Psychological characteristics of older versus younger persons with a functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID)

Functional gastrointestinal disorders commonly affect people of all ages, including the elderly. While population-based studies report significant psychological morbidity in people diagnosed with these disorders it is not clear what effect age has in explaining this relationship. We hypothesised that psychological distress would be higher in older versus younger persons with a FGID from the community. A random sample of 4500 subjects were mailed a questionnaire on gastrointestinal symptoms in the past 12 months (response rate = 72%). Of those fulfilling Rome I criteria for a FGID (n = 988) we then classified subjects into older (>60 years) (n =126) versus younger (18-59 years) (n = 862) categories. Psychological variables included anxiety and depression (Delusions Symptom States Inventory) and neuroticism and extroversion (Eysenck Personality Inventory). Quality of life was assessed using the valid SF-12. Anxiety (4.5 vs. 3.1), depression (3.0 vs. 1.8) and neuroticism (5.7 vs. 4.9) were significantly higher in younger versus older subjects with a FGID. While mental functioning (43.1 vs. 48.3) was significantly more impaired in younger versus older subjects, the reverse was found for physical functioning (48.7 vs. 40.8). Younger people with a FGID experience greater

Changes in Psychological Characteristics of Working Adults in Different Stages of Economic Transition in Lithuania

Global economic changes have psychological consequences and Mr. Lepeska set out to assess these changes in working adults in Lithuania between 1993 and 1997. He surveyed two groups of working adults, with a total of 200 people, randomly selected and representing different organisations and professions. In both groups around 30% of participants were managers, with the remainder working in non-managerial positions. The participants were surveyed twice, once in 1993 and the second time in 1997,using various psychodiagnostic tools to measure their psychological characteristics. The results showed that strategies for coping with stress have changed, with problem solving strategies being used more often, and avoidance behaviour or seeking social support less. Men tended to have rejected these strategy more radically than women. Attitudes towards work had become more positive, with managers' attitudes having changed more significantly than those of employees from lower levels of organisations. Younger people were more positive towards work-related changes, while situational anxiety tended to increase with age, although overall it remained low. Mr. Lepeska found that while there were some indications of an increasing individualist in relation to peers, the traditional collective orientation of Lithuanian adults had if anything increased. People have become more accepting of an unequal distribution of power, making it difficult to increase the participation of subordinates in decision making. He also noted a tendency for Lithuanians to see their organisations as traditional families, expecting them to take care of them physically and economically in return for loyalty. The strong feminine orientation with its stress on interpersonal relations and overall quality of life has also strengthened, but the ability of Lithuanians to take initiative and control their environment was relatively low. Mr. Lepeska concludes that organisations should seek to recruit people who are able to adjust more easily to changes and consider measuring dominance, individualism, and attitudes to work-related change and situational anxiety in the process of professional selection. There should also be more emphasis on team building and on training managers to maintain closer relationships with their subordinates so as to increase the latter's participation in decision making. Good interpersonal relations can be a strong work motivator, as may be special attention to the security needs of older employees.

Stress management in mothers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder : psychological characteristics, coping strategies and biological correlates

Un figlio con un Disturbo dello Spettro Autistico, caratterizzato da gravi difficoltà nelle relazioni, nei comportamenti e nella comunicazione, costringe tutto il sistema familiare a gestire un notevole stress dovuto alla gestione quotidiana di una patologia così complessa. Per questi motivi, i genitori necessitano di un sostegno il più possibile personalizzato rispetto alle caratteristiche del loro contesto familiare. Per fare questo sarebbe importante individuare quali siano i parametri correlati ai livelli di stress nei familiari di pazienti con autismo e che potrebbero avere un’influenza sul benessere familiare. Lo scopo di questo studio è quello di valutare quali caratteristiche di personalità, stili di coping e capacità di gestire le emozioni possano essere in relazione con la reattività individuale alle situazioni di stress, valutata attraverso alcuni correlati biologici, quali il livello di cortisolo (l’ormone dello stress) e la variabilità della frequenza cardiaca. L’ottica di ricerca applicata fa sì che gli obiettivi ultimi di questo lavoro siano anche quelli di diminuire l’accesso ai servizi per questi soggetti, considerando il fatto che progetti individualizzati di sostegno genitoriale costituiscono un fattore protettivo rispetto a conseguenze fisiche e psicologiche di disagio se implementati tenendo conto della variabilità individuale rispetto alle caratteristiche sopra citate.

Emotional characteristics of psychology students: a study based on the formative research perspective

In the formative research scheme, the author built a psychological scale, with the purpose of analyzing psychological characteristics of the School of Psychology students. The instrument showed a high reliability coefficient (α=0,86), the exploratory factorial analysis found five variables which allowed to predict some aspects of sex and career level through a logistic regression; the ALSCAL showed two emotional dimensions. The author recommends to improve the instrument and to continue its application in the School. It is also necessary to develop qualitative research to acquire new data about the topic of the research.

Psychological evaluation of patients scheduled for orthognathic surgery.

Using a questionnaire, 41 patients scheduled for orthognathic surgery were evaluated pre- and postoperatively to determine some of their psychological characteristics and treatment outcome from the patient's standpoint. Among other conclusions, the results showed that some patients may not fully understand the details of their deformity, despite a full explanation by the orthodontist and surgeon. Expectations regarding treatment outcome may be unrealistic even in patients with valid self-motivation for surgery. Social adjustment usually improves after treatment. Functional changes were noticed by over 80% of the patients and esthetic changes in over 90%.

Evaluating the Impact of the Positive Choices Intervention on Substance Use, Psychological, and Care Engagement Outcomes Relevant to Current National HIV Prevention Goals

The HIV epidemic in the United States continues to be a significant public health problem, with approximately 50,000 new infections occurring each year. National public health priorities have shifted in recent years towards targeted HIV prevention efforts among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) that include: increasing engagement in and retention in care, improving HIV treatment adherence, and increasing screening for and treatment of substance use and psychological difficulties. This study evaluated the efficacy of Positive Choices (PC), a brief, care-based, theory-driven, 3-session counseling intervention for newly HIV-diagnosed men who have sex with men (MSM), in the context of current national HIV prevention priorities. The study involved secondary analysis of data from a preliminary efficacy trial of the PC intervention (n=102). Descriptive statistics examined baseline substance use, psychological characteristics and strategies, and care engagement and HIV-related biological outcomes. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) examined longitudinal changes in these variables by study condition. Results indicated that PC improved adherence to HIV treatment, but increased use of illicit drugs, specifically amyl nitrates and other stimulant drugs; additionally, moderation analyses indicated differences in patterns of change over time in viral load by baseline depression status. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Psychosocial pathways to inconsistent condom use among male sex workers: personality, drug misuse and criminality

Background: This research compared street male sex workers in Santo Andre, Brazil, that reported consistent condom use with those that revealed inconsistent condom use with their clients, concerning personality aspects, impulsiveness, alcohol and drug consumption, depressive symptoms, sociodemographic data and criminal involvement. Methods: Eighty-six male sex workers were evaluated in face-to-face interviews at their place of work. A `snowball` sampling procedure was used to access this hard-to-reach population. Findings: Male sex workers with inconsistent condom use showed greater involvement with criminal activities, higher reward dependence level and more frequent self-report of being HIV-positive. Conclusions: Conceptualisation of male sex workers` psychological characteristics may be required where HIV risk is not only attributed to sex work per se, but to other aspects such as personality-related factors and negative identity.

O evento desencadeador do empreendedorismo : a proposta de Bygrave aplicada aos empreendedores portugueses

Mestrado em Gestão e Empreendedorismo

Tutor Inteligente para o Ensino em Medicina

O objectivo deste trabalho consistiu no desenvolvimento de um protótipo que possibilita a adaptação do conteúdo disponibilizado de acordo com as características pessoais e psicológicas do aluno, aplicado no ensino da Medicina, nomeadamente na componente de Desenho de Estudos da disciplina de Introdução à Medicina. Para o protótipo desenvolvido foi definida uma arquitectura constituída por três componentes: um Modelo de Aluno que engloba as características pessoais e psicológicas do aluno, um Modelo de Domínio constituído por um grafo de conceitos e um Modelo Pedagógico formado pelas regras de adaptação e mecanismos de interação utilizados para obter uma solução adaptativa. Os diferentes componentes desenvolvidos para este protótipo permitem que este apresente as seguintes funcionalidades: Acesso ao conceito adequado, tendo em consideração o nível de conhecimento do aluno; Visualização de conte udos adequados ao estilo de aprendizagem do aluno; Adaptação do percurso do aluno de acordo com os resultados obtidos; Atualização das preferências de aprendizagem, com base no comportamento demonstrado pelo aluno na interação com o sistema. A primeira versão da ferramenta j a foi implementada. No entanto ainda será realizada a avaliação do protótipo em ambiente de aprendizagem, com a maior brevidade possível.

An empirical study on the global mindset antecedents

The forces of globalization are changing the skills and competences required by effective global leadership. Accordingly, Business Schools (BSs) must adapt curriculums to the new queries so they, in fact, do develop future leader able to meet the challenges ahead. Increasing attention is being placed on global mindset (GM). Yet, this concept lacks research support. To help fulfilling this gap this research analyzes the effect that cultural intelligence (CQ) and a set of both personal and psychological characteristics have on GM enhancement. Based on a sample of academic students (N=220), findings suggested that CQ, vacations abroad and cosmopolitanism directly increase GM, while # language, PsyCap, TA and CSA do it indirectly. Practical implications for BSs and conclusions finalize this study.

Características e competências psicológicas associadas à excelência e ao sucesso no desporto: um estudo exploratório

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia

Honours students: good marks and what else?

Currently in Portugal academic excellence in higher education is given recognition through merit prizes. Because honours students can be seen as having the potential to achieve imporant levels of professional expertise, especially if they have some personal skills, it is important to know not only the marks of the students but also the personal characteristics that contribute to academic success and which may also be important for career success. Some theoretical models of giftedness and excellence agree with this idea and this work considers the latest contribution of Renzulli (2005) where it is pointed out that excellent achievements result from the combination of motivational, intellectual and creative factors as well as from co-cognitive factors which are most associated with personality functioning in a particular context. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze how honours students differ from their classmates in various psychological dimensions: Cognition-creativity, Motivation and Learning Strategies, Persistence, Social Interaction, Drive for Excellence and Cultural Interest. These dimensions were measured by the Inventory of Psychological Characteristics Associated with Academic Performance (ICPADA), which was constructed taking into consideration the previous study of Scaeger et al. (2012). The sample included 914 Portuguese higher educatoin students from a first cycle degree in the Bologna process. Participants were selected from three different fields of study: Social and Human Sciences; Science and Technology; Arts and Humanities. The data collected through the administration of the ICPADA was presented, and the results revealed a higher self-perception by honours students in all areas analyzed, with the exception of the dimension of social interaction. In addition an interaction effect was revealed for persistence, social interaction, and cultural interest. The field of study and whether the participants were honours students or not were also taken into account. Some implications for future studies are presented here along with possible interventions for honours students.

Memórias de cuidados parentais na infância, estilo de vinculação, qualidade da relação com pessoas significativas, perturbação psicopatológica e aliança terapêutica (estudo exploratório)

Esta investigação teve por objectivo explorar: a) a influência das memórias de cuidados parentais na infância, do estilo de vinculação, da qualidade da relação com pessoas significativas e da perturbação psicopatológica na qualidade da aliança terapêutica; b) a relação entre a qualidade da aliança terapêutica e os resultados psicoterapêuticos; e, c) a relação entre as mudanças na qualidade da aliança terapêutica e os resultados psicoterapêuticos. Uma amostra de 20 mães adolescentes foi avaliada, na primeira e na última (16.ª) sessão de uma intervenção psicoterapâutica, quanto às memórias de cuidados parentais na infância (EMBU), ao estilo de vinculação (ASI), ao suporte social (SESS) e à presença de perturbação psicopatológica (BSI). Tanto na 4.ª como na última sessão, pacientes e psicoterapeutas responderam a medidas de aliança terapêutica (WAI). Os resultados sugerem a existência de relações significativas entre algumas características psicológicas do paciente e a percepção da aliança terapêutica inicial, quer por parte do paciente quer por parte do terapeuta. Sugerem ainda que uma percepção positiva da aliança terapêutica, por parte do terapeuta, no início do processo terapêutico, está positivamente relacionada com os ganhos psicoterapêuticos do paciente, em termos da redução da sintomatologia psicopatológica. Os ganhos psicoterapêuticos do paciente, ao nível do estilo de vinculação e da qualidade das relações significativas, estão positivamente relacionados com uma percepção positiva da qualidade da aliança terapêutica, por parte do paciente, na última sessão. Contudo, as mudanças psicoterapêuticas positivas associadas à intervenção não parecem estar exclusivamente relacionadas com o aumento da qualidade da aliança terapêutica, observada entre o paciente e o terapeuta.

Evolution of decision-making and learning under fluctuating social environments

The capacity to learn to associate sensory perceptions with appropriate motor actions underlies the success of many animal species, from insects to humans. The evolutionary significance of learning has long been a subject of interest for evolutionary biologists who emphasize the bene¬fit yielded by learning under changing environmental conditions, where it is required to flexibly switch from one behavior to another. However, two unsolved questions are particularly impor¬tant for improving our knowledge of the evolutionary advantages provided by learning, and are addressed in the present work. First, because it is possible to learn the wrong behavior when a task is too complex, the learning rules and their underlying psychological characteristics that generate truly adaptive behavior must be identified with greater precision, and must be linked to the specific ecological problems faced by each species. A framework for predicting behavior from the definition of a learning rule is developed here. Learning rules capture cognitive features such as the tendency to explore, or the ability to infer rewards associated to unchosen actions. It is shown that these features interact in a non-intuitive way to generate adaptive behavior in social interactions where individuals affect each other's fitness. Such behavioral predictions are used in an evolutionary model to demonstrate that, surprisingly, simple trial-and-error learn¬ing is not always outcompeted by more computationally demanding inference-based learning, when population members interact in pairwise social interactions. A second question in the evolution of learning is its link with and relative advantage compared to other simpler forms of phenotypic plasticity. After providing a conceptual clarification on the distinction between genetically determined vs. learned responses to environmental stimuli, a new factor in the evo¬lution of learning is proposed: environmental complexity. A simple mathematical model shows that a measure of environmental complexity, the number of possible stimuli in one's environ¬ment, is critical for the evolution of learning. In conclusion, this work opens roads for modeling interactions between evolving species and their environment in order to predict how natural se¬lection shapes animals' cognitive abilities. - La capacité d'apprendre à associer des sensations perceptives à des actions motrices appropriées est sous-jacente au succès évolutif de nombreuses espèces, depuis les insectes jusqu'aux êtres hu¬mains. L'importance évolutive de l'apprentissage est depuis longtemps un sujet d'intérêt pour les biologistes de l'évolution, et ces derniers mettent l'accent sur le bénéfice de l'apprentissage lorsque les conditions environnementales sont changeantes, car dans ce cas il est nécessaire de passer de manière flexible d'un comportement à l'autre. Cependant, deux questions non résolues sont importantes afin d'améliorer notre savoir quant aux avantages évolutifs procurés par l'apprentissage. Premièrement, puisqu'il est possible d'apprendre un comportement incorrect quand une tâche est trop complexe, les règles d'apprentissage qui permettent d'atteindre un com¬portement réellement adaptatif doivent être identifiées avec une plus grande précision, et doivent être mises en relation avec les problèmes écologiques spécifiques rencontrés par chaque espèce. Un cadre théorique ayant pour but de prédire le comportement à partir de la définition d'une règle d'apprentissage est développé ici. Il est démontré que les caractéristiques cognitives, telles que la tendance à explorer ou la capacité d'inférer les récompenses liées à des actions non ex¬périmentées, interagissent de manière non-intuitive dans les interactions sociales pour produire des comportements adaptatifs. Ces prédictions comportementales sont utilisées dans un modèle évolutif afin de démontrer que, de manière surprenante, l'apprentissage simple par essai-et-erreur n'est pas toujours battu par l'apprentissage basé sur l'inférence qui est pourtant plus exigeant en puissance de calcul, lorsque les membres d'une population interagissent socialement par pair. Une deuxième question quant à l'évolution de l'apprentissage concerne son lien et son avantage relatif vis-à-vis d'autres formes plus simples de plasticité phénotypique. Après avoir clarifié la distinction entre réponses aux stimuli génétiquement déterminées ou apprises, un nouveau fac¬teur favorisant l'évolution de l'apprentissage est proposé : la complexité environnementale. Un modèle mathématique permet de montrer qu'une mesure de la complexité environnementale - le nombre de stimuli rencontrés dans l'environnement - a un rôle fondamental pour l'évolution de l'apprentissage. En conclusion, ce travail ouvre de nombreuses perspectives quant à la mo¬délisation des interactions entre les espèces en évolution et leur environnement, dans le but de comprendre comment la sélection naturelle façonne les capacités cognitives des animaux.