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Context: Evidence suggesting the benefits of compassionate, person-centred care, for both patients and physicians is accruing. Medical selection, for example, aims to choose future health professionals that possess the correct attitudes, beliefs and personal attributes to deliver such care. Moreover, once in training, these desirable personal qualities should be developed and maintained, sometimes in the face of adverse health care service conditions. However, advances in selecting for, and developing, these abilities and attributes in health care have been hindered by a lack of clarity regarding how the relevant skills and traits should be defined, measured, developed and maintained in clinicians., Methods: In this article, we demonstrate how developments in the emotional intelligence (EI) field can be applied to the challenge of selecting for, and developing, relevant interpersonal care skills in medical students and physicians. The concept of EI itself has been somewhat controversial. However, a more nuanced understanding of EI has evolved in the light of research findings that can be applied to medical selection and education. Specifically, we propose modifications to the existing 'cascading' model of EI. This model identifies, and relates, several key socioemotional skills and traits that could be considered as 'the elementary particles' of EI required to deliver compassionate, person-centred care., Conclusions: Our model of EI, which is relevant to care delivery, identifies putative targets for both medical selection and training. Selection for medical school and subsequent clinical education should focus on screening out those with low levels of the traits and abilities less amenable to training. Conversely, medical education should be concerned with developing and maintaining the socioemotional skills, attitudes and behaviours critical to the delivery of compassionate, person-centred care. This is especially important for specialties characterised by high levels of emotional labour and possible resultant compassion fatigue., (© 2023 The Authors. Medical Education published by Association for the Study of Medical Education and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Parents consult with schools on how to help their children succeed, but schools rarely consult with parents, even though most parents have considerable expertise concerning their children's thoughts, feelings, and abilities., Aims: This study compares the prediction of academic achievement from self- and parent-ratings of feelings towards school (both positive and negative), life satisfaction, and the conscientiousness facet of industriousness for 357 adolescents., Sample: The student sample consisted of 383 participants (194 boys) mostly aged between 12 and 14. The parent sample consisted of 374 participants, 83% of whom were mothers., Method: Self-report and other-report scales measuring the above-mentioned constructs were administered to students and parents. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test hypotheses concerning the incremental validity of parent-ratings., Results: Self-ratings explained 28.6% of the variance in grade point average (GPA) with parent-ratings explaining an additional 12.1%. The incremental effect was strongest for industriousness., Conclusion: These results suggest that parent-reports are often more accurate than adolescent self-reports, but that both methods of assessment make unique contributions to the explanation of variance in school grades. Parental understanding constitutes a relatively untapped reservoir of knowledge available to teachers, school counsellors and administrators, education policy makers, and beyond. It makes sense to ask parents about their children when assessing those individual differences that contribute to better educational outcomes., (© 2013 The British Psychological Society.)

Background: Chronotype refers to individuals' preference for morning or evening activities. Its two dimensions (morningness and eveningness) are related to a number of academic outcomes., Aims: The main goal of the study was to investigate the incremental validity of chronotype as a predictor of academic achievement after controlling for a number of traditional predictors. In so doing, a further aim was ongoing validation of a chronotype questionnaire, the Lark-Owl Chronotype Indicator., Sample: The sample comprised 272 students attending 9th and 10th grades at five German high schools. Data was also obtained from 132 parents of these students., Method: Students were assessed in class via self-report questionnaires and a standardized cognitive test. Parents filled out a questionnaire at home. The incremental validity of chronotype was investigated using hierarchical linear regression. Validity of the chronotype questionnaire was assessed by correlating student ratings of their chronotype with behavioural data on sleep, food intake, and drug consumption and with parent ratings of chronotype., Results: Eveningness was a significant (negative) predictor of overall grade point average (GPA), math-science GPA, and language GPA, after cognitive ability, conscientiousness, need for cognition, achievement motivation, and gender were held constant. Validity evidence for the chronotype measure was established by significant correlations with parent-ratings and behavioural data., Conclusions: Results point to the possible discrimination of adolescents with a proclivity towards eveningness at school. Possible explanations for the relationship between chronotype and academic achievement are presented. Implications for educational practice are also discussed., (© 2011 The British Psychological Society.)

Background: Despite Western Australia (WA) having the highest proportion of overseas-born residents of any Australian state, no previous study has examined the general patterns of obstetric health of foreign-born women in WA., Aims: To examine the obstetric profiles of foreign-born women in WA using routinely collected perinatal data., Methods: The records of 59,245 confinements to foreign-born women were compared with those of 149,737 Australian-born, non-Indigenous women in WA between 1998 and 2006 using chi-square tests and ANOVA procedures., Results: Foreign-born women were generally older, more likely to be married and have partners in highly skilled occupations, and were less likely to have private insurance or be teenage mothers. They were more commonly grand multiparae and were more likely to give birth at age 35 or older. On average, foreign-born women experienced increased risk of gestational diabetes, pre-labour rupture of membranes, failure to progress, fetal distress, perineal laceration and post-partum haemorrhage. They were less likely to have an induced labour and more likely to use fetal monitoring. Instrumental delivery, episiotomy and caesarean sections varied with maternal region of origin., Conclusions: Several important differences in the obstetric profiles of foreign-born women were found. These differences have useful implications for obstetric services in culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Collection of further variables would also benefit the future provision of equitable and culturally appropriate care to diverse immigrant groups., (© 2011 The Authors. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology © 2011 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.)