Relationship between spatial ability, visuospatial working memory and self-assessed spatial orientation ability: a study in older adults

This paper describes some novel spatial tasks and questionnaires designed to assess spatial and orientation abilities. The new tasks and questionnaires were administered to a sample of 90 older adults (41 males, age range 57–90), along with some other tests of spatial ability (Minnesota Paper Form Board, Mental Rotations Test, and Embedded Figures Test) and tests of visuospatial working memory (Corsi’s Block Test and Visual Pattern Test). The internal reliability of the new tasks and questionnaires was analyzed, as well as their relationship with the spatial and working memory tests. The results showed that the new spatial tasks are reliable, correlate with working memory and spatial ability tests and, compared with the latters, show stronger correlations with the self-report questionnaires referring to orientation abilities. A model was also tested (with reference to Allen et al. in Intelligence 22:327–355, 1996) in which the new tasks were assumed to relate to spatial ability and predict orientation abilities as assessed by the self-report measures

Training Teachers to Become Effective Life Design \u2018Agents of Change\u2019: Suggestions and Directions for Future Actions

Several efforts have been devoted in the last decades to identify the essential skills, knowledge, attitudes and values that characterize inclusive teachers and to develop training programmes and curricula that take all this into account. According to the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, teachers are also called to renew their visions and skills in order to provide career education to all their students, thus promoting positive development and reducing the risks of complex transitions. After reviewing the most relevant literature, this chapter deals basically with the question of the relevance and the feasibility of training teachers to become effective life designing agents of change and prevention. Conceptual bases currently relevant are described together with possible steps and actions suggested by past and recent Italian experiences for positively addressing these issues

Life Design and People with Experience of Substance Abuse

Adults with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) experience many barriers and challenges in their work and social inclusion. Moreover, use and abuse of drug is related to vocational and occupational problems and to difficulties in planning one\u2019s own future life in personal and professional domains. Based on the Life Design paradigm that emphasizes human diversity, uniqueness, and purposiveness in work and career, in this chapter attention was paid to possible paths in career counselling in order to help people with vulnerability to re and co-construct a new narration of self to improve a social and work inclusion. Taking into account the need and the importance to promote the conditions for work inclusion for people with vulnerability, attention was also paid to resources like career adaptability, courage, and hope and their role in supporting the personal and professional future planning of individuals with experience of substance abuse