Aplicación de estrategias de aprendizaje para la adquisición de competencias profesionales y su evaluación mediante una rúbrica integradora en diversos títulos de grado de la Universidad de Málaga

El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior ha supuesto importantes cambios en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje para la adquisición de competencias transversales y específicas. La calidad es un factor estratégico, por lo que es necesario, por una parte, el diseño de estrategias por parte del docente para que el alumnado adquiera competencias profesionales, y por otra, la evaluación de la eficacia e incidencia de las distintas estrategias en el rendimiento académico del alumnado. En este trabajo se han desarrollado rúbricas que permiten evaluar el efecto de nuevas estrategias de aprendizaje para la adquisición de las siguientes competencias: razonamiento crítico y autocrítico, adquisición de conocimientos básicos y capacidad de aplicar los conocimientos adquiridos a casos prácticos, transmisión de información oral/escrita, y capacidad de trabajo en equipo. El estudio se ha desarrollado en ocho asignaturas de la Universidad de Málaga, de grados experimentales (varias ingenierías, biología, bioquímica, fisioterapia y psicología), y una asignatura de una disciplina más abstracta como son las matemáticas. Finalmente, el alumnado ha evaluado el alcance de estas estrategias en la adquisición de las competencias a través de una rúbrica (eRúbrica) común a todas las asignaturas, datos que han sido cotejados con el resultado final del examen.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Goal Adjustment and Well-Being:The Role of Optimism in Patients with Chronic Pain

Background Chronic pain directly or indirectly interferes with valued personal goals. Goal adjustment plays a central role in patients' adaptation. Studies on the relationship between optimism and goal regulation have shown that people with high dispositional optimism adjust their goals in a flexible way, and that flexible goal adjustment promotes quality of life. Purpose The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship among optimism, goal adjustment, and adaptation in patients with chronic pain. Methods A sample of 258 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain completed questionnaires on optimism, reengagement, disengagement, flexibility, tenacity, rumination, purpose in life, well-being, pain intensity, daily functioning, and impairment. Results Structural equation modeling analysis showed that optimism had a positive association with reengagement, flexibility, and tenacity, and a negative association with disengagement. Disengagement was positively associated with rumination, whereas reengagement, flexibility, and tenacity were associated with higher levels of purpose in life, which were strongly associated with adaptation in patients with chronic pain. Conclusions This study supports the conclusions of previous research on the role of goal adjustment as a mediator variable between optimism and well-being. The relationship between optimism and the successful adaptation of patients with chronic pain is mediated by the effectiveness of goal adjustment strategies and the levels of purpose in life

Goal Adjustment and Well-Being: The Role of Optimism in Patients with Chronic Pain

Background Chronic pain directly or indirectly interferes with valued personal goals. Goal adjustment plays a central role in patients' adaptation. Studies on the relationship between optimism and goal regulation have shown that people with high dispositional optimism adjust their goals in a flexible way, and that flexible goal adjustment promotes quality of life. Purpose The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship among optimism, goal adjustment, and adaptation in patients with chronic pain. Methods A sample of 258 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain completed questionnaires on optimism, reengagement, disengagement, flexibility, tenacity, rumination, purpose in life, well-being, pain intensity, daily functioning, and impairment. Results Structural equation modeling analysis showed that optimism had a positive association with reengagement, flexibility, and tenacity, and a negative association with disengagement. Disengagement was positively associated with rumination, whereas reengagement, flexibility, and tenacity were associated with higher levels of purpose in life, which were strongly associated with adaptation in patients with chronic pain. Conclusions This study supports the conclusions of previous research on the role of goal adjustment as a mediator variable between optimism and well-being. The relationship between optimism and the successful adaptation of patients with chronic pain is mediated by the effectiveness of goal adjustment strategies and the levels of purpose in life

Using vignettes to assess the contribution of goal adjustment in the adaptation to chronic musculoskeletal pain

Purpose: The quality of life of individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain partly depends on their capacity to adjust their personal goals. Vignettes have been rarely used to assess this ability. Therefore, this study aimed to test the relationships between vignettes assessing different goal strategies and chronic pain adaptation (i.e., daily functioning, pain-related impairment, and psychological well-being). Methods: The sample comprised 258 individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain who completed a series of questionnaires and vignettes. The vignettes presented a short description of a situation in which a person with chronic pain experienced a threat to a valued domain-specific goal and had to choose a possible goal management solution (i.e., goal persistence, flexibility reengagement, and disengagement). Hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict chronic pain adaptation using the selected vignette strategies as predictors. Results: After controlling for age, sex, pain intensity, and the responses to the dispositional goal management scales, persistence, reengagement, and disengagement goal strategies presented in the case scenarios predicted daily functioning (p < .001). Persistence, flexibility, disengagement (p < .001), and reengagement (p < .05) predicted pain-related impairment. Persistence, disengagement (p < .001), and flexibility (p < .05) predicted psychological well-being scores. Conclusion: The use of vignettes could be useful to assess goal adjustment because this methodology enables respondents to provide more context-specific responses. The results of this approach could be used to improve clinical practice aimed at helping people with chronic musculoskeletal pain to better cope with this health condition

Optimism, positive and negative affect, and goal adjustment strategies: their relationship to activity patterns in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain

Objective. Activity patterns are the product of pain and of the self-regulation of current goals in the context of pain.) The aim of this study was to investigate the association between goal management strategies and activity patterns while taking into account the role of optimism/pessimism and positive/negative affect. Methods. Two hundred and thirty-seven patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain filled out questionnaires on optimism, positive and negative affect, pain intensity, and the activity patterns they employed in dealing with their pain. Questionnaires were also administered to assess their general goal management strategies: goal persistence, flexible goal adjustment, and disengagement and reengagement with goals. Results. Structural equation modelling showed that higher levels of optimism were related to persistence, flexible goal management, and commitment to new goals.) These strategies were associated with higher positive affect, persistence in finishing tasks despite pain, and infrequent avoidance behaviour in the presence or anticipation of pain. Conclusions.) The strategies used by the patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain to manage their life goals are related to their activity patterns

Exploring Changes in Activity Patterns in Individuals with Chronic Pain

This longitudinal study explored whether activity patterns change over time in a sample of 56 individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain over a 15-day period. Once a day, the participants recorded their level of pain intensity and the degree to which they had engaged in several specific activity patterns. Linear mixed models with random coefficients were used to investigate the rate of change in the activity patterns. Age, sex, pain intensity, and pain duration were controlled. The results show that excessive persistence was the only self-reported activity pattern to show a linear change over the 15-day period. There was a decrease in excessive persistence, and this decrease was slower with higher levels of activity avoidance. However, no significant association was found between sex, age, pain intensity, and pain duration and excessive persistence at baseline or change over time. At baseline, a positive association was found between excessive persistence and pain avoidance, pain-related persistence, and pacing to reduce pain, and a negative association was found between excessive persistence and pacing to save energy for valued activities. This result suggests a profile characterized by alternate periods of high and low activity that, in this study, were unrelated to longitudinal changes in pain intensity

Effective therapies for the treatment of complex posttraumatic stress disorder: A qualitative systematic review

Background. Current literature shows that posttraumatic stress disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms differ. Although the psychological treatments available for posttraumatic disorder are well established, little is known about the effectiveness of those aimed at the treatment of complex posttraumatic stress. Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of psychological treatments for complex posttraumatic stress disorder. Method. A systematic qualitative search was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines, searching four psychological and health electronic databases: Medline, Pilots, PsycINFO, and Pubmed. Three reviewers independently selected the studies in two phases: preselection (criteria for complex posttraumatic stress disorder, replicable psychological treatment, and treatment effect) and selection (additional criteria: type of study, participants, and treatment). Results. Of the 615 studies reviewed, 25 were preselected, eight of which met the inclusion and methodological quality criteria. Five studies explored adult populations (with one exception, all were randomized clinical trials) and three child populations (clinical studies with pre-post-treatment design, with and without control group). Most studies with adult populations included psychoeducation, cognitive re-structuration, and exposure therapy. The studies with child samples included EMDR and mindfulness as the most frequent treatment components. Discussion and conclusion. The evidence was insufficient to determine the most effective treatment. More research on this issue is required

Learning strategies for the acquisition of specific skills, and its evaluation through an integrated rubric in several degrees of University of Malaga (Spain).

It is essential for the university lecturers/professors to design new strategies that help students to acquire skills in the new framework of the European Higher Education Area. Furthermore, the assessment of the effectiveness and impact of the used strategies in the academic performance of the students is a key point [1]. In this work, an integrated rubric has been used to assess the effect of new learning strategies for the acquisition of different skills, such as critical and self-critical reasoning, acquiring knowledge and applying it to practical cases, oral presentations, and teamwork. This study was carried out in eight different subjects of the University of Malaga (Spain), including experimental degrees (Engineering, Biology, Biochemistry, Physiotherapy and Psychology), and an abstract degree such as Mathematics. Given the characteristics of this study, it has involved a large number of students from different subjects and degrees. The critical/self-critical thinking turned out to be better developed by the students with higher scores. Concerning the acquisition of knowledge and ability to apply it to practical cases, independently of the degree, students with good (but not very good) scores are those who consider that they have worked harder on the exercises to achieve their respective scores. Moreover, the oral presentations have been very positively accepted by the students for several reasons, such as the scarce experience of the first year students, and the opportunity to do teamwork. Finally, students have evaluated the performance of these strategies through a common rubric. It seems that the surveys and questionnaires have impacted positively on the final score, and that the students have also rated them positively and considered as very useful learning tools.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech