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The purposes of this study were: 1) to determine the measurement dimensions assayed by the EPIC Self-Assessment Scales; 2) to provide information necessary to'determine whether revision of the EPIC Self-Assessment Scales would be desirable, and if so, what items need revision or deletion to obtain optimum dimensional structure; and 3) to provide information relevant to possible further research using the EPIC Self-Assessment Scales. On the basis of the results, four dominant and two subsidiary factors were concluded to be the measurement dimensions assayed by the EPIC Scales. Those were identified as Self-Assurance, Physical Appearance/Physical Shape, Emotional Lability, and Verbal Competence; subsidiary factors were Social/Interpersonal Attitude and Social Behavior/Sociability. It was also concluded that revision of the Scales be undertaken, deleting the 29 bipolar scale items which did not exhibit loadings of .500 or higher on any of the six factors. It was recommended that the revised Scales include additional bipolar scale items taken from the semantic differential literature, and that the instructions to subjects be revised. Further research to establish the reliability and validity of the revised instrument was also recommended.

Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD; self-perceived decrements in cognitive functioning in spite of objective cognitive performance within the normal range) subtle cognitive decline (subtle CD; objective sub-clinical decrements in cognitive functioning), and APOE 4 genotype have each been identified as potential risk factors for Alzheimer’s and other pathological cognitive decline in later life. However, despite considerable research attention, our accrued knowledge of potential dementia risk factors has failed to coalesce into a reliable screening measure or assessment method at the earliest preclinical stages of decline. A key issue undermining this effort is the challenge of discriminating older adults experiencing age-normative cognitive changes and complaints from those with dementia risk-relevant concerns and experiences. This, in turn, may result from a fractured field that emphasizes some sources of information (e.g., cognitive test performance) at the expense of others entirely (e.g., self-reported experiences). In light of this, a mixed-methods approach integrating the various methods of enquiry and sources of data may be appropriate at this juncture. Sample and data collection: n=65 healthy community-dwelling older adults from Victoria, BC, Canada completed a brief neuropsychological assessment, participated in interviews related to their first-hand experiences of aging and cognitive change, and provided saliva samples for the purposes of genotype analysis. Chapter 1: This chapter presents a systematic review authored by the Principal Investigator and several Supervisory Committee Members prior to the commencement of this dissertation. This paper presents the current evidence regarding the relationship between SCD and APOE 4 genotype. It is included in this dissertation to contextualize our analysis and overall findings. Chapter 2: This chapter provides an overview of the methods and materials used for the subsequent dissertation studies. Chapter 3: The objective of this investigation was to identify specific psychosocial and demographic predictors of SCD and subtle CD and, by extension, to determine whether these two variables may reflect similar underlying factors. Our findings determined that the predictors for SCD and subtle CD were entirely separable. Moreover, SCD and subtle CD were not found to be related. Chapter 4: This study explored which commonly endorsed qualitative experiences correspond with SCD and subtle CD. Commonly endorsed qualitative experiences were categorized according to commonality and clinical convention. MANOVA and Mann-Whitney U analyses were performed to determine the association of SCD and subtle CD with categories of experience controlling for other demographic and psychosocial factors. Executive functioning declines and related compensatory strategies were strongly associated with both SCD and subtle CD – challenging the traditionally memory-centric focus of the majority of dementia risk research. Conclusions: As a first step, this work provides evidence that SCD may not relate to early sub-clinical objective cognitive declines. Further, executive functioning – and not episodic memory – may be a key area to explore when determining early risk-predicting cognitive declines. Overall, this work presents the potential utility of more qualitatively-oriented research to inform the development of comprehensive and multimodal risk assessment approaches. Caveats, limitations, clinical implications, and future directions are discussed. / Graduate / 2021-07-31

The diploma thesis is focused on Self-evaluation of Zeppelin SK, s.r.o. .. The diploma thesis is divided into three parts, in the first part is defined theoretical knowledge, in the second part current situation is analyzed in company and in the last part are proposals, how to remove current drawbacks.

Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is an evidence-based practice used to teach a wide variety of skills to different populations (Erhard et al., 2019; Parson et al., 2012; Reed et al., 2018; Tomlinso et al., 2018). BST can be used to perform Discrete-trial teaching (DTT), which is an effective teaching procedure that simplifies teaching for children with developmental disabilities and helps to expand their repertoires (Sarokoff & Sturmey, 2004). In the past, virtual-BST, which is a cost-effective and convenient method (LeBlanc et al., 2020; Tomlinson et al., 2018), has been used to teach individuals how to implement Applied Behavior Analysis interventions (Rios et al., 2020). The purpose of the current study was to compare the effectiveness of in-person BST and virtual BST to train three caregivers and three behavior technicians to implement DTT with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, results of the current study indicated that, after the introduction of BST, participants in both groups (i.e., in-person BST and virtual BST) showed a high improvement in DTT implementation skills compared to baseline. Findings suggest that both modalities of BST are effective methods for training individuals on how to implement DTT.

Students who are removed from their regular classrooms for treatment in special education classrooms commonly exhibit positive behavior gains in those settings. Typically, however, the gains do not generalize and maintain when the students are returned to their regular classrooms. The present study initially provided six Behaviorally/Emotionally Handicapped elementary school students with a short-term resource room treatment to bring their behavior under the control of a combination of procedures emphasizing self-evaluation. Once acceptable levels of appropriate behavior were maintained with only minimal external reinforcement and students accurately self-evaluated their own work and behavior, generalization and maintenance of behavior gains were sought in subjects' regular classrooms. A multiple baseline across pairs of subjects design was used to examine individual subjects' behavior throughout the study. Analysis of the results of the study indicated that once self-evaluation procedures were extended into subjects' regular classrooms, subjects transferred and maintained high levels of appropriate classroom behavior in those settings. For four of the six subjects, all extratraining components were faded from use. Only two subjects required a modified form of the original intervention to maintain behavior gains in their regular classrooms.

We explored how individuals high in narcissism maintained positive self-evaluations when faced with threats from romantic partners, and the role of attentiveness to attractive alternatives in self-evaluation maintenance. Participants and their romantic partners completed surveys measuring narcissism, closeness, attention to alternative partners, and IQ tests. They were given false feedback concerning their performance on the IQ tasks in relation to their partners, then asked to take additional surveys measuring closeness change. Ultimately, there was no significant connection between narcissism and reduction of closeness following a threat. Attention to alternative partners did not act as a mediator between narcissism and closeness reduction. Couples-level analyses yielded that couples with higher narcissism reported lower closeness. There was also a significant narcissism by condition interaction, with highly narcissistic couples in the non-threat condition reporting lower closeness scores than highly narcissistic couples who were in the threat condition. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Smartphones blir allt mer en integrerad del av människors liv genom att erbjuda funktioner som till exempel tillfredsställer våra sociala behov. Samtidigt har dessa funktioner också blivit en källa till smartphoneberoenden. Detta har bidragit till utvecklingen av digital detox-applikationer som kan hjälpa en att minska sin smartphoneanvändning. I några av dessa digital detox-applikationer existerar en funktion där man kan dela och jämföra skärmtid med andra personer, där en anledning kan vara att motivera varandra till att minska sin skärmtid. Att människor jämför sig med andra personer för att utvärdera sig själva från en viss aspekt, för att i sin tur utveckla ett nytt beteende kan kopplas till Social Comparison Theory och Selfevaluation maintenance model (SEM modellen). SEM modellen argumenterar bland annat för att personer som står en psykologiskt nära har en större tendens till att motivera en till självförbättring. Detta kan ske om de presterar bättre i ett område som är relevant för ens självdefinition. Studien har därför undersökt hur delning och jämförelse av skärmtid påverkar personer inom en vänskapskrets och om det kan leda till minskad mobilanvändning. Detta har undersökts med hjälp av applikationen Timedown där 5 vänner fått dela och jämföra sin skärmtid med varandra under 12 dagar. Slutligen genomfördes en semistrukturerad intervju med varje enskild deltagare. Intervjuerna syftade till att ta reda på hur deltagarna upplevde att använda funktionen och om det påverkat deras mobilanvändning. Resultatet av studien visar att personer påverkas olika av att dela och jämföra skärmtid med vänner och att det beror på hur ens skärmtid förhåller sig till övrigas. En person som har en förhållandevis hög skärmtid jämfört med sina vänners tenderar att ha en större benägenhet till att minska sin skärmtid än en person som har en lägre skärmtid. Resultatet bör dock inte generaliseras för alla vänskapsgrupper som använder den här typen av funktion. Däremot kan det bidra med nya perspektiv på hur jämförandet av skärmtid kan användas i digital detox-sammanhang. / Smartphones are increasingly becoming an integral part of people's lives by offering functions that for example satisfies our social needs. At the same time, these functions have also become a source of smartphone addiction. This has contributed to the development of digital detox-applications which help to reduce one's smartphone usage. In some of these digital detox- applications, a function exists where you can share and compare screen time with other people. A reason for this can be to motivate each other to decrease smartphone usage.  That people tend to compare themselves with others to evaluate themselves from a certain aspect and thereby develop a new behaviour, can be connected to the Social Comparison Theory and the Self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM-model). The SEM- model argues, among other things, for the fact that people who are psychologically close to a person, have a greater tendency to motivate that person to self-improvement. This happens if they perform better within an area relevant for the person's self-definition. The study has therefore investigated how sharing and comparing screen time affects persons within a friend group and if it can result in decreased screen time. This has been investigated using the application Timedown, where 5 friends have shared and com- pared their screen time with each other during 12 days. Finally, a semi-structured interview was carried out with every single participant. The interviews aimed to find out how the participants experienced using the feature and if it affected their smartphone usage.  The result of the study shows that people are differently affected by sharing and comparing screen time with friends, and that it depends on your screen time in relation to the others. A person with a relatively high screen time compared to one's friends tends to have a greater inclination to decrease their screen time than a person with a lower screen time. The result should not be generalized for all friend groups using this type of feature. Instead, it could contribute to new perspectives on how the comparison of screen time can be used in contexts of digital detox.

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