Abstract
Aims: The effect of positive vs. negative comments (praise vs. criticism) on trainees’ subsequent cognitive and technical performance is unknown, but of potential importance. We performed a randomized trial of giving either praise or criticism during simulated normal vaginal deliveries (using a high-fidelity birthing simulator) to assess the differential effect of these types of comments on students’ cognitive and technical performance, and perceived confidence after their learning experience.
Methods: Medical and nursing students underwent stratified randomization to praise or criticism. Students (n=59) initially participated in a teaching demonstration and practiced normal spontaneous vaginal delivery using a birthing simulator. A baseline assessment of cognitive and technical skills, and of self-confidence, was followed by a second simulation during which positive or negative comments were given using standardized scripts. Cognitive performance, technical performance and confidence measures were then scored again.
Results: Cognitive and technical performance scores in the “praise” group improved significantly by 2.5 (P=0.007) and 1.8 (P=0.032), respectively, while those in the “criticism” group remained unchanged. The self-reported confidence scores did not show any significant change from baseline in either group.
Conclusions: Praise strengthens students’ cognitive and technical performances, while criticism does not.
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©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review articles
- The relationship between gestational weight gain and fetal growth: time to take stock?
- Risk factors for pregnancy-associated venous thromboembolism: a review
- Academy’s Corner
- Africa is only 14 km away from my country
- Primary prevention of preterm birth
- Original articles – Obstetrics
- Mother knows best? Comparing primiparous parturients’ expectations and predictions with actual birth outcomes
- Silent chorioamnionitis and associated pregnancy outcomes: a review of clinical data gathered over a 16-year period
- Clinical factors associated with failed trials of labor in late preterm and term twin pregnancies
- Relation of placental diagnosis in stillbirth to fetal maceration and gestational age at delivery
- Evaluation of a novel placental alpha microglobulin-1 (PAMG-1) test to predict spontaneous preterm delivery
- The relationship of praise/criticism to learning during obstetrical simulation: a randomized clinical trial
- Sickle cell disease and pregnancy outcomes: population-based study on 8.8 million births
- Differences between external and internal fetal heart rate monitoring during the second stage of labor: a prospective observational study
- Perinatal management of preterm premature ruptured membranes affects neonatal prognosis
- Impact of the nitric oxide-donor pentaerythrityl-tetranitrate on perinatal outcome in risk pregnancies: a prospective, randomized, double-blinded trial
- Umbilical vein volume flow in monochorionic twin pairs at 11–14 weeks
- Gestational weight gain according to number of fetuses in Japanese women
- Original article – Fetus
- Prenatal diagnosis of sex chromosome aneuploidies and disorders of sex development – a retrospective analysis of 11-year data
- Short communication
- Reference range for amniotic fluid index measurements in a Brazilian population
- Congress Calendar
- Congress Calendar
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review articles
- The relationship between gestational weight gain and fetal growth: time to take stock?
- Risk factors for pregnancy-associated venous thromboembolism: a review
- Academy’s Corner
- Africa is only 14 km away from my country
- Primary prevention of preterm birth
- Original articles – Obstetrics
- Mother knows best? Comparing primiparous parturients’ expectations and predictions with actual birth outcomes
- Silent chorioamnionitis and associated pregnancy outcomes: a review of clinical data gathered over a 16-year period
- Clinical factors associated with failed trials of labor in late preterm and term twin pregnancies
- Relation of placental diagnosis in stillbirth to fetal maceration and gestational age at delivery
- Evaluation of a novel placental alpha microglobulin-1 (PAMG-1) test to predict spontaneous preterm delivery
- The relationship of praise/criticism to learning during obstetrical simulation: a randomized clinical trial
- Sickle cell disease and pregnancy outcomes: population-based study on 8.8 million births
- Differences between external and internal fetal heart rate monitoring during the second stage of labor: a prospective observational study
- Perinatal management of preterm premature ruptured membranes affects neonatal prognosis
- Impact of the nitric oxide-donor pentaerythrityl-tetranitrate on perinatal outcome in risk pregnancies: a prospective, randomized, double-blinded trial
- Umbilical vein volume flow in monochorionic twin pairs at 11–14 weeks
- Gestational weight gain according to number of fetuses in Japanese women
- Original article – Fetus
- Prenatal diagnosis of sex chromosome aneuploidies and disorders of sex development – a retrospective analysis of 11-year data
- Short communication
- Reference range for amniotic fluid index measurements in a Brazilian population
- Congress Calendar
- Congress Calendar