Interprofessional Education: Psychology Trainee Experiences and Perspectives on Team Skills.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is defined as educational activities involving trainees from two or more professions learning about, from, and with each other with the goal of building team-based collaboration skills. The degree to which psychology trainees are involved in IPE is unknown. A national survey was distributed to gather information regarding the nature and prevalence of IPE experiences and psychology trainees' perceived competence in collaboration skills. Participant responses (n = 143) are presented overall and by training level. Some respondents reported no IPE activities in their training, especially trainees earlier in their training. Highest rated competencies were in acting with honesty and integrity and developing/maintaining mutual respect and trust of other professions. Lowest rated were in giving feedback to others and managing differences in opinion. More research related to the nature and impact of IPE on psychology trainees is critical.

Associations between autism symptom severity and mealtime behaviors in young children presented with an unfamiliar food.

BACKGROUND: Feeding problems are common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and there are associations between parent reports of child ASD symptom severity and feeding problems. The current study further explores this association between ASD severity and family mealtime behaviors using directly observed naturalistic mealtime interactions. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Seventy-three children (Mage = 5.42 years) were presented an unfamiliar food during a videotaped but otherwise typical home meal. Mealtime behavior was assessed through coding of the videotaped meal using the Dyadic Interaction Nomenclature for Eating (DINE) and parent report (Brief ASD Mealtime Behavior Inventory; BAMBI). ASD severity was assessed with the clinician-completed Childhood Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition (CARS-2). OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Greater ASD severity was associated with fewer bites of the unfamiliar food, greater disruptive behavior during meals, and greater parental commands to take bites during meals. We found negative associations between limited food variety and food refusal (BAMBI subscales) and child bites of the unfamiliar food, with higher levels of limited food variety and food refusal associated with fewer bites of the unfamiliar food. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Children with more severe ASD may eat less and be more disruptive during meals, despite parent redirection. We also found associations between the BAMBI and DINE which suggest the BAMBI may be a sensitive measure of mealtime behaviors such as food flexibility and food refusal.

Relationship between maternal parenting and eating self-efficacy in overweight children when stressed.

BACKGROUND: Emotional eating is associated with negative eating habits and obesity. Parents may be able to decrease the risk of emotional eating in children by promoting greater self-efficacy to engage in healthy eating behaviors. Our goal was to determine the relationship between certain parenting behaviors and eating self-efficacy (ESE) to consume healthy foods during times of emotional stress in a population of overweight/obese children. METHODS: Eighty children (60% female; mean BMI percentile = 98.4%; 79.2% White) completed a survey that assessed their ESE when stressed, feeling down, or bored. Children also reported on mothers' parenting behaviors coded along three factors: acceptance-based parenting (AC), psychological control (PC), and firm control (FC). Correlations and multiple linear regression models were used for analysis. RESULTS: AC was positively correlated with ESE when stressed. PC and FC were inversely correlated with ESE when feeling down. In the multivariate regression, only FC was significantly inversely associated with ESE when feeling down. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that overweight children who perceive their mothers to exhibit firm control have lower ESE to make healthy choices when feeling sad. These results suggest that pediatric obesity programs should place a stronger focus on decreasing firm control behaviors among parents in order to help children engage in healthier eating behaviors.