Aim To test the generalized emotional decoding impairment hypothesis in alcoholism. Design Cross-sectional behavioural study comparing emotion recognition conveyed by faces, voices and musical excerpts. Setting Alcohol detoxification unit of Brugmann University Hospital. Participants Twenty-five recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients were compared to 25 normal controls matched for sex, age and educational level. Measurements From faces, voices and musical excerpts, participants were instructed to rate the intensity of several emotions on a scale from 0 for 'absent' to 9 for 'highly present'. Depression, anxiety and sustained/selective attention capacities were controlled for. Findings Alcohol-dependent patients were less accurate than controls in identifying the target emotion in faces (P < 0.001), voices (P < 0.001) and musical excerpts (P < 0.001). Conclusions Alcohol-dependent patients who are completing detoxification are impaired in recognizing emotions conveyed by faces, voices and music; these results suggest a generalized emotional decoding impairment. Hypothetically, deficits in the fronto-parietal mirror neurone system could link all these disturbances together.

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The general communication skills training program improved only a few of the communication strategies needed for optimal cancer pain management in nursing. General communication skills training programs should be consolidated using specific modules focusing on communication skills related to cancer pain management.

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This descriptive study assesses how physicians' decisional conflict influences their ability to address treatment outcomes (TOs) in a decision-making encounter with an advanced-stage cancer simulated patient (SP). Methods: Physicians (N = 138) performed a decision-making encounter with the SP trained to ask for TOs information. The physicians' decisional conflict regarding patients' cancer treatments in general was assessed with the General Decisional Conflict Scale (Gen-DCS). The physicians' decisional conflict regarding the SP's cancer treatments was assessed with the Specific Decisional Conflict Scale (Spe-DCS). Physicians' ability to address TOs during the encounter was assessed with an interaction analysis system: the Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Patient Outcome Predictions (MD.POP). Weekly time spent with cancer patients was assessed with a questionnaire. Results: Physicians' Spe-DCS (β =-.21 ; p = .014) and weekly time spent with cancer patients (β = .22 ; p = .008) predicted the number of TOs addressed during the encounter. Spe-DCS scores predicted nearly all MD.POP dimensions (r =-.18 ; p = .040 to r =-.30 to p < .001) whereas Gen-DCS scores predicted nearly none MD.POP dimensions. Conclusion: Physicians' specific decisional conflict interferes with their ability to address TOs in a decision-making encounter with an advanced-stage cancer SP.

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