Daily functioning, problem solving and satisfaction for quality of life in visually impaired old persons

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of several dimensions of functioning on satisfaction for quality of life (QoL) experienced by visually impaired older adults. Participants: A sample of 58 older adults (37 women and 21 men) was involved in the study. Their age ranged from 50 to 88 years (M=68.95, SD=1.51). They were characterized by visual impairment of different origin and visual acuity (VA) ranging from 4/10 to total blindness. The QoL questionnaire was used along with short form-12 health Survey, the National Eye Institute visual function questionnaire-25 and problem solving inventory (PSI) which analyzes problem solving appraisal. Results: A stepwise regression analysis was conducted in order to find predictors of satisfaction for QoL. A contribution of mental and physical health, more specifically, of problem solving appraisal was found. Conclusion: Results support the notion that the functional relationship between visual impairment and satisfaction for QoL must be understood in terms of approaches that incorporate psychological and socio-cognitive elements. Problem solving appraisal, in fact, makes a substantial contribution to the prediction of variance in life satisfaction and it may play an important role for intervention strategies

« Premier principe : je crois en moi... parce que c’est aussi dans mon intérêt » : une formation pour renforcer les sentiments d’efficacité

La théorie sociale cognitive qui analyse les processus de choix en relation avec les intentions d’avenir met l’accent sur le caractère dynamique du comportement humain et sur le rôle actif que les individus ont sur la détermination de leurs actions. Les croyances d’efficacité jouent à cet égard un rôle important et influencent les processus à l’œuvre dans le choix d’une profession. Permettre aux personnes de mieux contrôler leur propre comportement et les aider à jouer un rôle actif peut aussi les aider à ressentir un plus grand bien-être. Nous présentons dans cet article une intervention que nous avons conçue – « premier principe : je crois en moi... parce que c’est aussi dans mon intérêt » – avec l’objectif d’accroître chez les jeunes adolescents leurs croyances d’efficacité en leurs capacités à gérer les difficultés et les exigences des situations qu’ils doivent affronter lors du changement d’établissement scolaire et lors de la transition de l’école au monde du travail.The social cognitive model that analyzes processes of choice about the future emphasizes the dynamics of the human being and the active role individuals have in self-determining their own actions. Self-efficacy beliefs have a particularly important role in that and affect the processes that are involved in career choice. Enabling individuals to have better control over their own behaviors and to take a proactive role can also favor greater perceived well-being. An intervention has been devised, “First commandment: I believe in myself... also because it is in my interest”, aiming to increase young adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs in their ability to manage the difficult and demanding situations they may come across in school-school and school-work transitions. Verification of intervention efficacy has shown that this program seems to positively affect participants’ self-efficacy beliefs and levels of satisfaction experienced

Life Design for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future

Societies today are highly complex and often impacted by uncertainty, rapid change, globalization, and inequality, all of which have significant impact on the wellbeing of people. These changes make it more difficult not only for a great part of the population to live in the present, but also for succeeding generations to aspire to and imagine a possible future. Considering this, career guidance needs a change of pace that can only be associated with investments in inclusion and sustainability. In this chapter we provide a brief historical excursion through the social role that career guidance has played through the years, and then outline possible actions that career guidance professionals could take so as to embrace, sustain, and foster the creation of a better future for everyone and to contribute to the creation of inclusive and sustainable societies.

A cross-cultural comparison of the self-determination construct in Italian and American adolescents

The functional theory of self-determination (fSDT) defines and operationalises self-determination within a human agentic context. It emerged from research on adolescents with disabilities, however has been increasingly applied to youth without disabilities. While comparability has been evaluated in youth with and without disabilities, it has not been explored across cultures. The purpose of this study was to explore the cross-cultural comparability of the fSDT in a sample of Italian and American adolescents. We were specifically interested in examining the universal aspects of the self-determination construct, as well as specific differences in the operationalisation of self-determination across cultures. The findings tentatively suggest that the construct of self-determination is comparable across Italian and American adolescents; however, there are specific differences in the measurement and operationalisation of self-determination across cultures. Directions for future research are discussed

Construire sa vie (Life designing) : un paradigme pour l’orientation au 21e siècle

Ce texte est la traduction française de l’article publié dans le Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(3) : Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J.-P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., Soresi, S., Van Esbroeck, R., & van Vianen, A. E. M., « Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century » (239-250), © 2009, avec la permission de Elsevier. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00018791 ***** La nouvelle organisation sociale du travail du début du 21e siècle pose une série de questions et lance de nombreux défis aux spécialistes de l’accompagnement en orientation professionnelle. Compte tenu de la mondialisation du conseil en orientation, c’est dans un cadre international que nous avons décidé d’aborder ces questions, puis de formuler des réponses potentiellement innovantes. Cette approche permet d’éviter les difficultés que soulève la création de modèles et de méthodes dans un pays donné en tentant ensuite de les exporter dans d’autres, où ils doivent être adaptés pour être utilisés. Cet article présente le premier résultat tangible de cette collaboration : un modèle et des méthodes d’accompagnement des personnes. Le modèle « Construire sa vie », destiné à des interventions d’accompagnement en orientation se fonde sur cinq présupposés concernant les personnes et leur vie professionnelle : des possibilités liées aux contextes, des processus dynamiques, une progression non linéaire, des perspectives multiples et des configurations individuelles. En partant de ces présupposés, nous avons bâti un modèle en contexte, se réclamant de l’épistémologie du constructionnisme social, reconnaissant en particulier que les connaissances et l’identité d’un individu sont le produit d’interactions sociales et que le sens est co-construit, via la médiation du discours. Le cadre général « construire sa vie » s’appuie sur les théories de la construction de soi (Guichard, 2005) et de la construction des parcours professionnels (Savickas, 2005), qui décrivent les conduites d’orientation et leurs développements. Ce cadre concerne toute la vie, il est holiste, tient compte des contextes et est préventif.At the beginning of the 21st century, a new social arrangement of work poses a series of questions and challenges to scholars who aim to help people develop their working lives. Given the globalization of career counseling, we decided to address these issues and then to formulate potentially innovative responses in an international forum. We used this approach to avoid the difficulties of creating models and methods in one country and then trying to export them to other countries where they would be adapted for use. This article presents the initial outcome of this collaboration, a counseling model and methods. The life-designing model for career intervention endorses five presuppositions about people and their work lives: contextual possibilities, dynamic processes, non-linear progression, multiple perspectives, and personal patterns. Thinking from these five presuppositions, we have crafted a contextualized model based on the epistemology of social constructionism, particularly recognizing that an individual’s knowledge and identity are the product of social interaction and that meaning is co-constructed through discourse. The life-design framework for counseling implements the theories of self-constructing (Guichard, 2005) and career construction (Savickas, 2005) that describe vocational behavior and its development. Thus, the framework is structured to be life-long, holistic, contextual, and preventive

Serum Albumin Is Inversely Associated With Portal Vein Thrombosis in Cirrhosis

We analyzed whether serum albumin is independently associated with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in liver cirrhosis (LC) and if a biologic plausibility exists. This study was divided into three parts. In part 1 (retrospective analysis), 753 consecutive patients with LC with ultrasound-detected PVT were retrospectively analyzed. In part 2, 112 patients with LC and 56 matched controls were entered in the cross-sectional study. In part 3, 5 patients with cirrhosis were entered in the in vivo study and 4 healthy subjects (HSs) were entered in the in vitro study to explore if albumin may affect platelet activation by modulating oxidative stress. In the 753 patients with LC, the prevalence of PVT was 16.7%; logistic analysis showed that only age (odds ratio [OR], 1.024; P = 0.012) and serum albumin (OR, -0.422; P = 0.0001) significantly predicted patients with PVT. Analyzing the 112 patients with LC and controls, soluble clusters of differentiation (CD)40-ligand (P = 0.0238), soluble Nox2-derived peptide (sNox2-dp; P < 0.0001), and urinary excretion of isoprostanes (P = 0.0078) were higher in patients with LC. In LC, albumin was correlated with sCD4OL (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient [r(s)], -0.33; P < 0.001), sNox2-dp (r(s), -0.57; P < 0.0001), and urinary excretion of isoprostanes (r(s), -0.48; P < 0.0001) levels. The in vivo study showed a progressive decrease in platelet aggregation, sNox2-dp, and urinary 8-iso prostaglandin F2 alpha-III formation 2 hours and 3 days after albumin infusion. Finally, platelet aggregation, sNox2-dp, and isoprostane formation significantly decreased in platelets from HSs incubated with scalar concentrations of albumin. Conclusion: Low serum albumin in LC is associated with PVT, suggesting that albumin could be a modulator of the hemostatic system through interference with mechanisms regulating platelet activation