THE ASSIMILATION PROCESS OF PROBLEMATIC EXPERIENCES AND LONG-TERM OUTCOMES IN PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR DEPRESSION: COMPARING A RELAPSED AND A NON-RELAPSED CASE

"Over the years, research has demonstrated that psychotherapy is an effective treatment in different psychopathological conditions. However, which are the mechanisms or processes involved in therapeutic change that could explain its efficacy are not yet clear. The Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Model describes change in therapy as a process that occurs through the gradual assimilation of problematic experiences in the self – higher levels of assimilation seem to be associated with a better outcome at the end of therapy. However, little is known about the contribution of this process to the maintenance of therapeutic gains after the end of therapy. In the current study we aimed to explore how the level of assimilation achieved throughout therapy is associated with relapse prevention after treatment. We analyzed two good outcome cases of Emotion-Focused Therapy, previously diagnosed with depression: one case that remained asymptomatic and another that relapsed one year and a half after the end of therapy. The Assimilation of Problematic Experiences (APES) was used to assess the assimilation levels achieved and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was used to assess the intensity of depressive symptoms. Five therapeutic sessions and three follow-up sessions were rated using the APES. The results showed that higher APES levels were associated with lower intensity of symptoms at the end and after therapy termination, being associated with relapse prevention in depression. These results suggest that a complete assimilation of the problematic experiences may help clients to maintain therapeutic gains reducing the probability of relapsing in depression."

A STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A MUTUAL EXCHANGE SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENT DISORDERS

"There is an urgent need to support families of children with developmental disorders, especially when it is necessary for such families to help each other. However, practice and research related to support systems for families have begun only recently in Japan. Considering these issues, the authors developed a program to support mutual exchanges among parents of children with developmental disorders. This study aimed to verify the program’s effectiveness and to examine the relationship between participants’ program experience and its effectiveness. Participants included 21 male and female parents of children with developmental disorders. The parents were in their 30s to 50s (4 in their 30s, 14 in their 40s, and 3 in their 50s) (1 male, 20 females). Effectiveness indicators included the Profile of Mood States 2nd Edition-Adult Short (POMS2-A Short) (before and after implementation), Session Impact Scale (SIS), and Mutual Exchange Support Experience Rating Scale. t-tests were conducted on the pre- and post-program results of the POMS2-A short. Results showed that scores on Anger-Hostility (t=4.77, df=20, p<.01, d=1.04), Confusion-Bewilderment (t=4.31, df=20, p<.01, d=.94), Depression-Dejection (t=2.88, df=20, p<.01, d=.63), Fatigue-Inertia (t=3.63, df=20, p<.01, d=.79), and Tension-Anxiety (t=3.61, df=20, p<.01, d=.79) in the POMS2-A Short decreased significantly after the implementation of the program. These results evidence the effectiveness of the program in improving several mood states, especially anger-hostility, tension-anxiety, depression-depression, and fatigue."

THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS AND THE BIG SIX VOCATIONAL INTERESTS

"A central theme in the present study is the assumption that the influence on the human behavior is mediated by different internal processes in the career choice. Emotional intelligence is defined as a variable which is a cause for the relationship between personality traits and the choice of a certain career. Three causal paths to the dependent variable were tracked – a path to the direct impact of the emotional intelligence on the career choice, a path to the influence of personality traits on the emotional intelligence as well as a path to the impact of personality traits on the career choice via the emotional intelligence. The aim of the study is to show the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between personality traits and career choice. A total of 100 Bulgarian secondary and university students (42 males and 58 females), aged 17-40 years, were included in the research. The following measures were used for the purpose of the study - Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Short Form (TEIQue-SF), The Big five questionnaire and the Big six method for career choices. The Bulgarian version of the emotional intelligence questionnaire was translated and adapted for Bulgarian sociocultural context by Antonina Kardasheva (Kardasheva, 2012). The Big five questionnaire and the Big six method for career choices were adapted for Bulgarian conditions by S. Karabelyova (Karabelyova, 2015). The results showed that there was a direct positive impact of the emotional intelligence on the relationship between the enterprising type and conscientiousness, the artistic type and neuroticism and a negative impact on the relationship between the conventional type and extraversion. The conclusions derived from the study could be used for further psychological research in the field, as well as for enhancing the knowledge of one’s personality."

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL ADS TARGETING DRUNK DRIVING

"Social advertisements with threat appeals are widely used to reduce drunk driving. However, research on the effectiveness of such advertising is limited. This study aimed to evaluate, what emotions cause threat appeal ads targeting drunk driving and whether these ads change risky driving attitudes. 41 students (17.1 percent males; mean age 20.9 years; 53.7 percent had a driving license) voluntarily participated in the experimental study. Every participant was randomly assigned to one of three groups: two experimental (watched one of two TV ads with threat appeals) or control group (watched car wash ad with no threatening stimuli). After watching one of three ads, all participants were asked to evaluate seven emotions and to fill in Driving Attitude Questionnaire (DAQ). Results revealed that both road safety threat appeal ads targeting drunk driving did not arouse any stronger fear emotions or differences in driving attitudes compared to control group. Both experimental groups didn’t differ in emotions or attitudes as well. No difference in emotions and attitudes was found when comparing the reaction of participants who have seen the specific ad before the experiment and those who haven’t. The fact of being a licensed driver was also not related to the level of reported emotions or attitude differences in both experimental groups. The study results reveal that the possible effectiveness of threat appeal ads from ongoing social marketing campaigns on reducing drunk driving is questionable and further studies are needed."

ACADEMIC LEARNING PROCESS BETWEEN FACE-TO-FACE AND ONLINE CLASS OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS DURING PANDEMIC

"The Philippine’s Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is mandated to take appropriate steps to ensure that education shall be accessible to all. In times where classes were disrupted due to health emergency and community lockdown imposed, the commission handed down Memorandum Order No. 4. Series of 2020, which directed Higher Education Institutions (HEI) to use flexible platform for academic track to better facilitate learning scheme. The sudden paradigm shin lends students to grapple in the new way of teaching and learning process. The underlying circumstance leads to determining the Academic Learning Process between face-to-face and online class of Medical Technology students during the time of contagion. This descriptive-comparative study verified the learning process between online class and face-to face strategic learning. There were fourty six (46) 3rd Year and 4th Year Medical Technology students of World Citi Colleges who assessed the two learning processes based on class preparation, absorbing and capturing new information, and reviewing of course materials. Results revealed that majority of the respondents are in the age bracket of 22-25 and mostly female students. In terms of year level, there is an equal distribution of 3rd year and 4th year Medical Technology students. It is also observed that majority of the respondents experienced a half semester of online class and are highly prepared for face-to-face class but are moderately prepared for online class. The level of preparedness for face-to-face class is greater than the level of preparedness for online class. In terms of academic learning process, the respondents have high ability to absorb new information in face-to-face class but with moderate ability compared to online class. The mean score of the level of capturing new information in face-to-face class is greater than the mean score in online class. However, the respondents have high ability to capture new information in both modes of learning. Relatively, scores on capturing new information in online class are more dispersed than scores for face-to-face class. Additionally, as to reviewing course materials, respondents have moderate ability in reviewing course materials in online class. The mean score for the level of reviewing in face-to-face class is greater than the mean score in online class. Based on the results of independent samples t-test, the researchers concluded that there is no significant difference in the academic learning process between the face-to-face and online class of 3rd and 4th-year Medical Technology students during pandemic."

COMPULSIVE BUYING AND RELATED MOTIVES: ENHANCEMENT AND COPING

"Background: Research indicates that compulsive buying that refers to chronic, excessive shopping and expenditure isn’t rare, especially among the young people. However, related studies are limited. More research is required to advance our understanding about the phenomenon and to improve prevention and treatment strategies. Objectives: This study especially aimed to investigate the role of shopping motives for compulsive buying. For this purpose, coping and enhancement motives that were originally developed to assess drinking reasons were adapted for shopping. Examining the relationships of compulsive buying with demographics, spending frequency of different products, positive and negative affect were also other objectives of the study. Methods: The sample was composed of 362 voluntary university students selected through convenience sampling in Turkey. Majority of the participants were females (77.9%). The mean age was 21.91 (SD = 3.11). Participants rated the frequency of shopping motives for each of the 5 enhancement items (e.g. to get high, because it’s fun) and the 5 coping items (e.g. to forget worries, to relax) on 4 point Likert-scale (1: almost never, 4: almost always). Compulsive Buying Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule were also utilized as standard measurement instruments. The participants rated their spending frequency on different products such as cosmetics, clothes, technological products, or furniture on a 1 to 4 scale (1: almost never, 4: almost always). Findings: According to the results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis being female, having younger age and lower GPA (1st step) in addition to higher personal income (2nd step), spending frequently for cosmetics, shoes and clothes (3rd step), having higher negative affect (4th step) were found to be associated with compulsive buying scores. Moreover, both enhancement and coping motives that were entered into the regression equation in the last step (5th step), also predicted the participants’ compulsive buying scores. The total explained variance was 58.2%. Conclusions: The findings of this study are important to indicate the possible risk factors for compulsive buying including age, gender, income, spending habits, and negative affect. Moreover, the results reveal that buying something in order to enhance positive affect and to avoid negative feelings can be prominent determinants of compulsive buying. Research from non-Western countries such as the present study are essentially important to highlight the associates of compulsive buying across cultures since majority of the relevant literature derive from studies conducted with Western participants."

LEARNING STRATEGIES AND SCHOOL MOTIVATION IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING VS. TRADITIONAL LEARNING

"Introduction: In recent years, European innovation policies in education have focused on preventing early school leaving and functional illiteracy. In this context of innovation in education, experiential learning has proven to have unique qualities for both teachers and students. Thus, the main motivation of this paper was to show that experiential teaching methods and techniques in primary education are able to produce significant improvements in learning strategies and school motivation in young students. Objectives: The aim of this this study was to explore the differences in learning strategies and school motivation on young students who had benefitted from Experiential Learning, in contrast with those following direct learning instructional methods Methods: This study was performed using two groups of subjects. The first group (experimental group) included 60 students taught by experiential methods and the second group (control group) included 60 students taught by traditional methods. All students were in the fourth grade in an urban school. Differences in learning strategies and school motivation were explored by applying School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory - SMALSI (Stroud & Reynolds, 2006) to both the experimental group and the control group. SMALSI is structured in 9 dimensions - 6 strengths: study strategies, note-taking / listening skills, reading / comprehension strategies, writing skills / research, strategies used in tests, techniques for organizing / managing time; and 3 weaknesses are: low academic motivation, test anxiety, concentration difficulties / paying attention. To determine the differences in the students’ mean scores, descriptive as well as inferential statistical analyses were performed on the data. Results: The results showed that an experiential teaching model produces positive results in all evaluated strengths and in two of the three weak points investigated, namely in academic motivation and test anxiety. Statistically insignificant effects are in terms of attention / concentration difficulties, they may be more dependent on physiological and psychological maturation and less on the teaching methods, but also may be a direction of further research. Conclusions: The findings of this study could significantly help teachers looking for viable solutions to optimize students school results, increase school motivation and improve learning strategies in primary school."

CHARACTERISTICS OF RESILIENCE IN HONG KONG OLDER ADULTS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

"Introduction: Resilience, which is defined as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress, is important for older adults to maintain a healthy life. This qualitative study aimed to identify the characteristics that contribute to resilience among a group of community-dwelling older adults in Hong Kong. Methods: Individual and focus group interviews were conducted to collect information on life adverse events, attitudes towards adversity, and beliefs underlying the approaches to overcoming adversity among 25 Chinese older adults (2M and 23F) aged 69 to 100 years old (M=80.00, SD=39.08). The transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Seven characteristics were emerged under the three factors, including equanimity, positive attitudes towards life, meaningfulness, and self-reliance (internal factor), social support and environmental support (external factor), and spirituality and faith (existential factor). Conclusion: In addition to identifying the seven characteristics that contribute to resilience, this study also identified “taking part in physical activity” as an individual resource contributing to resilience. The study also found “government support” is an important environmental factor contributing to positive adaptation to stressful life of the elderly in Hong Kong. The results and findings may facilitate the development of interventions on enhancing older adults’ resilience."

IDENTIFICATION AND SYMBOLIZATION IN ADOLESCENT DEPRESSION TODAY

"This theoretical study, of a qualitative character, proposes to investigate what the relationship between identification and symbolization is in adolescent depression today. The importance of discussing the theme is as a direct result of the alarming observation that, as an illness of epidemic proportions, it does not refer to a natural illness, whose origin is restricted to the individual level, but mainly refers to structural determinations present in society. In this sense, this work addresses the problem of understanding which identification and symbolization processes are present in a culture that has transformed depression among adolescents into a social symptom. In order to develop this, it expresses the main determinations that are present at puberty, discussing the processes of primary and secondary narcissism, the nature of identifications, mechanisms of the capitalist culture of consumption and its relationship with the processes of subjectivation, reflecting on the possibilities and obstacles of the social bond to offer and / or allow symbolization of anxieties and humanizing psychical work."

PERCEIVED SELF-REGULATORY SUCCESS IN DIETING AND ITS CORRELATES AMONG WOMEN WITH FOOD ADDICTION

"Background: Several psychological features are implicated in the dieting success. Better understanding of these features may allow reducing dieting failure of both surgical and non-surgical weight loss interventions, especially for individuals with food addiction (FA). In non-clinical population, low perceived self-regulatory success (PSRS) in dieting is associated with higher BMI (body mass index), FA, food craving and impulsivity. PSRS could partially explain weight gain in FA, but no study investigated this association in the specific FA population. Method: To diagnose FA, 288 women recruited online completed The Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0. They also completed the following self-administrated questionnaires: the French adaptation of the PSRS in dieting scale, the Food Craving Questionnaire Trait-Reduced, and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11. They specified their height, current and lifetime maximal weight, and if they were in a current diet. Mean age was 26.1±10.3 years. Mean current BMI was 23.4±5.5 kg/m². Results: 79 women met criteria for FA (27.4%), indicating significant less PSRS in dieting and higher probability to be in a current diet to lose weight. In the whole population (n=288), PSRS in dieting was negatively correlated with current and lifetime maximal BMI, food craving, FA, attentional and non-planning impulsivity. In a multiple linear regression conducted in the subgroup of women with FA, PSRS score was predicted by age, current BMI, food addiction and food craving. More, results suggested food craving enable the association between food addiction and PSRS. Conclusion: These results showed the high preoccupation about food intake and weight gain in the FA population. Psychological features associated with FA such as food craving and impulsivity, seem to impact the PSRS in dieting, increasing psychological vulnerability."