O Albanese

Emotion comprehension: the impact of nonverbal intelligence.

ABSTRACT A substantial body of research has established that emotion understanding develops throughout early childhood and has identified three hierarchical developmental phases: external, mental, and reflexive. The authors analyzed nonverbal intelligence and its effect on childrens improvement of emotion understanding and hypothesized that cognitive level is a consistent predictor of emotion comprehension. In all, 366 children (182 girls, 184 boys) between the ages of 3 and 10 years were tested using the Test of Emotion Comprehension and the Coloured Progressive Matrices. The data obtained by using the path analysis model revealed that nonverbal intelligence was statistically associated with the ability to recognize emotions in the 3 developmental phases. The use of this model showed the significant effect that cognitive aspect plays on the reflexive phase. The authors aim to contribute to the debate about the influence of cognitive factors on emotion understanding.

Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI): A validation study in an Italian teacher group

The aim of this study was to validate the Italian version of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI; Kristensen, Borritz, Villadsen, & Christensen, 2005), a public domain questionnaire evaluating the level of physical and psychological fatigue experienced by individuals with respect to personal, work-related, and client-related burnout. Participants in the study were 1,497 teachers (89.3% female). The dimensionality of the CBI was explored by means of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The scale’s internal consistency was also examined. Concurrent validity was explored by investigating the associations of the CBI dimensions with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) and an ad hoc measure of self-efficacy. Results of CFA supported a model of measurement composed of three correlated factors: personal, work-related, and student-related burnout. Associations among the CBI factors, UWES, and self-efficacy scores were found to be in the expected directions and reliability of scales was consistent. Results suggest that the Italian version of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory is psychometrically robust and could be adopted for empirical uses.

Teachers’ Emotional Competence and Social Support: Assessing the Mediating Role of Teacher Burnout

This study explored the relationships among teachers’ emotional competence, burnout as a mediator, and social support. Teachers’ emotional competence was assessed via measures of emotional intensity and emotional regulation. Social support was evaluated in terms of external versus internal support, and teacher dissatisfaction with support received. Participants were 149 Italian primary school teachers. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings suggested that teacher burnout partially mediated the relationship between emotional intensity and satisfaction with social support received. Overall, the results showed that teachers were at risk of highly intense unpleasant emotions in relation to their burnout syndrome. Moreover, teachers’ satisfaction/dissatisfaction with social support received was predicted by burnout symptoms. These results extend the findings of earlier studies, and provide indications as to how to help teachers experiencing burnout.

At-Risk Teachers: The Association between Burnout Levels and Emotional Appraisal Processes

1.1. Emotional Appraisal Process and Affect States Emotional processing is a multidimensional activity that includes appraisal of an event, subjective experience, physiological change, emotion expression, and action tendencies [1 4]. Experiencing events that cause emotions requires individuals to engage in judgment or appraisal of significance or relevance of these occurrences vis-à-vis their own personal motives, goals, or concerns [5 7]. Appraisal theory represents a cognitive approach to emotional processing.

Supporting teacher training for inclusion with wikis and web-forums

Training student-teachers to become specialized support teachers for classroom inclusion entails adoption of an inclusive approach. In this light we conducted a training initiative that made use of wiki and web-forum tools as a means to promote a collaborative approach. In this study we performed a categorical analysis of students’ reports on the experience, identifying inclusion indexes. The collected data reveal wide-scale use of these inclusion parameters.

Metacognitive reflection in online environments and self-study in university courses

The metacognitive processes of critical thinking, regulation and guiding of cognitive mechanisms are fundamental in promoting self-regulated learning, which, in turn, is crucial for academic success. ICT offers significant possibilities for supporting these capacities. We describe two different experiences in which tools for metacognitive reflection have been implemented in online environments in order to sustain self-regulation in university study. In both cases the students participated in online units – one on educational psychology, the other on study methodology – followed by discussions for stimulating metacognitive reflection. In both experiences, the proposed tools promoted advanced epistemic activation and better awareness of personal self-regulation skills in study processes.

Riabilitazione e tecniche espressive nelle sindromi dementigene

Tra le patologie dell’eta senile, le sindromi dementigene hanno un ruolo centrale poiche compromettono le funzioni mentali elementari di giudizio e ragionamento. La riabilitazione dei soggetti con tali sindromi e possibile con le tecniche espressive. In particolare, l’arteterapia intesa come tecnica espressiva non verbale che utilizza materiali per creare oggetti che rappresentino il proprio mondo interno e un intervento che rallenta gli effetti delle sindromi dementigene. Obiettivo del presente lavoro e stato quello di valutare nell’arco di 36 mesi l’efficacia di tale tecnica espressiva in 14 soggetti affetti da tali sindromi e di eta media pari a 80,9 anni. Essi sono stati monitorati con il Satisfaction Profile, il Sandoz Clinical Assessment Geriatric e il Mini Mental State Examination ed hanno svolto l’attivita di arte terapia in gruppo e/o con interventi domiciliari. Lo studio di decorso e stato condotto attraverso il test Wilcoxon per misure ripetute su campioni appaiati. Per ogni confronto longitudinale T0–T3 e stato riportato il relativo effect size (r). I risultati hanno mostrato un miglioramento statisticamente significativo delle prestazioni dei soggetti nella sfera sociale e relaziona- le, in particolare per le dimensioni: funzionalita psicologica, comportamento sociale e comportamento affettivo. A nostro avviso tale miglioramento puo essere riconducibile anche al contesto di gruppo delle attivita che permette un sostegno reciproco tra i partecipanti. Inoltre la riattivazione di capacita creative correlate ad abilita presenti nella storia dei soggetti ha innescato un processo di riduzione dei fenomeni di deterioramento anche negli interventi domiciliari.