Professional Skills for Behavior Analysts: A Survey on the Proficiency and Importance of Hard and Soft Skills

Individuals seeking certification as board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) require training in both hard and professional (soft) skills. Trainees seeking certification complete coursework, supervised fieldwork experience, and a BCBA exam that assesses mastery of hard skills. However, training and mastery of soft skills is not as defined. BCBAs are also expected to maintain these skills throughout their career. Previous research has shown that soft skills are viewed as important by clients and their caregivers but are not consistently demonstrated from those providing services. Research also suggests that BCBA trainees may not consistently receive training on soft skills. The current study presents the results of a survey distributed to individuals who supervise BCBAs on the proficiency of hard and soft skills demonstrated by their supervisees. The results suggest future directions for the research and training of soft skills for current and future BCBAs.

Norwegian speech-language pathologists treatment practices for preschool children who stutter: An explorative study

PURPOSE

This study investigated the treatment practices of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) with preschool children who stutter to explore variations in service delivery and, consequently to better inform and support evidence-based practice.

METHOD

121 Norwegian SLPs completed an online survey about stuttering treatment for preschool children aged up to six years. They reported on treatment training, choices, setting, dosage, and outcomes. Data was analysed descriptively. Correlation analyses between years of clinical experience and clinician perceived outcomes were conducted.

RESULT

Sixty-eight percent of SLPs were trained in one or more stuttering treatment programs. The majority of SLPs (83 %) provided treatment in person in preschool centers; 59 % reported providing treatment once a week. Thirty-four percent of SLPs reported that they often or always delivered the whole treatment program. Treatment practice addressed various elements, including advising parents about language and communication strategies, supporting the child's self-image, and perceived outcomes. The SLPs reported their clinician perceived outcomes as 'always' or 'often' reduction of audible stuttering (70 %), reduced cognitive and emotional reactions (55 %), and improved communication skills (58 %). Factors influencing treatment choices were identified at the systemic level (e.g., work place regulations) and individual level (e.g., SLPs competency, child's best).

CONCLUSION

Stuttering treatment services in Norway differ from those reported in existing literature as treatment is given in preschool settings, only 34 % of SLPs deliver programs as intended whilst the majority use treatment elements only, and still experience positive changes. Provision is variable, and seems influenced by SLP training and competence.

CSEC framework assessment dataset: Expert evaluations of cybersecurity skills for job profiles in Europe

This dataset contains expert assessments of the cybersecurity skills required for six job profiles in Europe, as determined via surveys responded by cybersecurity experts from academia and industry. The data can be used to identify educational needs in the cybersecurity sector and compare against other frameworks. The six cybersecurity-oriented job profiles used in the surveys are: General cybersec auditor; Technical cybersec auditor; Threat modelling engineer; Security engineer; Enterprise cybersecurity practitioner; Cybersecurity analyst. Data-i.e. expert assessments-was collected via surveys, targeted at European experts in cybersecurity from academia and industry. Respondents characterised the skills needed to perform in six job profiles using the CSEC⁺ framework: a cybersecurity skills framework prepared as a spreadsheet where cybersecurity skills must be ranked in a Likert scale from 0 (irrelevant) to 4 (advance knowledge needed). Metadata requested included the type of organisation of the respondent (Large company, SME, Academic/Research, Public administration, Other) and the country of origin. There were three data-collection phases: (1) an initial phase, used also to refine later larger-scale processes, carried out in Oct 2021-Jan 2022 and resulting in 13 expert assessments from four EU countries; (2) a second phase implemented as an online service broadcast to a larger audience, carried out in Mar-Apr 2022 and resulting in 15 assessments from eight European countries; (3) and a third phase, allowing direct online input and distributed in PC and mobile form, carried out in Sep-Oct 2022 and resulting in 32 assessments from ten European countries. The raw data gathered was stored and processed via spreadsheets, computing statistical information (mean, stdev) on how much each cybersecurity skill and area was deemed necessary to perform in each job profile. This is visualised as a heatmap where colour intensity symbolises value, and circle diffusion symbolises spread. Processed data further includes visualisations on how the area of origin of the respondent (academia, as in "producer of education", vs. industry, as in "consumer of education") influences the responses. This is shown as bar plots, where whiskers represent confidence intervals used for statistical-significance tests. This data can serve as basis to understand the educational needs for the cybersecurity sector in Europe. It can be reused for comparison against frameworks, other than CSEC⁺, to assess the need of education in specific cybersecurity sectors such as human security. Furthermore, the Qualtrics survey template (included) is a ready-made solution for replication studies.

Are there differences between SIMG surgeons and locally trained surgeons in Australia and New Zealand, as rated by colleagues and themselves?

BACKGROUND

Representation of specialist international medical graduates (SIMGs) in specific specialties such as surgery can be expected to grow as doctor shortages are predicted in the context of additional care provision for aging populations and limited local supply. Many national medical boards and colleges provide pathways for medical registration and fellowship of SIMGs that may include examinations and short-term training. There is currently very little understanding of how SIMGs are perceived by colleagues and whether their performance is perceived to be comparable to locally trained medical specialists. It is also not known how SIMGs perceive their own capabilities in comparison to local specialists. The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between colleague feedback and self-evaluation in the specialist area of surgery to identify possible methods for enhancing registration and follow-up training within the jurisdiction of Australia and New Zealand.

METHODS

Feedback from 1728 colleagues to 96 SIMG surgeons and 406 colleagues to 25 locally trained Fellow surgeons was collected, resulting in 2134 responses to 121 surgeons in total. Additionally, 98 SIMGs and 25 Fellows provided self-evaluation scores (123 in total). Questionnaire and data reliability were calculated before analysis of variance, principal component analysis and network analysis were performed to identify differences between colleague evaluations and self-evaluations by surgeon type.

RESULTS

Colleagues rated SIMGs and Fellows in the 'very good' to 'excellent' range. Fellows received a small but statistically significant higher average score than SIMGs, especially in areas dealing with medical skills and expertise. However, SIMGs received higher scores where there was motivation to demonstrate working well with colleagues. Colleagues rated SIMGs using one dimension and Fellows using three, which can be identified as clinical management skills, inter-personal communication skills and self-management skills. On self-evaluation, both SIMGs and Fellows gave themselves a significant lower average score than their colleagues, with SIMGs giving themselves a statistically significant higher score than Fellows.

CONCLUSIONS

Colleagues rate SIMGs and Fellows highly. The results of this study indicate that SIMGs tend to self-assess more highly, but according to colleagues do not display the same level of differentiation between clinical management, inter-personal and self-management skills. Further research is required to confirm these provisional findings and possible reasons for lack of differentiation if this exists. Depending on the outcome, possible support mechanisms can be explored that may lead to increased comparable performance with locally trained graduates of Australia and New Zealand in these three dimensions.

Direct Advice for Directing an Academic Biomedical Research Laboratory

This Perspective shares "insider" thoughts and recommendations for success with early career stage scientists on directing an independent biomedical research laboratory.

Introducing conflict resolution and negotiation training into a biomedical sciences graduate curriculum

BACKGROUND

Analysis of the biomedical workforce and graduate education have produced recommendations for modifications of pre-doctoral training to broadly prepare trainees for wider ranging scientific careers. Development of training in professional skills is widely recommended, but details of implementation are not widely available. In alignment with these recommendations, we have incorporated professional skills training into the biomedical science graduate curriculum at West Virginia University. An important component of the training is developing conflict resolution and negotiation skills. This training will provide useful skills for academic careers, non-academic careers and life situations outside of the workplace. Conflict resolution/negotiation skills are also relevant in managing issues in diversity, equity and inclusivity. We report our experience in developing this component of the training program, provide an overview of the approach to delivery and practice of skills, and provide an analysis of the reception and effectiveness of the training.

METHODS

Evaluation of effectiveness of training used the principals of the Kirkpatrick Four Level Model of Evaluation. At the end of the course, students completed a questionnaire about their perceptions of training and were asked how they would respond to different scenarios requiring conflict resolution/negotiation skills. Several months later, students were surveyed to determine if they used some of these skills and/or witnessed situations where these skills would be useful.

RESULTS

We report our experience in developing conflict resolution/negotiation training in our graduate curriculum, provide an overview of the approach to delivery and practice of skills, and provide an analysis of the reception and effectiveness of the training. The results suggest this training meets a need and is effective. Importantly, these materials provide a template for others wishing to implement similar training in their curricula.

CONCLUSIONS

Conflict resolution and negotiation training meets a need in graduate education. A mixed approach using didactic and interactive components spaced out over time appears to be an effective method of training.

Skills and key education needed for clinical librarians: an exploratory study from the librarians' perspectives

Background

A clinical librarian is a member of the medical team in many countries. To strengthen this new job, librarians need to acquire professional skills in order to provide information services to medical staff. In this study, we aimed to explor the skills required for the presence of a clinical librarian in the treatment team.

Methods

In this study, we sonducted a qualitative study in which 15 experienced librarians were interviewed in connection with information services. Also, a treatment team was involved in this study using purposive-convenience and snowball sampling methods. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview that continued until the data was saturated; finally the data analysis was performed using thematic analysis.

Results

Out of the total interviews, 158 primary codes and, 107 main codes were extracted in 25 subclasses. After careful evaluation and integration of subclasses and classes, they were finally classified into 13 categories and four main themes, namely clinical librarian’s role, professional and specialized skills, communication skills, and training programs.

Conclusion

The results showed that specialized skills and training programs for the clinical librarian are defined based on his/her duties in the treatment team. We also defined the most important key skills for the clinical librarian in two categories of professional and communication skills such as specialized information search, content production, resource management, familiarity with various sources related to evidence-based medicine, teamwork, and effective communication. To acquire these skills, officials and policy-makers should develop and implement related educational programs at medical universities and colleges.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12911-021-01601-y.

Introduction to the Peer Teacher Training in health professional education supplement series

Skills in supervision, teaching, facilitation, assessment and feedback, leadership and interprofessional teamwork are required graduate attributes for health professionals. Despite this, the opportunity for learning these skills is rarely embedded within undergraduate and postgraduate health professional training curricula. Additionally, there are limited examples of interprofessional delivery of teaching programs. Since teaching skills can be learned, healthcare faculties play an important role in improving the teaching abilities of their students. At the University of Sydney, we developed and implemented interprofessional, blended learning teacher training programs for health professional students, and junior health professionals: The Peer Teacher Training (PTT) program, and the Clinical Teacher Training (CTT) program. Based on our successful programs, this paper provides an introduction to our Peer Teacher Training supplement. Namely, 11 articles designed to assist those who work and teach in a clinical context; address key challenges; and provide practical tips and frameworks to assist in teaching, assessment, and feedback.

Planning and Leading Effective Meetings

Behavior analysts spend a great deal of time in meetings regardless of their specific professional role (e.g., academic, practice, administration), so effective meeting skills are important. Meetings can serve a variety of important purposes if they are planned and led well. However, many people are not explicitly taught how to plan or lead meetings effectively. The purpose of this paper is to describe the common purposes of meetings and to provide recommendations and tools for planning and leading effective meetings.

Are Different Professionals Ready to Support Children of Parents with Mental Illness? Evaluating the Impact of a Pan-European Training Programme

A training package (pre-tested in a pilot phase) about supporting children who have parents with a mental illness and/or with substance misuse (COPMI) was developed and delivered to 131 different professionals from six different European Countries. A questionnaire about importance, awareness and competence on the issue (8 items on knowledge and 15 items on skills) was developed and completed by participants before and after the training. The training was evaluated by participants as generally very successful in terms of improving the importance, awareness and competence of their knowledge and skills, with a statistically significant difference in the pre-/post-analyses (no decreases occurred). Different professional groups performed differently in the pre-training self-rating scores. The participants in some countries were mainly drawn from one professional group (i.e. teachers in Finland, social workers in Germany and psychologists in Poland). It was found that stigma was considered an extremely important concern even before the training, whilst country-specific legal issues were not taken into proper account in the training. Some possibilities for further refinement of the training programme are suggested.

The potential of a self-assessment tool to identify healthcare professionals' strengths and areas in need of professional development to aid effective facilitation of group-based, person-centered diabetes education

BACKGROUND

Healthcare professionals' person-centered communication skills are pivotal for successful group-based diabetes education. However, healthcare professionals are often insufficiently equipped to facilitate person-centeredness and many have never received post-graduate training. Currently, assessing professionals' skills in conducting group-based, person-centered diabetes education primarily focus on experts measuring and coding skills on various scales. However, learner-centered approaches such as adequate self-reflective tools have been shown to emphasize professional autonomy and promote engagement. The aim of this study was to explore the potential of a self-assessment tool to identify healthcare professionals' strengths and areas in need of professional development to aid effective facilitation of group-based, person-centered diabetes education.

METHODS

The study entails of two components: 1) Field observations of five different educational settings including 49 persons with diabetes and 13 healthcare professionals, followed by interviews with 5 healthcare professionals and 28 persons with type 2 diabetes. 2) One professional development workshop involving 14 healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals were asked to assess their person-centered communication skills using a self-assessment tool based on challenges and skills related to four educator roles: Embracer, Facilitator, Translator, and Initiator. Data were analyzed by hermeneutic analysis. Theories derived from theoretical model 'The Health Education Juggler' and techniques from 'Motivational Interviewing in Groups' were used as a framework to analyze data. Subsequently, the analysis from the field notes and interview transcript were compared with healthcare professionals' self-assessments of strengths and areas in need to effectively facilitate group-based, person-centered diabetes education.

RESULTS

Healthcare professionals self-assessed the Translator and the Embracer to be the two most skilled roles whereas the Facilitator and the Initiator were identified to be the most challenged roles. Self-assessments corresponded to observations of professional skills in educational programs and were confirmed in the interviews.

CONCLUSION

Healthcare professionals self-assessed the same professional skills as observed in practice. Thus, a tool to self-assess professional skills in facilitating group-based diabetes education seems to be useful as a starting point to promote self-reflections and identification of healthcare professionals' strengths and areas of need of professional development.

Case-based learning: What traditional curricula fail to teach

BACKGROUND

Case-based learning seeks to contextualize learning and to enhance the transition of nurses to practice. This instructional approach is gaining widespread interest in nursing education since the unfolding process emulates the work environment. Case-based learning holds great promise to the development of professional skills. An assumption that was worth researching to determine what those skills are.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed at exploring perceptions of nursing students who had completed two undergraduate nursing courses using case-based learning to be able to identify professional skills that may be gained by this instructional approach.

DESIGN

The qualitative focus group research technique was used to explore the perceptions of 16 nursing students who used CBL in two adult health nursing courses in the junior year of an undergraduate nursing program in Beirut, Lebanon. The sample was divided into three groups of four to six students each.

METHOD

Thematic analysis using cross-group analysis and inductive constant comparison.

FINDINGS

The analyzed data converged on three learning practices that were developed by the case study approach: (a) recognizing the particulars of a clinical situation, (b) making sense of patient data and informing decisions, and (c) reflection. In-depth analysis of these practices helped unravel four professional attributes that form the tenets of case-based learning: (1) a salience of clinical knowledge, (2) multiple ways of thinking, (3) professional self-concept, and (4) professional caring.

CONCLUSION

Since professional skills are developmental in nature, educational programs may play an active role in the skill acquisition process. In search of those ineffable skills, four professional attributes emerged from the study findings. Findings support concerns of higher education regarding the ability of the traditional curriculum to meet the expectations of employers at the workplace.