Nataša Šimić

Dosadašnja istraživanja ukazuju na to da je viša razina kognitivne i/ili somatske pobuđenosti prije spavanja snažan posrednik putem kojega se može održati maladaptivan odnos stresa, odnosno načina suočavanja sa stresom, i spavanja. Polazeći od navedenoga, cilj je istraživanja bio ispitati medijacijsku ulogu pobuđenosti prije spavanja u odnosu između korištenja različitih strategija kognitivne emocionalne regulacije i kvalitete spavanja. Istraživanje je provedeno online na uzorku od 276 studenata koji su ispunili Upitnik kognitivne emocionalne regulacije (engl. Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Garnefski i sur., 2001; hrvatska adaptacija Soldo i Vulić-Prtorić, 2018), Indeks kvalitete spavanja Pittsburgh (engl. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Buysse i sur., 1989; hrvatska verzija Brajević-Gizdić i sur., 2010) te Skalu pobuđenosti prije spavanja (engl. Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale, Nicassio i sur., 1985) kojom se procjenjuju kognitivna i somatska pobuđenost. Dobivenim rezultatima pokazano je da čestina korištenja strategija samookrivljavanja, ruminacije, katastrofiziranja, pozitivnoga refokusiranja, pozitivne reprocjene i stavljanja u perspektivu doprinosi kvaliteti spavanja isključivo posredno preko obiju komponenata pobuđenosti, tj. kognitivne i somatske pobuđenosti prije spavanja. Za korištenje strategije okrivljavanja drugih utvrđeno je da doprinosi kvaliteti spavanja isključivo posredno, i to preko kognitivne pobuđenosti. Dobiveni rezultati interpretirani su u terminima aktivacije i produljene aktivacije stresnoga odgovora te oporavka od stresa. U radu se raspravlja o smjernicama za daljnja istraživanja i praktičnim implikacijama dobivenih rezultata.

There are numerous risk/protective factors for developing mental disorders in older people. This study examined the contribution of lifestyle (physical activity, sedentary behavior, smoking habits, and alcohol consumption) and psychosocial resources (optimism, resilience, social support, and frequency of social contacts) to older people’s mental health. We conducted the study on a community-dwelling sample of 780 persons (58% women) aged 65–98 from different geographical regions of the Republic of Croatia. We administered the questionnaires, including relevant instruments, individually. We found no differences in mental health regarding smoking habits. On the other hand, individuals who consumed alcohol had better mental health than those who did not drink alcohol, primarily because of gender differences in alcohol consumption and mental health. Physical activity was significantly positively associated with mental health. The regression analysis results showed that psychological resources (optimism and resilience) were significantly better predictors of mental health than lifestyle factors and social resources. The study’s results emphasize the importance of psychological resources as protective factors for older people’s mental health.

Introduction. Studies suggest that people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) experience continuous and subclinical physical worsening, even as early as their disease diagnosis. Validating sensitive and reproducible tests that can capture subclinical disease activity early in the disease are clinically useful and highly warranted. We aimed at validating the utility of Fitts’ Tapping Task (FTT) as reproducible measure of psychomotor performance in pwMS. Materials and Methods. Thirty newly-diagnosed pwMS (within 2 years of diagnosis and Expanded Disability Status Scale; EDSS ≤ 2.0), 30 people with migraine (pwMig), and 30 healthy controls (HCs) underwent a psychomotor assessment using the FTT, O’Connor hand dexterity test, and Visual Reaction Time Test (VRTT). Hand strength was measured using a hand-grip dynamometer. Subjects also provided patient-reported outcomes (PROs) using the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36). Intrarater and interrater reproducibility was acquired on 5 HCs by two independent operators. Test–retest reproducibility was determined in 5 pwMS over a 1-week follow-up. Eight pwMS returned for the same test procedures 2 years after the baseline assessment. Bland–Altman plots were used to determine the minimally detectable change (MDC) and logistic regression models determined the ability to differentiate between newly-diagnosed pwMS and HCs. Results. FTT exhibited a high intrarater and interrater reproducibility (interclass correlation coefficient of 0.961, p < 0.001). The test–retest demonstrated an MDC of the average FTT at > 15%. PwMS had significantly a slower FTT time and O’Connor dexterity time when compared to pwMig and HCs (p < 0.001 for both). Higher Fitts’ difficulty levels (4th and 6th difficulty) and average performance on the O’Connor test were able to differentiate newly-diagnosed pwMS from HCs with 80% accuracy (p < 0.01). Slower FTT performance was correlated with worse PROs due to physical health. Over the 2-year follow-up, and despite being clinically stable (no change in EDSS), 6 out of 8 (75%) pwMS had more than a 15% worsening in their average FTT time. Conclusions. FTT is a highly-reproducible test for measuring psychomotor performance in newly-diagnosed pwMS. FTT can capture insidious worsening in psychomotor performance and cognitive function in early stages of MS.

This study investigated gender differences in the accuracy and speed of recognition of facial expressions of sadness, anger, and fear in male and female models showing these emotions. According to the fitness threat hypothesis, females should be faster and more accurate in recognising emotional facial expressions of fear and sadness, whereas males should be faster and more accurate in recognising anger. According to the evolutionary opponent’s emotion recognition, male observers should be more efficient in recognising emotions presented by male models, and female observers in recognising emotions presented by female models. The facial expression recognition task included 210 colour images from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) database. The sample consisted of university students (29 male and 29 female). Testing was conducted individually, and efficiency measured with accuracy and speed of recognition (reaction time). The results showed that females were faster than males in recognizing all three facial expressions. They were also more accurate in recognizing fear, whereas there were no gender differences in accurate recognition of sadness and anger. No significant interactions were found between model and observer gender on either measure (accuracy and speed of recognition). However, all three emotional expressions were recognised more accurately, but not faster, when the model was female. The gender-specific pattern in facial expression recognition found in this study does not completely corroborate the fitness threat hypothesis.

Walking difficulties in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) are one of the most pronounced predictors affecting patients’ quality of life. The study objective was to determine the psychometric pr...

Bolesnici koji pate od anoreksije nervoze relativno često manifestiraju ambivalenciju glede promjene vlastitog stanja, a manjak motivacije za promjenom predstavlja ključnu barijeru u intervenciji i liječenju ovoga poremećaja. Dosadašnja istraživanja pokazala su da je slaba motivacija za promjenom značajan prediktor nepovoljnih ishoda u tretmanu, jednako kao i visoke stope odustajanja od istog. Transteorijski model je integrativni model namjerne promjene ponašanja koji opisuje i predviđa kada i kako će osoba promijeniti svoje ponašanje. Model postulira da pojedinci prolaze kroz šest stadija u procesu promjene (predkontemplacija, kontemplacija, priprema, akcija, održavanje i završetak). Prema dosadašnjim istraživanjima, područja evaluacije modela su uključivala različite ovisnosti poput ovisnosti o alkoholu, pušenju, psihoaktivnim tvarima, kockanju, ali i poremećaje hranjenja i jedenja, kao što su anoreksija i bulimija nervoza. Transteorijski model pretpostavlja da važnu ulogu na putu prema promjeni ponašanja imaju procesi promjene, percipirana samoefikasnost, te uravnoteženost prednosti i nedostataka vlastitoga stanja u procesu donošenja odluke. Budući da su istraživanja koja se temelje na evaluaciji i primjeni ovoga modela još uvijek malobrojna, cilj ovog rada je pružiti prikaz istraživanja usmjerenih na evaluaciju i primjenu transteorijskog modela kod anoreksije nervoze s naglaskom na operacionalizaciju i mjerenje njegovih glavnih varijabli. Dosadašnja su istraživanja potvrdila osnovne postavke modela na oboljelima od anoreksije, a u ovom se radu predstavljaju smjernice za daljnja istraživanja.

Ovaj rad uključuje pregled neuroznanstvenih istraživanja moralnosti, s naglaskom na moralno rasuđivanje i odlučivanje. Prvi dio rada donosi pregled teorijskih pristupa i konstrukata koji proizlaze iz tradicionalnih pristupa koji...