Patients with severe somatoform disorder (in secondary and tertiary care) typically experience functional impairment associated with physical symptoms and mental distress. Although psychotherapy is ...the preferred treatment, its effectiveness remains to be demonstrated.
To examine the effectiveness of psychotherapy for severe somatoform disorder in secondary and tertiary care compared with treatment as usual (TAU) but not waiting-list conditions.
Main inclusion criteria were presence of a somatoform disorder according to established diagnostic criteria and receiving psychotherapy for somatoform disorder in secondary and tertiary care. Both randomised and non-randomised trials were included. The evaluated outcome domains were physical symptoms, psychological symptoms (depression, anxiety, anger, general symptoms) and functional impairment (health, life satisfaction, interpersonal problems, maladaptive cognitions and behaviour).
Ten randomised and six non-randomised trials were included, comprising 890 patients receiving psychotherapy and 548 patients receiving TAU. Psychotherapy was more effective than TAU for physical symptoms (d = 0.80 v. d = 0.31, P<0.05) and functional impairment (d = 0.45 v. d = 0.15, P<0.01), but not for psychological symptoms (d = 0.75 v. d = 0.51, P = 0.21). These effects were maintained at follow-up.
Overall findings suggest that psychotherapy is effective in severe somatoform disorder. Future randomised controlled studies should examine specific interventions and mechanisms of change.
The relationship among students' reading performance, their behavior (task-focused behavior, emotional stability, and compliant behavior) in the classroom, and the teacher's skills was investigated ...in 66 third-grade classrooms. Results from this study showed the students' reading performance and their behavior in the classroom are all significantly interrelated. Better reading performance at the beginning of the school year goes with better behavior at the end of the school year. In turn, better behavior at the beginning of the school year goes with better reading performance at the end of the school year. The teacher can improve the behavior of the students by providing high-quality reading instruction. Some teacher skills have differential effects, however, on the various behavioral aspects. The implications for the educational practice as well as for future research are discussed.
This article examines the design of a professional development model that aims to improve student achievement. This model has been designed by combining and supplementing elements from ...school-improvement literature and existing professional development models. Existing models from two largely independent approaches to professional development of teachers were examined for the presence of nine principles for effective school improvement. On the basis of this examination six aspects from the existing models were incorporated in the new model (presentation of theory, demonstration of skills, practice in a secure environment, pre-conference, observation and post-conference). Three further aspects were added to ensure compliance with all nine principles for effective school improvement (creation of the appropriate conditions, evaluation and monitoring conference and a focus on goals at school, teacher and student level).
Observation scales for measuring teaching skills were developed for both elementary education and kindergarten. Based on 500 observations, we found that both scales meet the requirements of the ...dichotomous Rasch model. These observation scales can help in finding the zone of proximal development of teachers in elementary education and kindergarten. This can help in improving teachers' skills.
In this study data-feedback in a cyclic model of data-driven teaching was used to enhance the teaching behavior of students registered in a master course for teachers. Differences between pre- and ...post-test measures in a simple one-group pre-test post-tests design proved to be significant with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.29 to d = 0.76. Improving teaching behavior in a time span of only six weeks on average is remarkable since earlier studies indicated that it takes over 15 years to master complex teaching skills with a ‘natural development’ of teaching skills of about 25% of a standard deviation.
•We studied the development of effective teaching behavior.•Connecting theory and professional practice accelerates professional development.•A standardized observational instrument was used to assess teaching behavior.•Teachers were professionalized in a cyclic model of data-driven teaching.•Data-feedback proves to be a lever of change in teachers’ professional development.
The relation is studied between teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of reading and the quality of their subsequent classroom behaviour in teaching fluent reading. A confirmatory factor analysis ...model with two latent variables is tested and shows adequate goodness-of-fit indices. Contrary to our expectations, the results of structural equation modelling reveal a small but significant γ-value of .29, indicating that only 8% of the variance in teachers’ classroom behaviour in teaching fluent reading is accounted for by teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of reading. Presumably teacher knowledge is not as stable and conclusive as one might think. More research is needed in determining the factors that work restricting for teachers in putting their knowledge into classroom practice. It is recommended that preservice and in-service teacher training should not be limited to transfer of knowledge, but should also assist teachers in designing and performing effective fluent reading instruction.
At a time when much attention is being paid to teachers' effectiveness, there is little regard for the effectiveness of their professional support. Although professional development facilitators are ...frequently involved in school improvement projects, little is known about the interventions they should carry out and the effectiveness of these interventions. In this study, five facilitators' interventions are operationalised. Multilevel regression analyses show, that the intervention "guiding the process" explains a significant part of variance in teachers' knowledge, attitude and concerns with respect to an innovation and the degree of implementation. The interventions "team training and coaching", "creating conditions for innovation at school level" and "individual coaching" explain a significant part of variance in teachers' knowledge with respect to an innovation. In general, it appears that professional development facilitators have considerable influence on teachers' knowledge and concerns and reasonable influence on teachers' attitude and the degree of implementation.
Fluent reading in special primary education Houtveen, Anthonia A.M.; van de Grift, Wim J.C.M.; Brokamp, Saskia K.
School effectiveness and school improvement,
10/2/2014, Volume:
25, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The learning gains in reading of students in 57 classrooms in special primary education doubled as a result of implementing the Reading Impulse in Special Education (RISE) programme. Raising the ...scheduled reading time with 1.5 hr in all classrooms and implementing standards-based teaching characterised by "monitoring of pupil progress", "reflection on own teaching", and "setting targets" are the most important explanations for the improvement in pupils' reading achievements.
Ten-year-old students in an experimental group and a control group were tested for metacognitive abilities in reading comprehension before and after implementation of treatment in the experimental ...group. The teachers of the students in the experimental group were trained in metacognitive strategy instruction and in optimizing instruction time for reading comprehension. The learning gains made by the students in the experimental group in metacognitive abilities for reading comprehension turned out to be significantly greater than those made by the students in the control group. In the next school, year the students in the former experimental group and the former control group were tested for reading comprehension. It turned out that the students in the former experimental group had significantly better results on reading comprehension than the students in the former control group. (DIPF/Orig.).
Abstract Objective The aim of this concept mapping study was to identify the structure and alleged importance of perpetuating factors of functional somatic symptoms (FSS) from the perspective of ...professionals. Further, we examined to which extent these factors have been addressed in scientific literature. Methods inety-nine perpetuating factors were sorted with respect to content using a card-sorting task by 61 experienced clinicians (62.3% psychologists, 75.4% female, mean age: 45.7 SD: 10.6 years, mean duration of experience in treating FSS patients: 10.5 SD: 7.6 years). These factors had been derived from in-depth interviews with 12 clinicians, with extensive experience in treating FSS. Thirty-eight clinicians rated the importance of the 99 factors on a scale ranging from 1 (‘not important at all’) to 10 (‘extremely important’). Results Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three overarching domains of perpetuating factors: ‘ Hypochondria ’, ‘ Social and relational problems’ and ‘ Symptom-related emotions and habits’ . These domains comprised 16 clusters, which were rated on importance between 6.1, ‘Adverse physical factors and counterproductive lifestyle’, and 7.8, ‘Frustration and despair regarding the symptoms’. All clusters have been addressed in scientific literature. Conclusions This study revealed an encompassing hierarchical structure of somatic, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and social factors of importance in the perpetuation of FSS based on expert opinions. This structure will guide the development of personalized treatment of FSS.
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