José Maria Montiel

Desenvolvimento dos componentes da consciência fonológica no ensino fundamental e correlação com nota escolar

Phonological awareness refers to the ability of reflect about the language phonology at the several levels of words, syllables and phonemes. Phonological awareness skills at the most simpler levels foster the development of readingspelling skills at the most elementary levels, which, in turn, foster more advanced reading-spelling skills, and so on, in a virtuous cycle. A sample of 363 first-to fourth-grade elementary school children were individually evaluated by the Phonological Awareness Test. Results showed that total scores as well as individual scores in all the ten phonological awareness skills measured increased with school level, especially from first to third levels. School grades were positively correlated with phonological awareness scores in all school levels, but with different subtests on each level. In latter levels, school grades correlated with the most difficult phonemic subtests. Such results give support to the importance of assessing specific components of phonological awareness.

Working memory assessment in schizophrenia and its correlation with executive functions ability

OBJECTIVE Working memory impairment is common in schizophrenia and is possibly a cause of multiple features of the disorder. However few studies have replicated such findings of impairment patterns in Brazilian samples. The main target of this study was to assess auditory and visual working memory in patients with schizophrenia, to assess if they work as separate systems, and to correlate working memory deficits with executive functions. METHOD Twenty subjects with schizophrenia and twenty healthy subjects matched by gender, age, and schooling have participated. The abilities assessed were auditory and visual working memory, selective attention, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and planning. RESULTS Patients showed declines in all measures evaluated, except for a measure reaction time of inhibitory control. Auditory working memory was correlated to selective attention, inhibition, flexibility and planning while Visual working memory to planning and flexibility. CONCLUSION The present study suggests that working memory and executive functions deficits are present in patients with schizophrenia in the Brazilian sample evaluated. Alterations in executive functions may lead to incapacity of operation of processes of working memory. These findings may contribute to delineate and develop new strategies of schizophrenia treatment in the Brazilian population.

Comparison of the Diagnostic Accuracy of Neuropsychological Tests in Differentiating Alzheimer's Disease from Mild Cognitive Impairment: Can the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Be Better than the Cambridge Cognitive Examination

Objective: Considering the lack of studies on measures that increase the diagnostic distinction between Alzheimers disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and on the role of the Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG) in this, our study aims to compare the utility of the CAMCOG, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in helping to differentiate AD from MCI in elderly people with >4 years of schooling. Method: A total of 136 elderly subjects - 39 normal controls as well as 52 AD patients and 45 MCI patients treated at the Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Porto Alegre, Brazil - were assessed using the MMSE, CAMCOG, clock drawing test (CDT), verbal fluency test (VF), Geriatric Depression Scale and Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire. Results: The results obtained by means of a receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the MoCA is a better screening test for differentiating elderly subjects with AD from those with MCI than the CAMCOG and MMSE as well as other tests such as the CDT and VF. Conclusion: The MoCA, more than the CAMCOG and the other tests, was shown to be able to differentiate AD from MCI, although, as Roalf et al. [Alzheimers Dement 2013;9:529-537] pointed out, further studies might lead to measures that will improve this differentiation.

Teste de habilidades sociais para crianças: evidências psicométricas de uma versão inicial

Este artigo descreve o desenvolvimento de uma medida de avaliacao das habilidades sociais em criancas do ensino fundamental. Foram investigadas 257 criancas que cursavam de segundo ao quarto ano, de escolas publicas de cidades do interior do estado de Sao Paulo, com idades entre 8 e 11 anos e media de 9 anos. A escala foi composta de 99 itens descritores de situacoes de relacionamento interpessoal em situacoes escolares. A analise de componentes principais com rotacao varimax sugeriu uma estrutura de tres fatores que explicaram 38,42% de variância. Os fatores foram civilidade e altruismo (alfa = 0,85), desenvoltura e autocontrole na situacao de interacao (alfa=0,60) e assertividade de enfrentamento (alfa=0,47). A aplicacao do instrumento ocorreu de forma coletiva, realizada nas salas de aulas dos alunos, e somente a aqueles cujos pais haviam autorizado previamente. Esse instrumento avalia os fatores de habilidades sociais separando a dificuldade de expressao de cada uma das condutas, o que pode ser util no planejamento de intervencoes. Alem disso, esses resultados denotam confiabilidade no uso do instrumento em futuras pesquisas.

Development and interactions among academic performance, word recognition, listening, and reading comprehension

Este estudo investigou como o desenvolvimento das habilidades de reconhecimento de palavras, compreensao auditiva e de leitura relaciona-se ao desempenho escolar ao longo do Ensino Fundamental I. O Teste Contrastivo de Compreensao Auditiva e de Leitura e o Teste de Reconhecimento de Palavras e Pseudopalavras foram utilizados na avaliacao de 301 estudantes brasileiros da 1a a 4a serie do Ensino Fundamental. As notas escolares foram fornecidas pela escola ao termino do ano letivo. As analises revelaram efeito significativo da serie sobre todas as variaveis e um padrao com escores mais elevados em itens que podem ser lidos pela estrategia logografica e escores mais baixos para itens que demandam processamento ortografico. Diversas correlacoes significativas entre as habilidades mensuradas e o desempenho escolar foram encontradas, porem o padrao destas correlacoes mudou nas diferentes series escolares. Houve correlacoes mais fortes entre desempenho escolar e habilidades mais elementares, como a estrategia logografica de leitura e a compreensao auditiva, na 1a serie, e com habilidades mais complexas desenvolvendo-se ao longo das tres series sucessivas, como evidente pelo aumento de correlacoes com as estrategias alfabetica e ortografica e com a compreensao de leitura. Os dados podem auxiliar a orientar praticas para estimular habilidades relevantes em cada nivel escolar.

Discriminative Power of Montreal Cognitive Assessment

The objective of this article is to analyze the accuracy of MoCAs subitems by comparing healthy elderly with Mild Cognitive Impaired and Alzheimers disease patients with more than four years of schooling. 136 elderly, with 39 normal controls, 52 AD patients and 45 MCI treated at the Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology were studied by means of Mini-Mental State Examination, Cambridge Cognitive Examination, Clock Drawing Test, Verbal Fluency test, Geriatric Depression Scale and Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire. The results obtained by means of ROC curve showed that MoCA is a good screening test to differentiate elderly with Alzheimers disease from mild cognitive impaired ones with 82.2% sensitivity and 92.3% specificity. Also, we perform an MANOVA and the results suggest significant differences between the three studied groups. We concluded that MoCA is a good screening instrument to assess mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimers disease in elderly with more than 4 years of schooling.

Predictive Power of Parenting Styles on Children’s Social Skills: A Brazilian Sample

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between parenting styles and children’s social skills, establishing significant correlations between those two constructs. A total of 202 children, 7 to 10 years old, male and female, attending second to fourth year of government schools in São Paulo, Brazil, were participants of this research. They collectively completed Children’s Social Skills Test (THAS-C) and Parental Styles Inventory (IEP). Results suggest that positive parental styles are predictors of altruism, while negative parental styles are predictors of assertiveness, conversation, and social confidence. Regarding general social skills, variables that offered the best probable model were positive monitoring, lax discipline, moral behavior, and physical abuse (the higher the general social skill, the lesser the abusive parenting styles). As a conclusion, it seems that different social skills are related to positive and negative parenting styles, reinforcing the idea of a social skill as an attribute of behavior.

Controversies Regarding the Psychometric Properties of the Brief COPE: The Case of the Brazilian-Portuguese Version "COPE Breve".

The Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) inventory investigates the different ways in which people respond to stressful situations. Knowledge is lacking regarding the coping strategies and styles of people in developing countries, including Brazil. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Brief COPE to Brazilian Portuguese (named COPE Breve) by focusing on dispositional coping. For the cross-cultural adaptation, the original Brief COPE in English (28 items grouped into 14 subscales) was adapted according to a universalistic approach, following these steps: translation, synthesis, back-translation, analysis by an expert panel, and pretest with 30 participants. Then, 237 adults from the community health service responded to the COPE Breve. Psychometric analyses included reliability and exploratory factor analysis. Most of the 14 subscales from the original Brief COPE exhibited problems related to internal consistency. A Velicers minimum average partial test (MAP) was performed and pointed out 3 factors. Exploratory factor analysis produced a revised 20-item version with a 3-factor solution: religion and positive reframing, distraction and external support. The psychometric properties of the COPE Breve with three factors were appropriate. Limitations of this study as well as suggestions for future studies are presented. The COPE Breve should be used in Brazilian clinics and investigations, but divergences in its psychometrics should be further explored in other contexts.

Análisis de la estructura factorial del Stai-T en una muestra de deportistas brasileros

This study aimed to examine the internal structure of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) in a sample of Brazilian athletes. Participants were 179 subjects practicing five different sports modalities, aged between 14 and 58 years (M = 21.04; SD = 4.21). The inventory assesses anxiety as state and trait, but in this study only the trait anxiety scale was used which is composed of 20 items arranged in a four-point Likert scale. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated the items were not properly adjusted to the instrument’s original model. This exploratory factor analysis indicated the existence of two factors that explained 33% of the variance. These factors were called present anxiety and absent anxiety, with reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.72 respectively.This study aimed to examine the internal structure of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) in a sample of Brazilian athletes. Participants were 179 subjects practicing five different sports modalities, aged between 14 and 58 years (M = 21.04; SD = 4.21). The inventory assesses anxiety as state and trait, but in this study only the trait anxiety scale was used which is composed of 20 items arranged in a four-point Likert scale. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated the items were not properly adjusted to the instrument’s original model. This exploratory factor analysis indicated the existence of two factors that explained 33% of the variance. These factors were called present anxiety and absent anxiety, with reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.72 respectively.

STAI-T FACTOR STRUCTURE ANALYSIS IN A SAMPLE OF BRAZILIAN ATHLETES

This study aimed to examine the internal structure of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) in a sample of Brazilian athletes. Participants were 179 subjects practicing five different sports modalities, aged between 14 and 58 years (M = 21.04; SD = 4.21). The inventory assesses anxiety as state and trait, but in this study only the trait anxiety scale was used which is composed of 20 items arranged in a four-point Likert scale. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated the items were not properly adjusted to the instrument’s original model. This exploratory factor analysis indicated the existence of two factors that explained 33% of the variance. These factors were called present anxiety and absent anxiety, with reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.72 respectively.This study aimed to examine the internal structure of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) in a sample of Brazilian athletes. Participants were 179 subjects practicing five different sports modalities, aged between 14 and 58 years (M = 21.04; SD = 4.21). The inventory assesses anxiety as state and trait, but in this study only the trait anxiety scale was used which is composed of 20 items arranged in a four-point Likert scale. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated the items were not properly adjusted to the instrument’s original model. This exploratory factor analysis indicated the existence of two factors that explained 33% of the variance. These factors were called present anxiety and absent anxiety, with reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.72 respectively.