Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) appears to achieve its effects at least in part by fostering the development of CBT skills. In an effort to leverage CBT skill development, our group developed and tested a skill-enhanced version of CBT (CBT-SE) in a recent trial. In this paper, we describe our work with a client who participated in a 12-week course of CBT-SE as part of that trial. Although homework is a critical aspect of CBT, the greater emphasis on skill development in CBT-SE means that homework is even more central. This client\'s course of treatment illustrates the potential benefits of a strong focus on skill development and the use of specific homework assignments to foster mastery and ongoing use of CBT skills. The client developed CBT skills at a rapid pace early in treatment and exhibited enduring symptom reductions. The experience of this client reinforces the value of a focus on CBT skills and highlights strategies for fostering skill development. Given the evidence in support of the therapeutic value of CBT skills and the well-established benefits of homework assignment, we encourage use of skill enhancing procedures, including in-session procedures and assignments that help clients develop and maintain ongoing skill use.

Biomedical sciences graduates are employed in a variety of different settings and form a significant part of the Life Sciences sector workforce in Scotland. Their degrees should equip them with the skills and knowledge to not only enter the workplace, but be adaptable in an environment that will inevitably change over the course of their careers. Industry and student feedback continue to identify perceived skills gaps, necessitating regular government-backed upskilling initiatives together with industry concerns about graduate readiness. For more than a decade, this Scottish Modern University has worked in partnership with industry and Scottish Government agencies to provide upskilling courses and incorporate relevant skills into the biomedical sciences curriculum, from problem solving and reflection to more applied, practical skills. Using the recent Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network collaboration as an instrumental case study this paper describes current best practice which has significantly impacted teaching and workplace training, ensuring biomedical sciences graduates have the knowledge and skills required for employment within the Life Science sector. Limits to the current life science skills model in Scotland are also identified (availability of placements, ad-hoc and inefficient collaborative structures, incompatible provider strategies) and recommendations made to ensure that biomedical sciences degrees continue to be part of a more sustainable, scalable solution to the skills gap. Recommendations include: better industry acknowledgement of accreditation, and more coherent, authentic and strategic collaboration which should improve skills advice and training, through a supported alliance between Industry and University Life Science Skills Committees and the establishment of regional training Centres of Excellence that would provide a focus for pooled resources and a simulated industry experience.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the usefulness of decision coaching for people with kidney failure facing decisions about end-of-life care.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate experiences of people with kidney failure who received decision coaching for end-of-life care decisions.
METHODS: We conducted a prospective case study bound by time (September to December 2021), location (one nephrology department), and guided by the Ottawa Decision Support Framework.
METHODS: Adults with kidney failure facing end-of-life care decisions.
METHODS: A nurse trained in decision coaching screened for unmet decisional needs with the SURE test and provided decision coaching using the Ottawa Personal Decision Guide. Postcoaching, the participants were rescreened using the SURE test and interviewed to explore their experience with decision coaching. Change in SURE test findings was analysed descriptively and systematic text condensation was used for the analysis of interviews. Recorded decision coaching sessions underwent content analysis using the Decision Support Analysis Tool.
RESULTS: Decision coaching was provided to four adults with kidney failure. Median pre-SURE test score was 2.5 (range 2-4) and posttest score was 3 (range 3-4), indicating a decrease in decisional needs. Participants described that decision coaching provided an overview of features of options to consider, identified remaining decisional needs for further discussion with relatives and health professionals and clarified next steps. Median Decision Support Analysis Tool score was 9 (range 8-9).
CONCLUSIONS: After decision coaching, results suggest that the participants experienced fewer decisional needs and seemed clearer about the next steps in the decision making process.

Communication and planning are skills expected among graduates. However, a skills deficit continues to be present among students. To address this problem, here we considered the final year project (FYP), a widely used way of working on skills in STEM degrees. Furthermore, we took into account recent research that highlights the importance of students\' thoughts, beliefs, and emotions, in addition to characteristics such as self-efficacy or self-management within the learning process. Here a framework was designed around a semi-guided learning approach, with the aim of improving STEM students\' skills and providing them with a work context that facilitates favorable behaviors and feelings associated with writing their FYP report. This framework, implemented in a Spanish university in Madrid, was designed to accomplish their work during restricted face-to-face work due to COVID-19. Through mixed-focus surveys, the perceptions of 55 students (male/female ratio = 4) were collected in relation to what the framework had provided them. The results showed that most of the students perceived improvement both in planning and written communication skills. The qualitative analysis also allowed us to determine the most common difficulties found among students, as well as benefits provided by the framework, among which they highlighted, greater efficiency in the writing process and help to ensure the quality of the FYP report. Our findings allow promoting beneficial results for STEM student and support the idea of considering the cognitive-emotional context of the student as a part of the environment in which to develop facilitating tools for learning and skills development.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10639-022-11231-0.

As the field of behavior analysis expands, our need to develop ourselves as more effective collaborators, particularly with families who may be the primary consumers of our science, becomes paramount. As scientists, our training lies primarily in the behavior analytic technologies that we study and apply. But our ability to disseminate our science, collaborate with non-behavior analysts, and ultimately grow our field hinges on our ability to navigate interpersonal situations in a way that puts forth compassion and humanity. We have the opportunity and capability to use our empirical procedures to implement and assess the effectiveness of interventions that target the soft skills of our field. The current article discusses the benefits of empathic and collaborative approaches in fields related to behavior analysis and provides suggestions for current behavior analysts to incorporate compassionate care into their practices. We provide a checklist for compassionate interactions accompanied by possibilities for its use as a tool for self-evaluation, procedural fidelity, and comprehensive training in the area of collaboration with families. Finally, we discuss areas for future research with respect to assessing and improving behavior analysts\' compassionate approaches to treatment.

BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding education is key to undergraduate nursing, nutrition, and medicine students\' study programs. All students should be prepared to support and inform mothers about the best infant feeding methods. However, students may not be receiving adequate training to provide this support during their preparation.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore if the Learning Units of the study programs of the bachelor\'s degrees in medicine, nursing, and nutrition, incorporate theoretical/practical content regarding breastfeeding and to evaluate whether these contents cover requirements related to knowledge and skills in breastfeeding recommended by international organizations for student\'s health area.
METHODS: Descriptive.
METHODS: In the study programs of the bachelor\'s degrees, we identified the Learning Units that described theoretical/practical contents related to the subject of breastfeeding, to later contrast this training with the objectives in knowledge and skills in breastfeeding that the students in the health area should receive during their academic education, according to international recommendations.
RESULTS: The three study programs offer content on breastfeeding. The degrees in nursing and medicine manage to review a more significant number of training contents, unlike nutrition. However, the knowledge and skills targeted and identified do not seem to approach the knowledge and skills recommended by international institutions.
CONCLUSIONS: Several knowledge and skills need to be addressed during the training of health students. Thematic content and educational strategies must be improved and implemented to improve their breastfeeding training.

The activity of scientists promotes medical research in health services. However, on many occasions, these professionals do not know how to transfer their research results to the market. Therefore, it is worth providing data on aspects such as training in entrepreneurship and scientific mobility to foster knowledge transfer. This paper discusses data on the Spanish case in Health Sciences to devise effective policies in these areas. To this end, following the methodology of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report and the existing scientific literature, 291 researchers involved in scientific mobility in Spain have been interviewed. Of these, 90 belonged to health areas: Spanish scientists abroad (37), Scientists returned to Spain (16), and Young researchers in Spain (37). The results show that the mobile scientists in this area have more entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial intentions, have acquired more entrepreneurial skills, and have received more training in these subjects. Furthermore, there are few permanent positions for all these groups whose mobility decisions fundamentally depend on job opportunities, so the health authorities can intensify these measures to promote knowledge transfer.

The aim of this paper is to present the methodology and results of a study on the role played by an institution in higher education, the ESIC Business & Marketing School, in teaching different master\'s degree programmes to examine whether they respond to the demands of potential entrepreneurs who are seeking to acquire the tools and develop the skills necessary to eventually become successful. The main conclusions were that the students with the intention of achieving a higher level of entrepreneurial skills were enroled in the Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programme without omitting other master\'s degree programmes also chosen by students with entrepreneurial concerns. It was also found that the variable with the highest impact on entrepreneurial motivation was family environment. Our data lead us to maintain that these students were not always going to start up a new business. The originality of this paper comes from our survey with 1,135 responses from the master\'s degree programmes taught in five cities in Spain with the inclusion of an analysis for LATAM students.

To determine the impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on operative case volume in 8 U.S. neurosurgical residency training programs in early 2020 and to survey these programs regarding training activities during this period.
A retrospective review was conducted of monthly operative case volumes and types for 8 residency programs for 2019 and January through April 2020. Cases were grouped as elective cranial, elective spine, and nonelective emergent cases. Programs were surveyed regarding residents\' perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 on surgical training, didactics, and research participation. Data were analyzed for individual programs and pooled across programs.
Across programs, the 2019 monthly mean ± SD case volume was 211 ± 82; 2020 mean ± SD case volumes for January, February, March, and April were 228 ± 93, 214 ± 84, 180 ± 73, and 107 ± 45. Compared with 2019, March and April 2020 mean cases declined 15% (P = 0.003) and 49% (P = 0.002), respectively. COVID-19 affected surgical case volume for all programs; 75% reported didactics negatively affected, and 90% reported COVID-19 resulted in increased research time. Several neurosurgery residents required COVID-19 testing; however, to our knowledge, only 1 resident from the participating programs tested positive.
This study documents a significant reduction in operative volume in 8 neurosurgery residency training programs in early 2020. During this time, neurosurgery residents engaged in online didactics and research-related activities, reporting increased research productivity. Residency programs should collect data to determine the educational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on residents\' operative case volumes, identify deficiencies, and develop plans to mitigate any effects.

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of international students has been enrolling in medical studies in the English language offered by the countries of Eastern Europe. Development of practical skills is likely more challenging when students learn in the English language, while their patients are non-English speaking persons.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate self-perception of practical skills of medical students in the English language program.
METHODS: From December 2016 to December 2017, a total of 52 students from the Studies in English program of two universities in Serbia were included in the study. Data were obtained by a previously validated questionnaire.
RESULTS: Participants were most confident when measuring blood pressure, checking the arterial pulse, and taking history. Students were the least confident when placing urinary catheters, performing rectal examinations, and suturing wounds. Male students reported higher confidence in \"Major interventions\" compared to females (p = 0.004), and no difference between male and female students was found in the total skill score of \"knowledge of Serbian language\" (p = 0.339). Adjusted analysis showed that a higher grade point average remains associated with a more confident perception of one\'s practical skills (B 26.48, 95% confidence interval 8.98-43.98). Rasch analysis showed that because the scores were distributed around the mean value between \"not confident at all\" and \"quite confident,\" the majority of students had similar perceptions of their skills.
CONCLUSIONS: Active supervision by teaching staff is also recommended in an attempt to rectify the lack of confidence at performing a range of clinical procedures which is present among international students.