habituation: A new perspective

Repeated exposure to a wide range of stressors differing in nature and intensity results in a reduced response of prototypical stress markers (i.e. plasma levels of ACTH and adrenaline) after an acute challenge with the same (homotypic) stressor. This reduction has been considered to be a habituation-like phenomenon. However, direct experimental evidence for this assumption is scarce. In the present work we demonstrate in adult male rats that adaptation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to repeated stress does not follow some of the critical rules of habituation. Briefly, adaptation was stronger and faster with more severe stressors, maximally observed even with a single exposure to severe stressors, extremely long-lasting, negatively related to the interval between the exposures and positively related to the length of daily exposure. We offer a new theoretical view to explain adaptation to daily repeated stress.

Perioperative research fellowship: planning, implementation, experience

Perioperative outcomes research has gained widespread interest and is viewed as increasingly important among different specialties, including anesthesiology. Outcomes research studies serve to help in the adjustment of risk, allocation of resources, and formulation of hypotheses to guide future research. Pursuing high-quality research projects requires familiarity with a wide range of research methods, and concepts are ideally learned in a dedicated setting. Skills associated with the use of these methods as well as with scientific publishing in general, however, are increasingly challenging to acquire. This article was intended to describe the curriculum and implementation of the Perioperative Medicine and Regional Anesthesia Research Fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery. We also proposed a method to evaluate the success of a research fellowship curriculum.