The need for cross-cultural communication skills arises whenever people from different languages and cultures come into contact. With increased tourism, international business, students studying overseas, and increasing awareness of indigenous minority cultures there is concern to foster better communication among different cultural groups. In the present paper, examples of cultural differences in communication in Australia and New Zealand are presented. Two approaches to the training of cross-cultural communication skills are described: the cultural assimilator developed by Brislin, and McCaffery's “learning how to learn” orientation.

The case of a 43 year old Papua New Guinea man with no previous history of psychological disorder who was diagnosed as suffering panic disorder is described. This case illustrates the possible applicability of cognitive-behaviour therapy to Papua New Guineans with a range of anxiety problems.

The patient, Mr A, is a 43 year old married father of four children, employed in a supervisory position with a large PNG corporation. He comes from a middle class family of nine children and describes his childhood in bright colours. He completed ten years of schooling before obtaining a job with his current employer. There was no family history of psychiatric disorder.

Mr A's presenting concern was pain on the right side of his arm and regular severe headaches. Mr A first experienced the pain in 1986 when it lasted for a few weeks and than stopped. However, in 1990 the pain returned. Mr A sought medical treatment and analgesic drugs were prescribed. The drugs relieved the pain but for only a short time.

93 female nurses in a metropolitan hospital in Papua New Guinea (PNG) responded to the Burnout Inventory (BI), the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (JSQ), and a performance index to ascertain the existence of burnout among PNG nurses, its severity, and its relationship with performance and job satisfaction. Results showed that the majority of nurses in PNG do not experience burnout. The intensity and frequency of burnout symptoms were not related to any of the demographic variables assessed, or to job satisfaction and/or job performance.

The term “burnout” was first used by Herbert Freudenberger in 1974 to describe physical and psychological manifestations apparent in workers employed in the “helping” professions (Perlman & Hartman, 1982). The term was coined to distinguish it from what is commonly known as stress.

Technically, burnout differs from ordinary fatigue, depression, (Pines, Aronson, & Kafry, 1981), and stress (Fitter, 1986). Nevertheless, some see burnout as a stress induced condition (Reilly & Clevenger, 1988; Fitter, 1986). This view originated from the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) model of stress pioneered by Hans Selye during the 1950's (Selye, 1976; 1983).

Research into metacognition, a relatively new construct in the cognitive sciences, has been prodigious over the last decade. This is despite continuing doubts about its heuristic value. Initial doubts emphasised difficulties associated with definition of the construct, the limited predictive power of metacognitive task performance in relation to actual cognitive task or test performance and, relatedly, difficulties in operationalising the construct in specific thinking and problem solving contexts. Subsequent cross-cultural research has focussed on the degree to which metacognitive thinking is situationalised according to cultural context and thinking task, despite the implication that such thinking, by nature, is “multicontextual.” It then questioned the extent to which different social and cultural groups differ in their construction of the metacognitive level of knowledge and its relevance to their everyday life task performance and thinking.

98 cases of first heart attack were selected for the study. The group included 4 patients from business, 24 housewives and 70 from the service class. Ages ranged from 23 to 70 years. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and a Diet Inventory were administered. Diet variables included: (a) caffeine (b) saturated fat (c) unsaturated fat, (d) cooking fat, (e) type of milk used, and (f) total fat consumed. Patients were classified as neurotics (67.3% of cases), extroverts (19.4% of cases), and liars (13.3% of cases) on the basis of their EPQ scores (there were no patients classed as psychotics). The three groups differed on tea consumption, cooking fat consumption, and total fat consumption. Neuroticism was associated with “coronary heart disease;” extroversion and lying were related to “heart attack.”

There is evidence from both sides of Atlantic that, with increasing wealth, there is increased consumption of meat, salt, vegetables, refined cereal and an increased intake of alcohol and tobacco (World Health Organisation, 1982). These increases are associated with increased incidence of degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and hypertension, and all are common causes of death and disability in industrialized countries (World Health Organisation,1982).