We have made qualitative interviews with five respondents who were on sick leave in more than six months and then returned and came back to work fully. Those we have interviewed have been on sick leave for different diagnoses. We want to study how social relationships within the private- and working- life contributes to recovery, for people who are on long-term sick leave, and how the factors contributes for that person to return to work. In our respondents privacy life we want to see the importance of relations with friends and acquaintances have for recovery. In the workplace we look for the importance of our respondent’s employer and colleagues have for their recovery. Our respondents declare recovery as a process where the individual needs of sick leave should be in focus. Our results have revealed that the participation of the sick leave of these aforementioned groups have a positive effect on recovery. When our respondents have addressed the nature and “Försäkringskassan” as important recovery factors has this also been included in our study.   Key words: Sick, recovery, social relations, responding

The present study sought to examine the use of two teaching procedures as methods of increasing relational responding in children with developmental disabilities. We compared one procedure that presented test probes for combinatory entailment and transformation of function probes throughout the acquisition of directly trained A-B and B-C relations. In the second procedure test probes were withheld until the learner achieved mastery criteria for the directly trained A-B and B-C relations. Results show that all three participants achieved mastery criterion across both procedures and demonstrated the emergence of mutual entailment, combinatory entailment, and transformation of stimulus function. The presentation of entailed and transformation probes resulted in faster acquisition of directly trained and test relations. An account of current research and implications of these findings is provided.

This study examined the effects of racial insult on the propensity to either categorize or individuate outgroup members. Reaction times and self-reports measures were employed to gauge reactions to an insulting video. White and African American participants heard an insult, and then completed the Go/No-Go Association Task (GNAT), as well as the Internal Motivation to Control Prejudice Scale (IMS) and the External Motivation to Control Prejudice Scale (IMS), the Motivation to Control Prejudice Scale (MCPRS) the Social Distance Scale (SDS), and made ratings on a feeling thermometer about the people in the insult video. African Americans showed more negative responses to outgroup members than Whites on the explicit measure, but Whites showed more negative responses to outgroup members than African Americans on the implicit measure.

Food restriction has been shown to affect responding for reward and has been manipulated to devalue reward. Reward density has been shown to alter responding in both first-order schedules and chain schedules. Devaluation has differential effects in first-order schedules and the links of chain schedules. The objective of the current study was to analyze the reward devaluation effect in a two-link chain schedule by manipulating food restriction and reward density in the proximal link; these variables had previously not been studied systematically. The chain schedule required rats to lever press according to a random interval 120-s schedule to turn on a light conditioned stimulus (CS). In the presence of the CS rats were rewarded for pulling a chain; the chain was active on a variable ratio (VR) 5 schedule of reinforcement for some rats, while the chain was on continuous reinforcement (CRF) for the other rats. Food restriction protocols were either 1-hr daily free feeding (1-hr feeding) or a daily ration to maintain weight at 80% of free feed controls (ration). Devaluing the CS while in the isolated proximal link was done by exposing trained rats to sessions of chain pulling in the presence of the CS but withholding reward. In subsequent lever press sessions without the CS, decreased responding was seen in rats that had undergone the devaluation procedure, but only in rats on the 1-hr feeding protocol. This devaluation effect was found in both the CRF and VR 5 schedules. Subsequent tests of lever pressing for the CS also revealed decreased responding. Post-test CS discrimination sessions demonstrated CS devaluation that has not been demonstrated previously. These results demonstrate that the isolated devaluation of the proximal link in a heterogeneous two-link chain schedule can result in decreased responding in the isolated first link. This effect is dependent on sufficient food restriction and demonstrates a measurable devaluation effect which is independent of the reward being present. This study also demonstrated that isolated devaluation of the second link can be subsequently measured in a post-test CS discrimination re-acquisition session regardless of food restriction, which had no significant effect in the session. The devaluation effect has not been demonstrated in a re-acquisition session before, rather responding in previous re-acquisition sessions were only affected by food restriction. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-11 11:49:20.814

Research has shown that desirable responding can be detrimental to social relationships, achievement and health. This study used an experimental design to (a) induce an increase in desirable responding through threat to self-image and then (b) compare the effectiveness of self-compassionate and self-affirming writing in attenuating that increase. Control groups included no threat exposure, threat exposure alone and threat exposure plus neutral writing. Desirable responding was measured along two dimensions: self-enhancement and exaggerated virtue. Results show the threat did not result in the predicted increase in desirable responding so the effectiveness of the two strategies with regards to attenuating increases in desirable responding could not be examined and compared. However, results do reveal a difference in the mechanism of these two strategies. Engaging in self-compassionate writing resulted in a significant decrease in exaggerated virtue whereas being self-affirmed resulted in a significant increase, suggesting a possible benefit of a self-compassion strategy.

Stroke are a common disease and it comes with big chances of disability after rehabilitation. Life after stroke can bring a different lifestyle and lots of feelings around this situation. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze how people feel after being injured with stroke. Method: We have assumed that studying qualitative research articles according to Evans description of content analysis. Information has been sought in the databases Cinahl, PubMed and Discovery Results: The study results in four themes; Loneliness, trust, Despair and obstacles to health. From these themes eight sub-themes appear; Fear, alienation, support, work, grief, anger, struggle and performance anxiety.  Conclusion: There is, in the care of stroke patients, a lack of knowledge for how to respond to people who have suffered a stroke, and how to best deal with the feelings that come with the onset of the illness. It is clear that there is a need for more knowledge in this area in order for the caregivers to be able to give the patients adequate help, patients whom, after the onset of illness is experiencing anxiety about the future. / Stroke är en vanlig sjukdom med stor risk för allvarliga funktionsnedsättningar efter att ha blivit drabbad. Livet kan bli annorlunda efter en stroke och känslorna i samband med detta kan vara svåra att hantera. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att belysa den känslomässiga upplevelsen av att drabbas av stroke Metod: Litteraturstudie med kvalitativ ansats. Genom att ha utgått ifrån att studera kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar enligt Evans beskrivning av innehållsanalys. Resultat: Fyra teman visar sig; Ensamhet, tillit, hopplöshet och hälsohinder. Utifrån dessa framkommer 8 subteman; Rädsla, utanförskap, stöd, arbete, sorg, ilska, kamp och prestationsångest. Slutsats: Det finns en brist inom vården för hur man skall bemöta människor som drabbats av en stroke och hur man skall ta sig an de olika känslor som kommer med insjuknandet. Det är tydligt att det behövs mer kunskap inom detta område så att vården kan ge adekvat hjälp till de drabbade, som tiden efter insjuknandet upplever en stor oro inför framtiden.

<p>We have made qualitative interviews with five respondents who were on sick leave in more than six months and then returned and came back to work fully. Those we have interviewed have been on sick leave for different diagnoses. We want to study how social relationships within the private- and working- life contributes to recovery, for people who are on long-term sick leave, and how the factors contributes for that person to return to work. In our respondents privacy life we want to see the importance of relations with friends and acquaintances have for recovery. In the workplace we look for the importance of our respondent’s employer and colleagues have for their recovery. Our respondents declare recovery as a process where the individual needs of sick leave should be in focus. Our results have revealed that the participation of the sick leave of these aforementioned groups have a positive effect on recovery. When our respondents have addressed the nature and “Försäkringskassan” as important recovery factors has this also been included in our study.</p><p> </p><p>Key words: Sick, recovery, social relations, responding</p>

The current research study examined the formation of derived stimulus relations consisting of course content material in an undergraduate rehabilitation class. Specifically, the study examined the degree to which the stimulus equivalence instructional paradigm could be effectively used to teach the relationships between the names, definitions, causes, and common treatments for disabilities using a paper-and-pencil training format. Twenty-two participants were pre and post-tested on definition-to-name, cause-to-name, and treatment-to-name relations by the experimenter in a flashcard-style fashion. Training was conducted using an instructional package consisting of multiple-choice questionnaires in which name-to-definition, name-to-cause, and cause-to-treatment relations were taught and feedback was delivered from the experimenter until mastery. Results suggest that the stimulus equivalence paradigm can be effectively trained in a paper-and-pencil training format with great ease.

In the present study, two children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were taught to identify reflexive relations across three varying stimuli using procedures outlined in the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Equivalence Module (PEAK-E). Two programs from the PEAK-E module were utilized, programs 2B and 3C, both of which incorporated reflexive relations utilizing two differing sensory modalities. Visual relations were directly trained to the participants while the tactile relations were derived and monitored through probes. The same three stimuli were utilized in both PEAK-E programs for each participant; however, those three stimuli varied across participants. All stimuli were retrieved from the participants’ environments and were familiar objects to the participants. The results indicate that only one sense mode, visual, required corrective feedback and praise in order for cross-modal transfer to occur for the second sense mode, tactile. Both participants demonstrated they acquired the reflexive skills for both visual and tactile stimuli. Participant 1 reached mastery criterion for both skills in 36 trials, and participant 2 reached mastery criterion within 20 trials. Limitations and future directions for implication of cross modal transfer are discussed.

Individuals with autism are largely taught using direct contingency learning, limiting their already potentially limited relational repertoire. A multiple baseline design across skills with an embedded multiple probe design was implemented to demonstrate the efficacy of training procedures used to established nonarbitrary relations in the context of block design. The PEAK – Transformation module (PEAK-T) is a curriculum designed to develop the relational repertoire of individuals with and without developmental disabilities, from which procedures were adapted. Training phases were each preceded by test probes of each of the target relations. Transfers of stimulus function were tested by presenting a novel context in which the trained and derived relations were used in completion of a task. The entailment probes across each of the programs showed transfers of function across three relational stimulus classes. All three directly trained relations across three frames resulted in mastery level responding. The results support the efficacy of the PEAK-T curriculum such that complex relational responding can be taught to a child with intellectual disabilities.