Cristina Caballo

El objetivo del presente trabajo ha sido realizar una revisión sistemática de los estudios científicos que han aplicado tratamientos psicológicos basados en mindfulness a población con discapacidad intelectual para profundizar en la evidencia disponible respecto a su aplicabilidad y eficacia. Para ello se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica en diferentes bases de datos desde julio de 2015 hasta mayo de 2016 y se utilizaron referencias comprendidas entre los años 2000 y 2015. Se seleccionaron y analizaron trece artículos que cumplían con los criterios de inclusión. Los resultados obtenidos indicaron que las terapias basadas en mindfulness parecen influir positivamente en las conductas y emociones de personas con discapacidad intelectual límite, media o moderada, con una edad superior a dieciséis años. Estos hallazgos, sin embargo, deben ser interpretados con cautela debido a las limitaciones metodológicas identificadas en los estudios revisados, siendo necesario seguir investigando y mejorando los diseños de las investigaciones, para poder corroborar los resultados iniciales.

Objetivos: Evaluar variables emocionales (ansiedad, depresión), cognitivas (catastrofismo, autoeficacia percibida) y conductuales (estrategias de afrontamiento); conocer de qué modo este tipo de variables influyen en la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en personas con enfermedades crónicas; analizar si existen diferencias significativas en función del género o del diagnóstico de enfermedad crónica en las variables psicológicas mencionadas; detectar si se dan diferencias significativas en las distintas dimensiones de calidad de vida entre población normal y población con enfermedades crónicas. Método: Estudio descriptivo-correlacional realizado en los meses de febrero y marzo de 2015 en el que participaron 35 personas con diferentes diagnósticos de enfermedad crónica, de las cuales 24 (68.6%) eran mujeres y 11 (31.4%) varones. Resultados: Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que las variables emocionales repercuten en la calidad de vida, al igual que la autoeficacia y algunas estrategias de afrontamiento. Se encuentra además que las personas evaluadas presentan niveles de calidad de vida significativamente menores que la población general, y que parecen existir pocas diferencias en las variables evaluadas entre personas con diagnósticos diferentes y entre hombres y mujeres. Conclusiones: Las variables psicológicas juegan un papel importante en la calidad de vida de las personas con enfermedades crónicas, por lo que es necesario abordarlas. Los resultados obtenidos son acordes a los encontrados en estudios previos, aunque es recomendable seguir investigando con muestras más amplias.

This study aimed to assess pathological Internet and cell-phone use in college students, and to identify psychological, health, and behavioral correlates. A cross-sectional design was utilized to gather data from 337 students. We developed two measures, termed the Internet Over-use Scale (IOS), and the Cell-Phone Over-Use Scale (COS). Additional measures utilized were the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the General Health Questionnaire-28. Results provide support for internal consistency of the IOS and the COS (α = 0.88 and α = 0.87, respectively) as well as for construct validity. Logistic regression analyses indicated that heavy Internet use is associated with high anxiety; high cell-phone use is associated to being female, and having high anxiety and insomnia. The developed measures seem to be promising tools for assessing these new behavioral addictions.

Aim This study investigate what characteristics of supported employment increase quality of life and whether quality of life is higher in supported employment workers or the sheltered ones in Spain. Typicalness, the degree to which the characteristics of a job are the same as those of co‐workers without a disability in the same company, was considered as one of the supported employment characteristics in the analysis.Method Two groups were put together to obtain the data using two questionnaires that were administered by trained professionals. Correlational analysis of the data andmanovawere also employed.Results No differences were found between the two groups regarding quality of life but results indicate that in supported employment, high levels of typicalness are associated with a higher quality of life and that the handling of certain characteristics of support and the job, for example the hours of direct external support, are related to the enhancement of quality of life of the workers.Conclusions Workers in supported employment show the same quality of life as those in sheltered employment centers. In Spain, the greater the typicalness of the employment, the higher the quality of life. The implications of this for the amount of direct external support for workers with disability is that such support should be used only when absolutely necessary – the minimum support necessary to encourage development.

Background  The Quality of Life Questionnaire (QOL‐Q) is used widely to evaluate the quality of life of persons with intellectual disability (ID). Its validity for use with Spanish‐speaking cultures has been demonstrated for individuals with visual disabilities, but not for those with physical or intellectual disabilities. Such was the purpose of the present study.Method  Two samples were administered the QOL‐Q under standardized procedures. The first sample was composed of 209 Mexican participants with physical disabilities; the second was composed of 424 Spanish participants with ID. The hypothesis tested was: the applicability (i.e. etic properties) of the measure across countries and respondents would be demonstrated if reliability data and if factor composition were similar to the original measure. Cronbach's alpha was used to test reliability and exploratory factor analyses were used to test validity (i.e. factor structure).Results  Data indicated that the reliability and factor structure was similar to that reported in the questionnaire's standardization manual and consistent with that reported in a number of Anglo‐Saxon countries.Conclusion  The present study offers additional support for the valid use of the QOL‐Q with Spanish‐speaking populations.

Background  The increased use of the quality of life (QOL) concept internationally suggests the need to evaluate its etic (universal) and emic (culture‐bound) properties. This study replicated and expanded a previous cross‐cultural study on QOL.Method  The three respondent groups (consumers, parents and professionals; total n = 781) were from four European countries: France, Belgium, Italy and Poland. The Cross Cultural Survey of Quality of Life Indicators was used to assess the importance and use of eight core dimensions of QOL. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) the etic properties would be demonstrated if there were similar profiles for the respondent and geographical groups, and if indicators grouped into the proposed QOL domains; and (2) the emic properties would be demonstrated if there were significant differences on scores across groups.Results  Results supported both hypotheses.Conclusion  The present study replicated the findings of a large cross‐cultural study that the QOL construct has both etic and emic properties.

The purpose of this study is to improve supported employment programs analyzing the relationships between different variables involved in its development on job outcomes. One important variable is typicalness (understood as the degree to which the job of the person with a disability is similar in its different characteristics to that of co-workers without a disability). It also compares sheltered employment and supported employment in employment outcomes. The results showed more length of service in the job and salary for supported employment workers. As regards the developmental variables, time of external support, type of support, and adaptations are critical to get better outcomes. Finally, the need to finely balance the typicalness of the job and the characteristics of the worker involved is stressed.

This study presents a new Spanish version of the Quality of Life Questionnaire (QOL.Q; Schalock & Keith, 1993a ) for use with adults with visual disability. The QOL.Q was originally developed in English and designed to measure four dimensions of quality of life in populations with mental retardation. The purpose of this paper is to study some psychometric properties of the Spanish translation for a population with visual disabilities. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has been used to check whether the factorial structure of the Spanish version of the questionnaire was similar to the original version. The questionnaire was applied to a sample of 364 adults with visual disability. As the results indicated that the data was not appropriate for the aforementioned structure, an Exploratory factor analysis was carried out with the aim of determining which factorial structure would be most appropriate. As a result, the Spanish version of the questionnaire consists of 24 items assigned to three subscales: Competence (8), Satisfaction (10), and Self-determination (6). A new CFA permitted the testing of the appropriate fit between the responses and the new proposed model. Psychometric analyses of these subscales seem to indicate good measurement properties of the new scale.