Maintenance of the Effect of Training in Communication Skills: A Controlled Follow-Up Study of Level of Communicated Empathy

Correspondence to Per Nerdrum, Faculty of Economics, Public Administration, and Social Work, Oslo College, Tjernveien 12, 0957 Oslo, Norway Summary The long-term effectiveness of a communication skills coursewas tested in a controlled study of two matched groups of socialwork students. The program group participated in a 50-hour communicationskills training course in addition to ordinary concept training,while the control group participated in social work concepttraining only. In the follow-up period, the groups engaged insimilar field practice. Both groups were assessed with regardto level of communicated empathy both before and after the three-monthtraining, as well as at 18-month follow-up. At the end of thetraining period, the program group showed a significant increasein the level of communicated empathy, while the control groupdid not. The program group not only maintained, but slowly increased,its level of communicated empathy. The control group also showeda small increase after the training period, but the differencebetween the groups was maintained. The interaction of specificcommunication training and field practice after training inthe process of acquiring and maintaining increased levels ofcommunicated empathy is discussed.     

Regression Analysis for Multistate Models Based on a Pseudo-value Approach, with Applications to Bone Marrow Transplantation Studies

Abstract.  Typically, regression analysis for multistate models has been based on regression models for the transition intensities. These models lead to highly nonlinear and very complex models for the effects of covariates on state occupation probabilities. We present a technique that models the state occupation or transition probabilities in a multistate model directly. The method is based on the pseudo-values from a jackknife statistic constructed from non-parametric estimators for the probability in question. These pseudo-values are used as outcome variables in a generalized estimating equation to obtain estimates of model parameters. We examine this approach and its properties in detail for two special multistate model probabilities, the cumulative incidence function in competing risks and the current leukaemia-free survival used in bone marrow transplants. The latter is the probability a patient is alive and in either a first or second post-transplant remission. The techniques are illustrated on a dataset of leukaemia patients given a marrow transplant. We also discuss extensions of the model that are of current research interest.     

The Double Gaussian Approximation for High Frequency Data

Abstract High frequency data have become an important feature of many areas of research. They permit the creation of estimators in highly non‐parametric classes of continuous‐time models. In the context of continuous semi‐martingale models, we here provide a locally parametric ‘double Gaussian’ approximation, to facilitate the analysis of estimators. As in Mykland and Zhang (Econometrica, 77, 2009, p. 1403), the error in the approximation can be offset with a postasymptotic likelihood correction. The current approximation is valid in large neighbourhoods, permitting a sharp analysis of estimators that use local behaviour over asymptotically increasing numbers of observations.