A questionnaire was completed by students entering the University of Queensland (Australia) MB BS course in 1983 and 1984 (n = 399). It contained wide-ranging questions regarding the decision to enter medicine, including how, why and when the decision was reached. Demographic data were also collected. All but two students have now completed their involvement with the course. The most important determinant of qualifying MB BS was geographical, metropolitan students doing so in greatest proportion. High levels of course performance were predicted by father's occupation, and being aware of a widely held attitude, namely that it would be a pity not to enter medicine if able to do so. Several gender differences are noted. Finally, it was noteworthy that the predictive aspects of questionnaire responses did not lessen as students progressed through the course.

Eighty-six Canadian reserve Indian children, from 7 to 15 years of age, were tested on the Harris-Goodenough Draw-a-Man and Raven's Progressive Matrices (1938) tests. The Draw-a-Man mean IQS were: girls 100, boys 113; a significant difference. The Raven mean IQS were: girls 79, boys 85; not significantly different. The tests were significantly correlated (raw scores, r = 0.67; IQS, r = 0.53). Older children had significantly lower IQS on the Raven only. These results caution against assuming that these tests, especially the Raven (1938), are "culture free" measures of intelligence.Certain intelligence tests, including the Draw-a-Man (DAM) and Raven's Progressive Matrices (Raven), are generally regarded as being less affected by cultural factors than others (Anastasi, 1961). This study examines the performance of reserve Cree Indian children on the DAM (Harris, 1963) and Raven (1938) (Raven, 1960) with a view to examining cross-cultural effects. Also investigated were the effects of sex and age. While Harris (1963) found that girls had slightly higher scores on the DAM than boys, both he and Dennis (1942) reported that in a number of American Indian samples, boys did as well as or better than girls. Sex differences in Raven performance have not been studied in an Indian population. Carney and Trowbridge (1962) found an increase in DAM IQ with age in Fox Indian children but no change in non-verbal IQ. Notcutt (1949) found older Zulu children further below the English Raven (1938) norms than younger children. METHOD SubjectsThe sample (54 girls, 32 boys) included all testable children in the age range of 7-15 years who were attending school during the tester's (E.B.W.) visit to two Cree reservations in northern Saskatchewan. The combined mean age was 11.08, SD 2.28: girls' mean 11.28, SD 2.54; boys* mean 10.75, SD 1.77 years. The boys' mean was not signicantly lower than the girls' but the variances were different (F = 2.06, df 53/31, p< 0.05).

Human relations training has moved from the original T-group emphasis on group process, through focusing on the individual's mode of interacting in the group, to the use of the encounter situation for fostering personality change. Psychotherapy is moving out of the dyadic relationship into groups using increasing degrees of confrontation. The resulting overlap in group techniques calls for examination of the part each can play in the overlap area between the clear-cut functions of each specialty. The theoretical basis for differentiation lies in the respective models of awkward (“neurotic”) behaviour: psychotherapy starts from the pathological and emphasizes intrapersonal structure, while encounter starts from full-functioning behaviour and emphasizes interpersonal interaction. Practical responsibilities can be divided between encounter and psychotherapy on the basis of the level achieved by an individual moving through a hierarchy of ascending personal achievement levels. Because of the high probability of individuals interchanging between encounter and psychotherapy, practitioners will need to have at least basic knowledge of both systems. Rapprochement could eventually come through the systematic extension of existential psychotherapy.

Psychiatric teamwork imposes on team members a number of interpersonal stresses arising from differing professional orientations and personal needs. Industrial staff development programs have used small‐group techniques to reduce interstaff tension, and some similar work has been done with interdisciplinary health teams. Transition theory offers a new perspective for studying processes operating within the development of team cohesion. This study of three multi‐disciplinary psychiatric staff groups found that the progressive elucidation and incorporation of staff interpersonal feelings into ongoing clinic activities followed a typical three‐phase pattern characterised by denial, acknowledgement, and implementation. Analysis into sub‐phases revealed a common transitional event centering on feelings toward a distanced professional colleague (transitional object) coinciding with the move from a reactive to a proactive mode. It is suggested that judicious introduction of such an event as a transitional rite may hasten the total process.

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