Biodegradability Assessment of Prickly Pear Waste-Polymer Fibers under Soil Composting.

Nowadays, solving the problems associated with environmental pollution is of special interest. Therefore, in this work, the morphology and thermal and mechanical properties of extruded fibers based on polylactic acid (PLA) and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) added to prickly pear flour (PPF) under composting for 3 and 6 months were evaluated. The highest weight loss percentage (92 ± 7%) was obtained after 6-month degradation of the PLA/PBAT/PPF/CO/AA blend, in which PPF, canola oil (CO), and adipic acid (AA) were added. Optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed structural changes in the fibers as composting time increased. The main changes in the absorption bands observed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were related to the decrease in -C=O (1740 cm-1) and -C-O (1100 cm-1) groups and at 1269 cm-1, associated with hemicellulose in the blends with PPF. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed an increase in the cold crystallization and melting point with degradation time, being more evident in the fibers with PPF, as well as a decrease in the mechanical properties, especially Young's modulus. The obtained results suggest that PPF residues could promote the biodegradability of PLA/PBAT-based fiber composites.

The Effect of Netting Bags on the Postharvest Quality, Bioactive and Nutritional Compounds, and the Spoilage Microorganisms Content of Bell Peppers.

The packaging nets used for bell peppers act as a form of protection. However, the manufacturing is based on polymers that cause serious environmental problems. The effects of nets made of biodegradable materials, such as poly(lactic) acid (PLA), poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), and cactus stem residues, were evaluated on four different colors of 'California Wonder' bell peppers stored over a 25-day storage period under controlled and ambient temperature conditions. Compared to commercial polyethylene nets, the bell peppers kept in the biodegradable nets did not show notable differences with respect to color, weight loss, total soluble solids, and titratable acidity. However, there were significant differences (p < 0.05) in terms of phenol content, carotenoids (orange bell peppers), anthocyanins, and vitamin C, with an overall tendency to show a higher content in those kept in PLA 60%/PBTA 40%/cactus stem flour 3% compared to commercial packaging. In addition, the same net notably reduced the development of bacteria, fungi, and yeasts during the storage of red, orange, and yellow bell peppers. As postharvest packaging for bell peppers, this net could be considered a viable option for the storage of this product.

Anthracnose Disease Control and Postharvest Quality of Hass Avocado Stored in Biobased PLA/PBAT/Pine Essential Oil/Chitosan Active Packaging Nets.

For sale in the domestic market, Hass avocados are kept in non-biodegradable plastic nets and stored at an ambient temperature. The fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides can cause important losses at this stage. Consequently, formulations based on polylactic acid (PLA)/poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) 60/40 biodegradable blends added with pine essential oil (PEO) at 10, 12, 14, and 20% and coated with 1% chitosan (CH) were used for the elaboration of nets, which were evaluated on C. gloeosporioides and Rhizopus stolonifer on nutrient media and fruit and on the ripening behavior of Hass avocados at ambient temperature. The spore germination stage of C. gloeosporioides was the most extensively damaged (78% inhibition). The incidence of anthracnose was notably reduced by almost 80% in the avocados stored in the 60/40 PLA/PBAT nets coated with 1% CH. The overall values regarding weight loss, °Brix, and dry matter were c.a. 23.5%, 7.5, and 24.5%, respectively. The changes in firmness, color, and CO2 production were particularly associated with the initial harvest index and storage temperature rather than with the nets. In future research, essays on nets should include evaluations at the commercial levels.

Functioning of the EROS-R Scale in a Clinical Sample of Psychiatric Patients: New Psychometric Evidence from the Classical Test Theory and the Item Response Theory.

Reliable and valid assessment instruments that can be applied briefly and easily in clinical and outpatient settings that provide information about the sources of reinforcement that the patient finds in his life are especially relevant in therapy. The study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Environmental Reward Observation Scale (EROS-R) in a sample of psychiatric patients. A sample of 228 psychiatric patients of both sexes (56.1% men and 43.9% women) aged between 18 and 70 years was selected. Along with the EROS-R, other instruments were administered to assess depression and anxiety. The results show that the scale fits a unidimensional model, presenting adequate fit indices (RMSEA = 0.077 (IC 90% 0.055−0.100); SRMR = 0.048; CFI = 0.98; TLI = 0.98). It was also shown that the degree of reward provided by the environment (EROS-R) correlates negatively with the level of depression (ρ = −0.54; p < 0.01) and anxiety (ρ = −0.34; p < 0.01). From the IRT perspective, all the items present adequate discrimination indices, where item 4 is the most precise indicator to measure the degree of environmental reward. All this leads us to conclude that the EROS-R is an instrument with robust psychometric guarantees from TCT and IRT's perspectives, making it suitable for use in clinical contexts.

The Role of Psychological Inflexibility and Experiential Approach on Mental Health in Children and Adolescents: An Exploratory Study.

The prevalence of mental health problems during childhood and adolescence is on the rise. There is a growing interest in the examination of personal variables that may function as risk factors and that may be targeted for effective intervention. This study explores the relationships amongst different aspects of psychological inflexibility (one, typically studied, focusing on the individual's responding to unwanted emotions and cognitions, and another, more recently explored, focusing on the individual's responding to desired thoughts and affective states), emotional intelligence, and mental health symptoms. A total of 129 school-going children (mean age: 11.16 years old) completed a battery of instruments comprising the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire-Youth (AFQ-Y17), the Experiential Approach Scale (EAS), the Emotional Intelligence Quotient Inventory (EQi-YV), and the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS-30). Results showed that both the AFQ-Y17 score and an EAS subscale score (Anxious Clinging) were significant independent predictors of mental health symptoms in general. Emotional intelligence was predictive only for depression, and both the AFQ-Y17 and the Anxious Clinging EAS subscale significantly incremented the predictive power of a hierarchical linear regression model including all three variables. These results underscore the relevance of psychological inflexibility for child/adolescent mental health, and the need to further explore a specific aspect of inflexibility regarding positive emotions and other appetitive private events.

Online ACT intervention for fibromyalgia: An exploratory study of feasibility and preliminary effectiveness with smartphone-delivered experiential sampling assessment.

Introduction: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an effective treatment for chronic pain conditions. ACT seeks to produce clinical change by enhancing Psychological Flexibility (PF). This exploratory (feasibility and preliminary effectiveness) study presents a pilot application of an online ACT group intervention for fibromyalgia (FM) with an extensive Experiential Sampling (ES) assessment of outcome and process variables via smartphone. Method: 5-weekly ACT online group sessions were applied to 9 female FM patients. Questionnaire-based assessments of several clinical outcomes and PF processes were conducted pre- and post-intervention, and at 6-month follow-up. Extensive (6 weeks pre- and 6 weeks post-intervention) smartphone-delivered ES was implemented to gather process and outcome data in the patients' usual contexts. Clinically significant change was evaluated both at the group level and individually. Results: This treatment format appears to be feasible and acceptable to participants, with good adoption and completion rates (75 %) and excellent rates of treatment completion and clinical adherence (100 %). Participants showed significant reductions in affective pain, distress and biopsychosocial impact of FM both post-intervention and at 6-month follow-up (as measured with questionnaires), as well as significant improvements in satisfaction with actions and emotional discomfort (as measured through ES). Multilevel regression analyses indicated that PF-related processes assessed through ES had a significant impact on clinical outcomes and predicted the impact of FM at the 6-month follow-up. Conclusions: A brief online group ACT intervention for FM was both feasible and acceptable to participants. Also, there was preliminary evidence of effectiveness in enhancing pain-related PF and producing clinical benefits in FM.

Effect of Biodegradable Coatings on the Growth of Aspergillus flavus In Vitro, on Maize Grains, and on the Quality of Tortillas during Storage.

The fungus Aspergillus flavus causes serious damage to maize grains and its by-products, such as tortilla. Currently, animal and plant derivatives, such as chitosan and propolis, and plant extract residues, respectively, are employed as alternatives of synthetic fungicides. The objective of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of several formulations based on propolis-chitosan-pine resin extract on the in vitro growth of A. flavus, the growth of maize grain plantlets and the quality of stored tortillas at 4 and 28 °C. The most outstanding formulation was that based on 59.7% chitosan + 20% propolis nanoparticles + 20% pine resin extract nanoparticles; since the in vitro conidia germination of A. flavus did not occur, disease incidence on grains was 25-30% and in tortillas, 0% infection was recorded, along with low aflatoxin production (1.0 ppb). The grain germination and seedling growth were markedly reduced by the nanocoating application. The percentage weight loss and color of tortillas were more affected by this coating compared to the control, and the rollability fell within the scale of non-ruptured at 4 °C and partially ruptured at 28 °C. The next step is to evaluate the toxicity of this formulation.

Spanish Adaptation of the Experiential Approach Scale (EAS).

Psychological inflexibility is a transdiagnostic dimension associated to psychological distress and poor mental health and quality of life. While multiple instruments have been developed for the assessment of patterns of inflexible responding to aversive private events (e.g., unwanted cognitions and emotions), the Experiential Approach Scale (EAS) is the first instrument specifically designed to assess inflexible responding to appetitive private events (e.g., desired affective states). In this study, we explored the factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity of a Spanish adaptation of the EAS with a convenience sample of college students from Spain (n = 206; 79% female). A two-factor solution demonstrated very good fit to the data and was similar to the original two-subscale EAS structure: Anxious Clinging and Experience Prolonging. The scale showed adequate overall (α = 0.85) and subscale (αs: 0.90 and 0.89) internal consistency. Unlike the original instrument, both subscales were uncorrelated. Anxious Clinging correlated positively with experiential avoidance and with measures of negative affect and psychopathology, and negatively with positive affect, subjective happiness, and life satisfaction. In turn, Experience Prolonging correlated negatively with psychopathology and positively with positive affect, subjective happiness, and life satisfaction. Our results point to Anxious Clinging as the only EAS subscale contributing to psychological inflexibility.

Testing the discrepancy between actual and ideal body image with the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP).

BACKGROUND: The discrepancy between actual and ideal body image is considered an index of body dissatisfaction and a risk factor for eating disorders. While discrepancy has been traditionally tested with figural drawing rating scales, in recent times the use of implicit measures has been explored. METHODS: This study employs the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to examine actual-ideal body-size discrepancy in a sample of 130 Spanish college students, as well as its utility to predict symptoms of eating disorders and other body-image relevant measures. Participants completed the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS). The three smallest and the three largest contour drawings of the CDRS were used as target stimuli in two different IRAP tasks: one in combination with the sample phrases "I am" and "I am not" (that assessed implicit actual body image), another in combination with the phrases "I want to be" and "I don't want to be" (that assessed implicit ideal body image). After completing both IRAP tasks, participants completed explicit measures of body-image psychological inflexibility, body dissatisfaction, and symptoms of eating disorders. RESULTS: Results showed a small implicit bias towards thinness. Participants were faster in affirming than denying that they are thin and that they desire to be thin. They were also faster in affirming than denying that they are fat and that they want to be fat, but to a smaller extent than with thinness. Specifically, the implicit desire to be (or not be) fat emerged as an independent predictor of eating disorder symptoms, psychological inflexibility, and body dissatisfaction that significantly increased the predictive power of CDRS scores. CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the need for further research on specific body image implicit beliefs towards fatness, both in subclinical and clinical populations, in order to examine whether willingness to accept the idea that one can have a larger body size can be a suitable target for prevention and intervention in eating disorders.

Body dissatisfaction can be thought of as the discrepancy between actual and desired body size. This is typically measured with rating scales depicting a series of body silhouettes of increasing size, from extreme thinness to fatness. Respondents mark the points that match their current body size and the one they would ideally like to be (the more distance between both, the more body dissatisfaction). Like all self-reports, these scales are liable to self-presentation biases. Experimental procedures that require respondents to answer under time pressure (implicit measures) tap into more automatic reactions that are less amenable to deliberate manipulation. This study used one such procedure (the IRAP) to examine how rapidly participants identified themselves (or not) with pictures of underweight or overweight, and how rapidly they expressed a desire to be (or not) like such pictures. Participants did not show a clear discrepancy between their actual and their ideal body size with the IRAP. However, automatic reactions indicative of acceptance/rejection of the idea of becoming fatter, predicted the degree of body image distress as measured with different instruments. Unwillingness to accept this idea was associated with more severe symptoms of disordered eating.

Psychological inflexibility and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 lockdown in Spain: A longitudinal study.

Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, underwent a strict lockdown between March and May 2020. This study examines longitudinally the evolution of both psychological inflexibility and mental health symptoms in a sample of college students from the beginning and throughout the end of the mandated lockdown period. We present the results from 197 participants who responded to an online survey at least at two of three data-collection waves scheduled at the beginning (N = 226), halfway (N = 172), and end (N = 188) of the lockdown. The analyses revealed that psychological inflexibility and symptomatology increased over time, and that inflexibility at the beginning of the lockdown indirectly predicted self-reported symptoms at the end of the lockdown via autoregressive parallel paths that also connected cross-sectionally to reveal that changes in inflexibility were predictive of changes in mental health. These results present a dynamic and robust relationship between psychological inflexibility and mental health symptoms throughout a relatively long and presumably stressful period of time.

Detection of Alternaria alternata in tomato juice and fresh fruit by the production of its biomass, respiration, and volatile compounds.

Tomato is widely consumed and marketed as juice, puree, or fresh product. Nevertheless, 30% of its harvest volume is lost because of the fungus Alternaria alternata. This research aimed to provide early detection methods for this fungal decay on tomato juice and fresh fruit. Biomass content, CO2, O2 and volatile compounds (VOCs) during A. alternata growth in tomato juice and fruit at two ripening stages (breaker and red colour) were evaluated. Additionally, CO2 and VOCs data set were analysed with a hierarchical cluster technique (HCA) to explore the differences between inoculated and non-inoculated samples. Biomass was determined by gravimetry, CO2 and O2 by gas chromatography (GC), and VOCs by GC-mass spectrometry. Biomass content was not drastically modified by tomato's ripening stage (3-6 mg of dry weight). CO2 in tomato juice was considerably higher in the inoculated samples with A. alternata (27-63%) than in the non-inoculated ones (2.8-6.6%), regardless of the ripeness stage; while in tomato fruit CO2 was higher at breaker stage and inoculated with A. alternata (33-41%) than the remaining treatments (9-23%). It was also observed that, except for limonene, trans-sabinene hydrate, and rhodovibrin, VOCs' release during the interaction between tomato juice and A. alternata was different from the fresh tomato and A. alternata interaction. Only the HCA based on CO2 data showed clear differences between the inoculated and non-inoculated tomato juice and fruit at both ripening stages.

Edible Chitosan/Propolis Coatings and Their Effect on Ripening, Development of Aspergillus flavus, and Sensory Quality in Fig Fruit, during Controlled Storage.

Biodegradable alternatives for the control of Aspergillus flavus in fig fruit were tested with the application of coatings based on chitosan (CS) and propolis (P). To potentiate the fungicidal effect, nanoparticles of these two (CSNPs and PNPs) were also considered. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the effect of different formulations on: (a) the ripening process of the fig, (b) the incidence of A. flavus and the production of aflatoxins, and (c) the acceptance of the treated fruit by a panel. The nanostructured coatings did not influence the ripening process of the fruit during the 12 days of storage, however, the antioxidant activity increased by approximately 30% with the coating CS + PNPs + P. The figs treated with CS + CSNPs + PNPs + P, inhibited the growth of the fungus by about 20% to 30% under laboratory and semi-commercial conditions. For all treatments, the aflatoxin production was lower than 20 ppb compared to the control with values of c.a. 250 ppb. The sensory quality was acceptable among the panel. The edible coatings can be a non-toxic alternative for post-harvest preservation and the consumption of fig fruit. The next step will be its inclusion and evaluation at a commercial level in packing houses.

Transfer of conditioned fear and avoidance: Concurrent measurement of arousal and operant responding.

A reversal design was employed for the analysis of transfer of fear and avoidance through equivalence classes. Two 5-member equivalence classes (A1-B1-C1-D1-E1 and A2-B2-C2-D2-E2) were established. Then B1 and C1 were paired with shock (CS+) and served as SD s in avoidance training (B2 and C2 were trained as CS-/S∆ s for avoidance). Further avoidance training followed with D1 and E1 (as SD s) and D2 and E2 (as S∆ s), with the first presentation of each of these stimuli serving as the first transfer test. Afterwards, aversive conditioning contingencies were reversed: B2 and D2 were paired with shock and trained as SD s for avoidance, B1 and D1 were presented without shock (CS-/S∆ s). Transfer was tested again with C1, E1, C2 and E2. This reversal was implemented to allow for the within-subject replication of transfer effects upon changes in the function of only a subset of each class's elements. Avoidance (key presses) and conditioned fear (skin conductance and heart rate) were simultaneously measured. Results show a clear transfer effect for avoidance, with between- and within-subject replications. For physiological measures, transfer effects in the first test could only be imputed on the basis of group-based inferential statistical analysis. Evidence for between-subject replication was weaker, with only a limited proportion of participants meeting the individual criterion for transfer.

Implicit Attitudes to Female Body Shape in Spanish Women With High and Low Body Dissatisfaction.

Research on implicit attitudes to body image has grown substantially in recent years. The extant evidence reveals an implicit weight bias in the general population that has generally been interpreted in terms of anti-fat attitudes. However, research with the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) shows that this bias appears to be driven by pro-slim rather than anti-fat implicit attitudes. Besides, the only IRAP study of this sort conducted in Spain found no evidence of such implicit weight bias (with similarly positive attitudes to thinness and fatness). Given the existing differences in body dissatisfaction (BD) among diverse cultural contexts, we predicted that discrepancies in findings about implicit weight bias might be related to differences in BD amongst the samples in the different studies. This study explores whether women with extreme scores in BD (High vs. Low) show different patterns of attitudes to female body shape. Spanish female college students with extreme scores in the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ: high ≥ 104, percentile 80; low ≤ 52, percentile 20) completed an IRAP with pictures of overweight and underweight women as target stimuli and the words pleasant and unpleasant as labels. Participants also completed explicit ratings to the same stimuli and clinically relevant measures of body image related distress. Results showed an implicit weight bias only for women high in BD. While both groups showed equally positive implicit attitudes to thinness, only women with low BD showed implicit positive attitudes to fatness (and hence no bias). In turn, both groups presented a clear pro-thin/anti-fat explicit bias with positive ratings for underweight pictures and negative ratings for overweight pictures. The latter were stronger for the high BD group. Therefore, between-group differences were mainly driven by differences in attitudes to fatness (both implicit and explicit). Both implicit and explicit attitudes to fatness independently predicted eating disorders symptoms and other clinically relevant measures. These results are discussed in terms of their clinical implications.

Transfer of conditioned fear-potentiated startle across equivalence classes. An exploratory study

Research on fear conditioning is key to understanding the genesis and maintenance of anxiety disorders. A still scarce but growing evidence shows that fear-conditioned arousal reactions may transfer amongst physically dissimilar but symbolically related (e.g. equivalent) stimuli. The limited investigation published to date has relied on skin conductance responses as its main measure. Thus far, no published studies have analyzed this phenomenon using more emotionally sensitive psychophysiological measures, like fear-potentiated startle. Twenty-seven participants underwent a matching-to-sample procedure for the formation of two four-member equivalence classes (A1-B1-C1-D1 and A2-B2-C2-D2). Then, one element from each class was used in a differential aversive conditioning procedure (CS+: B1; CS-: B2) with electric shock as the UCS. Eye-blink startle (measured as EMG activity of the orbicularis oculi muscle after a burst of white noise), skin conductance responses, and shock-risk self-report ratings were collected. Results show no evidence of transfer of functions with any of the psychophysiological measures. A weak, inconclusive effect was observed for self-reported ratings (AU)

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Flexibilidad psicológica y autoabandono del tabaco / Smoking self-quitting and psychological flexibility

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The prevalence of smoking in the general population remains high in spite of the extended acknowledgement of the well-documented health consequences of smoking and potential benefits of quitting. Only a minority of smokers who attempt to quit seeks professional treatment, yet most of the research on smoking cessation focuses on such form of quitting. Research on self-quitting is scarce, although most smokers who successfully quit, do so on their own. Recently, research has evidenced that psychological flexibility, a core concept in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, is an important variable in predicting successful behavioral change in many clinically relevant areas. The goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between psychological flexibility and successful self-quitting from smoking. 277 participants who had attempted to quit on their own (217 successfully abstinent and 60 still smoking) provided information on their smoking history, quit attempts, nicotine dependence, and demographics, and were assessed with the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II. Abstinence status was measured through self-reports of continuous abstinence and confirmed by concentrations of expired carbon monoxide below 8 ppm. Results show a statistically significant difference (t= -8,775; p <.01) for the AAQ-II scores of successful (M= 18.39, SD= 7.76) and unsuccessful self-quitters (M= 27.17; SD= 6.88). Only 26% participants with high level of psychological inflexibility quitted successfully, compared to 94% participants with low levels of psychological inflexibility. These results show clear evidence that psychological flexibility is associated to successful self-quitting, and suggest that this variable could facilitate success in attempts to stop smoking without professional help. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed (AU)

Assessment of implicit anti-fat and pro-slim attitudes in young women using the implicit relational assessment procedure

Research on implicit attitudes to both male and female body size has produced evidence for the existence of an attitudinal bias in the form of preference for images of thinness over images of fatness. Studies that have employed the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) have shown that this bias is specifically attributable to a pro-slim attitude, rather than to an anti-fat one. It is not clear, however, if the same type of specific pro-slim bias will be found when attitudes are measured exclusively for female participants and only to female targets. The present study has employed the IRAP for the assessment of implicit attitudes towards fatness and slimness in a sample of 40 spanish young female college students. The task required participants to respond relationally in alternating trialblocks. In pro-slim/anti-fat blocks, they had to respond as if photos of underweight women were pleasant and photos foverweight women were unpleasant. In anti-fat/pro-slim blocks they had to respond according to the opposite pattern (overweight as pleasant and underweight as unpleasant). Additionally, participants had to produce explicit ratings of pleasantness for the same photos used in the IRAP (with a visual analogue scale: VAS), and answer measures of body dissatisfaction and of eating disorders symptomatology. Results: showed no evidence of implicit bias for body size (neither pro-slim nor anti-fat). Besides, no significant correlations were found between implicit and explicit measures. These results are consistent with prior evidence suggesting that women show less antifat prejudice than men, and with studies that find less anti-fat bias in Spanish population than in Anglo-Saxon population (AU)

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Acceptance and commitment therapy for smoking cessation: a preliminary study of its effectiveness in comparison with cognitive behavioral therapy.

This controlled preliminary trial determined the feasibility and initial effectiveness of a promising behavioral intervention for smoking: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In a quasi-experimental design, the ACT intervention condition used metaphors and experiential exercises focused on personal values to motivate quitting smoking and enhancing the willingness to experience internal cues to smoke (e.g., urges) and abstinence-related internal distress. The comparison condition was cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)--the current standard in behavioral intervention for smoking cessation. Each treatment was delivered in seven weekly 90-min sessions in a group format to 81 (43 in ACT; 38 in CBT) adult smokers. Results show that the ACT treatment was as feasible as the CBT treatment. They also demonstrate promising evidence of ACT's effectiveness: 30.2% intent-to-treat biochemically-supported 30-day point prevalence at twelve month follow-up, compared with 13.2% in the CBT condition (odds ratio = 5.13; p = .02). Replication in a well-powered, randomized, controlled trial is now needed.

Prevención de la violencia infantil-juvenil: estilos educativos de las familias como factores de protección / Prevention of child-teenage violence: Parenting styles as protection factors

The present paper addresses the phenomenon of bullying from a functional-contextual perspective. School violence is presented as an instance of a disposition to react and to interact with others in an aggressive or violent manner, either in a generalized form, or contextualized just to school settings. Accordingly, the results of an epidemiological study are presented. This study analyses the prevalence of violence-related problems in primary school children (attentional problems and hyperactivity, aggressive behavior, and antisocial behavior), as well as the beliefs and parenting styles which correlate positively or negatively with this kind of problems. The results show that some educational practices (insistent recall of normative rules, frequent use of punishment, or reinforcement contingencies in the form of consent to involve in usually forbidden activities) are risk factors for the emergence of this kind of problems. In contrast, other educational practices (reinforcement with a description of the child’s appropriate behavior, or the systematic application of contingencies) are effective as protection factors. The paper finishes with a series of recommendations forparents and teachers on how to prevent and stop violence-related problems (AU)

Se aborda el fenómeno del bullying desde una perspectiva funcional-contextual. La violencia en la escuela es presentada como una muestra de una tendencia a reaccionar e interaccionar con los otros de manera agresiva y/o violenta, ya sea de forma generalizada o circunscrita al ámbito escolar. En este sentido, se presentan los resultados de un estudio epidemiológico en el que se analiza la prevalencia en niños de primaria de problemas relacionados con la violencia (problemas de atención e hiperactividad, conductas agresivas y delincuentes) y las creencias y estilos educativos de los padres que correlacionan con este tipo de problemas. Se comprueba que algunas prácticas de crianza (repetir las normas insistentemente, castigar frecuentemente o reforzar permitiendo a los niños realizar actividades que normalmente le son prohibidas) son factores de riesgo para la aparición de este tipo de problemas. En cambio, otro tipo de prácticas (reforzar a los hijos señalando lo bien que han hecho algo o ser sistemáticos en la aplicación de contingencias) funcionan como factores de protección. El artículo termina con una serie de recomendaciones dirigidas a padres y educadores acerca de cómo prevenir y atajar los problemas relacionados con la violencia (AU)

Aplicación de la terapia de aceptación y compromiso (ACT) a sintomatología delirante: un estudio de caso / Application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in delusional symptomathology: a case study

Se presenta un caso de sintomatología delirante abordado mediante ACT. Primeramente se reconceptúan los delirios como formas activas de Evitación Experiencial. Seguidamente se presenta la historia del cliente y se realiza un análisis funcional de las conductas problemáticas. Se expone la intervención llevada a cabo agrupando la misma en función de los objetivos terapéuticos. Los resultados hallados reflejan una reducción de las verbalizaciones delirantes y de las verbalizaciones de evitación a la par que un incremento en las verbalizaciones de "estar abierto" a la experiencia y de las acciones dirigidas a valores. Finalmente se discuten estos resultados y su relación con el tratamiento de los delirios, haciendo hincapié en la necesidad de un sistema de evaluación que tenga presente el funcionamiento global del individuo (AU)

This article presents a case study of a client with delusions approached by means of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). First of all, delusions are analyzed as active episodes of experiential avoidance. Then, the history of the patient is exposed and a functional analysis of problematic behaviors is intended. This is followed by a description of the intervention carried out, with an order that tries to clarify the goals of the therapy. Results show a progressive lower number of in-session delusional and avoidance speech utterances. At the same time, a progressive higher number of «being open» sentences and actions in direction to personal values are registered. Finally, these results are discussed and related to certain implications for delusions’ treatment, with special emphasis on a evaluation approach that takes into account the global functioning of the client (AU)