vol. 11 núm. 18 (2015)

Backgorund: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by uncertain prognosis, severe symptoms and a negative impact on quality of life (QOL) of patients. Purpose: The aim of this review is to generate a comprehensive approach in order to improve psychological intervention in these patients. Methods: A qualitative review of articles indexed in MEDLINE, PsycINFO and SCOPUS up to July 2015 was conducted. Articles reporting SLE, coping strategies and QOL were included. Results: Twenty-four studies were found, covering different research designs, forms of assessment and intervention. Coping strategies and their relationship with QOL were analyzed in order to describe the best strategies for dealing with SLE. Conclusions: There are no adaptive or maladaptive strategies, and the suitability of these depends on the situation that a patient could sustain; nevertheless, an active coping style seems to help preserve the QOL. The main goal of psychological intervention should be diversify and expand the number of coping strategies used by patients.

Introduction: Numerous psychological research studies about decision-making address both risk and ignorance under the category of decision in contexts of uncertainty. Objective: In this research work, the aim is to specifically describe the ways certain decision rules are used in a context of ignorance in the context of different consequences, affected parties and properties. In this way, it is possible to determine whether or not some of the ways of framing a decision that have been observed in contexts of risk actually occur, such as those considered by the prospective theory of Kahneman and Tversky. Methodology: A comparative study of the results was made of the results of a questionnaire with 24 gambling situations with different properties, affected parties and consequences, which was then applied to a sample of 232 people with their informed consent. Results: The results showed significant differences in the use of decision criteria in contexts of ignorance, with a clear predominance of the conservative strategy. Conclusions: It may be concluded that in contexts of decision-making in ignorance, aversion to loss becomes acute and the framing effect observed in low-risk decisions is slightly modified, because more risk is not necessarily run in a perspective of loss.

Introduction: Subjective complaints and forgetfulness in daily life among older people can be modified through cognitive training and mnemonic strategies and techniques to improve memory. Diverse methods and specific memory training programs have been developed in Spain with successful results from their implantation. Objectives: The main purpose of this article is to show the effectiveness of the training using different strategies and techniques for improving memory performance among older people. Specifically, trials were carried out with the association technique using faces and names, visualization and categorization strategies along with the loci method, all with older participants during a memory improvement workshop. Results and conclusions: The modular multifactorial design of the training and inclusion of these mnemonic procedures facilitated memory improvement. The analysis of the results showed a significant increase by means of training using prospective and retrospective tasks, such as “actions to be carried out in the morning”, and using the loci method, improvement in information codification through categorization, visual sensorial memory optimization using visualization, and finally, improvement of associative deficits in episodic memory in recalling people’s names.

Introduction: Stress is a problem that also affects children. It manifests itself in them through a series of reactions, both at the biological and psychological levels, in situations that feel uncontrollable. In childhood, children have to put into practice diverse coping strategies and cognitive-behavioral efforts to overcome changes inherent to that phase. Objectives: Examine coping strategies used by a group of children of both genders in the city of San Luis, Argentina, and detect relationships between coping strategies, gender and the level of stress experienced. Methodology: The non-probabilistic-intentional sample consisted of 106 children (between the ages of 8 and 12), who attended two educational establishments in the city. The Children’s Daily Stress Inventory and the Situational Coping Strategies Questionnaire were applied among boys and girls. Results and discussion: The most often used coping strategies were active (such as seeking information and support) and emotional to reduce stress. Differences were found in the use of coping strategies in relation to gender and the level of stress experienced by the children.

Introduction: Insecurity is a matter for social concern in Ecuador, as well as in many Latin American countries. References to events associated with insecurity are habitual in the communications media and reflect the situation of uncertainty experienced by the population on a daily basis. Objective: An analysis is proposed of the social representation of insecurity. The aim is thus to determine how young people conceive of and explain this social object. Methodology: Information was gathered using qualitative techniques. 271 young university students took part in the study (67% women and 33% men), with a median age of 21.32 (dt: 2.23). Results: Analysis of the central nucleus and peripheral system showed that young people perceive an insecure context characterized by uncertainty and fear of going out to public places or specific zones. This feeling of insecurity is further heightened by the lack of mechanisms to regulate this negative climate, such as the inefficient structure of judicial institutions. In relation to gender differences, it was found that women report experiencing greater fear and vulnerability in their daily lives than men. Conclusions: In Ambato, strategies have been developed to reduce insecurity; however, these mechanisms have not helped to decrease the perception of fear established in the context.

Introduction: Neuroscience of personality is an area of study whose origins are relatively recent. Objective: The study of the neurobiological and neuropsychological fundamentals of personality. Methodology: This is a narrative review article that presents and discusses some, perhaps the majority, of the research in this field. The structure of the article is based on the five main personality factors. For each factor (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, friendliness and responsibility) the existing literature is reviewed and discussed in relation to the neuropsychological correlates in the executive function, memory and intelligence. Results: Because this is a recent field of study and due to the type of review carried out, it was not possible to reach a precise conclusion; in other words, in the current state-of-the-art, it cannot be determined how the factors and facets of personality correlate with the executive function, intelligence and memory. Conclusion: In general terms, it may be affirmed that there is a different neuropsychological profile for each factor.

Introduction: In Mexico, a Sexual Fantasies and Situations Questionnaire (CFSS) has been developed. Objectives: To describe distributions, study differences between sexes and propose cut-off points among psychology students as future professionals involved in providing sexual health attention. Methodology: A sample using non-proportional sex quotas was employed. The CFSS was applied to 400 psychology students (200 women and 200 men). Results: The distributions of the items, of the scales of contents and situations and of the two content factors showed a bias towards low frequencies. The averages in the items, in the two scales and in the two content factors, were greater among men than among women, except for sexual fantasies with people of the same sex, with older people and with concurrent couples, as well as in situations before or after going out with a couple and before or after sleeping. Conclusions: It was concluded that a classification by sex differentiated quartiles must be made. The study and use of the questionnaire is suggested in order to avoid possible biases that could affect clinical judgment among psychology students.

Introduction: Social skills are important for adaptation by individuals to different social contexts. It can be difficult for adolescents to establish and maintain competent social interactions due to changes stemming from their development. Objective: To analyze the behavioral effects of a social skills program among young people 14 to 18 years of age in a situation of vulnerability, at the Fundación Club Campestre de Bucaramanga (country club). Methodology: To measure social skills, the Social Skills Scale (Escala de Habilidades Sociales (EHS)), created in 2000 by Elena Gismero at the Universidad Pontificia de Madrid, was used. It is a 33 item questionnaire that explores the individual conduct of the subject in specific situations and assesses the extent to which social skills modulate these attitudes. 50 students from the Fundación Club Campestre took part and were divided into two groups: experimental and control. The working mythology was the application of pre-tests to measure skills, continued with application of the program and ended with the post-test to analyze the results. Results: The program generated behavioral effects among the young people, in other words, socially skillful conducts in the young people and strengthening of their repertoire of social skills, with improvement in coexistence in their social context, fewer aggressive responses and more assertive response schemes. Conclusion: The results suggest that social skills programs are useful tools for intervention among young people with difficulties developing such skills.

Purpose: to address the question of bureaucracy, is subjective effects and its functional and structural relationship with certain social and institutional practices, a topic which is generally addressed in a fragmented manner from different areas of knowledge. Topic: The analysis of the film La vida de los otros facilitates an interpretation that links this phenomenon with forms of production of particular types of subjectivity, fundamentally characterized by their alienation in terms of the consequences and scopes of their praxis. At the same time, it is possible to reflect upon the ways in which the practices of the subjects themselves facilitate new venues for the production of subjective meanings. Development: The notions of subjective meaning, subjectivity and social subjectivity developed by Fernando González Rey constitute technical operators that facilitate this interpretive construction, take into consideration the interactions that occur among the protagonist of the film for this analysis. Conclusions: The analysis of the film shows the social and individual conditions for the production of new subjective meanings by the protagonists, while also facilitating reflection on the relationship between bureaucratic institutional practices and the forms of production of subjectivity.

Podemos proponer tres hitos en el desarrollo de la Facultad de Psicología en estos veinte años de historia. 

Purpose: The process of learning to read and write starts in early childhood through the use of genuine reading and writing conducts in the family context and at educational centers. The purpose of this experience was to improve the quality of reading of non-reading children in basic primary education. Topic: The program entitled “Aprendizaje Inicial de la Lectura, Escritura y Matemática” (Initial Learning of Reading, Writing and Mathematics) of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (AILEM UC) consists of a set of strategies to boost learning using a series of reading and writing strategies. It has been implemented at different schools in the country beginning in 2002. Development: A successful experience is presented that was carried out in Chile, in the city of La Serena, using the “Reading Cycle” (“Ciclo de lectura”), one of the strategies of the ailem program, with a group of first graders who were behind in learning to read. Conclusions: With the work systematically carried out over a two month period by the consultants, applying the strategy, a group of non-reading children or those who were behind in their reading skills, at the end of the year was able to read, at least syllabilcally.

Purpose: To reflect on certain possible confusions that arise in the social and communicative practice of professionals in the field of education and social treatment when dealing with school violence. A review of the matter showed that some of the basic confusions seem to arise around the use of the concepts of aggression and violence, which some authors treat as though they were synonyms, ignoring efforts by the social sciences to understand and explain them. The purpose of this text is to deal with this confusion and present options for understanding the implications of these two terms. Topic: Dealing with school violence has been on the agenda over the past two years. Repeatedly, extreme cases are published asking experts to provide explanations and solutions, although it seems that violent practices persist and efforts have been insufficient. Development: Confusions in the definitions that appear in dictionaries are examined, etymological significances are addressed and the use and meaning of aggression and violence from the perspective of sociology, politics and psychology are reviewed. Conclusions: A review of the two concepts is proposed in which their differences are established, but which is based on the same phenomenon expressed in gradual intensities and frequencies. The text also seeks to recognize that all movements in limited spaces are susceptible to being perceived as aggressive by whoever is subjected to that force.

Purpose: To reflect and postulate concepts, categories and strategies for developing peaceful conduct, particularly among children and young people, both in education and research, from the perspective of positive psychology, in terms of healthy conduct that will promote a new culture of peace. Topic: The importance of the social learning theory of Albert Bandura and recent contributions by Richard Tremblay on the learning of violent and peaceful conduct in early childhood; also reflections on the ability to teach prosocial peaceful conduct from a critical posture, which questions social approval of violence by the status quo. Development: The violent conduct of one or more individuals, aimed at hurting other people, is a constant concern in the social and human sciences, as well as for individuals, society and the State. Until now, research into the causal factors and control and management of their consequences has aimed at sanctioning, punishing and impeding violent conduct, without trying to discover and mold that conduct that human beings need for their survival, in healthy coexistence, here denominated as “peaceful conduct”, or behavior that is the opposite of violent conduct. Conclusions: Learning peaceful conduct would result in healthy social coexistence along with healthy, human and supportive development characterized by dialogue, thus leading individuals to practice healthy and happy interpersonal and social relationships, as resources that give meaning to human life in all of its activities.

Purpose: The objective of the article is to share some of the experience of Chile in relation to the search for and creation of quality environments that would favor learning and development among children between zero and six years of age. Topic: The promotion of quality environments based on the pedagogical intention of educators, to organize time, space and interactions, promoting learning among boys and girls. Development: This involves a mainly descriptive exposition of the Chilean context and other results obtained through the available evaluations based on the application of two instruments: ecers-r and iters-r, and class, in the framework of the implementation of programs aimed at improving quality, such as Quik and Un Buen Comienzo de la Fundación Oportunidad. Conclusions: These results demonstrate the importance of the topic and an analysis is made of emerging public policies and the challenges or tensions that persist. These include the tension between quality and coverage, along with the problem of distrust among the actors involved about the significance and reality of a quality education

Introduction: Research has shown that the number of children and adolescents experiencing emotional difficulties such as anxiety is escalating, especially for those groups at risk. Living in an orphanage has been considered a risk factor for delays in an individuals’ social, emotional and behavioral development. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Spanish version of the FRIENDS program, a CBT-based resilience program, with 57 girls from low socioeconomic status (SES) background that were living in an orphanage. Method: Participants received the program for 10 consecutive weeks, and pre- and post-test measures were collected.  Measures evaluated participants’ anxiety symptoms, level of self-concept, hope, coping skills, and psychosocial difficulties. Social validity was also assessed. Results: Results showed positive changes, including a decrease in anxiety symptoms and psychosocial difficulties, as well as an increase in their proactive coping skills. Several subscales and items of the self-concept and hope outcome measures also reported statistically significant improvements. Conclusions: Participants and parents/caregivers reported that the program was both enjoyable and useful. Implications of the findings and directions for further research are discussed.