Eric P. Trunnell

The Influence of Sources of Self-Efficacy Upon Efficacy Strength

This study examined the influence of different sources of efficacy information on self-efficacy strength. Forty-eight women ranging from 18 to 40 years of age were recruited from a university population and randomly assigned to one of six groups. Each group received three sources of bench-press efficacy information (performance accomplishment, model, verbal message) presented in a different sequence. Bench-press efficacy strength was measured after each source of efficacy information. Results indicated that a performance accomplishment led to significantly stronger bench-press efficacy than did observation of a model, which in turn was more effective in strengthening efficacy than was hearing a verbal message. Second, performance accomplishment strengthened bench-press efficacy even when it followed one or both of the other sources of efficacy information. Finally, a verbal persuasion message was most effective in strengthening efficacy when it followed a performance accomplishment.

The Role of Control in Depression, Anxiety, and Life Satisfaction among Visually Impaired Older Adults

Abstract Two groups of visually impaired older adults, minimally (n = 40) and severely impaired (n = 40), were compared on depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and various dimensions of control....

A 6-month pilot study of effects of a physical activity intervention on life satisfaction with a sample of three generations of women.

This pilot study assessed possible changes in Life Satisfaction across three generations of women after a 6-mo. physical activity intervention. The primary purpose of the study was to test the study design and discover critical issues that should be controlled for or changed in a follow-up study. A quasi-experimental design was used to assign randomly a convenience sample of participant triads into two groups: a home-based group (n = 27) and a control group (n = 9). Daughters were premenarcheal (n = 13, M = 10.1 yr., SD = 1.5), mothers were premenopausal (n = 13, M = 37.2 yr., SD = 4.2), and grandmothers were postmenopausal (n = 11, M = 61.5 yr., SD = 4.4). Life Satisfaction was measured using the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Participation in physical activity was measured using the Physical Best Physical Activity Questionnaire and a pedometer to count the number of steps taken per day. Compared with the control group, participants in the home-based group generally increased physical activity but their scores for Life Satisfaction did not increase. Recommendations concerning the study design, reducing limitations, and hypotheses for further study are given.

Using behavior change theories to enhance hand hygiene behavior.

It is well-documented that proper hand hygiene reduces nosocomial infections (Centers for Disease Control, 2000), while it is also well-documented that compliance by health care providers to proper hand hygiene remains less than satisfactory (Larson et al., 2001). It is the purpose of this brief communication to propose a theoretically driven approach that can be used by health educators in a variety of settings focusing on different target groups. While most research and interventions on hand hygiene have focused on the specific needs of health care providers (e.g. physicians and nurses), a theoretically based approach would be equally applicable to a variety of targeted groups, such as lay care providers, professional food handlers, home food prep, crowded conditions of dorms and classrooms and toddlers in day care centers, with some modifications.

Bereavement: Current Issues in Intervention and Prevention

Abstract Grief experienced following the loss of a loved one is a normal and necessary process in the adaptive reintegration of the surviving individual. The health educator, in the role of death educator or bereavement counselor, can play a key role in facilitating the normal grieving process as well as identifying and referring individuals experiencing uncommon grief. The appropriateness of the intervention is dependent on the timing of intervention considering the oscillatory nature of bereavement, on the focus of skills and effect enhancement, and on the type of intervention whether individual, peer, professional, or group. Recent research findings support the need to intervene early, increase self-esteem to avoid later difficulties, the beneficial effects of self-expression, and the positive impact of constructive coping skills and feelings of personal control and competency. These findings then would guide development of the most effective bereavement education and counseling programs in the health ...

Mindfulness in the Workplace

Abstract For many of us, work is a major element in our lives. Job related stress and its consequences has had an increasing impact on productivity, relationships, and the work environment. To address this, we are proposing a program of mindfulness that would retrain our attention to be more fully present, rather than dwelling on the past or future. To do this we fully describe mindfulness and exemplify its counterpart, mindlessness. We discuss the efficacy of mindfulness training, then offer ways in which mindfulness can be learned, including a full description of the mindfulness process. Finally, we offer both general and specific ways in which mindfulness training can be applied in the work setting. We believe that this program of mindfulness training can offer numerous benefits in many diverse settings by enhancing communication, concentration, and productivity by managing stress, by creating harmony among employees, and by reducing the effects of extraneous stimuli. Although applications of mindfulne...

Senior Faculty Retrospectives on Mentoring

Abstract This qualitative study investigates the role of mentoring over a career in health education faculty at research intensive universities. A nonrandom sample of senior faculty (N=11), whose teaching experience ranged from 20 to 33 years in the classroom, was interviewed. Inductive content analysis was used to identify important themes related to mentoring. The results indicated that the participants had several mentors, they valued long-lasting mentoring relationships, and almost all agreed mentors made a definite impact on their careers. The participants viewed their role of mentor as an obligation to fulfill professional responsibilities, their relationships with students as invigorating, and their role as “legacy creators” as awe-inspiring. In conclusion, having a guide, counselor, and/or role model to ease assimilation into a department, college, and profession was viewed as critical to optimal career development.

Sustaining Enthusiasm in the Classroom: Reinvestment Strategies that Work.

OBJECTIVE To identify reinvestment strategies of 11 senior health-education faculty from 3 degree programs. METHODS Data from individual, in-depth interviews were inductively analyzed for content. RESULTS The identified strategies grouped around 6 themes: growth and success in work, realization of an optimal fit into profession, investment into interpersonal relationships, focus on stimulating and uplifting experiences, pursuit of professional/personal balance, and problems and coping. CONCLUSIONS Reinvestment is a very complex process that may be mediated by frequent experience of positive emotions. Further research needs to employ a positive perspective and investigate variables from different levels of analysis.

Optimizing an Outdoor Experience for Experiential Learning by Decreasing Boredom through Mindfulness Training.

00 often we spend our lives either in the future T worrying and planning about events that have not yet happened, or in the past regretting events that have already occurred. In contrast, we spend little time being fully present and engaged in life as it is actually happening (Kornfield, 1993). The former condition is called mindlessness or forgetfulness, and the latter condition is called mindfulness (Hanh, 1987; Langer, 1989). Mindfulness increases awareness, facilitates how information is processed, enhances insight and learning, and promotes unity and creativity (KabatZinn, 1990; Langer, 1989). Mindfulness training emphasizes learning through experience, rather than didactically by lecture or instruction (Kornfield, 1993). The essential elements of mindfulness training compare markedly with the characteristics required for experiential education (Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 1984) and optimal experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). According to Kolb (1984), experiential learning involves adaptation that is based in process, grounded in experience, resolves dualities, maintains holism, and is transactional (subjective and personal and yet objective and environmental) and dynamically spiral (personal and the objective). As mentioned above, this is markedly similar to mindfulness training which is also process oriented, direct and immediate, resolving dualities, holistic (unity of opposites), and transactional (internal mirrored in the external) and interconnected (Hanh, 1996; Kabat-Zinn, 1990; Kornfield, 1993). In mindfulness training, the student is cautioned to not follow the finger only pointing at the moon, but to experience the moon itself directly. The focus is on the immediate experience, not on the abstractions resulting from conceptual formations. In fact, Kolb (1984) later describes experiential learning relative to eastern approaches and uses the Mandala, from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, as a symbol for the resolution of dualities and gaining integrity through “centering.” Meditation is traditionally a method of centering and relating to one’s true nature (Buddha nature) or center in relation to our outward experiences. Studies on mindfulness and the processing of information help to explain why experiential learning may be enhanced through this type of training. For example, Langer and co-workers (Langer & Piper, 1987; Langer, 1989; 1992) have found that persons who are being mindful are more able to actively construct categories and make clearer distinctions with information received, processed, and retrieved. Their thinking is not automatic or based on habit or past orientations and guides. Their perspectives are multiple and flexible, not narrow or rigid. Similarities between mindfulness and creativity have also been noticed (Langer, 1989). Other researchers have also shown a change in perception that increased the mindfully trained participants ability to make finer discriminations of light flashes \of shorter duration than non-meditators

Follow up Retrospective Study of Compliance With a Standard of Care for Retinopathy of Prematurity in One Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

A retrospective chart review was conducted to determine the impact of recently instituted guidelines on compliance with the standard of care for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at the University of Utah Medical Center. In a previous study, it was found that infants eligible for participation in a National Institutes of Health-funded study of ROP were routinely receiving screening eye examinations, whereas infants who qualified for ROP screening according to the standard of care, but not eligible for the study, were seen infrequently. Consequently, a plan to improve the compliance with the standard of care for all infants who fit the standard criteria was implemented. The comparison revealed significant improvement in compliance rates. In one subgrouping of infants, compliance rose from three of 16 (18.75%) infants screened for ROP according to the standard of care, to nine of 11 (82%) infants screened for ROP according to the revised standard. This increase in compliance appears to be due to adherence to guidelines recommended in an earlier study, which included increasing staff awareness of the standard of care, designating a person to schedule and track infants who fit the screening criteria, and including the need for ROP screening on the admission and discharge summary.