The United Kingdom general practitioner and palliative care model

Within the United Kingdom, the general practitioner (GP) will manage the care of the majority of patients with life-limiting and terminal disease. The need for effective communication is recognized in the general practice curriculum and college examinations. The opportunity to review and critique one’s own communication skills allows considerable opportunity for self-directed learning and reflection. The development of a reflective portfolio of learning has been developed as a user-friendly and cost-effective way for the general practitioner to commit to lifelong learning in the context of communicating with palliative care patients. This chapter describes several models that can help deliver an evidence-based template of training, supported by a simple toolkit with which to empower GPs to enhance their communication skills throughout their professional careers.

Cheating on College Examinations

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of contexts on cheating attitudes and behavior among Brazilian undergraduates. Participants were 77 Previous Choice Engineering and 70 Late Choice Engineering students. Previous Choice students enter the desired field chosen by examination, whereas Late Choice students' grades during the two first college years give them preference to choose the field. Their self-reported attitudes and behaviors were compared with those of 82 chemistry undergraduates from two universities (UNI-C and USP-C). The Late Choice students reported significant negative opinion about cheating, whereas Previous Choice students, especially women, reported significant favorable opinion. Furthermore, Previous Choice students reported colleagues more frequently gave them answers on examinations than Late Choice students. The two university groups in chemistry had intermediate scores. Deterrents of cheating strongly embedded in the student culture were found among Late Choice engineering undergraduates which may be explained by social learning theory.

Religion and Perceived Stress among Undergraduates during Fall 2001 Final Examinations

To examine the relationship of religion and perceived stress, 97 undergraduate college students responded to the Perceived Stress Scale, the Spiritual Well-being Scale, and the Intrinsic/Extrinsic–Revised scale during a period of extreme national stressors during Fall 2001, namely, the September 11th terrorist attacks, anthrax scare, and war in Afghanistan, in addition to the local stressor of pending final college examinations. Scores on the Perceived Stress Scale were negatively correlated to scores on Existential Well-being (–.66), Religious Well-being (–.43), and Intrinsic Religious Orientation (–.44). Age was unrelated to all variables. Both the quality (well-being) of students' religious experience and the orientation of that experience were related to their perception of stress.