A Developmental–Behavioral Approach to Outpatient Psychotherapy with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Over the course of development, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may present with an array of behavioral symptoms in addition to the primary impairments in language, socialization, and repetitive/restricted interests. These developmental challenges allow outpatient psychotherapists the opportunity to provide helpful clinical services to children and adolescents with ASDs. This can be best accomplished by combining behavioral strategies that are typically effective with children with ASDs with evidence-based approaches helpful for other psychiatric conditions. Four case examples are provided that review how to use both ASDs and general child clinical interventions with children with ASDs and their families.     

The effect of a psycho-educational intervention on weight management in obese military personnel

Obesity is a serious health problem for many population groups, including military personnel. Model-based health education programs have been shown to be effective in reducing weight. This study assessed the efficacy of an educational intervention based on a trans-theoretical model (TTM) targeting weight loss among active duty military. A single group experimental study using a before-after design was conducted in 49 military personnel with obesity. Constructs such as self-efficacy, decisional balance, stages of change, and processes of change as well as anthropometric measures including weight, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI) were assessed at three times (baseline, 2 months after the intervention, and 4 months later). The intervention consisted of 10 educational sessions developed based on TTM constructs. At baseline, 30 (61%) and 19 (39%) persons were in the pre-action and action stages, respectively. By 2 months after the intervention, only 24 persons (49%) were in pre-action stages and 25 (51%) were in the action stages. Four months later, one (2%) and 43 (88%) were in pre-action and action stages. The mean changes in self-efficacy (25.7 ± 4.1 to 29.3 ± 2.4), decisional balance (9.2 ± 3.6 to 13.8 ± 1.9), total cognitive (74.7 ± 8.5 to 84.7 ± 6.3), and total behavioral change (60.8 ± 9.8 to 71.7 ± 7.8) were significantly different across the three time points. Reductions in weight (99.8 ± 10.4 to 93.0 ± 9.6), waist circumference (105.9 ± 14.2 to 100.2 ± 13.0), and BMI (32.5 ± 5.2 to 30.3 ± 4.5) from baseline to 4 months after the intervention were also significant (p < 0.05). An educational program based on TTM may be effective in reducing weight among obese military staff.     

MA and Togetherness (Ittaikan) in the Narratives of Dancers and Spectators: Sharing an Uncertain Space

The Japanese concept/character MA (間), commonly translated as “gap, interval, or the in between,” partakes in many forms of Japanese arts and daily-life practices. In this article, we report the results of a qualitative research on the meaning or experience of MA and its relation with the feeling of togetherness in the context of contemporary dance improvisation. We interviewed performers and spectators (all professional dancers) while they watched the videotaped and reduced stick-figure versions of short dance improvisations created in a laboratory installed with motion-capture sensors. Based on the individual narratives, and inspired by Japanese and occidental aesthetic writings, we elaborate a specific understanding of MA as attending to the event's preacceleration, and how this experience causally relates to the feeling of togetherness (一体感, ittaikan). We propose that MA, understood not extensionally (as an empty space or a silent gap), but intentionally/internally as a certain quality of attention or perceptual mode, is fertile ground for serendipity. MA as an interpersonal ethical construct suggests a transsubjective difference as a foundation for a collective coming together.     

Assessing Loneliness in UAE Populations: the Relationship with Age,Gender, Marital Status,and Academic Performance

This study evaluates the extent of loneliness among tertiary students and the wider population in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and examines its association with age, gender, marital status and academic performance. The study used the Arabic version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale. A total of 1429 students from all colleges of the UAEU and 1431 participants from the UAE responded to the scale and to questions on gender, age, marital status and educational level. It was found that college students tended to score below average on the loneliness scale and that males tended to score slightly lower than females. As for the wider UAE community, the participants’ mean loneliness score was also below the scale average and there were no statistically significant differences between males and females or between married and single persons. With respect to age, it was found that only among unmarried participants was age significantly correlated with loneliness. Interestingly enough, the relationship between academic performance as measured by GPA and loneliness levels was not statistically significant for either gender. These results were discussed within the UAE cultural context and the related literature.

     

Developing a Revised Cross-Cultural Academic Integrity Questionnaire (CCAIQ-2)

Understanding and measuring levels of academic integrity within higher education institutions across the world is an important area of study in the era of educational internationalization. Developing a cross-cultural measure will undoubtedly assist in creating standardization processes and add to the discourse on cross-cultural understanding on what constitutes honest and dishonest action in the higher education context. This study has used a combination of exploratory and confirmatory factor analytical procedures to validate a previously published questionnaire, namely the cross-cultural academic integrity questionnaire (CCAIQ). Inspection of response distributions was also undertaken. Primary participants in this study were from Iran (n?=?216), and secondary reference participants were from New Zealand (n?=?366) and Nigeria (n?=?330). The findings indicate that a revised questionnaire (CCAIQ-2) better represents the data obtained from all three regions. Three CCAIQ-2 domains are proposed: cheating, collusion and complying. However, the response distributions (skewness and kurtosis) indicated differences among the three groups, further suggesting that the theoretical constructs developed through factors analysis may not represent equivalence in terms of cross-cultural understanding. This research will inevitably create international debate on the measurement of integrity and how this measurement process can be used to establish internationally recognized and accountable educational regulations.     

Attitudes Toward Spirituality and Spiritual Care among Iranian Nurses and Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Addressing spiritual needs is taken into account as an integral part of holistic health care and also an important component of nursing practice. The aim of present study is to evaluate attitudes toward spirituality and spiritual care among nurses and nursing students at Semnan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. In this cross-sectional study, all nurses (n = 180) working in the teaching hospitals affiliated to Semnan University of Medical Sciences as well as senior nursing students (n = 50) selected by the census method. Finally, 168 individuals meeting the inclusion criteria were evaluated as the study sample. The data collection instrument was the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale. The mean and standard deviation scores of attitudes toward spirituality and spiritual care among nurses and nursing students were 59 ± 10.9, and the scores obtained by the majority of study population (64.3%) ranged between 32 and 62 which were at a moderate and relatively desirable level. Nurses and nursing students working in aforementioned hospitals reported positive attitudes to spirituality and spiritual care. Given the importance of spiritual care and also the moderate level of spirituality and spiritual care among nurses and nursing students in this study, institutionalization of the concept of spirituality, provision of an appropriate context to deliver such care, and also implementation of interventions in order to improve spiritual care along with other nursing skills were assumed of utmost importance.     

Christian–Muslim Relations in Kenya: A Catalogue of Events and Meanings

This article examines contemporary paradigms, events and modes of communal behaviour which represent and reflect historical perspectives and shifts in Christian–Muslim relations in Kenya, which have been variously characterized by conflict, concord, polemics and dialogue, based on archival records, official documents and interviews. Since Muslims and Christians co-exist side by side in Kenya, they are compelled to respond to the challenges of this reality. Events involving Muslims and Christians as influenced by colonial history and the struggle for independence, and various ways in which the communities are participating in a new nation, are considered with reference to constitutional debates regarding Islamic courts.     

Age and physiological, perceptual, and affective responses during walking at a self-selected pace

The aim of this study was to examine physiological, perceptual, and affective responses during self-paced walking for three age groups. 66 adult women were assigned into three groups by age: 20-25 yr. (n=22), 30-35 yr. (n=22), and 40-45 yr. (n=22). Each participant completed a maximal exercise test and a 20-min. bout of walking at a self-selected pace. The preferred walking speed was similar for all age groups, whereas physiological responses relative to maximal and ventilatory threshold values were greater in the 40-45 yr. group than the other two groups. Nevertheless, perceptual and affective responses were similar for all age groups. These findings suggest that physiological responses, but not perceptual and affective responses, of sedentary women are associated with age during walking at a self-selected pace.     

The role of healthy emotionality in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and mental health problems: a cross-sectional study

Cognitive Processing - Understanding pandemic-related psychopathology development is limited due to numerous individual and contextual factors. It is widely accepted that individual differences to...     

Inhibitors to EFL teachers’ reflective teaching and EFL learners’ reflective thinking and the role of teaching experience and academic degree in reflection perception

The present study investigated Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perception of their own reflective teaching, of inhibitors to their reflective teaching, of inhibitors to their students’ reflective thinking, and the impact of teaching experience and academic degree on their perception of reflective teaching. To this end, 304 private-language-institute English as a Foreign Language Teachers teachers participated in the study by completing English Language Teaching Reflection Inventory developed by Akbari, Behzadpoor, and Dadvand, Inhibitors to EFL Teachers’ Reflective Teaching Questionnaire and Inhibitors to EFL Learners’ Reflective Thinking Questionnaire, with the last two instruments being developed and validated by the researchers. The results indicated that (1) Iranian EFL teachers perceived their reflective teaching to lie at a medium level, (2) three types of inhibitors to EFL teachers’ reflective teaching included ‘lack of knowledge’, ‘affective-emotional’ and ‘teaching situation’ inhibitors, and (3) three types of inhibitors to EFL learners’ reflective thinking also comprised ‘affective-emotional’, ‘cognitive’ and ‘learning situation’ inhibitors. The results of two-way ANOVA indicated both academic degree and teaching experience significantly differentiated Iranian EFL teachers with respect to their reflective teaching perception, but the interaction effect of them did not do so. The results are discussed in detail in the article.