Diseño de una guía de apoyo para el estudio y valoración neuropsicológica del lenguaje, aplicable a la asignatura de Neuropsicología General del Grado de Psicología y a otras asignaturas de Máster relacionadas

Memoria ID-205. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2018-2019

Long-term treatment for emotional distress in women with breast cancer

Purpose: Breast cancer patients have many needs, including strategies to cope with the associated distress, during and after cancer treatment. Establishing and implementing adequate social and emotional support for these women, to reduce the detrimental effects of stress resulting from their treatment and disease, is the need of the hour. This study aims to assess how women, diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, combat emotional stress using mechanisms of coping and control and emotional defense, as well as to identify potential groups among them, with different long-term patterns and needs. Methods: 98 patients belonging to a local breast cancer support association (ALMOM), were enrolled in this study. A questionnaire specifically designed for them was administered, and its internal consistency and reliability assessed. A hierarchical clustering was employed to classify the women. The questionnaire focused on four sections, including personal feelings, coping strategies, environmental influences and maladaptive coping. Results: An adequate internal reliability was obtained with Cronbach's α near or greater than 0.60. Personal feelings were significant and clearly correlated with coping strategies and maladaptive coping. Three groups of women with different patterns of emotional characteristics and needs were identified: positivist, unsafe, and hopeless women, with different long-term emotional needs to be satisfied. Conclusions: Psychological therapeutic interventions should be maintained in many breast cancer patients over time, even after treatment completion, in order to consolidate adaptive and sustainable responses

Sensitivity and specificity of Frontal Assessment Battery in newly diagnosed and untreated Obstructive Sleep Apnea patients

Background: Executive dysfunction (ED) is often observed in subjects diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but their assessment requires facilities that are not always available.We aim to evaluate the extent to which Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) discriminates ED in newly diagnosed, untreated, and without-comorbidity OSA patients. Methods: Sixty subjects participated in the study. Of these, 40 (31 males and 9 females) were newly diagnosed for OSA through full-night polysomnography (apnea/hypopnea index; M . 39.01, SD . 27.16), untreated, with a mean age of 54.50 years (SD . 8.90), while the remaining 20 (15 males and 5 females) had no symptoms of OSA (M . 51.60 years, SD . 10.70). The instruments used were the following: Questionnaire for Sleep Apnea Risk, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination, and FAB. Results: The group with OSA exhibited significantly lower values in the FAB global score (p . 0.003) and in Conceptualization (p . 0.001) and Mental Flexibility (p . 0.009) subtests. ROC analysis showed adequate discriminative capacity for the FAB global score (AUC . 0.74) and for Conceptualization (AUC . 0.75) and Mental Flexibility (AUC . 0.70) scores. Conclusions: The FAB is a short and no-time-consuming tool that can be used to investigate the presence of ED in untreated OSA patients with no comorbidities, providing clinicians with a simple and effective way of detecting the presence of this dysfunction and allowing a more informed decision for the need of a full neuropsychological assessment

Elaboración de videos docentes de Neuroanatomía Comparada como facilitador del aprendizaje en la asignatura de Fundamentos Biológicos de la Conducta en el Grado de Psicología

Memoria ID-0177. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2016-2017

Gestural praxis in young adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities

[EN] Background: Praxis functioning in the population with intellectual disabilities (ID) has been poorly studied. The goal of this research was to look for a starting point to study the praxic functioning in young adults with mild to moderate ID. Method: Thirty young adults with ID and 30 young adults without ID, between the ages of 18 and 35 years, participated in this study. All participants completed tests that assessed gestural praxis. Results: It was possible to observe similar praxis behaviour in the group with ID in almost all domains studied, albeit showing statistical values lower than those of the group without ID. Discussions: Despite the high number of errors committed, the sample of participants with ID was able to reach the goal of praxic tasks performed; such errors may be associated with a deficit in the development of various brain functions and not only with praxis functioning, mainly related to a lower yield in terms of planning, monitoring and correcting intentional movement

Desarrollo de un protocolo para la detección del deterioro cognitivo leve y su aplicación en la docencia de la asignatura de Neuropsicología general del Grado en Psicología

Memoria ID-199. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2018-2019

The 5 Objects Test: Normative data from a Spanish community sample

[EN]Objective: The objective of this study was to provide normative data for the 5 Objects Test in a large Spanish community sample, as well as some validity evidence. Methods: The sample was composed of 427 participants (of which 220 females, age 15 to 95 years old; educational level range: 2–17 years). Normative data are provided, as well as correlations with test scores from Benton Visual Retention test, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure and Mini Mental State Examination. Results: No association was found between delayed recall score and level of education, age or gender. Immediate recall score was correlated with age. Both immediate and delayed recall significantly correlated with the criteria, evidencing concurrent validity. Conclusions: It is recommended that the 5 Objects Test be used for assessing persons in primary care, including those from different linguistic backgrounds or with limited language use. Delayed recall scores are especially recommended given the lack of association with demographic variables

The effect of cognitive impairment on self-generation in Hispanics with TBI

[EN] The objective of this study was to determine the moderating effect of cognitive impairment (CI) on the usefulness of the generation effect to improve learning and memory in Hispanics with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Sixty-one Hispanic individuals with TBI (29 without CI, 22 with mild to moderate CI, and 10 with severe CI) and 44 healthy controls (HC) were required to remember the last word in each of 32 sentences. Target words were presented in a self-generated and provided condition. Recall and recognition were examined immediately, after 30minutes, and at one week. Individuals remembered and recalled significantly more words in the generated condition than the provided condition, regardless of group or time. The self-generation technique equally benefitted all participants regardless of TBI status or degree of CI. Future cognitive rehabilitation programs designed to improve short-term recall and recognition in Hispanic individuals with TBI should include the self-generation technique. Further research into the longer-term effects of the generation effects is warranted

Long-term treatment for emotional distress in women with breast cancer

[EN] Purpose: Breast cancer patients have many needs, including strategies to cope with the associated distress, during and after cancer treatment. Establishing and implementing adequate social and emotional support for these women, to reduce the detrimental effects of stress resulting from their treatment and disease, is the need of the hour. This study aims to assess how women, diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, combat emotional stress using mechanisms of coping and control and emotional defense, as well as to identify potential groups among them, with different long-term patterns and needs. Methods: 98 patients belonging to a local breast cancer support association (ALMOM), were enrolled in this study. A questionnaire specifically designed for them was administered, and its internal consistency and reliability assessed. A hierarchical clustering was employed to classify the women. The questionnaire focused on four sections, including personal feelings, coping strategies, environmental influences and maladaptive coping. Results: An adequate internal reliability was obtained with Cronbach's α near or greater than 0.60. Personal feelings were significant and clearly correlated with coping strategies and maladaptive coping. Three groups of women with different patterns of emotional characteristics and needs were identified: positivist, unsafe, and hopeless women, with different long-term emotional needs to be satisfied. Conclusions: Psychological therapeutic interventions should be maintained in many breast cancer patients over time, even after treatment completion, in order to consolidate adaptive and sustainable responsesS