Current status of foreign languages teaching at technical universities

В настоящей статье рассматриваются вопросы, направленные на совершенствование организации образовательного процесса по иностранным языкам в неязыковом вузе, повышение уровня его качества и эффективности обучения.This article deals with questions oriented to improvement of the learning process in foreign languages at nonlinguistic higher educational establishments, to enhancing the transferability of learning, learning experience and efficiency

Psychological functioning after hysterectomy.

During the past lew years a number of publications regarding the negative effects of hysterectomy have been published in the professional literature as well as in the lay press. This dissertation is a report of a study on the psychological functioning of women after hysterectomy, performed because of the impression these publications made upon us, and because of the regular confrontation in our clinical practice with patients having problems after hysterectomy. ... Zie: Summary

Medical students learning the pelvic examination: Comparison of outcome in terms of skills between a professional patient and a clinical patient model

Objective: To compare two models of learning the pelvic examination (PE) for medical students, with professional patients (PP) or with clinical patients (CP), by measuring perceived distress and learning outcome in terms of skills. Methods: Prospective longitudinal study. Assessments of self-perceived distress on four occasions at the prospect of performing a PE. Evaluation of the learning session (LS) and clinical clerkship concerning outcome of palpation skills. Results: During the LS, students in the PP model (PP students) received enough guidance from their coaches, were certain they had palpated the uterus and at least one ovary, and were less distressed afterwards compared with students who were instructed using the CP model (CP students). During the clinical clerkship, the PP students performed twice as many PEs as CP students did and had more often confirmed palpating the uterus and an ovary. Conclusion: PP students were more skilful in palpating the uterus and ovaries and performed more PEs during the clinical clerkship than did CP students. Practice implications: Engaging healthy and voluntary women as PPs takes time and effort. It is, however, worthwhile as it increases the confidence of students who perform PEs, makes them more competent, and ultimately improves their skills in performing the examination during their clinical clerkship. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

I will be at deaths door and realize that Ive wasted maybe half of my life on one body part: the experience of living with body dysmorphic disorder

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of patients living with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), including their experiences with the health care system. Methods: Fifteen individuals with BDD were interviewed, and interpretive description was used to analyse the interviews. Results: The following six themes were identified: being absorbed in time-consuming procedures, facing tension between ones own ideal and the perceived reality, becoming the disorder, being restricted in life, attempting to reduce ones problems and striving to receive care. The overarching concept derived from the themes was feeling imprisoned - struggling to become free and to no longer feel abnormal. Conclusions: Ideas of imprisonment and abnormality compose the entire experience of living with this disorder. Although the participants suffered greatly from their BDD, these patients encountered difficulties in accessing health care and had disappointing experiences during their encounters with the health care system. Therefore, it is important to increase awareness and knowledge of BDD among health care professionals to ensure that patients with BDD receive the appropriate care

Validation of the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire in a community sample of Swedish women

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is characterized by a distressing and impairing preoccupation with a nonexistent or slight defect in appearance. Patients with the disorder present to both psychiatric and non-psychiatric physicians. A few studies have assessed BDD prevalence in the general population and have shown that the disorder is relatively common. To date, no BDD assessment instruments have been validated in the general population. Our aim was to validate a brief self-screening instrument, the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire (BDDQ), in a female community sample. The BDDQ was translated into Swedish and filled out by 2891 women from a randomly selected community sample. The questionnaire was validated in a subsample of 88 women, using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) together with clinical assessment as the gold standard. In the validation subsample, the BDDQ showed good concurrent validity, with a sensitivity of 94%, a specificity of 90% and a likelihood ratio of 9.4. The questionnaire can therefore be of value when screening for BDD in female populations

Body dysmorphic disorder in female Swedish dermatology patients

BackgroundIndividuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are highly distressed and impaired owing to perceived defects in their physical appearance that are not noticeable to others. They are frequently concerned about their skin and often present to dermatologists rather than psychiatrists. However, BDD patients attending dermatology clinics may be at risk of not receiving an appropriate assessment and beneficial treatment. The aims of this study were to estimate the BDD prevalence rate among Swedish female dermatology patients and to assess the psychological condition of BDD patients compared to that of other dermatology patients. MethodsThe occurrence of BDD was estimated using the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire (BDDQ), a validated self-report measure for BDD. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and quality of life was assessed using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). ResultsThe prevalence rate of BDD among female Swedish dermatology patients was 4.9% (95% CI 3.2-7.4). Anxiety (HADS A11) was 4-fold more commonly reported by patients with positive BDD screening (48% vs. 11%), and depression (HADS D11) was over 10-fold more common in patients with positive BDD screening (19% vs. 1.8%) (Pamp;lt;0.001). The median DLQI score was 18 in the BDD group, compared to a score of 4 in the non-BDD group (Pamp;lt;0.001). ConclusionsOur results indicate that BDD is fairly common among female Swedish dermatology patients (4.9%) and that BDD patients have high levels of depression and anxiety and severely impaired quality of life