Antonio Bustillos

Adaptación de la escala de Orientación a la Dominancia Social al castellano: validación de la Dominancia Grupal y la Oposición a la Igualdad como factores subyacentes

Resumen Pratto, Sidanius, Stallwarth y Malle (1994) formularon la Teoría de la Dominancia Social para expresar el deseo de los individuos por establecer y mantener la jerarquía social y la subordinación de grupos inferiores a los superiores. Para medir las diferencias individuales en este constructo elaboraron la escala de la Orientación a la Dominancia Social (SDO). Recientes investigaciones han señalado la existencia de una estructura bifactorial de la escala: Antiigualitarismo y Orientación a la Dominancia Grupal (Jost y Thompson, 2000; Sidanius y Peña, 2002), a pesar de que en la formulación original se abogaba por la presencia de un constructo unitario. El presente estudio tiene como finalidad validar la escala de Orientación a la Dominancia Social en una muestra española, así como comprobar qué estructura factorial es más adecuada. Nuestros resultados muestran una buena fiabilidad de la adaptación y validez predictiva. Por su parte, los análisis factoriales realizados muestran un mejor apoyo para la estructura en dos factores propuesta por Jost y Thompson (2000).

Positive Perception of Aging and Performance in a Memory Task: Compensating for Stereotype Threat?

Background/Study Context: The aim of this research is to explore whether segments of seniors might be immune to aging stereotypes of the older adult group. Stereotype threat research indicates that older adults show low memory recall under conditions of stereotype threat. Stereotype internalization theory (Levy, 2009) predicts that a positive perception of aging has favorable effects on the behavior and health of older people. Methods: A total of 112 older adult participants (62% women, aged 55 to 78) attending the University Programme for Older Adults were assigned to one of two conditions: stereotype threat condition and positive information condition. A control group was included from participants in the same program (n = 34; 61% women, aged 55 to 78). Individual differences in self-perception of aging were considered as continuous variable. Results: Participants with better self-perception of aging showed better memory performance than those with poorer self-perception of aging in the stereotype threat condition and control condition. However, no differences were found in the positive information condition between participants with high and low self-perception of aging. These results indicate that positive self-perception of aging moderates the effects of stereotype threat, and that positive information promotes better memory performance for those older adults with a poorer self-perception of aging. Conclusion: As expected, individuals with a positive perception of their own aging were less vulnerable to the activation of a negative older adult stereotype in the stereotype threat condition.

Variables psicosociales y acoso escolar: el papel de las normas de grupo y la identificación grupal

Resumen Se presenta un trabajo que tuvo como objetivo principal analizar distintas características de naturaleza grupal de las que depende el acoso sufrido por algunos integrantes de un grupo. De esta forma, nuestro estudio se centra en demostrar que el grado de identificación con el grupo es clave a la hora de entender cómo se expresan las conductas de exclusión y acoso, si se percibe un ambiente normativo que posibilita la expresión de este tipo de conductas. Asimismo, mostramos cómo las situaciones de exclusión social son predictoras del bullying. Concretamente encontramos que los participantes que manifestaron ser acosados también eran excluidos; sin embargo, no todos los alumnos que indicaron ser excluidos eran acosados por sus compañeros. La importancia de este resultado es central para comprender la dinámica de la agresión sistemática entre iguales que ocurre en los centros educativos, ya que parte de la literatura considera que las situaciones de exclusión social que sufren los alumnos acosados son consecuencia del propio bullying y no viceversa.

Justificación de la desigualdad y actitudes hacia la discapacidad ¿Oposición a la igualdad o dominancia?

Resumen Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar algunos aspectos de la relación con las personas con discapacidad física—actitud general, ansiedad intergrupal y creencias suma-cero desde los motivos propuestos en la Teoría de la Justificación del Sistema (Jost y Banaji, 1994): justificación del grupo y justificación del sistema. En línea con planteamientos recientes (Jost y Hunyady, 2002), la influencia de estos motivos se ha estudiado a través de los componentes de la escala de Orientación a la Dominancia Social (SDO) definidos por Jost y Thompson (2000): Orientación a la Dominancia Grupal y Oposición a la Igualdad. Los resultados muestran diferentes relaciones de cada subfactor con la ansiedad intergrupal y las creencias suma-cero. A su vez, la amenaza percibida en relación con los recursos, establecida a través de las creencias suma-cero, aparece como la mejor predictora de la actitud hacia las personas con discapacidad física.

Age Discrimination, Eppur Si Muove (Yet It Moves)†

nine other medications. The promethazine led to multiple side effects, followed by medications to treat those side effects. She was ultimately hospitalized in a catatonic state and bed-bound for 4 months, and it took a year’s worth of recovery before she could interact with her family again. Mrs. Smith’s age is important because the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) recommends against using promethazine in the Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults. Despite promethazine’s effectiveness in its study populations, it should have been avoided in her case. As a medical student, hearing this story terrified me because I would have chosen the same treatment for Mrs. Smith What her doctor and I failed to consider are the effects that the prescribed medication would have on an 83-year-old vs the younger individuals in which its efficacy and safety were tested. After completing my preclinical curriculum, I realized I was not taught how to care for older adults. Our education exposes us to a wide breadth of subjects and fields, but our lectures and rotations lack a dedicated exposure to geriatrics. According to the Census Bureau, the United States had more than 40 million elderly persons in 2010 and will have 70 million by 2029. Despite this increase in the size of this population and its healthcare needs, the number of geriatricians in the country is inadequate and dwindling. According to the AGS, there was a 33% decline in medical school graduates pursuing advanced training in geriatric medicine between 2005 and 2010. Although we cannot reverse this trend and build a sufficient geriatric physician workforce overnight, we can better prepare current medical students for the practice of geriatric medicine that they will assume, regardless of their field. To see firsthand the approach to care in elderly adults and what we as medical students must do to practice it competently, I requested to work 1 month on a geriatrics unit during my internal medicine subspecialty rotation. The approach to care I witnessed was different from what I had seen on other services, even when I had been caring for older adults, and it changed how I will care for elderly adults in the future. One practice I observed is deprescribing, or stopping a current medication. Deprescribing is necessary to combat polypharmacy, which is prevalent, and sometimes dangerous, in elderly adults. More than 36% of people aged 75 to 85 are taking five or more prescribed medications, and almost 100,000 adults aged 65 and older are hospitalized for adverse drug events each year. Although polypharmacy is risky, deprescribing can be dangerous. Appropriate medications extend and improve the quality of life as well. Choosing which ones to discontinue can amount to playing Russian roulette. To address this, Dr. Joshua Uy, a geriatrician on my rotation, taught a tactic he called “the partnership with patients.” The partnership uses close follow-up to obtain feedback on the effects of deprescribing, as opposed to adherence to an evidence-based algorithm that I have learned on other rotations. This collaborative relationship allows the doctor and the patient to balance risks and benefits and make shared decisions to treat or not in time-limited trials. Combining their knowledge of geriatric-specific guidelines such as the Beers criteria with the partnership strategy allowed Dr. Uy and his colleagues to personalize medical care to each person. Despite the importance of deprescribing and other skills that geriatricians need and interactions that they have with greater frequency, such as palliative care and the dying experience, only approximately 10% of my classmates will complete a geriatrics rotation during medical school. Although most medical students will not become geriatricians, the majority will care for older adults, and it is essential that we learn to do so responsibly. The task falls on medical schools and us as students. Our curriculums should better emphasize geriatric medicine in our preclinical years and should provide more opportunities on a geriatric service in our clinical years. As students, we must take the initiative to pursue clerkships, subinternships, and electives in geriatric medicine. As Dr. William Osler once said, “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” If those words ring true today, then the future of American medicine must learn to treat the 83-year-old Mrs. Smith and not just her nausea.

Attitudes Toward Peers With Physical Disabilities at High School: Applying the Integrated Threat Theory

The aim of this work was to study attitudes toward people with disabilities from the viewpoint of the integrated threat theory of prejudice. This theory postulates that threat may cause negative attitudes toward a group and posits that such threat may come from different sources. To test this model, a study was carried out with high school students (N = 228), which included social dominance orientation (SDO) as antecedent variable. Perceived threat for resources and intergroup anxiety were the mediating threats investigated in this process. Results showed support for the theory: Perceived threat for resources and intergroup anxiety seemed to be effective mediators. SDO also appeared as a potent antecedent predictor of attitudes toward people with physical disabilities.

The role of perceived discrimination on active aging

Among older adults, perceived age discrimination is highly associated with unhealthy outcomes and dissatisfaction. Active aging is a multidimensional concept described by a set of characteristics, particularly health, positive mood and control; most importantly, active aging is currently at the core of public policies. The aim of the present study was to test to what extent perceived discrimination influences active aging. Methods A total of 2005 older adults in three representative samples from regions of Germany, Mexico and Spain participated; they were tested on active aging and perceived discrimination. First, active aging was defined as high reported health, life satisfaction and self-perception of aging. Second, authors introduced the assumption that, in the total sample, structural equation modelling would confirm the hypothesis of a direct negative link between perceived age discrimination and active aging. Finally, multiple group comparison performed through structural equation modelling also provided support for the negative association between perceived discrimination and active aging proposed. In spite of the differences found among the three countries in both active aging variables and age discrimination perception, multiple group comparison indicates that regardless of the culture, perceived discrimination is a negative predictor of active aging.

¿Se discrimina a los mayores en función de su edad? Visión del profesional

INTRODUCTION It is generally believed that legislation is an essential resource in the prevention of discriminatory behaviour against older people. This study first examines the Spanish legislation for potential age discrimination and then uses the C-EVE-D questionnaire to ask professionals in social work and health care settings the extent to what certain ageist behaviours described in the questionnaire are observed in practice. METHODS The field study was carried out with professionals in geriatrics and gerontology, who are members of Spanish Society for Geriatrics and Gerontology (SEGG). The EVE discrimination questionnaire consists of 28 items which investigate the existence of age discrimination in medical and social care contexts. RESULTS A total of 174 people (63% women; mean age: 45.6 years) took part in the study, with a mean professional experience of 17.2 years. Doctors made up 59% of the sample, psychologists 19%, with the rest coming from other professions. The first 20 discrimination items of the EVE-D questionnaire were significantly positively reported by more than 60% of the sample. CONCLUSIONS Although Spanish legislation, from the constitution down to the rules that govern social and health care settings, clearly prohibits any kind of discrimination with regard to age, our results show that Spanish professionals most closely involved in the care of older people perceive both direct and indirect age discrimination. Furthermore, evidence was found of prejudice in the treatment of older people as a phenomenon in day-to-day health and social services care, both when analysing medical cases and, to a greater extent, cases of a more general nature and/or relating to co-existence.

Is older adult care mediated by caregivers' cultural stereotypes? The role of competence and warmth attribution.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine, from the stereotype content model (SCM) perspective, the role of the competence and warmth stereotypes of older adults held by professional caregivers. Methods A quasi-experimental design, ex post facto with observational analyses, was used in this study. The cultural view on competence and warmth was assessed in 100 caregivers working in a set of six residential geriatric care units (three of them organized following a person-centered care approach and the other three providing standard geriatric care). In order to assess caregivers’ cultural stereotypical views, the SCM questionnaire was administered. To evaluate the role of caregivers’ cultural stereotypes in their professional performance as well as in older adult functioning, two observational scales from the Sistema de Evaluación de Residencias de Ancianos (assessment system for older adults residences)-RS (staff functioning and residents’ functioning) were applied. Results Caregivers’ cultural views of older adults (compared to young people) are characterized by low competence and high warmth, replicating the data obtained elsewhere from the SCM. Most importantly, the person-centered units predict better staff performance and better resident functioning than standard units. Moreover, cultural stereotyping of older adult competence moderates the effects of staff performance on resident functioning, in line with the findings of previous research. Conclusion Our results underline the influence of caregivers’ cultural stereotypes on the type of care, as well as on their professional behaviors and on older adult functioning. Caregivers’ cultural stereotypes could be considered as a central issue in older adult care since they mediate the triangle of care: caregivers/older adults/type of care; therefore, much more attention should be paid to this psychosocial care component.

Eficacia del uso de tácticas de influencia social en la propaganda de marketing social

Resumen Se comprueba la eficacia en mensajes escritos de tres tácticas de influencia: “Un penique es suficiente”, “Validación social” y “Mixta” (ambas conjuntamente), con una condición de Control, para lograr donativos para una ONG. En el estudio I se utilizan sólo textos. En el estudio II, además, se incluye otra variable moduladora: una imagen que, dependiendo de la condición, suscitaba afectos positivos o negativos. Los resultados de ambos estudios conjuntos (N = 726) muestran que la imagen no afecta a la decisión de donar dinero, pero sí a la cantidad donada, siendo superior cuando se incluye una imagen que suscita afecto negativo (tristeza o culpa). El empleo de tácticas de influencia afecta a la predisposición a dar dinero y a la cantidad que se aportaría. La táctica más eficaz de las estudiadas en este contexto es la de “Un penique es suficiente”.