Struggling to Keep Tabs on Capstone Projects: A Chatbot to Tackle Student Procrastination

Capstone projects usually represent the most significant academic endeavor with which students have been involved. Time management tends to be one of the hurdles. On top, University students are prone to procrastinatory behavior. Inexperience and procrastination team up for students failing to meet deadlines. Supervisors strive to help. Yet heavy workloads frequently prevent tutors from continuous involvement. This article looks into the extent to which conversational agents (a.k.a. chatbots) can tackle procrastination in single-student capstone projects. Specifically, chatbot enablers put in play include (1) alerts, (2) advice, (3) automatic rescheduling, (4) motivational messages, and (5) reference to previous capstone projects. Informed by Cognitive Behavioural Theory, these enablers are framed within the three phases involved in self-regulation misalignment: pre-actional, actional, and post-actional. To motivate this research, we first analyzed 77 capstone-project reports. We found that students’ Gantt charts (1) fail to acknowledge review meetings (70%) and milestones (100%) and (2) suffer deviations from the initial planned effort (16.28%). On these grounds, we develop GanttBot, a Telegram chatbot that is configured from the student’s Gantt diagram. GanttBot reminds students about close landmarks, it informs tutors when intervention might be required, and it learns from previous projects about common pitfalls, advising students accordingly. For evaluation purposes, course 17/18 acts as the control group ( N=28 ) while course 18/19 acts as the treatment group ( N=25 students). Using “overdue days” as the proxy for procrastination, results indicate that course 17/18 accounted for an average of 19 days of delay (SD = 5), whereas these days go down to 10 for the intervention group in course 18/19 (SD = 4). GanttBot is available for public usage as a Telegram chatbot.

Chinese music therapy to treat depression in children and adolescents: The BARIT-Model

Depression is broadly considered a global epidemic. In China it ranks among the most prevalent mental disorders and is seriously affecting the younger generation (prevalence between 4% and 41%), hence the necessity to foster health education and sustainable resilience. Meta-synthetic construction resulted in a music-based model of educational therapy comprising five principles, beauty, activation, responsiveness, immersion and transformation, hence the name ‘BARIT-model’: (i) referring to anthropological, psychological and neuroscientific aesthetics, the approach benefits from the healing power of aesthetic experience, (ii) behavioural activation is widely regarded as an efficient approach to treat depression. Different from conventional cognitive behavioural therapy, the BARIT-model involves artistic activities such as music improvisation, sound scene improvisation, vocal experiments or creative variations of Chinese martial arts, (iii) responsiveness concerns the qualitative similarity of emotion and music, alongside the patients’ feeling of being ‘understood’ by what they are listening to, (iv) while depressive mood tends to occupy the whole person, music immersion can help to escape that ‘pathological cage’, (v) finally, traumatic roots of depression need therapeutic processing, such as artistic symbolisation, intermodal transformation and relabelling of traumata as potential source of creative performance. The BARIT-model is part of a comprehensive project to improve mental health in Chinese children and adolescents through arts-based methods for classroom education, which encompasses ‒ in addition to depression ‒ attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, oppositional defiant disorders, anxiety disorders, stress-related disorders and burnout syndromes, eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or binge eating, as well as disorders related to the COVID-19 pandemic, e.g. developmental syndromes caused by lockdown and social distancing.

The Experience of Insomnia in Patients With Schizophrenic Disorder: A Qualitative Study

BackgroundInsomnia is a health problem that particularly affects people with schizophrenia. Its repercussions go beyond the disorder itself and affect many areas of life. The aim of the present study is to explore the clinical symptoms and consequences of insomnia in patients diagnosed with schizophrenic disorder and the perceptions of these patients regarding the care they receive.MethodsThe study takes a qualitative approach and uses semi-structured interviews to conduct a descriptive and interpretive analysis of 3 clinically different clusters of patients. These 3 clusters have been defined by using two-step cluster analysis based on the results of the ISI (Insomnia Severity Index) and EQ-5D scales (EuroQol-5D) and the presence of certain diagnostic symptoms in a sample of 170 patients. The final sample was 31 subjects. The analysis was based on a hermeneutic analysis of the patients' narratives regarding their experiences of insomnia.ResultsThe patients' narratives show differences in the intensity and experience of insomnia depending on the severity, as well as its impact on their quality of life. Insomnia has a huge emotional impact. Participants describe ruminations and obsessive thoughts as a key factor hindering falling asleep. Some of the everyday actions they perform encourage the chronicity of insomnia. The desired health response must include interventions that are effective, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy, and powerful, such as pharmacological solutions. Psychoeducation and advice on sleep hygiene are highly valued tools as preventive strategies.ConclusionsTo know the experience of users gives us a more comprehensive understanding of insomnia complexities and brings some new intervention strategies in patients with mental disorders. It is important that health professionals intervene preventively to stop the disorder from becoming chronic.

Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Studies on psychosocial interventions for perinatal mental health and wellbeing are mostly limited to the postpartum period. However, the physiological changes associated with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy predisposes women to severe psychological distress and adverse birth outcomes. This review investigated the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. Methods: Cochrane CENTRAL, Embase, MEDLINE, MIDIRS, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, and Web of Science were searched up to 22nd August 2021. Effect sizes on relevant health outcomes were pooled in a meta‐analysis using STATA software. Results: Eight randomised trials involving 460 participants met the inclusion criteria. Included studies adopted several interventions ranging from music, exercise, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), spiritual care education and psychoeducation. The pooled effect showed a significant reduction in anxiety (d= −0.35 [−0.58, −0.11], p=0.004) and depression (d= −0.37 [−0.57, −0.17], p=0.0003). Spiritual care education significantly reduced postpartum stress disorder (d= −62.00 [−93.10, −30.90], p= 0.0001). However, CBT showed no effect on gestational stress (d= −2.20 [-4.89, 0.48], p= 0.11). Conclusion: This study provides satisfactory evidence that psychosocial interventions may likely reduce anxiety and depression associated with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. However, the evidence is very uncertain about its effect on neonatal outcomes.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for an Adolescent with Anorexia Nervosa

Introduction: The treatment of anorexia nervosa remains a matter of much debate. Though cognitive behavioural therapy would seem to offer good results, there is still no resounding evidence pointing to a single treatment of choice. The case presented in this paper examines the treatment with CBT of a patient presenting anorexia nervosa. Evaluation/diagnosis: An adolescent girl, 17 years of age, voluntarily attends psychological therapy to address eating behaviour problems. After administering the EAT-26, EDI-2, and BSQ standardised screening tests, as well as a clinical interview for assessment, a psychopathological profile is obtained, providing a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, restricting subtype. Therapeutic goals: The therapeutic goals set were to reach a healthy weight for the patient’s age and height (specified as a minimum BMI of 18.5) and change the structure of thoughts, feelings, and behaviour that was justifying and maintaining the disorder. Treatment: Treatment lasted for 33 sessions and used cognitive behavioural techniques, such as cognitive restructuring, response cost, and positive reinforcement, in addition to family intervention techniques. Nutrition therapy was also carried out in parallel to the treatment sessions. Results: Following eight months of weekly sessions, the patient reached the target weight and changed attitudes towards food and body image, replacing them with healthy thoughts and behaviours. Follow-up made one and two years after the end of the treatment saw that these results were maintained. Discussion and conclusions: In this case, CBT proved effective in achieving the patient’s physical and psychological recovery. Therefore, this case contributes to the evidence of the efficacy of this therapeutic approach in certain cases of ED.

Perceptions Underlying Addictive Technology Use Patterns: Insights for Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is considered the ‘gold standard’ in the treatment of addictive disorders related to excessive technology use. However, the cognitive components of problematic internet use are not yet well-known. The aim of the present study was to explore the cognitive components, that according to problematic users, can lead to potential internet addiction. A total of 854 European adults completed an online survey using a mixed-methods design. Internet problems and attachment styles were assessed, prevalence rates estimated, correlations, chi-squared automatic interaction detection, and content analysis were performed. Self-reported addictions to social networking, internet, and gaming had a prevalence between 1.2% (gaming) to 2.7% (social networking). Self-perception of the addiction problem and preoccupied attachment style were discriminative factors for internet addiction. In an analysis of qualitative responses from self-identified compulsive internet users, a sense of not belonging and feeling of disconnection during life events were perceived as causes for internet addiction. The development depended on a cycle of mixed feelings associated with negative thoughts, compensated by a positive online identity. The severity of this behaviour pattern produced significant impairment in various areas of the participants’ functioning, suggesting a possible addiction problem. It is suggested that health professionals administering CBT should target unhealthy preoccupations and monitor mixed feelings and thoughts related to internet use to support coping with cognitive distortions.

Critical issues in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with gender and sexual minorities (GSMs)

In a cisheteronormative culture, gender and sexual minorities (GSMs) may experience additional challenges that get in the way of a meaningful life. It is crucial that clinicians are mindful of these challenges and cognizant about the specificities of clinical work with GSMs. This article points out how societal structure interferes with mental health, and clarifies what clinicians must take into account when using affirmative cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions. Knowledge of up-to-date terminology and use of affirmative language are the first steps that contribute to clients’ experience of respect, which is paramount for the development of a good therapeutic relationship. Considering a conceptual framework of minority stress to understand vulnerability in GSM, specificities in formulation and key psychological processes are discussed. Moreover, guidelines and practical tools for intervention are presented within a CBT approach. Some reflections on therapists’ own personal biases are encouraged, in order to increase the efficacy of interventions. Key learning aims After reading this article you will be able to: (1) Recognize the uniqueness of gender and sexual minorities (GSM) stressors in broad and specific contexts, and their impact on mental health. (2) Identify the underlying key processes and specificities in therapeutic work with GSMs, from a CBT perspective. (3) Recognize the importance of a culturally sensitive approach in affirmative CBT interventions.