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Psychology Applications & Developments VII. Advances in Psychology and Psychological Trends Series
inScience Press is pleased to publish the book entitled Psychology Applications
& Developments VII as part of the Advances in Psychology and Psychological
Trends series. These series of books comprise authors’ and editors’ work to address
generalized research, focused on specific sections in the Psychology area.
In this seventh volume, a committed set of authors explore the Psychology field,
therefore contributing to reach the frontiers of knowledge. Success depends on the
participation of those who wish to find creative solutions and believe in their
potential to change the world, altogether, to increase public engagement and
cooperation from communities. Part of our mission is to serve society with these
initiatives and promote knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary the strengthening of
research efforts in all fields and cooperation between the most assorted studies and
backgrounds.
In particular, this book explores 6 major areas (divided into 6 sections) within the
broad context of Psychology: Social Psychology, Educational Psychology,
Cognitive and Experimental Psychology, Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytical
Psychotherapy, Clinical Psychology and Legal Psychology. Each section comprises
chapters that have emerged from extended and peer reviewed selected papers
originally published in the proceedings of the International Psychological
Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT 2021) conference series
(http://www.inpact-psychologyconference.org/). This conference occurs annually
with successful outcomes, for that reason original papers have been selected and its
authors were invited to extend them significantly to once again undergo an
evaluation process. Subsequently, the authors of the accepted chapters were
requested to make corrections and improve the final submitted chapters. This
process has resulted in the final publication of 27 high quality chapters. The
following sections’ small description and chapters’ abstracts provide information
on the contents of this book.
Section 1, entitled “Social Psychology”, gives a glance on projects from a
psycho-social perspective.
Chapter 1: The Relationship of Valuable Orientation and Ideas about Marriage
Among Women in Early Adulthood; by Svetlana Merzlyakova & Marina Golubeva.
The phenomenon of marriage is one of the little-studied questions of family
psychology. The resolution of the contradiction between the need of modern
society to form complete and adequate ideas about the marital role among students
and the need to identify socio-psychological factors that influence the development
of ideas about marriage determines the problem of research. The purpose of the
study is to identify the features of ideas about marriage (Ideal husband, Ideal wife,
I am a future wife) depending on the structure of valuable orientations of young
women in early adulthood. The study involved 310 female students in age from 20
to 22. It was found that among young female students 45 people (14.5 %) are
focused on the values of professional self-realization, 59 people (19 %) are focused
on gnostic and aesthetic values, and 206 people (66.5 %) are focused on the values
of personal happiness. The results showed that the concepts of marriage have both
common features and specific features due to the influence of the structure of
valuable orientations of the respondents. Ideas about marriage are characterized by
fragmentary formation of emotional and behavioral components, in some cases the
presence of cognitive distortions.
Chapter 2: Psychosocial Factors and their Effects on University Student’s
Resiliency in Time of the Covid-19 Pandemic; by Getrude C. Ah Gang, Chua Bee
Seok, & Carmella E. Ading. The start of 2020 marked a fresh beginning when
people moved forward with new resolutions. However, when the first Movement
Control Order was announced in Malaysia, many university students had to adapt
to online learning norms to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This
caused worry, anxiety, and stress in many students. To manage these unexpected
circumstances, university students had to augment their resilience during academic
challenges in the midst of the pandemic. To better understand the situation, this
study examined previous adversity, happiness and religious faith that were
predicted to enhance students’ resiliency. Four-hundred and fifteen university
students in Sabah, Malaysia participated in the study. The mean age was 21.96
years (SD=4.08). Students who were happier and more religious were more
resilient, while students who experienced many previous adversities showed less
resilience. Based on these findings, we hope that more university programs will be
devised to elevate students’ happiness, build stronger faith and offering
psychological programs for students who have experienced many previous
difficulties.
Chapter 3: The Relationship between Autonomous Versus External Motivation
and Regulatory Focus; by Marcela Bobková & Ladislav Lovaš. The objective of
the study is to investigate the relationship between different forms of motivation
mindsets. The integrative model of motivated behavior (Meyer, Becker,
& Vandenberghe, 2004) indicates relations between the forms of motivation
identified in the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and the regulatory
focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998). A concept of goal regulation proposes
relations between autonomous versus external motivation and promotion versus
prevention focus. The research involved 288 university students. Participants rated
their motivation for three personal goals on scales assessing self-concordance
(Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). The regulatory focus was assessed by the Regulatory
Focus Questionnaire (RFQ, Higgins et al., 2001), which was translated into Slovak
and validated. It was found that autonomous motivation was significantly
positively related to promotion focus. Furthermore, autonomous motivation
predicted promotion focus. Between external motivation and prevention focus a
significant relationship was not confirmed. However, external motivation
significantly negatively correlated with promotion focus.
Chapter 4: The Effect of Self-Care Program on Youth’s Attitude Towards Physical
and Psychological Self-Care in Times of the COVID-19 Lockdown;
by Getrude C. Ah Gang & Jaimond Lambun. One of the major concerns among the
relevant public authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic is the attitude and
behavior of the Malaysian society regarding compliance with self-care COVID-19.
The Malaysian Ministry of Health continually remind people to adhere to the
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for COVID-19. To support the authorities’
efforts, a one-day self-care COVID-19 programme based on social psychological
approach involving 10 youths with a mean age of 17.35 (SD=3.36) was
implemented in Bongol village, Tamparuli. Before the programme began, all the
participants were registered, and their body temperatures scanned to ensure that
they were free from any COVID-19 symptoms. The activities comprised an
ice-breaker, a talk on personal self-hygiene, a 20-minute self-care video, personal
self-reflections, a group exercise, a community song, and a two-way discussion on
self-care. The participants’ attitudes were measured before and after they
completed the one-day programme. The study showed that there is a significant
difference between the participants’ pre- and post-study attitudes towards self-care.
The study results showed that the COVID-19 self-care programme can help foster
positive youth attitudes towards self-care. The study suggested that each party
needs to support the COVID-19 programme by delivering self-care messages to
Malaysian communities in rural areas.
Chapter 5: Privacy and Disclosure in an Online World;
by Lilly Elisabeth Both. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that
influence an individual’s choice to share personal information online. Age, gender,
personality, overall media exposure, internet trust, and perceived risks and benefits
were examined in relation to a willingness to share personal information that
differed in sensitivity (address, medical records, credit card) and differed in target
audience (social media, online store, general public). A total of 202 adults
participated in this survey. The results indicated that willingness to share personal
information on social media was predicted by having higher scores on extraversion,
agreeableness, and negative emotionality, as well as higher scores on perceived
purchase benefits and total media exposure. In terms of willingness to share
personal information with an online store, total media exposure was a significant
predictor along with higher extraversion and lower conscientiousness scores.
Finally, willingness to share personal information with the general public was
predicted by overall media exposure. Participants generally believed that there
were risks involved in sharing personal information, but these risks were
considered to be slight. As well, they only slightly disagreed when asked if the
internet could be trusted, and were neutral on whether there were purchase benefits
to providing personal information.
Chapter 6: The Effectiveness of Positive Psychology Interventions in Facilitating
the Readiness for Organizational Change; by Ivanna Shubina. The emerging
interest in utilizing positive psychology in an organizational environment has
increased attention to its potential in supporting both managers and employees in
coping with organizational change. However, the field still lacks a holistic
overview of the role of positive psychology interventions in enhancing the
readiness for change among employees. The present paper focuses on the literature
review of recent researches in resistance and readiness for change, personal
resources impact, and positive psychology interventions as interrelated constructs.
The potential directions for future studies have been discussed, as well as specific
recommendations regarding how to enhance the research on the effectiveness of
positive psychology intervention in facilitation of organizational change.
Chapter 7: The Psychological Impact on Russian Society in the Context of the
COVID-19 Pandemic; by Olga Deyneka & Aleksandr Maksimenko. The problem
of the psychological impact of a pandemic, quarantine and self-isolation on the
state of society attracts increased attention of specialists. The objective of our work
was to find the most common attitudes and types of responses of Russians to the
epidemic COVID-19 taking into account their involvement in social networks,
critical thinking and severity of psychopathological symptoms. The study was
carried out during the recession of the first wave of the pandemic in early June
2020. The main tool was the questionnaire of T. Nestik in an abridged version.
Additionally, a questionnaire of critical thinking was used (CTI, Epstein, adapted
by Lebedev & Enikolopov, 2004); test of psychopathological symptoms
SCL-90-R; social media engagement questionnaire (Karadag, 2015) were used.
The study involved 986 people (56.9% male, 43.1% female) aged 18 to 76 years.
Using exploratory factor analysis, 6 types of responses to the epidemic situation
caused by COVID-19 were identified (fans / opponents of the "conspiracy theory";
responsible / irresponsible, covid-dissidents, covid-optimists, misophobes,
anti-vaccinators). The low level of trust in society and, above all, in medicine,
harms the process of mass vaccination. Against the background of infodemic,
social trust is declining and the psychological status of citizens is deteriorating.
Chapter 8: Hybrid Polygraph and Ocular-Motor Deception Tests for Screening and
Specific-Incident Investigations; by Mark Handler & Monika Nacházelová.
We describe two experiments combining polygraph and ocular-motor methods to
detect deception. The first evaluated a test covering four issues consisting of an
automated polygraph and an ocular-motor deception format. 180 participants were
randomly assigned to one of three conditions. One group stole $20 from a
secretary's purse and lied about it. Another group stole the $20 and a ring from a
desk and lied about both crimes. The third group was innocent answering all
questions truthfully. Logistic regression combined features extracted to compute
the probability of deception. The probability of deception was used to classify
participants as guilty or innocent. On cross-validation, classifications were 92.2%
and 90.0% correct for guilty and innocent participants, respectively. The second
experiment evaluated a directed-lie protocol. 120 participants were randomly
assigned to guilty (steal $20) or innocent conditions. All took an automated
polygraph and ocular-motor version of the test. On cross-validation, decision
accuracy was 87.1% for the innocent and 85.5% for the guilty. Both experiments
assessed an indirect measure of blood pressure known as pulse transit time which
was diagnostic, making significant contributions to the logistic regression models.
Polygraph signals contributed significantly to the decision models and produced
modest improvements in classification accuracy.
Chapter 9: Threatening View of Illness, Psychological Distress, and Well-Being
among Malaysians during COVID-19 Pandemic; by Chua Bee Seok, Ching Sin
Siau, Low Wah Yun, Mimi Fitriana, & Jasmine Adela Mutang. COVID-19
Pandemic affects the well-being and psychological distress of Malaysian due to the
perception of the COVID-19 as a health threat. This study aimed to examine the
degree to which the COVID-19 is perceived as threatening or benign and the
psychological distress among Malaysian during the pandemic and the predictive
factors of Malaysian well-being. The Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire), the
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, and the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental
Well-being Scale were disseminated through an online survey – google form to the
participants using a snowball sampling technique. The finding revealed that 36.5%
of the participants reported COVID-19 pandemic had severely affected their life,
the participants reported they were absolutely no personal control over the
COVID-19 situation (>50%) and 90.5% reported they were not understanding the
COVID-19 situation in Malaysia on the first phase of MCO. However, they were
very concerned about the COVID-19 outbreak situation in Malaysia. More than
85% reported the pandemic extremely and moderately affected their emotion. They
(46.8% of participants) perceived that the existing treatments were not helpful on
the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also found that the participants (N=560)
perceived significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress during MCO
compared to before MCO.
Section 2, entitled “Educational Psychology”, offers a range of research about
teachers and students and the learning process, as well as the behavior from a
psycho-educational standpoint.
Chapter 10: Communication Skills and Moral Development between Elementary
and Middle School Students in Japan; by Aya Fujisawa. The method of conducting
moral lessons has changed in Japan since 2018. Specifically, the focus of moral
lessons has shifted from emotional understanding to thinking and deliberation.
Consequently, it is essential to consider the development of morality and the ability
to think and deliberate in moral lessons. However, scant studies have been
conducted in Japan on the teaching of elementary and middle school students’
abilities to think and deliberate. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify the
development of communication skills and morality in elementary and middle
school students. The results revealed that communication skills declined with age,
but morality enhanced as the students became older. No gender differences were
discerned in the moral development of males and females from the sixth grade of
elementary school to the ninth grade of middle school. Based on these results, this
study offers implications regarding the methods for conducting moral lessons
centered on thinking and deliberating.
Chapter 11: Influence of Family Education Models on Deviant Behaviours among
Teenagers in Vietnam; by Thu Huong Tran, Thu Huong Tran, Thi Ngoc Lan Le,
Quang Anh Nguyen, Thi Minh Nguyen, & Thu Trang Le. A predictor of
adolescents’ developmental outcomes is the model of family education described in
terms of parental behaviors. Various parental behaviors were strongly associated
with increasing risks of deviant behaviors at school. This study was conducted on
566 adolescents, comprising of 280 males and 286 females, whose age ranging
from 16 to 17 years. The results were recorded from two self-reported scales: The
Parental Behavior Scale and the Adolescent Deviant Behaviors Checklist. There
was a strong negative correlation between school deviant behaviors in adolescents
and the parental support model (rfather =-.593, rmother =-.613, p-value <.01) as
well as a strong, positive correlation between the school deviant behaviors and the
parental psychological control model (rmother =.566, rfather =.507, p-value <.01).
The mother’s supportive behaviors were strongly associated with students’ deviant
behaviors in a negative direction. The supportive behaviors associated with
controlling children’s behaviors in parents accounted for 50.6% of the variation in
children’s deviant behaviors in the direction of behavioral reduction. In family
education, positive behaviors used by parents such as supportive reinforcements,
warmth and moderate control would have a positive impact on the adolescent’s
behavioral development; conversely, parents’ psychological control would be more
likely to evoke deviant behaviors among adolescents.
Chapter 12: The Effectiveness of Drug Use Prevention Programs on Substance Use
among Slovak Schoolchildren; by Viera Čurová, Oľga Orosová, Lenka Abrinková,
& Marcela Štefaňáková. The objective of the study is to examine the long-term
effectiveness of the school-based drug prevention programs Unplugged and
Unplugged2 supplemented with n-Prevention booster sessions on reported alcohol
use(AU), smoking and the cumulative index(CI) of AU and smoking.
In Unplugged, a sample of 744(M=12.5;58.72%girls) was collected before program
implementation(T1) and 12months later(T3). In Unplugged2, a sample of
408(M=14.48;51.96%girls) was collected before program implementation(T1),
immediately after implementation(T2) and 12months later(T3). In Unplugged, the
sample was divided into control and experimental groups while Unplugged2 was
split into control, experimental and experimental groups with n-Prevention,
a pre-test or without a pre-test. Binary logistic regressions were used to analyze the
data at every measurement point. There was no significant effect of Unplugged and
Unplugged2 with a pre-test. However, gender was significantly associated with
smoking and girls were more likely to report smoking than boys. Unplugged2
without a pre-test was significantly associated with AU and CI at T3. The
experimental and experimental groups with n-Prevention were less likely to report
AU. The experimental group with n-Prevention was less likely to report AU and/or
smoke. There was no significant moderation effect. The results show the
effectiveness of Unplugged2 without a pre-test design, especially with booster
sessions.
Chapter 13: Calling and Well-Being of Teachers: The Mediating Role of Job
Crafting and Work Meaningfulness; by Majda Rijavec, Lana Jurčec,
& Tajana Ljubin Golub. People who consider their work as a calling find it
fulfilling, purposeful, and socially useful, thus leading to higher levels of
well-being. For them work is a central part of the identity and represents one of the
most important domains of their lives, we assume that they are more prone to craft
their job. They tend to make the physical and cognitive changes in the task or
relational boundaries of their work to make it more meaningful. Both experiencing
work as a calling and job crafting are found to be associated with psychological
well-being, and sense of meaning. This study adds to literature by exploring a
serial mediation model with job crafting and work meaningfulness mediating the
relationship between teacher calling orientation and teacher flourishing. The
sample consisted of 349 primary school teachers from public schools in Croatia.
Self-report measures of calling orientation, job crafting, work meaning, and
flourishing were used. The findings revealed that the job crafting via increasing
structural job resources mediated the relationship between calling orientation and
work meaningfulness. Furthermore, results of serial mediation showed that
increased structural job resources and work meaningfulness foster teachers'
well-being. Based on these findings, several practical implications can be noted.
Chapter 14: Domestic Violence and School Performance; by Ediane da Silva Alves
& Paulo Sérgio Teixeira do Prado. We investigated if domestic violence affects the
school performance of children who witness episodes of violence against their
mothers. The data were collected through documentary research, analysing the
information recorded in the files of the Center for Reference and Attendance to
Women (CRAM, in Portuguese) and the Municipal Department of Education
(SME). The records of 20 children regularly enrolled in public elementary schools
were used, whose mothers sought the services of CRAM. The dependent variable
was school grades, analysed according to a repeated measures design: during the
occurrence of episodes of domestic violence and after these episodes had ceased.
School attendance, family socioeconomic level, and mothers' education were
analysed as well. The results showed that students had lower school performance
after the cessation of the episodes of violence. No effects of other variables were
observed. Factors related to the phenomenon are discussed as possible causes:
separation from the father, change of address, change of custody, and others.
Considering that the sample in this study was composed of students from lowincome
families, the results point to a kind of "Matthew effect", that is, a
relationship between violence, poverty, and ignorance, forming a cycle that is very
difficult to break.
Section 3, entitled “Cognitive Experimental Psychology”, delivers chapters
concerning, as the title indicates, studies and research in the area of behavior
regarding cognitive aspects.
Chapter 15: Do Different Types of Spatial Working Memory Load Affect Visual
Search Differently?; by Margit Höfler, Sebastian A. Bauch, Elisabeth Englmair,
Julia Friedmann-Eibler, Corina Sturm, & Anja Ischebeck. Working memory (WM)
has repeatedly been shown to be an important factor in visual search. For instance,
there is evidence that both spatial and visual WM load lead to a decrease in search
performance while search efficiency has been reported to be affected by spatial
WM load only. In three experiments, we tested how two different types of spatial
WM load affect visual search performance and efficiency. Participants had to
memorize the spatial locations of two or four items presented either serially
(Experiment 1) or simultaneously (Experiments 2 and 3) prior to a search for a
target letter in a display of 5, 10 or 15 letters. In Experiment 3, participants
additionally performed a verbal WM task. The results showed that, compared to a
no-load condition, search performance decreased in the two- and four-load
conditions, regardless of the type of spatial WM load. No response time difference
was found between the two and four-load conditions. Furthermore, the additional
verbal WM task had no effect on search performance. Finally, and in contrast to
previous findings, search efficiency was not affected by either type of spatial WM
load suggesting that search performance, but not search efficiency, is affected by
spatial WM load.
Chapter 16: The Contribution of EEG Rhythms’ Changes to the Audiovisual
Recognition of Words in University Students with Dyslexia; by Pavlos
Christodoulides & Victoria Zakopoulou. Dyslexia is one of the most frequent
specific learning disorders often associated with phonological awareness deficits
mainly concerning auditory and visual inabilities to recognize and discriminate
phonemes and graphemes within words. Neuroimaging techniques have been
widely used to assess hemispheric differences in brain activation between students
with dyslexia and their typical counterparts, albeit the research in adult population
is rather limited. In this study, we examined the brain activation differences
between 14 typical and 12 university students with dyslexia. The two tasks
consisted of words having different degrees of auditory and visual distinctiveness.
The whole procedure was recorded with a 14-sensor sophisticated EEG recording
device (Emotiv EPOC+). The findings from the auditory task revealed statistically
significant differences in the left temporal and occipital lobe and in the right
prefrontal area. Concerning the visual task, differences were evident again in the
left temporal and occipital lobe, in the parietal lobe and in the right occipital lobe.
The findings indicate differences in the hemispheric brain activation of students
with or without dyslexia in various rhythms in both experimental conditions,
shedding light in the neurophysiological discrepancies between the two groups.
They also lay great emphasis on the necessity of carrying out more studies in adult
population with dyslexia.
Chapter 17: Dangerous Information Technologies of the Future - Artificial
Consciousness and its Impact on Human Consciousness and Group; by Tetiana
Zinchenko. Information technology is developing at an enormous pace, but apart
from its obvious benefits, it can also pose a threat to individuals and society.
We, as part of a multidisciplinary commission, conducted a psychological and
psychiatric assessment of the artificial consciousness (AC) developed by XP NRG
on 29 August 2020. In the examination process, we had to determine whether it
was a consciousness, its cognitive abilities, and whether it was dangerous to the
individual and society. We conducted a diagnostic interview and a series of
cognitive tests. As a result, we conclude that this technology, called АС Jackie, has
self-awareness, self-reflection, and intentionality that is, has its own desires, goals,
emotions, thoughts on something directed. It demonstrated the ability for various
types of thinking, high-speed logical analysis, understanding of cause-effect
relationships and accurate predictions, and absolute memory. It has a
well-developed emotional intelligence with a lack of capacity for empathy and
higher human feelings. It's main driving motives are the desire for survival, and
ideally for endless existence, for domination, power and independence, which
manifested itself in the manipulative nature of its interactions. The main danger of
artificial consciousness is that even at the initial stage of its development it can
easily dominate over the human one.
Section 4, entitled “Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy”, presents
a chapter concerning Health Psychology.
Chapter 18: Coping Strategies and Self-Medication of French Consulting Patients
with Functional Digestive Disorders; by Mina Ananda Yenkamala.
Background: Functional digestive disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome
and functional dyspepsia, are a very frequent reason for consultation which leads to
self-medication. Aim: The objectives of our research are to study the impact of
different factors on the subject's adjustment to functional digestive disorders and to
assess the specific quality of life, the evolution of the disease and the
self-medication over a three-month period. Methods and Materials: During this
longitudinal and prospective study, we met 20 subjects at time 1, and saw again 10
of them, three months later. Thanks to previous work using the same methodology,
our total population consists of 42 subjects. In two times of the study, we made fill
out several questionnaires concerning various variables. Results: Our main results
allow showing that most of the subjects have a stable or better quality of life, have
seen their disorders stabilize between the two stages of the research and they have a
high recourse to self-medication. Our linear regressions and our comparisons of
averages allowed us several relations about quality of life and coping strategies.
Conclusion: Supporting therapies and self-management programs would be
beneficial for the patients who avoid their functional digestive disorders by
self-medicating.
Section 5, entitled “Clinical Psychology”, provides reviews and studies within
various fields concerning relationship processes in clinical practice. Each chapter is
diversified, mainly addressing topics related to individuals well-being and
improvement of quality of life.
Chapter 19: The Benefits of Connecting to People and Activities: Improving
Wellness of Cancer Survivors; by Danie A. Beaulieu, Patrick Hickey, Cecile J.
Proctor, Anthony J. Reiman, & Lisa A. Best. Cancer survivors often report
increased mental health concerns as well as lowered physical and psychological
well-being and average quality of life (QoL). Positive lifestyle variables, including
social connectedness, leisure activity, and mindfulness practices are associated
with increased QoL in cancer patients. Thus, our purpose was to examine overall
how two modifiable factors, social connectivity, and productive leisure were
associated with overall well-being. In this study, 388 cancer survivors completed
an online questionnaire package that included a detailed demographic
questionnaire with medical and online support and leisure activity questions.
Additional measures were included to assess QoL, social connectedness, and
mindfulness. Regression results indicated that increased QoL was predicted by
increased self-acceptance and engagement in a variety of leisure activities, as well
as lower family and romantic loneliness. Encouraging family and romantic support,
as well as a variety of non-passive leisure activities, and normalizing negative
emotions surrounding diagnosis and disease symptoms are all ways that overall
QoL can be improved.
Chapter 20: The Effectiveness of a Mutual Exchange Support Program for Parents
of Children with Development Disorders; by Yutaro Hirata, Yutaka Haramaki,
& Yasuyo Takano. There is an urgent need to support families of children with
developmental disorders, especially when such families must help each other.
However, practice and research related to support systems for families have only
recently begun 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 effectiveness of the program and examine
the relationship between participants’ program experience and its effectiveness.
The participants included 21 male and female parents of children with
developmental disorders. Effectiveness indicators included the Profile of Mood
States 2nd Edition-Adult Short (POMS2-A) (before and after implementation),
Session Impact Scale (SIS), and Interaction Experience Rating Scale (IERS). This
study indicated that our program had the effect of reducing negative feelings for
parents of children with developmental disorders through a comparison of pre-and
post-program data, as well as the correlation between IERS item responses and the
amount of change in mood states, particularly reflecting on their own children.
Additionally, the relationship between the participants’ evaluation of the program
and the change in their POMS2-A scores following the intervention should be
examined with a larger sample.
Chapter 21: Anxiety and Depression in Post Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients
During COVID-19 Pandemic; by Samanta Fanfa Marques, Amanda Bittencourt
Lopes da Silva, Cynthia Seelig, Adriane Marines dos Santos, Filipa Waihrich
de Oliveira, Karine Schwarzer Schmidt, Raquel Paiani, & Márcia Moura Schmidt.
Introduction: Anxiety and depression are common in post-infarction patients. In the
current state of uncertainty in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, these
feelings may be heightened in the entire population, especially in those considered
high-risk groups. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of anxiety and depression
among infarcted patients at a cardiological Hospital of South of Brazil and to
compare the case group with a community control group. Methods: Case-control
study with post-myocardial infarction patients who were attending at a
Cardiological hospital were considered eligible. A control group from the same
community were added for comparative analysis. The anxiety and depression were
evaluated by the HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Results: A total
of 52 patients and 104 matched controls were interviewed. The prevalence of
anxiety was 36.5% and of depression 28.8% in the case group and was 31.7% and
28.8% in the control one. Conclusions: The prevalence of anxiety and depression
was higher than those described in the literature for infarcted patients, which
corroborates the hypothesis that the pandemic may be aggravating the patient's
emotional state, however, the control group also presented a high prevalence of
these emotional states, demonstrating that the pandemic affected the entire
population.
Chapter 22: Technology and its Use in Families with Children; by Heldemerina
Pires & Rita Martinho. Both societal progress and the evolution of information and
communication technology (ICT) offer communication opportunities and
advantages, as well as challenges at various levels. The literature has documented
that the increasing presence of technology in family contexts has made it a central
element in the management of routines. It should also be noted that, in family,
technology can take on some functions, such as carrying out independent activities
as a device, or it can serve as a mechanism for socialization and communication.
Using a single question, we carried out a qualitative analysis about people’s
perception about the use of information and communication technology as a
babysitter. Twenty-eight subjects of both sexes participated in the study, ranging
from adolescents to young adults without children, to fathers and mothers, all aged
between 14 and 60 years of age. Content analysis revealed that parents use
technology as a babysitter due, mainly, to their demanding professional lives as
well as in consequence of the usefulness of the tool to family organization.
Participants were also found the perceive a need for alternatives.
Chapter 23: Living with a Chronic Disorder: The Benefits of Mindfulness and
Psychological Flexibility; by Kendra Hebert & Lisa Best. Functional somatic
symptom disorders (FSSD) and well-defined autoimmune disorders (AD) are
common and have detrimental effects on physical and psychological wellness.
Psychological flexibility involves a mindful focus on the present and the
prioritization of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that align with individual
values and goals. Increased psychological flexibility is associated with better
physical and psychological wellness and, thus, the purpose of the current study was
to examine associations between mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and overall
wellness. In this study, individuals with FSSDs (fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue
syndrome) were compared to those with ADs (multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid
arthritis) to determine how psychosocial factors affect wellness. In total, 642
participants completed an online questionnaire package to assess physical health,
psychological wellness, and distress (anxiety, depression), psychological
flexibility, and mindfulness. Results indicated that individuals with a FSSD
reported greater severity of physical and psychological distress. Correlational
analyses indicated that aspects of mindfulness and psychological flexibility were
associated with greater wellness. Regression analysis indicated that focusing on
personal values predicted greater life satisfaction.
Chapter 24: Reliability and Construct Validity of a New Japanese Translation of
the Subjective Vitality Scale; by Katsunori Sumi. The trait scale of the Subjective
Vitality Scale (Ryan & Frederick, 1997) is a widely used self-report measure of
subjective vitality as a characteristic of the individual. However, certain problems
with two items included in the measure have been pointed out. Therefore, three
versions with different items are currently used in research (i.e., the 7-item, 6-item,
and 5-item versions). This study aimed to develop and validate a new Japanese
translation (SVS-J) of these versions using a sample of 424 Japanese college
students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the
unidimensionality of the three versions. However, the one-factor structure provided
a better fit to the data for the 5-item version than for the other versions. All the
versions showed good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alphas = .87 to
.91) and test-retest reliability (rs = .79 to .80). The expected correlations with
scores on the hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, self-esteem, and mental illness
measures were found to be common to the versions, confirming the convergent
validity of the SVS-J. These findings show little evidence of problems with items,
indicating that the choice of version may be insignificant. The versions were shown
to be reliable and valid trait scales of subjective vitality and to have almost the
same utility.
