A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE ENABLING A RAPID RESPONSE IN TRANSFORMING BIOCHEMISTRY LABORATORY TEACHING

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has meant the adoption of emergency remote teaching by many who teach at university. This has been a particular challenge for courses that include essential hands-on practical skill development. The prior establishment of our Community of Practice, aimed at transforming laboratory education, has meant we have been able to respond rapidly to the challenge of moving face-to-face laboratory teaching to online sessions. Biochemistry students at University of Western Australia already complete their pre-laboratory reading and quiz asynchronously online, following the “Prepare, Do, Review” model. Students then attend face-to-face laboratory and post-laboratory sessions. We have now developed online laboratory and post-lab sessions using Zoom and incorporating videos of laboratory procedures. Students deliver oral presentations in the post-lab and the summative quiz is now asynchronous and online. The changes have provided the impetus for reviewing other laboratory sessions, and the introduction of electronic laboratory notebooks. We have also expanded our Community of Practice with a team of postdoctoral researchers to ensure the techniques students are learning are contemporary and relevant to research. We will discuss the challenges in implementing the changes we have made, and the gains in the development of new resources and teaching strategies

Acceptance and commitment therapy group-treatment for non-responsive patients with personality disorders: an exploratory study

Patients with personality disorders who did not respond to previous outpatient treatment are among the most challenging patients to treat and are often referred to specialized settings. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an innovative therapy that has shown effectiveness in treatment-resistant cases with chronic or recurrent depression with or without co-morbid personality disorders. The central role that ACT accords to positive values and experiential avoidance may enhance treatment responsivity in patients with personality disorders that did not respond to previous treatments. The current nonrandomized study explored the effectiveness of a 26-week ACT-based group treatment (n = 60) for personality disorders compared to treatment-as-usual (n = 21) based on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-TAU) at a specialized setting for patients with personality disorders. Individuals in both treatment conditions demonstrated small to moderate decreases in general psychological functioning and personality pathology. There was no main effect of therapy condition. Overall, results suggest that ACT is a possible treatment option for individuals with difficult-to-treat personality pathology and further outcome research is warranted