Trainer attitude and skills for the Goldstein training

 
Source: Zee, S.A.M. van der, Molen, H.T. van der, Beek, D.T. van der (1989). Social skills
for intellectually disabled adolescents: Goldstein training practical handbook. Deventer:
Van Loghum Slaterus
 
 
1. Introduction
Starting in the 1980s, Goldstein Training is a method commonly used to teach social skills
to people who are intellectually disabled. Goldstein is an American who developed a
methodology to assist clients from lower social classes. This method is known as
Structured Learning Therapy. The method is characterised by its emphasis on the very
structured manner it uses to teach social skills. The goal is to remedy the clients’
deficiencies in their communication with others so that they will eventually better
understand how to deal with all kinds of social situations.
In the late 1980s, the University of Groningen found a way of modifying Goldstein
Training to be used for intellectually disabled adolescents. The main goal of this training is
to promote the social skills of intellectually disabled adolescents. The training's content
was developed in collaboration with social workers working with intellectually disabled
adolescents on a daily basis. The adolescents learn a number of basic skills: (1) getting
acquainted, (2) listening, (3) asking something, (4) starting a conversation, (5) saying
no, (6) discussing something, (7) receiving criticism, (8) giving criticising, and then at a
later stage (9) expressing anger, (10) expressing disappointment, and (11) paying
compliments.
The methodology is designed to teach these skills to intellectually disabled
adolescents and is based on the principles of social cognitive theory. The main
elements of the training are:
- instruction on each skill using learning points;
- demonstration of the skills using videos;
- practising the skills using role play;
- feedback on the application of the skills in the role play;
- homework assignments to help learn using the skills in daily life (transfer). 
 
The use of the Goldstein methodology is described in the book “Social skills for
intellectually disabled adolescents. Goldstein training practical manual” (Van der Zee, Van
der Molen & Van der Beek, 1989). Some sections of the practical manual are listed below.
The second section deals with several methodological principles to the Goldstein training.
The third section describes the trainer attitude and skills required for the Goldstein
training. You will practice this attitude and these skills in practical sessions 3 and 4.
 
 
2. Methodological Principles
This section describes several methodological principles that we believe are important
when working with intellectually disabled adolescents. These principles are partly derived
from Cook (1984) and Klomp (1985). The principles are of interest in an educational
setting as well as when providing residential and ambulatory support to intellectually
disabled adolescents.
It is a fairly common conception that an adolescent will participate in a learning process
where the goal is to unlearn certain behavioural deficiencies and replace them with
alternative behaviours. It is very important that the learning process occurs in a
structured environment. A clear structure provides a recognisable behavioural pattern.
Such a behavioural pattern provides the required clarity and security. This is an important
prerequisite for adolescents that have a lot of difficulty in maintaining order in their daily
lives to learn other behaviours. The learning process will differ from one adolescent to the
next.

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 One will show behavioural changes in a gradual manner and another in fits and starts. The
individual manner of learning and its individual pace of should be recognised and accepted
by the facilitators.
The first basic principle for trainers working with intellectually disabled adolescents is to
show understanding for all kinds of emotions. Being able to accept feelings such as
disappointment, anger, sadness, love and stress is a prerequisite for coaching adolescents
in their learning process. With intellectually disabled adolescents, it is particularly
important that trainers recognise their “fear of change”. By “change” we mean requiring
adolescents to behave in a different manner than they are used to. A practical example of
this, e.g., is them buying a bus ticket by themselves instead of leaving it to their carer.
Another example, e.g.: travelling to their apprenticeship location alone, where they would
have previously been taken there by their carer. Achieving the tiniest (behavioural)
changes in adolescents can demand a lot of patience from their trainers. The second very
important principle is that a trainer uses simple language when giving instructions or
explaining matters. However obvious this principle may be, in practice, not doing so often
causes difficulties. The jargon you use in adolescent social work and in your daily life can
often prove quite complicated.
The third principle is that intellectually disabled adolescents can learn how to do
something by just letting them do it. Experience has shown that attempts to teach
intellectually disabled people by “talking about experiences” tend to fail because the
“talking” takes too up much of their capacity to distance themselves from themselves.
Any psychodynamic or insight-enhancing methodology is hence doomed to fail in respect
of this target group. However, it is important to encourage self-motivation as much as
possible. Too often there is a tendency to take over a task for an intellectually disabled
person because “they probably won't be able to do it themselves, anyway”. If there is
slightest chance that an adolescent could be able to pull something off unassisted, one
should ensure that they are given every opportunity to do so. The fourth principle for
directing the learning process is that trainers should be aware that they themselves serve
as a behavioural role model. Adolescents often copy a lot of the trainers’ behaviour. This
is why
the trainers should behave in a way that matches the behaviour they desire from the
adolescents. For example, when you want to calm down a hyperactive and noisy
adolescent, you will not achieve that goal by raising your voice and making angry
gestures.
The fifth principle is positive encouragement. Trainers often focus on things that are not
working well. In daily practice, this is quite understandable. Things that go wrong are
quite conspicuous and will hence receive more attention than things that go well. Thus, it
takes additional effort by trainers to focus on things that are going well. It is very
encouraging for adolescents to
regularly hear that things are going well for them This reinforces their self-confidence.
Being corrected is often perceived as criticism and reinforces a negative self-image such as
“I can’t do anything right” or “I'm useless.”
The principle of positive encouragement aligns directly with the sixth principle, i.e. guided
confrontation. When teaching adolescents to cope with difficult situations, it is important
that they do not attempt to tackle too much at one time. It is important to work in steps
and try to build up the learning process in different phases. The “There's only one way to
learn and that's the hard way” does not work at all well with this target group. Failure will
leave them feeling thinking “I'm completely worthless”. An intellectually disabled person
will not think: “What went exactly wrong there, and what should I change to get it right
the next time.” As a trainer, it is still necessary to constantly reassess the extent to which
certain tasks or plans are feasible.
Finally, the seventh principle: a trainer needs to relate to the subjective experiences of
the adolescents. Generally, trainers often come from a very different environment than
the adolescents. Trainers should be aware that the values and norms that are quite
obvious to them are absolutely not obvious to the adolescents given their background. If a
trainer places too much emphasis on his own standards, this may lead to the adolescent
feeling alienated from their home situation. E.g., it may seem

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 quite normal for a trainer to thoroughly “talk things out” after a disagreement. Whereas, in
actuality, such behaviour never occurs in the adolescent’s home situation.
 
 
3. Trainer Attitude and Skills
In this section, we explain what the training could look like in practice. We'll do this by
focussing on describing the attitude (3.1) and skills (3.2) the trainer will need. By
attitude, we mean the general attitude the trainer should take on to achieve the goals
specified in the training. The trainer roots this general attitude in his behaviour by
utilising the trainer skills. Paragraph 3.3 describes how these trainer skills can be used.
The question of how a trainer can acquire the attitude and skills is discussed in section
3.4.
 
3.1 Trainer attitude
During a training session, it’s important that participants feel they are in a safe situation and
can experiment with their behaviour. How safe they feel is very much determined by the
trainer’s attitude. The key facets of the trainer attitude are listed below.
The training programme has a quite rigid structure due to a certain number of recurring
elements. The trainer must adopt a directive attitude to maintain this structure. With
respect to this directive attitude, we align ourselves with Beekers (1982) who expects his
therapists to work with a certain naturalness, directiveness and proactivity. In this
context, we define directiveness as a trainer’s intention to maintain control of the training
session. In this type of training, the adolescents should not be allowed in any way to
(co)determine any part of the content or the sequence of the programme components.
The programme is too well-thought out to allow that. Any ongoing incidents between the
group members must not be made the subject of training, even if these might seem
appropriate (for example, if a student is learning the “asking something” skill and
spontaneously asks a question, you should not indicate he asked it incorrectly). Such
interventions by a trainer would greatly disrupt the clarity of the programme for the
adolescents. And, it is desirable to spend
as little time and attention as possible on group processes, unless these interfere with the
progress of the programme.
Some readers might think this means there is little room for input from the participants.
This is absolutely not the case. Their input should, of course, be encouraged. However, the
trainer should consider whether that input works well with the current objective. The
degree of compatibility should determine how much attention the trainer gives to the
input.
If the input is not compatible with the objective, the trainer should make this clear to the
adolescent and return to the part of the training they are working on.
In general, you can expect the participants to be reluctant and tense, especially at the
start of the training. It’s very important that trainers recognise and accept this. Trainers
can express their acceptance by showing they understand the participants' reluctance and
anxiety. The aim here is to allow the participants to be themselves, acknowledge their
potential reluctance (“It’s a bit stressful, right? What with it being the first time and all
that.”) and calmly begin with small and easy assignments. Trainers can also show their
acceptance by avoiding confrontations about participants’ deficiencies or personal
idiosyncrasies. Trainers should also strive to compliment the participants (“positive
labelling”) where they can.
A trainer will create a positive and stimulating atmosphere by adopting an affirmative
attitude. In practical terms, this means being strongly focused on acknowledging the
things that participants do right.

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 In summary, the trainer’s attitude is described as directive, accepting and affirmative.
 
3.2 Trainer skills
To acquire the attitude described in the previous section, the trainer must use certain
skills. The required skills are as follows:
1. Clarity: this skill is a component of all of the other skills listed below. By “clarity” we
mean that the trainer does his utmost to make his language as compatible as possible
with the target group and their subjective experience. This means avoiding complicated,
abstract words and difficult concepts and sentence structures.
2. Introducing a skill: this is the discussion of the goal, the content (explanation of
learning points) and the impact of the skill in question. Also, an inventory is taken of
the situations where adolescents could use the skill. This includes situations where they
are already trying to use the skill, but are still having problems with it.
3. Discussing the video: this involves the introduction to and discussion of the video
examples using the learning points for the skill.
4. Managing and structuring the special role play: this involves choosing the players,
making the situations practical as scenes and staging these scenes, instructing the role
players and the observers and the subsequent discussion, affirmation and correction.
This skill is divided into several steps for the three different types of role play: imitative,
reconstructive and anticipatory role play.
5. Giving feedback: this involves providing general affirmative input, observing the
sequence and ratio of positive and critical (negative) comments and providing useful
alternatives.
6. Structuring homework assignments: this involves taking an inventory of exercise
opportunities within the participants own situations outside the training, conceiving
practical assignments and making it clear to the participants what the agreements are for
completing the homework.
7. Discussing homework assignments: this involves discussing how the homework
assignments went.
8. Dealing with unexpected situations this involves teaching how to handle difficult
situations in a flexible manner.
 
3.3 Using the trainer skills
In this section, we try to provide a practical picture of the things that in our opinion should
be done and said before and during a training session. First, we go through the initial
session. We then describe several sessions where the other trainer skills are used.
Generally, not all training skills will be used during a session. For example, “managing and
structuring of special role play” and “discussing homework assignments” usually only occur
in the second session onwards.
We have broken down the training skills into points in accordance with how we have
broken down the social skills into learning points for the adolescents. The goal of
separating out the trainer skills into different points is to make it easier to learn the
skills.
 
3.3.1 Preparation
Prior to commencing the programme, several matters should be brought in good. Firstly,
the adolescents must be informed properly. A brief explanation of the why, the goal and
the content of the training could be offered in an introductory interview. This interview
should also see the adolescents invited to the kick-off session. It’s important that the
adolescents are provided with a clear and accurate explanation of what they can expect in
the kick-off session, where the training will be given, the times it starts and finishes, and
so on. Another important point is that specific agreements must be made concerning the
organisation of the training, namely, where and when it will take place.
Secondly, experience has shown us that it’s very important that the people in the
adolescent’s environment outside the training are well informed about the adolescent’s
participation. A training course on social skills that has no ties to other forms of guidance
will probably be frustrated by the people in the participant’s environment. The people in
the adolescent’s environment should be informed appropriately by the trainers or carers
about the goals and methods of the training course. It is particularly desirable that the
people in the adolescent’s environment encourage and support the adolescent when he

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 does his homework assignments. It’s even better if the people in the adolescent’s
environment are well informed about and understand the contents of the training.
For example, if an adolescent who has not previously been one to start a conversation
and now tries to do just that, the people in their environment should react normally and
welcome the attempt. If the people in adolescent’s environment are surprised by his new
behaviour, they might be quick to joke about it: “Well, now, is that something you
learned in your skills course?” Even if well intentioned, the adolescent may feel silly and
will feel even more reluctant in the future!
It’s critical that the people in his environment be aware of this so the adolescent will feel
happy about his new behaviour. In residential institutions, we recommend that the
progress of each adolescent be discussed during the weekly group meetings.
In the following sections, the various training skills are described as if they were being
used by a trainer. This is intentional. It’s important that one of the trainers takes the
lead in the different parts of the course. The trainers should thoroughly talk this out
before they start. It creates a lack of clarity if trainers constantly look at each other with
the non-verbal question: “are you going to start or am I?”
 
3.3.2 The kick-off meeting
The initial session will take place in the training room. This space is divided into two areas.
One part is intended for discussion and the other part is the “stage” for the role play
exercises. The discussion area should contain two work tables, chairs and a video set-up.
A clearly visible placard should be hung on the wall that provides an overview of all of the
skills that will be learned. The stage should be almost empty. Although it may contain
items for the role play. This area is not used during the kick-off session. The video should
be ready to play at the section “going on a visit”. It should go without saying that the
trainers should have familiarised themselves with this already. We will now address the
subjects that are discussed during this meeting.
 
Getting acquainted
In the kick-off session, the trainer’s general attitude should be structuring and affirmative
in nature. When the participants arrive they should not be left to their own devices. They
should be greeted and assigned a seat at the work tables. Immediately providing
structure nurtures a sense of safety. Once all participants have arrived, the trainer begins
with the introduction and a round of getting acquainted. The trainer could say the
following:
 
“Well, I’m really happy that you could all make it on time. Now, you might find it a little stressful 
right now, but I’m sure that will pass quickly. We’ll start by stating our names. After that, I’m 
going to tell you about the course. Then, we are going to watch a video clip.”
 
At this point, the trainer will introduce himself by name. By doing so, he offers the
adolescents a model for them to copy. The trainer then directs a participant to also
introduce himself by name. All participants take their turn. Once the round is completed,
the trainer repeats all of the names out loud. This offers the participants another chance
to learn the names of the other people in the group.

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 About Pages 6 through 19: 
 
 
 
This article has been summarised due to copyright issues. Pages 6 through 19 describe precisely how 
you carry out the different parts. This corresponds with what you see in the videos on PsyWeb that will 
be watched in class. This section continues on the following page in section 3.3.9: dealing with feelings. 
What is interesting is that this method of teaching the basic skills is different to teaching other skills. It 
also describes how to deal with unexpected situations that occur during Goldstein training and 
describes research evidencing the effectiveness of the workshops. 
 
 
 
For those interested, the full practical manual containing this chapter will become available from the 
library: 
 
 
 
Title: Sociale vaardigheden voor zwakbegaafde jongeren : praktijkboek Goldsteintraining /
S.A.M. van der Zee, H.T. van der Molen, D.T. van der Beek
Year:  3rd edition - 1997
Authors: S.A.M. van der Zee; Hendrik Tjeerd van der Molen (1954-); D.T. van der Beek
Publishers:  Houten : Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum
Annotation: 1st ed.: Deventer : Van Loghum Slaterus,
1989 Lit. opg : p. 113-115
Size:  128 p. : ill. ; 25 cm
ISBN:   90-368-0149-4
GOO keyword: Mental handicaps, Adolescents, Social skills, Goldstein training
Topic  71.71 intellectually disabled
 
 
Req. No.:  302 E 28
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6 ‐ 19 

 
 The sixth and final possibility is that the adolescent didn’t complete the assignment
because they forgot or just didn't feel like doing it. The trainer must not react in a strict
and pedantic manner, nor threaten to punish him. He should, however, adopt take a
serious tone and make it clear to the adolescent that completing the assignments is non-
negotiable:
 
“Okay. You didn’t feel like it this week. That can happen. But if you want to learn
something in this course, it's really, really important that you try your best. Shall we
agree that you complete the assignments this week?”
 
The trainer may also recall the arrangement agreed on in the kick-off session, i.e.,
that everyone would do their best to complete the assignments.
 
For the last two options (“Assignment not completed because the situation did not occur”
and “Assignment not completed because I did not feel like it”), the trainer should always
remain aware of potential “avoidance behaviour”. Often, this can be detected in the
adolescent's tone of voice. For example, the trainer might then say: “Sure, you’re saying
that the situation didn't happen. But what I’m hearing is that you were rather hesitant to
go through with it?” If the trainer decides to follow up on the vacillating tone, he should
not “pick apart” the adolescent’s story. The main thing is to show understanding. Only
when the adolescent feels he is understood, will he risk voicing any of his fears and
negative thoughts.
 
3.3.9 Dealing with feelings
As previously stated, the skill “dealing with feelings” is one of the original eight basic
skills. We will provide some extra attention to this skill because the method used is
different than for the other skills.
This skill is usually taught in three sessions. It is divided into the following components:
 
1. recognising a feeling
2. expressing anger
3. expressing disappointment
4. paying a compliment
 
Components 1 and 2 are introduced in the first session. Components 3 and 4 are
introduced in the second and third sessions respectively. The various components are
discussed below.
 
1.Recognising a feeling
There are two parts to the objective for this skill. Firstly, the aim is that participants
better understand what is meant by the concept of feeling. Secondly, participants need
to learn to observe other people to discover what emotions they are showing. The
overall objective is that participants learn to respond better to people’s feelings and
moods. The video features “cases”. These are short recordings in which people display a
feeling. The aim is for participants to figure out what feeling is being shown.
Following the video exercise they then try and think of as many feelings they can come up
with. The feelings that were recognised and thought up can be listed on a flip over. The
trainers can then demonstrate how they would express some of the listed feelings. The
participants are then invited to do the same. The other participants may then try to figure out
what feeling is being shown.

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 2.Expressing anger
Following on from the previous section, the video example for anger is played. This
example is demonstrated and discussed in the same manner as is done for the other
skills. This can then be followed by imitative role play. However, in practice,
reconstructive and anticipatory role play appear to cause problems. Intellectually disabled
adolescents find it very difficult to pretend they are angry. For them to be able to apply
the skill, they believe they need to actually feel the emotion they're trying to depict.
Sometimes, role playing a situation that requires anger to be expressed is regarded as too
threatening or confusing by the adolescents. This is why the training should avoid this
particular role play and be limited to imitative role play and a group discussion about the
difficulties in expressing anger. In this particular case, the discussion will not conclude
with a practical assignment. However, the participants should be advised that if they find
themselves in a situation where they become angry, they should try to express their
anger according to the points learned.
 
3.Expressing disappointment
The second session starts with a discussion on the homework about expressing anger.
Following the discussion, the video about expressing disappointment is played. After
discussing the example, the participants will then engage in imitative role play. Afterwards,
the participants will themselves inventory things that they were or are disappointed about.
Based on the situations they listed, they will then carry out reconstructive or anticipatory
role play. The session is concluded by assigning homework.
 
4.Paying a compliment
This session will proceed in exactly the same way as the previous session. The trainers
inventory the situations in which the participants like to pay a compliment.
 
3.3.10 Dealing with unexpected situations
Trainers are best served with a motivated group of adolescents who want to learn the
skills with the minimum amount of conflict. Experience shows that this is often the case.
In particular, trainers with a positive and encouraging attitude contribute to both group
morale and also ensure a structured nature of the course.
Nevertheless, unexpected and difficult situations may occur. Let's outline some difficult
situations, e.g. :
 
- a participant keeps arriving late
- a participant keeps claiming that the skill is not a problem for them
- there is a lot of noise in the group
- the participants behave very negatively towards each other
- a participant refuses (does not dare) to join in a role play
- participants do not find the training useful
 
Without doubt, one can think up many more such situations. There is no a general fix
available for all of these tricky situations. The manner in which one responds to a problem
situation is in the first place greatly depends on the situation. In the second place, it also
depends very much on the style adopted by the trainer. Nonetheless, some general tips
can be given:
 
- As soon as a trainer discovers there is a problem, try to identify and mention, and
limit it to either a single participant or the entire group. The goal is to get rid of the
problem or ambiguity in the most immediate way possible. When correcting
someone,

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 you, the trainer, should focus on the specific problem behaviour displayed. End the
matter by coming to an unambiguous arrangement with either the adolescent in
question or the entire group.
- It’s often useful to positively label behaviour that you at first thought was
negative.
- As a trainer, you should avoid battling the participant.
For example: A participant says he has mastered a skill. The trainer thinks
otherwise and intends to convince the person that he still had much to improve
before he is able to claim so confidently. He imparts his doubts to the participant
and states that the person must show him “how well” he can do it. Arguing about
who's right and who's wrong is pointless. If a trainer does this, it will most likely
generate a negative experience for the participant.
 
In this section, the trainer skills were described and illustrated where possible.
The following section describes how these skills can be taught.
 
3.4 Acquiring the trainer skills
Previous sections described what is required of the trainer to teach the social skills course.
To teach the required skills trainers can participate in one of the “Conducting social skills
training for the intellectually disabled” workshops. These workshops are intended for
people providing care to intellectually disabled adolescents in institutions, e.g.: group
leaders, teachers, social workers, educators, psychologists, etc. The workshops and
training for intellectually disabled adolescents is based on social cognitive theory. These
are taught by two workshop facilitators in groups of six to ten people.
 
3.4.1 Objectives of the workshops
The objectives of the workshops are as follows:
 
1. The dissemination of knowledge about the social skills methodology.
2. To teach a directive, accepting and affirmative attitude.
3. To teach trainer skills. I.e.:
- introducing a skill
- discussing video examples
- structuring and carrying out imitative, anticipative and
reconstructive role play
- assigning homework
- discussing homework
- dealing with unexpected situations
 
To achieve the first objective, participants should study the literature before they start the
workshop. This literature provides information on the scope and content of the project,
general theories about intellectual disabilities and social learning, and about trainer skills.
Information about the social skills is also provided during the workshop.
To achieve the second and third goals the workshop offers a very structured six-session
programme.
We'll now move top further explain this here.
 
3.4.2 Training methodology used in the workshops
The following approach is employed in teaching prospected trainers the desired trainer
attitude and skills. Each trainer skill is featured individually. This is done to a structured
method, consisting of four elements:

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 1. Providing instruction on the trainer attitude and skill using the learning points (see
diagrams 1 through 6).
2. A demonstration of the trainer attitude and skill by one of the workshop
facilitators.
3. A demonstration of the trainer attitude and skill by one of the participants in the
workshop.
4. Providing feedback on the use of the trainer attitude and skill by the participants.
 
The above will proceed in a similar fashion to the following. Workshop facilitator A starts
with an oral presentation on the trainer attitude and skill. This will involves the use of a
placard listing the trainer learning points (see diagrams 1 through 6). Workshop facilitator
B then demonstrates the trainer attitude and skill in question (for example, “introducing a
skill” or “managing and structuring the special role play”). This proceeds as follows: Three
or four of the workshop participants play the roles of intellectually disabled adolescents
participating in a training session on one of the nine social skills. The other participants act
as observers. Once workshop facilitator B has demonstrated the trainer skill, both his
attitude and behaviour are systematically discussed by workshop facilitator A while
referring to the placard listing the trainer learning points. The discussion will also profit
from the observations made by the participants who did not take part in the role play.
After first receiving verbal instructions, the workshop participants will then take turns in
practising the trainer skill in question. Once again, several participants will act as the as
intellectually disabled adolescents, with others acting as observers. Following this
exercise, one of the workshop facilitators will systematically provide feedback to the
participant on their attitude and behaviour. How was the attitude in terms of
directiveness, acceptance and affirmation? How were the trainer learning points applied?
How clear was the explanation given (choice of words, sentence structure, etc.)? Was
there an opportunity to ask questions? How did the trainer deal with any unexpected
situations he encountered? Finally, during the workshop, attention is given to the
requirements for a successful implementation of the social skills programme within
the organisation in question.
 
3.4.3 Effectiveness of the workshops
A modest survey on the effectiveness of the workshops (Wolters, Van der Molen & Van
der Zee, 1987) found that the objectives of the workshop were achieved to a satisfactory
extent. After reading the course book and taking the workshop, there appeared to be a
marked increase in participant knowledge. In addition, participants felt that the extent to
which they had mastered the trainer skills had increased significantly. This matched
workshop facilitator opinion to a large extent. The effects participants reported in
particular pertained to their enthusiasm for the methodology training employed. To
illustrate this, here are some collected statements from workshop participants.
 
"I've noticed that the directive manner of working offers me something useful I can fall back 
on.”
“I discovered that I could be really accepting and affirmative. In practice, I would often find 
myself inclined to be less affirmative or more likely to be negatively affirmative.”
“I’ve discovered that your attitude as a trainer can greatly influence the group.”
“I've found that what I learned in the workshop helped me in other areas too. Trying to respond 
in a more positive way is sometimes the better approach.”

  23
 More important than the results of the survey carried out immediately after the workshop,
the effects were found to have remained manifest in a follow-up survey conducted three
months later. In the period between the initial survey, immediately following the
workshop and the follow-up survey, participants had also started actually implementing
the programme. Discussions with these trainers revealed that on the whole, they were
able to utilise the programme in a good way. For a detailed description of this survey,
please refer to Wolters, et al. (1987).

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