Integration of the Client Self-Care Commitment Model in a dental hygiene curriculum.

OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study investigated whether integration of the Client Self-Care Commitment Model (CSCCM) Instructional Module in a dental hygiene curriculum, as an additional educational experience, would further enhance students' client-centred knowledge, values and actions. METHODS: Subjects (n = 26) were second-year students enrolled in a BS entry-level dental hygiene programme with random assignments to two groups. The experimental group participated in a 2-h didactic session, an 8-h preclinical session, an 8-h clinical session and a 1-h question and answer period. An online pretest-post-test survey administered at three time intervals (baseline, 3 and 6 weeks) was used to measure differences between the groups on three subscales (knowledge, values and actions). RESULTS: Cronbach's α for each subscale across time was above 0.90. A repeated-measures anova determined that there were no statistically significant interactions between Time and Group (experimental or control group) for the knowledge and values variables; however, there was a significant interaction between Time (P = 0.003) and Group (P = 0.033) for the actions variable. A content analysis of participants' responses to three open-ended questions reflected both positive and negative comments and revealed that students' primary barrier to implementing the model in client care was lack of time. CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences in the actions variable between the groups suggested that implementation of the CSCCM Instructional Module enhanced students' client-centred actions during client care.

A conveyor belt task for assessing visuo-motor coordination in the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus): effects of diazepam, chlorpromazine, pentobarbital and d-amphetamine.

A conveyor belt task for assessing visuo-motor coordination in the marmoset is described. Animals are motivated by apple, a preferred food, under a state of minimal food deprivation. The apparatus used was designed to test animals within their home cages and not restrained in any way, thus avoiding possible confounding factors associated with restraint stress. Stable baseline levels of performance were reached by all animals in a median of 24 sessions. Performance was shown to be differentially sensitive to the effects of four psychoactive drugs. Moderate doses of diazepam, chlorpromazine and pentobarbital disrupted visuo-motor coordination in a dose-related manner. The possibility that disruption of performance observed at higher doses may have resulted from non-specific actions of these drugs such as decreases in feeding motivation were not supported by results from ancillary experiments. Changes in performance characteristic of high dose effects were similar in nature to changes observed when the degree of task difficulty was increased. Doses of d-amphetamine up to and including those reported to produce signs of stereotypy failed to influence performance. The potential of the conveyor belt task for measuring visuo-motor coordination in both primate and rodent species is discussed.