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Lifeline Aotearoa provides a 24/7 telephone counselling service for New Zealanders requiring immediate crisis counselling and support. The training for the helpline volunteers is called One Model Foundation Training, and in this study it was evaluated using Kirkpatrick's Four Levels evaluation model. The study showed that the trainees were satisfied with the effectiveness and the quality of the programme. The training was effective in improving the trainees' knowledge and awareness in helpline interventions. The evaluation also found that most trainees were able to apply their learning in practice, although a few difficulties were identified when working on the phones. Finally, no change was evident in any of the call centre Key Performance Indicators as a result of the training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BOLD fMRI was used to study acupuncture-induced activation (increase in the BOLD signal from undetectable) of the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and two somatosensory cortical areas in seven healthy human subjects. Mechanical stimulation (push-pull) was given to the LI4 (Hoku) acupoint or to a non-acupoint. The stimulation paradigm consisted of 5 runs, each consisting of four 30 s On/30 s OFF periods over 30 min. The scan for each ON period was analyzed individually. The PAG and cortical areas showed different activity patterns. PAG activity was episodic and reliably demonstrated after 20-25 min of stimulation; both cortical areas, however, were active > 90% of the time. Stimulation of a non-acupoint (leg) resulted in reduced levels of PAG and cortical activity.