A Preliminary Measure of Teachers’ Occupational Well-Being in Baku Schools and Contextual Factors Affecting It

Teachers’ occupational well-being is the work-related aspect of teacher’s well-being. This study investigates the levels of occupational well-being of Baku school teachers and the factors that may influence them. The studied indicators of occupational well-being are self-efficacy, job satisfaction, psychosomatic symptoms, and social relations (among colleagues, principals, and students), and the studied contextual factors are school type, classroom size, gender, age, experience, and education. A quantitative questionnaire based on an OECD instrument was implemented among 100 participants to assess their levels of occupational well-being and compare the above-mentioned contextual factors. The data showed positive levels of the participants’ occupational well-being, the teacher-student relations were notoriously strong, and the teacher-principal relations were significantly low. The classroom size and teachers’ educational level showed the most notorious differences in occupational well-being, while the quality of teachers’ relation with their principal was a predictor of job satisfaction and self-efficacy. The most frequent psychosomatic symptom among the participants was fatigue, which showed some differences across groups. The minor participation of male teachers did not allow for the analysis of the data based on gender. More details and other findings, as well as implications for research and practice, are discussed.

The effects of computer-assisted cognitive-behavior therapy as an adjunct to enhance postoperative recovery during perioperative period: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Some serious surgeries may pose likelihood of developing complications such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, which may aggravate discomfort, impair quality of life and even increase mortality after surgery. Non-pharmacological mind–body interventions for psychosomatic symptom is are an area of growing interest. CBT is the most recommended treatment for anxiety, depression, insomnia and pain. However, access to trained therapists is limited. A growing amount of research is producing effective evidence of CCBT. But , CCBT used for surgery patients have been not reported at present, and the effectiveness and feasibility have been not research ed and validated too. The primary aim of this trial is to explore targeted psychotherapy technique based on CCBT for surgical patients and assess the effectiveness and feasibility of the newly developed software of CCBT-Prs to improve anxiety, depression, insomnia and postoperative pain as an adjunct to UC by subjective and objective indexes. Methods and analysis : It is a prospective, multi-centers, randomized controlled superiority trial which comprises two parallel groups (CCBT-Prs +UC and UC alone) . Participants who has been scheduled for surgery will be randomized to either of the two groups : (1) receiv ing CCBT- Prs software intervention based on UC as trial group (2) receiving UC intervention only as control group. All participants will undergo assessments using STAI-S, PHQ-9, AIS and VAS-Pain-10 at various time points in the perioperative period. Blood samples will be collected at baseline and pre - anesthesia to assess for Stress hormone markers(Cor and ACTH). Functional near infrared spectroscopy( fNIRS) will be applied to evaluate brain function before and after intervention. Discussion: Some difficulty is inevitable and encountered in all clinical trials. The ultimate aim is that mental health services benefit more non-psychiatric inpatients. CCBT can have more wider dissemination and implementation in mental health. Ethics and dissemination : This study has been approved by Ethics Committee of First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University in China. Research findings will be disseminated in the form of at least one peer reviewed article and presentations at conferences. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR)( www.chictr.org.cn ) ChiCTR1900025994 . Registered on 17 September 2019. http://www.chictr.org.cn/ChiCTR1900025994.

Laziness as Concept-Metaphor

The chapter explores what laziness has meant for philosophers, especially those few who chose to address it directly, and provides a conceptual frame for the laziness metaphor. Philosophical inquiries into unproductive idling are rare, but in each instance they center around the issues of the body and resistance. That is the case with Martin Heidegger’s notion of Lässigkeit as the basic existential sensibility, Emmanuel Levinas’s paresse as a position of refusal towards life, and Giorgio Agamben’s inoperativity. But it is also the case when Roland Barthes and Theodor Adorno define idleness in terms of insubordination to pedagogical rituals or as a position of ethical neutrality, when Sandor Ferenczi discovers the principle of neocatharsis in relaxation, or when Donald Winnicott dwells on the benefits of laziness as a psychosomatic symptom. When those ideas are juxtaposed against the political models of passive dissent (such as the parrhēsia model of Diogenes the Cynic, or the strike model proposed by Paul Lafargue), laziness emerges as a valuable signifier for the complex haptic-affective mechanism of counter-normativity. The discourse of laziness lays bare and unmasks the hidden conflation of the biological, the symbolic, and the political.

INTEGRATIVE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTICAL APPROACH FOR HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS WITH ALEXITIMIA

Today in Western countries there is a considerable increase in the interest of physicians and patients for the psychotherapeutic and medical treatment of cardiovascular patients with other psychological variables (alexitimia, anxiety, depression, stress). The present study was born from the need to implement in our country the psychotherapeutic treatment in the support and treatment of the patients with clinical illness (and a psychoactive component in this illness). Objectives. We will highlight some of them: – identifying the unconscious conflicts underlying the mechanisms of psychosomatic symptom formation; – identifying psychological parameters for anxiety, depression, stress, alexitimia, by means of psychological tests; – use of integrative psychotherapy techniques for the treatment of the psycho-emotional balance and health status. Material and methods. The current study (this is part of a wider research) includes 92 adults (males and females) aged 40 to 74 with a diagnosis (established by specialist doctors) of hypertension and alexitimia. The methods of psychological treatment are specific to integrative psychotherapy, plus the Diagnostic Musical Test (Iamandescu) and the Therapeutic Aperture Test (T.A.T). The results revealed that integrative psychotherapy, along with music therapy (Iamandescu) and the Therapeutic Aperture Test T.A.T., may decrease the value of psychological parameters (for alexitimia, anxiety, depression, stress) and restore the health status of patients participating in the study.

Peculiarities of the psychic state and quality of life in patients with duodenal ulcer in the context of chronomedicine

Most clinicians consider duodenum ulcer as a psychosomatic disease. Objective: To show the interdependence of this condition and mental disorders and their relation to disturbances of melatonin production . Materials and Methods: 15 patients with seasonal DU and 15 healthy subjects of the control group were examined during 3 years using laboratory, endoscopic, and standard psychodiagnostic methods. Results. It was found that all patients with exacerbation of DU experienced enhanced anxiety, reduced background mood, and impaired quality of life based on general health and mental health scoring scales. The circadian rhythm of melatonin production was markedly distorted throughout the observation period but especially during exacerbations of the disease. Conclusions. The results indicate a high degree of correlation between DU and mental disorders caused by impaired production of melatonin. It suggests common etiological mechanisms of DU and psychosomatic symptom complex.