Three Students with Developmental Disabilities Learn to Operate an iPod to Access Age-Appropriate Entertainment Videos

Students with developmental disabilities may not have the necessary skills or the same opportunities to access multimedia-based leisure materials as their typical peers. Portable multimedia devices such as the iPod Touch® may provide them with a useful tool for accessing age-appropriate leisure material. The present study examined the feasibility of teaching 3 students with developmental disabilities to independently operate an iPod to watch age-appropriate entertainment videos. A delayed multiple-probe design across participants was implemented with baseline, intervention, fading, and follow-up phases. Video modeling and least-to-most response prompting were successfully used to teach these 3 students to operate an iPod Touch® to watch preferred videos without adult assistance. The results complement previous findings supporting the use of video modeling as an instructional strategy and add to the literature by using portable multimedia devices as assistive technology for teaching an age-appropriate leisure skill.     

The Family Alliance Assessment Scales: Steps Toward Validity and Reliability of an Observational Assessment Tool for Early Family Interactions

We present the first steps in the validation of an observational tool for father-mother-infant interactions: the FAAS (Family Alliance Assessment Scales). Family-level variables are acknowledged as unique contributors to the understanding of the socio-affective development of the child, yet producing reliable assessments of family-level interactions poses a methodological challenge. There is, therefore, a clear need for a validated and clinically relevant tool. This validation study has been carried out on three samples: one non-referred sample, of families taking part in a study on the transition to parenthood (normative sample; n = 30), one referred for medically assisted procreation (infertility sample; n = 30) and one referred for a psychiatric condition in one parent (clinical sample; n = 15). Results show that the FAAS scales have (1) good inter-rater reliability and (2) good validity, as assessed through known-group validity by comparing the three samples and through concurrent validity by checking family interactions against parents’ self-reported marital satisfaction.     

The Brief Family Distress Scale: A Measure of Crisis in Caregivers of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Parents of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often experience stressors associated with caring for their child. These stressors can cause considerable distress for families, which at times can develop into full blown crisis, and it is important that professionals be able to quickly identify when families are approaching or are in crisis to respond appropriately. The current study presents an initial attempt at measuring the subjective experience of crisis in 164 caregivers of people with ASD through a single item instrument, the Brief Family Distress Scale. The BFDS was negatively correlated with helpful coping mechanisms (family hardiness, and parent empowerment), and positive adjustment (caregiver quality of life and positive parenting experiences), and positively correlated with known stressors (severity of aggressive behavior, negative life events) and problematic coping and outcomes (caregiver burden, worry, mental health problems). As expected, caregivers at Marked levels of distress (approaching or in crisis) were significantly different from caregivers at lower levels of distress in nearly all of the dependent variables. Having a quick way of measuring where families are in terms of distress and crisis can be helpful for researchers and clinicians alike.     

Correlates of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms Among the Caregivers of Leukemic Children

This study aims to reveal correlates of depressive and anxiety symptoms among the Turkish caregivers of leukemic children (n?=?100). The effects of demographic variables, satisfaction of the basic needs, performance on daily activities, and coping strategies on outcome variables were investigated by hierarchical regression. Accordingly, older age, lower reported income, higher number of other children to be looked after, lower levels of satisfaction of basic needs, and more use of emotion focused coping were associated with higher levels of both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, caregivers with lower education reported more depressive symptoms, and higher performance on daily activities predicted more anxiety symptoms.     

Adversarial Growth in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and their Partners: Relationships with Illness Perceptions,Disability and Distress

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their partners show adversarial growth and to examine which psychological and disability variables contribute to this in patients and their partners. The study also investigated the relationship between growth and distress. Seventy-two patients with MS and their partners provided demographic information and completed measures of posttraumatic growth, illness perceptions, depression, cognitive function and disability. Both patients and partners showed adversarial growth, with patients reporting significantly higher growth than partners. The only significant predictor for patient growth was partner growth, and vice versa. Dissimilarity in illness representations between patients and their partners on the consequences of MS dimension, patient mood and patient growth accounted for significant variance in partner growth. The findings support the idea of a ‘communal search for meaning’ where patients and their partners experience the trauma of having a chronic illness and subsequently find positive aspects together.     

Deepened extinction following compound stimulus presentation: noradrenergic modulation

Behavioral extinction is an active form of new learning involving the prediction of nonreward where reward has previously been present. The expression of extinction learning can be disrupted by the presentation of reward itself or reward-predictive stimuli (reinstatement) as well as the passage of time (spontaneous recovery) or contextual changes (renewal). The following experiments replicated the demonstration that presenting multiple previously rewarded stimuli in compound during extinction enhances extinction learning. To explore the pharmacological basis for this we next examined the effects of pharmacological treatments that either facilitated or blocked noradrenergic activity to test the hypothesis that increased noradrenergic activity at the time of extinction training would improve, whereas blockade of noradrenergic activity would impair the extinction of appetitive stimulus-reward memories. Different groups of rats were trained in a discriminative stimulus paradigm to lever-press for food reward. Once stable responding was achieved, responding was extinguished for 2 d. Prior to a third extinction session, rats received systemic administration of either saline, yohimbine (α2 antagonist), atomoxetine (norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor), or propranolol (β-receptor antagonist). Spontaneous recovery of responding to the stimuli was tested 4 wk later. Our results indicate that increasing noradrenergic activity during extinction augments extinction learning resulting in less recovery of responding at test. These results have important implications for models of relapse to drug seeking and the development of extinction-based therapies.     

Spanish version of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) for adolescents

The need to study the positive aspects of body image led to the design of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS). The aim of the present study was to develop a Spanish adaptation of the BAS for adolescents, testing its factor structure, construct validity and any differences between girls and boys. Participants were 312 adolescents aged between 12 and 20; there were 148 females and 164 males. The validation analysis of the BAS revealed a one-factor structure with adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .908) and construct validity (correlations with body mass index, influence of the body shape model, perceived stress, coping strategies, self-esteem and variables from the Eating Disorders Inventory-2), as well as significant differences between boys and girls (p < .01). The BAS is suitable for administration in a Spanish adolescent population as a way of analysing the positive aspects of body image.     

The psychological well-being of employees who handle cash in a bank in inner city Johannesburg

The aim of the study was to compare the psychological well-being of bank employees who handled cash and those who did not. The study assessed employees' levels of work stress, burnout and life satisfaction. The Job Stress Survey Scale was used to measure work stress, Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to measure burnout and the Congruity Life Satisfaction Scale was used to measure life satisfaction. Two independent sample t tests were run on Statistical Analysis Software. The results showed that the two groups differed significantly in terms of work stress, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and overall burnout. The findings of this study suggest the need for organisational support, skills development and the provision of wellness programmes for bank employees.     

Bullying-victimization problems and aggressive tendencies in Spanish secondary schools students: the role of gender stereotypical traits

This paper presents data concerning culturally prescribed gender traits and their influence on bullying/victimization problems and aggressive tendencies from a wide sample of 1,654 Spanish adolescents. The aims of this study were to clarify the effect of masculine traits on male and female secondary students’ aggression, and also to explore the role of feminine traits in either the inhibition of aggression or the use of more covert forms. Results show that masculine stereotypical traits are related more strongly with bully perpetration, proneness to aggression and experience of anger and hostility in both sexes. In contrast, traditional feminine traits are negatively related with bullying perpetration and proneness to aggression. However, feminine traits are linked to male students’ victimization. Results are discussed in the light of previous findings and are taken into consideration in the design of intervention practices in secondary schools.