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BACKGROUND: Support in primary care can assist smokers to quit successfully, but there are barriers to general practitioners (GPs) providing this support routinely. Practice nurses (PNs) may be able to effectively take on this role. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to perform a process evaluation of a PN-led smoking cessation intervention being tested in a randomized controlled trial in Australian general practice. METHODS: Process evaluation was conducted by means of semi-structured telephone interviews with GPs and PNs allocated in the intervention arm (Quit with PN) of the Quit in General Practice trial. Interviews focussed on nurse training, content and implementation of the intervention. RESULTS: Twenty-two PNs and 15 GPs participated in the interviews. The Quit with PN intervention was viewed positively. Most PNs were satisfied with the training and the materials provided. Some challenges in managing patient data and follow-up were identified. CONCLUSION: The Quit with PN intervention was acceptable to participating PNs and GPs. Issues to be addressed in the planning and wider implementation of future trials of nurse-led intervention in general practice include providing ongoing mentoring support, integration into practice management systems and strategies to promote greater collaboration in GPs and PN teams in general practice. The ongoing feasibility of the intervention was impacted by the funding model supporting PN employment and the competing demands on the PNs time.

Behavior change is the foundation for effective lifestyle prescriptions, yet such change is individualized, nonlinear and typically requires ongoing support. Health and wellness coaching (HWC) is a behavior change intervention with rapidly accruing evidence of positive impact on health behaviors such as exercise, nutrition and stress management. Furthermore, HWC enhances prevention and mitigates exacerbation of chronic lifestyle diseases, at least in the short-term (up to 6 months post intervention). Although the impact on long-term stability of behavior change remains unclear, it is evident that effective partnering with patients using key communication strategies, autonomy promotion, and flexible permissiveness can empower patients to develop healthy lifestyles. This partnership can be cultivated by clinicians as well as clinical team members including nationally board-certified coaches. Although much research is needed regarding the ongoing maintenance of lifestyle changes beyond 6 months, this article seeks to equip clinicians with current evidence, theoretical insights and practical strategies from a "coach approach" to foster more intrinsic forms of motivation which, in turn, empowers patients to adopt and maintain health-promoting behaviors.

Virtual reality (VR) started about 50 years ago in a form we would recognize today [stereo head-mounted display (HMD), head tracking, computer graphics generated images] – although the hardware was completely different. In the 1980s and 1990s, VR emerged again based on a different generation of hardware (e.g., CRT displays rather than vector refresh, electromagnetic tracking instead of mechanical). This reached the attention of the public, and VR was hailed by many engineers, scientists, celebrities, and business people as the beginning of a new era, when VR would soon change the world for the better. Then, VR disappeared from public view and was rumored to be “dead.” In the intervening 25 years a huge amount of research has nevertheless been carried out across a vast range of applications – from medicine to business, from psychotherapy to industry, from sports to travel. Scientists, engineers, and people working in industry carried on with their research and applications using and exploring different forms of VR, not knowing that actually the topic had already passed away.
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\nThe purpose of this article is to survey a range of VR applications where there is some evidence for, or at least debate about, its utility, mainly based on publications in peer-reviewed journals. Of course not every type of application has been covered, nor every scientific paper (about 186,000 papers in Google Scholar): in particular, in this review we have not covered applications in psychological or medical rehabilitation. The objective is that the reader becomes aware of what has been accomplished in VR, where the evidence is weaker or stronger, and what can be done. We start in Section 1 with an outline of what VR is and the major conceptual framework used to understand what happens when people experience it – the concept of “presence.” In Section 2, we review some areas where VR has been used in science – mostly psychology and neuroscience, the area of scientific visualization, and some remarks about its use in education and surgical training. In Section 3, we discuss how VR has been used in sports and exercise. In Section 4, we survey applications in social psychology and related areas – how VR has been used to throw light on some social phenomena, and how it can be used to tackle experimentally areas that cannot be studied experimentally in real life. We conclude with how it has been used in the preservation of and access to cultural heritage. In Section 5, we present the domain of moral behavior, including an example of how it might be used to train professionals such as medical doctors when confronting serious dilemmas with patients. In Section 6, we consider how VR has been and might be used in various aspects of travel, collaboration, and industry. In Section 7, we consider mainly the use of VR in news presentation and also discuss different types of VR. In the concluding Section 8, we briefly consider new ideas that have recently emerged – an impossible task since during the short time we have written this page even newer ideas have emerged! And, we conclude with some general considerations and speculations.
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\nThroughout and wherever possible we have stressed novel applications and approaches and how the real power of VR is not necessarily to produce a faithful reproduction of “reality” but rather that it offers the possibility to step outside of the normal bounds of reality and realize goals in a totally new and unexpected way. We hope that our article will provoke readers to think as paradigm changers, and advance VR to realize different worlds that might have a positive impact on the lives of millions of people worldwide, and maybe even help a little in saving the planet.

Student-athletes are suggested to be an at-risk population for experiencing psychological distress, and coaches have been identified as support providers for distressed athletes. However, little is known about the interactions between student-athletes and their coaches when athletes disclose psychological distress. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of student-athletes disclosing psychological distress to university coaches. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 student-athletes (2 male, 13 female; Mage = 24.5 years) and 15 university coaches (11 male, 4 female; Mage = 41.9 years). Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis. Results indicated that perceived barriers (emphasis on athlete toughness, power of coaches, athlete’s position on a team, poor visibility of distress, and previous negative experiences with disclosure) discouraged student-athletes from disclosing distress and suggest that barriers may be overcome by coaches fostering supportive team cultures. Strategies for coaches to establish supportive team cultures were identified, such as building diverse coaching staff, using nondiscriminatory language, and role-modeling desired behaviors. Based on the findings, guidelines are provided for effective coach support following disclosure. This research suggests that coaches have the potential to positively influence student-athletes’ disclosures of psychological distress and facilitate the process of athletes seeking help; however, clearer boundaries need to be established to govern the appropriate role of coaches in supporting psychologically distressed student-athletes. Lay Summary We examined experiences of student-athlete disclosures of psychological distress to university coaches. Barriers, such as previous negative experiences with disclosure, perceptions of athlete toughness, and the athlete’s position on the team, prevented athletes from disclosing distress. Strategies for coaches to create cultures that support athlete help-seeking behaviors are presented.Implications for Practice:As a frontline preventative measure in supporting the psychological well-being of student-athletes, coaches should establish team cultures that address perceived barriers to disclosure and encourage athlete help seeking behaviors. Coaches may foster desired team cultures by applying recommendations made by the present research, such as adopting a holistic coaching philosophy, speaking openly with athletes about psychological distress, and providing transparent selection criteria.When working with psychologically distressed student-athletes, coaches should engage in immediate, short-, and long-term support practices inclusive of responding supportively to athletes’ initial disclosures, assisting athletes in developing plans for managing their distress, and maintaining consistent communication and engagement with the athlete throughout the recovery process.Coaches should prioritize the development of coach-athlete relationships founded on trust and bidirectional communication with student-athletes to facilitate student-athletes’ willingness and abilities to disclose distress and access early support.

"The volume begins by reviewing the causes and correlates of peer rejection, examining both the characteristics of individual victims and the group dynamics involved. Interview excerpts and case examples illustrate the various forms that peer rejection processes can take during the grade-school years, and implications for social-emotional development and mental health are discussed. Subsequent sections delve into the nuts and bolts of assessment and intervention." "Offering invaluable recommendations for practice that are solidly grounded in the empirical literature, this book belongs on the desks of developmental, child clinical, and school psychologists; education professionals; and researchers and students in these areas. It will serve as a primary or supplemental text in advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses."--BOOK JACKET.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; mso-themecolor: text1;">The strategic business plan for any organization is very specific regarding sales force objectives and activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Therefore, those responsible for the human capital of the sales function<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>must be prepared to work directly with their sales employees, in an effort to meet management agreed upon goals, to gain market share, and to continuously improve overall performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Over the years, the task of managing sales employees has been varied and undefined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Managing has been referred to as “the art of getting things done through people.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>For decades, experts have included planning, organizing, staffing, influencing or commanding, and controlling as the systematic way of making things happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Recently, this commanding function has been dropped in preference to leading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It has been proven that coaching is more effective than the old approach of using fear and intimidation to achieve sales management objectives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This paper focuses on the need for these sales supervisors/managers to change their previously used tactics and embrace a new, proactive approach of “Coaching” their sales employees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This new approach is described in detail below and will help unlock the mysteries of becoming a viable and proactive sales supervisor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It will also give supervisors the tools needed to meet the needs of management and create a more productive, independent sales force. “Coaching” is becoming the leading preference for supervisors and managers, because it is proving to be more effective than previous used conventional methods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Coaching is the art of continually assessing and developing sales people, so </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><strong>they can be empowered</strong></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; mso-themecolor: text1;"> to do their jobs well!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Often, the conventional methods included command functioning tactics of fear and intimidation to motivate sales personnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>By using the “Coaching” approach, supervisors and managers have more control of their sales staff and of achieving their management goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>By developing a coaching relationship, which includes encouragement, listening, counseling, providing positive feedback, being supportive, resourcefulness, thinking with the future in mind, and modeling, these supervisors can give rise to a foundation where sales employees will be energized, aligned, and collectively mobilized to achieve and sustain customer satisfaction and trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>In so doing, sales employees will also be empowered to meet management’s strategic goals.</span></span></p>

BACKGROUND: Many eHealth technologies are not successful in realizing sustainable innovations in health care practices. One of the reasons for this is that the current development of eHealth technology often disregards the interdependencies between technology, human characteristics, and the socioeconomic environment, resulting in technology that has a low impact in health care practices. To overcome the hurdles with eHealth design and implementation, a new, holistic approach to the development of eHealth technologies is needed, one that takes into account the complexity of health care and the rituals and habits of patients and other stakeholders. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this viewpoint paper is to improve the uptake and impact of eHealth technologies by advocating a holistic approach toward their development and eventual integration in the health sector. METHODS: To identify the potential and limitations of current eHealth frameworks (1999-2009), we carried out a literature search in the following electronic databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Knowledge, PiCarta, and Google Scholar. Of the 60 papers that were identified, 44 were selected for full review. We excluded those papers that did not describe hands-on guidelines or quality criteria for the design, implementation, and evaluation of eHealth technologies (28 papers). From the results retrieved, we identified 16 eHealth frameworks that matched the inclusion criteria. The outcomes were used to posit strategies and principles for a holistic approach toward the development of eHealth technologies; these principles underpin our holistic eHealth framework. RESULTS: A total of 16 frameworks qualified for a final analysis, based on their theoretical backgrounds and visions on eHealth, and the strategies and conditions for the research and development of eHealth technologies. Despite their potential, the relationship between the visions on eHealth, proposed strategies, and research methods is obscure, perhaps due to a rather conceptual approach that focuses on the rationale behind the frameworks rather than on practical guidelines. In addition, the Web 2.0 technologies that call for a more stakeholder-driven approach are beyond the scope of current frameworks. To overcome these limitations, we composed a holistic framework based on a participatory development approach, persuasive design techniques, and business modeling. CONCLUSIONS: To demonstrate the impact of eHealth technologies more effectively, a fresh way of thinking is required about how technology can be used to innovate health care. It also requires new concepts and instruments to develop and implement technologies in practice. The proposed framework serves as an evidence-based roadmap.

This paper reports qualitative findings regarding the concepts and practices utilised in talent identification (TI) among professional coaches working in English youth soccer. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, detailed interviews with seven such coaches are explored, with a view to elucidating the links between understanding, practice, experience and professional context. Findings reveal three superordinate themes, relating to (1) a primarily ‘nurtured’ and trainable understanding of the broad concept of talent itself, (2) an ostensibly contradictory model of semi-static player psychology, and (3) a highly selective mechanism for separating evidence for ‘mental strength’ and ‘social skills’. It is contended that these findings underscore a case for more thorough interrogation of the real worlds inhabited by coaches, such that ideas about ‘good practice’ in TI might be more effectively reconciled with grounded knowledge of the practical everyday necessities of being a coach.

Since Heidegger's influential text; Being and time (1927/2005), the phenomenological question of what it means to ‘be’ has generated a vast body of work. This paper reports data from a phenomenological study that investigated what it means to ‘be’ a youth performance coach. An overview of the interpretive phenomenological methods used is followed by presentation of coaches and data. Data analysis resulted in the identification of three constituent ‘essences’ of youth performance coaching: (i) care; (ii) a commitment to educate athletes authentically for corporeal challenges to come; and (iii) working with others to achieve a specialised corporeal excellence. The three identified essences manifest themselves in a broad lifeworld that includes settings on and off the field of play (FOP). Given the very different insights into the practice of coaching that emerge from this study, we argue it would be useful for future studies of coaching practice and coach education to extend their focus to take into account coaches' wider lives both on and off the FOP. We also argue for further exploration of coaching by drawing on phenomenological concepts such as care and relationality.