Nonprofessional Peer Support to Improve Mental Health: Randomized Trial of a Scalable Web-Based Peer Counseling Course.

BACKGROUND: Millions of people worldwide are underserved by the mental health care system. Indeed, most mental health problems go untreated, often because of resource constraints (eg, limited provider availability and cost) or lack of interest or faith in professional help. Furthermore, subclinical symptoms and chronic stress in the absence of a mental illness diagnosis often go unaddressed, despite their substantial health impact. Innovative and scalable treatment delivery methods are needed to supplement traditional therapies to fill these gaps in the mental health care system. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate whether a self-guided web-based course can teach pairs of nonprofessional peers to deliver psychological support to each other. METHODS: In this experimental study, a community sample of 30 dyads (60 participants, mostly friends), many of whom presented with mild to moderate psychological distress, were recruited to complete a web-based counseling skills course. Dyads were randomized to either immediate or delayed access to training. Before and after training, dyads were recorded taking turns discussing stressors. Participants' skills in the helper role were assessed before and after taking the course: the first author and a team of trained research assistants coded recordings for the presence of specific counseling behaviors. When in the client role, participants rated the session on helpfulness in resolving their stressors and supportiveness of their peers. We hypothesized that participants would increase the use of skills taught by the course and decrease the use of skills discouraged by the course, would increase their overall adherence to the guidelines taught in the course, and would perceive posttraining counseling sessions as more helpful and their peers as more supportive. RESULTS: The course had large effects on most helper-role speech behaviors: helpers decreased total speaking time, used more restatements, made fewer efforts to influence the speaker, and decreased self-focused and off-topic utterances (ds=0.8-1.6). When rating the portion of the session in which they served as clients, participants indicated that they made more progress in addressing their stressors during posttraining counseling sessions compared with pretraining sessions (d=1.1), but they did not report substantive changes in feelings of closeness and supportiveness of their peers (d=0.3). CONCLUSIONS: The results provide proof of concept that nonprofessionals can learn basic counseling skills from a scalable web-based course. The course serves as a promising model for the development of web-based counseling skills training, which could provide accessible mental health support to some of those underserved by traditional psychotherapy.

Usefulness of the anatomy learning comics and anatomy comic strips to adolescents / Utilidad de los comics de aprendizaje de anatomía e historietas cómicas de anatomía para adolescentes

This study was intended to evaluate the anatomy comics as learning material for adolescents. For that, both the learning comics and comic strips were shown to 341 junior high school students who subsequently completed a questionnaire. According to the students answers, the anatomy comics were greatly or somewhat helpful in understanding anatomy (learning comics: 87.7 %; comic strips: 86.2 %). The anatomy comics were greatly or somewhat entertaining (learning comics: 66.9 %; comic strips: 77.4 %). According to their free remarks, the anatomy comics enhanced the students' understanding with the simple figures and easy explanations. The students regarded the anatomy comics as entertaining because of the related jokes and comparative daily lives. The students preferred the complimentary anatomy comics presented on the authors' homepage (anatomy.co.kr). This investigation proves the possibility that the anatomy comics contribute to adolescents learning.

El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar los cómics de anatomía como material de aprendizaje para adolescentes. Para eso, tanto los cómics de aprendizaje como las tiras cómicas se mostraron a 341 estudiantes de secundaria que posteriormente completaron un cuestionario. De acuerdo con las respuestas de los estudiantes, los cómics de anatomía fueron de gran utilidad o algo útiles para comprender la anatomía (cómics de aprendizaje: 87,7 %; historietas: 86,2 %). Los cómics de anatomía fueron muy entretenidos (cómics de aprendizaje: 66,9 %; historietas: 77,4 %). De acuerdo con sus comentarios, los cómics de anatomía mejoraron la comprensión de los estudiantes con figuras simples y explicaciones fáciles. Los estudiantes consideraron los cómics de anatomía como entretenidos debido a los chistes relacionados y la comparación con la vida diaria. Los estudiantes prefirieron los cómics de anatomía complementarios presentados en la página principal de los autores (anatomy.co.kr). Esta investigación demuestra la posibilidad de que los cómics de anatomía contribuyan al aprendizaje de los adolescentes.

The use of educational comics in learning anatomy among multiple student groups.

Understanding basic human anatomy can be beneficial for all students, regardless of when, or if, they will later undertake a formal course in the subject. For students who are preparing to undertake a formal anatomy course, educational comics on basic anatomy can serve as a concise and approachable review of the material. For other students, these comics can serve as a helpful and fun introduction to the human body. The objective of the comics in this study was to promote an understanding of fundamental human anatomy through self-learning among students. Based on the authors' previous teaching experience, these anatomy comics were produced in a simple, direct style. The comics were titled after the two main characters, "Anna" (a girl) and "Tommy" (a boy). These comics were then presented to groups of elementary school students, high school students, premedical students, and medical students to assess the comics' ability to enhance student interest and comprehension of basic anatomy. Quiz scores among high school students and premedical students were significantly higher among participants who read the educational comics, indicating a deeper comprehension of the subject. Among medical students, close reading of the comics was associated with improved course grades. These educational anatomy comics may be helpful tools to enrich a broad spectrum of different students in learning basic human anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 10: 79-86. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

Comics for laypeople interested in plastination / Comics para personas no expertas interesadas en plastinación

Exhibitions of plastinated specimens are popular around the world, but most people are not aware of the basics of plastination process because they are not interested in reading the related writings. Comics are an attractive medium and could solve this problem. The objective of this study was to enhance public comprehension of plastination using comics. Three topics were selected for the comics: the traditional ways to preserve dissected cadaver specimens, the plastination technique used to resolve the problems of the traditional ways, and the public display of the plastinated specimens. The 67 comic frames were drawn in simple style. The comics were available online (anatomy.co.kr) free of charge. The original files of the comics will be provided to those who utilize the files for making the signs or leaflets for exhibitions. The comics in this study, whether online or not, are expected to help people recognize the value of plastination; the comics' quantity and quality will be upgraded in a variety of ways.

Las exposiciones de especímenes plastinados son populares en todo el mundo, sin embargo, la mayoría de las personas no están conscientes de los conceptos básicos del proceso de plastinación debido a que no existe un interés en leer los textos relacionados. Este problema podría ser resuelto mediante historietas, las que constituyen un atractivo medio de presentación. El objetivo de este estudio fue mejorar la comprensión pública de la plastinación con el uso de historietas cómicas. Se seleccionaron tres temas de historietas: las técnicas tradicionales de preservación de cadáveres diseccionados, la técnica de plastinación, utilizada para resolver los problemas de las técnicas tradicionales de conservación, y la exhibición pública de los especímenes plastinados. Se dibujaron de manera sencilla 67 cuadros de historietas cómicas. Los cómics se encuentran disponibles en línea (anatomy.co.kr) de forma gratuita. Los archivos originales de los cómics podrán ser proporcionados a los usuarios que utilicen estos archivos para realizar avisos publicitarios o folletos para exposiciones. Esperamos que los cómics presentados en este estudio, ya sea en línea o no, sirvan de apoyo para ayudar a las personas a reconocer el valor de la plastinacion, los cuales serán actualizados de diversos modos, ya sea en cantidad como así también en relación a la calidad de los cómics.