Implementation of equine-assisted intervention for older adults with Alzheimer's disease residing in a nursing home: Brakes and levers.

OBJECTIVE: Although research on equine-assisted intervention (EAI) for older adults is beginning to be published, no scientific study has examined the various elements that can limit or facilitate the implementation of EAI with older adults suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) residing in nursing homes. The aim of this study was to identify the possible brakes and levers of implementing EAI with AD patients. A focus on professional affiliation was conducted. METHOD: The survey was posted online on 2 February 2021 via the Sphinx software. As this study was aimed at gerontology professionals working in nursing homes, they were contacted through various specialized social networks. A total of 663 people answered the survey. RESULTS: The results indicate that for 45% of the participants, the main brake to implementing EAI is related to the institutional burden. As for the levers, 29% of the people indicated that it would mainly be beneficial due to the cognitive stimulation that EAI would provide. People who were not familiar with EAI reported more brakes to its implementation. Finally, it was observed that the caregivers were those who put forward the most levers for the implementation of EAI with AD patients living in nursing homes. CONCLUSION: Thus, this study allows us to understand some of the reasons why nursing homes are reluctant to set up EAI. Communication on this subject is currently a lever to be developed. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: By highlighting the brakes and levers on the implementation of EAIs, we are able to identify suitable guidelines for developing this type of intervention in nursing homes, which could be used as a complement to nursing care to help Alzheimer's patients overcome physical or psychological health problems.

Universality and Cultural Diversity in Moral Reasoning and Judgment.

Many theories have shaped the concept of morality and its development by anchoring it in the realm of the social systems and values of each culture. This review discusses the current formulation of moral theories that attempt to explain cultural factors affecting moral judgment and reasoning. It aims to survey key criticisms that emerged in the past decades. In both cases, we highlight examples of cultural differences in morality, to show that there are cultural patterns of moral cognition in Westerners' individualistic culture and Easterners' collectivist culture. It suggests a paradigmatic change in this field by proposing pluralist "moralities" thought to be universal and rooted in the human evolutionary past. Notwithstanding, cultures vary substantially in their promotion and transmission of a multitude of moral reasonings and judgments. Depending on history, religious beliefs, social ecology, and institutional regulations (e.g., kinship structure and economic markets), each society develops a moral system emphasizing several moral orientations. This variability raises questions for normative theories of morality from a cross-cultural perspective. Consequently, we shed light on future descriptive work on morality to identify the cultural characteristics likely to impact the expression or development of reasoning, justification, argumentation, and moral judgment in Westerners' individualistic culture and Easterners' collectivist culture.

The role of maladaptive cognitions in gaming disorder: Differences between online and offline gaming types.

Gaming disorder involving online or offline games has been included in the latest International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Recent studies on psychological processes related to gaming disorder have identified a number of maladaptive cognitions that may play a role in developing and maintaining problematic gaming behaviors. However, there have been few studies that have examined whether these cognitions may occur differently offline versus online gaming. This study recruited 446 French-speaking adults including 229 online and 217 offline gamers (54.93 % male, Mage = 28.05), who completed a questionnaire providing information about demographic characteristics, gaming habits, cognitions related to video games, gaming disorder and psychological distress. Maladaptive cognitions correlated strongly with gaming disorder, weekly time spent on video games, depression and anxiety symptoms. Mann-Whitney U-tests revealed significant differences between online and offline gaming groups with more addicted gamers in the online group, and more maladaptive cognitions in online than offline gamers. However, regression models comparing offline and online players revealed fewer differences among predictor variables. Maladaptive cognitions predicted the two types of disorder equally, although virtual comfort appeared to be strongly predictive only of online gaming disorder. These findings are discussed in relation to addiction theory and their clinical implications.

Brakes and levers to implement an animal-assisted intervention in nursing homes: Preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: Increasing numbers of scientific studies have dealt with the benefits of animal assisted intervention programs (AAI). Although many positive effects have been identified, there are still few AAI programs in nursing homes. To date, no study has investigated special the difficulties in implementing such a program. The aim of this study was to explore the representations of this type of program among caregivers. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted between January and June 2019. Psychologists conducted 11 interviews with people working in nursing homes. The sample was based on different professions and on the fact that participants had already been involved in an IAA program. RESULTS: The results were organized according to two main themes: brakes and levers. The results show that the brakes were raised quickly before the implementation of the project, but once the project had been implemented, the perceived beneficial effects multiplied and all those interviewed mentioned the benefits of animals. More than half of the caregivers interviewed mentioned animals as a lever, facilitating contact with elderly people suffering from dementia. Setting up a project upstream enhanced the success of this type of program. CONCLUSION: The benefits perceived by the people interviewed are consistent with the scientific literature. The obstacles mentioned for implementing this type of program can be reduced by a rigorous and well-thought-out project.

Metacognition and emotional regulation in children from 8 to 12 years old.

BACKGROUND: The Metacognitive Affective Model of SRL (MASRL) considers the relationships between metacognition, motivation, and affect. Notably, it provides a theoretical framework to understand how subjective experiences (metacognition and affect) change self-regulation from a top-down to a bottom-up process and vice versa. AIMS: The study examines the link between metacognition and emotional regulation in the everyday problem-solving performance of children in elementary school. Emotional regulation is studied from the angle of coping strategies. SAMPLE(S): Participants were 269 children aged 8.17-11.66 years old (Mean = 9.8, SD = 0.88). METHODS: They completed a French version of the 'The Metacognitive Experiences Questionnaire' developed by Efklides and Petkaki (2005, Learning and Instruction, 15, 415) and the Kidcope (Spirito et al., 1988, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 13, 555) to measure the coping strategies before and after solving the everyday problem taken from 'The Everyday Cognition Battery' (Allaire & Marsiske, 1999, Psychology and Aging, 14, 261). RESULTS: The results indicate that several metacognitive experiences are significantly linked to solving everyday problems, in particular the feeling of difficulty. The other results of our study show that no single coping strategy was linked to problem-solving performance but that the three coping strategies (i.e., emotional outburst, blaming others, and magical thinking) are linked to metacognitive experiences. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the importance of emotional regulation on cognitive performance, both before and after solving the problem. These findings have important implications for teachers, who should be aware of the effect that a feeling of difficulty may have on solving a given problem.

Effect of age, time spent in prison and level of education on the perceived health and quality of life of elderly prisoners.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of perceived health and quality of life of elderly prisoners in France, and to see whether there is a link between aging, time spent in prison and level of education and scores for perceived health and quality of life. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The authors' recruited 138 male prisoners aged 50 and over in seven French prisons. The research protocol comprised a semi-structured interview and two scales. FINDINGS: The results revealed low levels of perceived health and quality of life among the elderly inmates. They also showed that age was not statistically associated with most of the dimensions of perceived health on the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), with the exception of poor mobility. By contrast, age was statistically associated with most of the dimensions of quality of life on the WHOQOL-Bref. Time spent in prison was only associated negatively with the "sleep" dimension of the NHP. Emotional reactions were perceived most positively by the inmates with the highest level of education. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: It seems particularly important to assess the perceived health and quality of life of elderly prisoners in order to ensure their appropriate treatment and management. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Very few studies have examined the perceived health and quality of life of prisoners, even though this population is particularly vulnerable in terms of physical and mental health.

Emotional Response Categorization in Adolescents and Young Adults.

Categorization is based on cognitive mechanisms allowing the development of internal representations of the environment that guide behavior. This study tests the influence of emotions on categorization in adolescents and young adults. After a mood induction (negative, positive, or neutral), we compared how 68 adolescents aged 13 to 15 and 57 young adults aged 21 to 29 categorized emotional concepts using a lexical emotional categorization task. Participants had to choose which of three associates, of different emotional valence (positive, negative or neutral), was more similar to a target concept. The aim of this study was to determine if adolescents rely on the emotional dimension in categorization more than adults. The results show that the emotional state can influence the cognitive process of categorization in adolescence, particularly in the negative mood.

Cognitive impairment, self-perceived health and quality of life of older prisoners.

BACKGROUND: There is a wealth of studies of somatic and mental illness among prisoners, but little on older prisoners and their cognitive aging. AIMS: Our study examines the cognitive performance of older male prisoners and its effect on their perceived health and quality of life. METHODS: A total of 138 men aged 50 or over were recruited in seven French prisons and 138 men of similar ages from the general population. Two assessments of executive cognitive functions - the mini-mental state examination and the frontal assessment battery - were administered to each participant, together with self rating schedules of health (Nottingham Health Profile), subjective state of mental health and quality of life (the brief World Health Organisation Quality of Life Questionnaire). RESULTS: There were very significant differences between the two groups in terms of cognitive performance, perceived health and quality of life. There was, however, no significant association between cognitive impairment and perceived health or quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence that about a fifth of male prisoners in France had executive function test scores suggestive of at least moderately severe dementia and many others some evidence of cognitive impairments. Prisoners suffering from cognitive impairment do not necessarily seek help, perhaps not even considering that their health or quality of life to be affected. Communication deficits may also prevent their participation in prison activities which could prevent, slow or halt cognitive decline. Consequently, it is important that systematic screening for cognitive disorders is offered to men over 50 in prison. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mental disorders, perceived health and quality of life of older prisoners in France.

People serving prison sentences have major needs in terms of their physical and mental health. However, little is known about the prevalence of mental disorders affecting older prisoners and about how they evaluate their state of health and their quality of life. The aim of our study is to identify whether there is a link between mental disorders and the level of perceived health and quality of life of older prisoners. For the group 1, we recruited 138 male prisoners aged 50 and over in 7 French prisons. The control group was composed of 138 community-dwelling men aged 50 and over. The research protocol comprised four scales (The mini international neuropsychiatric interview, The French version of the Nottingham health profile, The scale of the subjective state of mental health, The WHOQOL-BREF). The results reveal a very high prevalence of mental disorders among older prisoners, notably depression and anxiety. The evaluation of perceived health and quality of life is also significantly lower in the group of older prisoners. We discuss the link between having one or more mental disorders and a negative evaluation of perceived health and quality of life.

What is the best strategy for retaining gestures in working memory?

This study aimed to determine whether the recall of gestures in working memory could be enhanced by verbal or gestural strategies. We also attempted to examine whether these strategies could help resist verbal or gestural interference. Fifty-four participants were divided into three groups according to the content of the training session. This included a control group, a verbal strategy group (where gestures were associated with labels) and a gestural strategy group (where participants repeated gestures and were told to imagine reproducing the movements). During the experiment, the participants had to reproduce a series of gestures under three conditions: "no interference", gestural interference (gestural suppression) and verbal interference (articulatory suppression). The results showed that task performance was enhanced in the verbal strategy group, but there was no significant difference between the gestural strategy and control groups. Moreover, compared to the "no interference" condition, performance decreased in the presence of gestural interference, except within the verbal strategy group. Finally, verbal interference hindered performance in all groups. The discussion focuses on the use of labels to recall gestures and differentiates the induced strategies from self-initiated strategies.

Predictors of semantic categorical flexibility in older adults.

This study investigated the processes involved in the aging of semantic categorical flexibility. A previous study revealed the effects of aging on the flexible use of taxonomic relations. We aimed to explain our previous results regarding the performance of older adults; we carried out investigations into the respective roles of executive and conceptual factors in semantic categorical flexibility. Fifty older adults carried out a semantic categorical flexibility task alongside conceptual and executive measures. The results replicate our previous findings and indicate that the predictors of the maintenance of the use of taxonomic relations are conceptual and the predictors of the switching from thematic to taxonomic relations are executive.

Motor planning between 4 and 7 years of age: changes linked to executive functions.

In the present study, we adopted the conceptual frameworks of Miyake et al. (2000) (organization of executive functions) and Sergeant (2000) (linking executive function to motor behaviour) to assess developmental changes in executive functions and motor behaviour, using a planning task with a sample of 4-7-years old children. More precisely, the aim of the study was to characterize the development of motor response planning between the ages of 4 and 7 as a measure of the integration of multiple executive function processes, namely inhibition, shifting and working memory, and to gain insight into the concurrent developmental contributions of these processes. Participants were divided into two groups: group 1 was composed of 24 children aged 4-5 years and group 2 was composed of 20 children aged 6-7 years. Each participant took tests for shifting, inhibition, working memory and motor planning (the egg-planning task). Our results suggest that the egg-planning task requires the inhibition of a pre-potent but inappropriate response, and to a lesser extent the manipulation of working memory strategies. These results are discussed in relation to the development of each executive function component.

Aging of the planning process: the role of executive functioning.

This study tested whether the aging of executive functioning is linked to the decline in planning performance. Participants were divided into three groups: group 1 composed of 15 adults with a mean age of 22.7 years, group 2 composed of 15 adults with a mean age of 68.1 years and group 3 composed of 16 adults with a mean age of 78.75 years. Each participant took tests for shifting, inhibition, updating and processing speed. Planning was evaluated by the Tower of Hanoi task with 3 and 4 disks. Analyses of variance showed a main age effect on the many executive functioning and planning measures assessed. Analyses of regression indicated that combined processing speed and shifting accounted for 58.33% of performance on the 3-disk version, while processing speed accounted for only 36.86% of performance on the 4-disk version. These results are discussed in relation to two levels of the planning process: formulation and execution.

Aging and categorization: could relevant pieces of information reduce older persons' inhibitory deficit?

The goal of this study was to reduce the inhibitory deficit on the elderly by creating "optimizing conditions" in a categorization task. It was hypothesized that increasing the number of relevant pieces of information would reduce the difficulty associated with processing irrelevant information on a categorization task, since the number of relevant solutions to solve the problem would increase, while the total number of pieces of information to be processed would remain the same. This hypothesis was tested on 27 young adults and 30 elderly people using a task requiring the matching of a stimulus figure to one of the two response figures having one or more attributes in common with the stimulus. In line with previous findings, the results indicated an age-related inhibitory decline. However, consistent with the hypothesis, as the number of relevant attributes increased, the performance of elderly people improved and response times decreased, supporting the notion of latent cognitive resources.