PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that occurs within the first 3 years of life, which is characterised by poor social skills, communication problems and stereotyped patterns of behaviour. Autism is a life-long disorder that has a substantial effect on the individual, their family, and society. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview about the psychosocial aspects of autism spectrum disorders. Methods: An analysis of relevant literature, sources from the internet and published literature, personal experience and observations of the author. Findings: Despite widespread research and greater public awareness, ASD has an unclear etiology and no known cure, making it difficult to acquire an accurate and timely diagnosis. Psychologic functions such as attention, executive function, academic functioning, memory, emotions, and sensory processing are described. There is a need for continuous psycho-social support for people with ASD and their relatives during the diagnostics and early intervention period, as well as resources that better represent the diversity of experiences and symptoms associated with ASD across the lifespan. Conclusion: It is clear that more special education services are needed, together with timely and ongoing psychosocial support to parents of children with ASD

Using appreciative inquiry to enhance family centred care in the neonatal intensive care unit

A preterm or complicated birth and the subsequent hospitalisation of the neonate can be a traumatic and stressful experience for both parents and neonates. Parents often encounter challenges to the development of their parenting roles while in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), potentially resulting in immediate and long-term impacts on the neonate and overall family functioning. To support and meet the needs of parents experiencing a NICU admission, family centred care (FCC) has been developed and acknowledged as the ‘best way’ of caring for hospitalised children. The philosophy of FCC focuses on the health and wellbeing of the newborn and their family, through the development of respectful partnerships between health care professionals and parents. A general consensus exists in the literature regarding the value and importance of FCC. However, published research identifies major barriers in the implementation of this philosophy into clinical practice. An appreciative inquiry (AI) approach was used in this study to bring neonatal nurses and parents together to examine their perceptions and experiences of FCC and to collaboratively develop innovative strategies to improve care for the neonate and family. AI is a theoretical research perspective, an emerging research methodology and a world-view that builds on action research, organisational learning and organisational change. AI offers a unique, positive participatory strength-based approach to promoting organisational learning, facilitating change and building effective partnerships. AI consists of four phases known as the 4D cycle (discovery, dream, design and destiny). The discovery phase of the study set out to explore neonatal nurses’ and parents’ perceptions of FCC. This phase consisted of four focus groups and five face-to-face interviews with 33 neonatal nurses and one focus group with six parents (total n=39). Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and four dominant themes emerged ‘Getting to know parents and their wishes’, ‘Involving family in the day to day care’, ‘Finding a happy medium’ and ‘transitioning across the continuum’. The dream and design phases consisted of one full day workshop that brought neonatal nurses and parents together to collectively explore FCC in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The workshop consisted of nine neonatal nurses and six graduate NICU parents (total n=15). During this phase parents and nurses developed collaborative insights about optimal FCC that could be built upon to support neonates and families. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. One overarching theme emerged ‘sharing experiences and stories’ that comprised four sub themes: ‘discovering what works well’; ‘dreaming of the ideal’; ‘fixing things’; and, ‘destiny, projections for the future’. As a result of the workshop a FCC working party was formed where parents and nurses agreed to meet on a monthly basis to develop and implement strategies to enhance FCC in the NICU. Researcher reflective field notes were thematically analysed and the following themes emerged ‘great expectations’; ‘negotiations around role boundaries’; ‘progressing the agenda’; and ‘ongoing challenges for nurse led initiatives’. The destiny phase of the study reports on the progress and experiences of the FCC working party two years from when the working party was formed. Two focus groups and four individual face-to-face interviews were held (n=12 participants). Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Four dominant themes emerged ‘creating a physical and mental space’; ‘building and maintaining momentum’; ‘ongoing organisational support’; and, ‘continuing collaborations’. This is the first known study that has used an AI approach to bring neonatal nurses and parents together to collaboratively develop strategies to strengthen FCC in the NICU. This original research aimed to improve neonatal outcomes and contribute to a body of knowledge surrounding FCC in the NICU. The findings of this study revealed that while neonatal nurses report a commitment to FCC, there continues to be incomplete or inconsistent applications of FCC principles in neonatal care. While nurses report the need to deliver FCC, the study revealed that successful implementation of FCC in the NICU is difficult and requires time, education, resources and ongoing organisational commitment and support. This study highlighted the importance of developing social networks and the need for interdisciplinary collaborations that includes both health professionals and families. AI provided a useful framework for this study and created opportunities for the exchange of information, networking and developing partnerships and collaborations

Parent education in autism spectrum disorder – a review of the literature

Families living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face many challenges, affecting not only the child with ASD and development but also family functioning and quality of life. Parent education (PE) in ASD has been identified as a priority intervention for this group both internationally and nationally. However, though there is a large body of literature regarding parent training (PT) in specific therapeutic approaches, a narrative literature review of databases found only 12 papers reporting on research into PE. Overall, PE is shown to be a positive intervention which can lead to reductions in stress and anxiety, improved coping, improved parent-child interaction and communication, improved understanding of ASD, efficacy and confidence and improved parental quality of life. Four key themes – impact, delivery, content and local/cultural issues – are discussed, weaknesses and problems within the literature are acknowledged, and the need is identified for further research into such interventions

ATTITUDES AND OPINIONS OF EMPLOYERS, EMPLOYEES AND PARENTS ABOUT THE EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH AUTISM IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

The right to work is one of the fundamental human rights in all developed countries around the world. The employment, actually the right to work of persons with disability is the final phase of the long and complex process of their rehabilitation that affects the possibility of their integration in the community.The main objective of this research is to investigate the possibility of employment of people with autism, based on the attitudes and opinions of employers, employees and parents of the children with autism.The basic tasks of this research are: to determine whether the employers would employ a person with autism; weather employers and the employees know what autism is; weather according to employers and employees people with autism are able to perform their job duties in complete and weather the parents of children with autism would like their child to be employed.We conducted this research in a period of 3 months and included 130 respondents. Obtained data were collected, grouped, tabled and processed with standard statistical program Microsoft Office Excel 2003, applying χ2 tests and Fisher's Exact test. Statistical important difference was at the level of p<0.05.From the analysis and the interpretation of the results, we concluded that in the Republic of Macedonia do not exist positive atmosphere, for employment of the persons with autism, the employers do not want to employ a person with autism. The professionals must engage more deeply in this problematic in order to achieve a complete integration of the people with autism in the society

Analysis of the Mobile Market in 2014 in Macedonia, Recommendations for Better Development and Improved Quality of Mobile Services

In order to regulate the electronic communications market in a systematic way, the Agency for Electronic Communications, as a regulatory body in the field of electronic communications, has strongly set issues and targets to be achieved. The Agency has guidelines how to achieve the issues of a competitive market where conditions for using the electronic communications services with best quality and best prices are going to be created for the end users

УЛОГАТА НА МЕНАЏЕРОТ ВО НАМАЛУВАЊЕТО НА ТРОШОЦИТЕ ВО РАБОТЕЊЕТО ПРЕКУ ПРАВИЛНО МОТИВИРАЊЕ НА ВРАБОТЕНИТЕ

Основниот ресурс на секоја деловна организација го сочиниваат луѓето и нивните способности и вештини кои, доколку правилно се организирани, придонесуваат кон остварување на зацртаните цели на компанијата. Човечките ресурси креираат производи и услуги, го контролираат квалитетот, пласираат производи, управуваат со финансиските средства и ги утврдуваат стратегијата и целите на организацијата. Целта на секоја компанија е остварување на профит, преку економично производство со пониски трошоци. Трошоците се многу значајна економска категорија која што е дирекно поврзана со профитот на едно претпријатие. Човечките ресурси со нивното знаење, способности и мотивираност се основниот фактор за постигнувањето на подобри резутати на работењето. Затоа фокусот кон мотивираноста на вработените една од најчесто присутните задачи на менаџментот. Добро мотивираните вработени ќе придонесат како за поголемо производство, така и за подобар квалитет и поефикасно работење со посветеност кон намалување на трошоците. Предмет на научното истражување на овој труд е согледување на влијанието на мотивација за постигнување на ефикасно, продуктивно и ефективно работењ

Socket preservation with high-density polytetrafluoroethylene barrier membrane during open healing

Bone volume loss appears after tooth extraction and socket preservation is the most applied procedure to prevent an alveolar resorption. The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyse three socket preservation cases with high-density polytetrafluoroethylene barrier membrane (permamem®) for open healing with and without the use of additional dental regeneration biomaterials. Here no bacterial plaque was present and the soft tissue completely re-epithelialized, which allowed new bone formation and implant treatment. The current findings indicate that the use of this membrane, leads to successful socket treatment during open healing

Socket preservation, sinus lift and lateral augmentation by using natural bovine bone substitute with hyaluronate

It is very important to have sufficient bone volume that allows proper implants osseointegration. The aim of this case report was to observe a socket preservation and sinus lift with lateral augmentation by using xenograft granules with hyaluronate and pericardium collagen membrane. The sufficient granules osteointegration into newly formed bone after six months enabled proper implants placement due obvious bone volume increase. The implants were completely integrated into the regenerated bone after four months and then were loaded. The use of xenograft granules with hyaluronate led to successful treatment in combination with pericardium collagen membrane in socket preservation and sinus lift with lateral augmentation

Primjena suvremene tehnologije za procjenu razine ravnoteže kod djece rane školske dobi

In the world of fast progress of information and communication technology, teachers have a responsibility to use technologies. Technological advances do not shy away from being applied in Physical Education classes because quality diagnostics of motor skills is the foundation of planning and programming transformation processes. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is a difference between boys and girls in expressing static balance on an individual (unilateral) leg of the dominant leg (reflex leg) on the application of modern technology as an example of good practice. 80 children in lower forms of primary school (38 boys and 42 girls, 7-10 years of age) participated in this research. Measurements of the static unilateral balance were carried out using the Gyko Inertial System (Microgate, Bolzano, Italy). The unilateral test of static balance was performed, with three attempts in 20 seconds. The following variable was total body trajectory in the unilateral balance test and morphological variables: body weight and body height. For all variables, the baseline descriptive parameters were calculated and the non-parametric method of the Mann-Whitney U-test was used to determine the statistical significance between boys and girls. Data analysis showed a statistically significant difference between boys and girls in the unilateral balance test. Girls showed a lower overall variability, i.e., smaller body trajectories than boys. The research results point to significant gender differences in the performance of the unilateral balance tests in children aged 7-10 years in favor of better results in girls. Further research should include an analysis of a larger sample of older children, closer to puberty.U svijetu brzog napretka informacijske i komunikacijske tehnologije učitelji imaju odgovornost baviti se tehnologijama. Tehnološki napredak se nužno mora primijeniti u nastavi Tjelesne i zdravstvene culture, jer kvalitetna dijagnostika motoričkih sposobnosti predstavlja temelj za planiranje i programiranje transformacijskih procesa. Svrha rada je utvrditi postojanje razlika između dječaka i djevojčica u iskazivanju statičke ravnoteže na pojedinačnoj (unilateralnoj) nozi dominantne (odrazne) noge primjenom suvremene tehnologije kao primjer dobre prakse. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 80 djece rane školske dobi (38 dječaka i 42 djevojčice; 7-10 godina). Mjerenje statičke unilateralne ravnoteže provedeno je pomoću Gyko inercijskog sustava (Microgate, Bolzano, Italy). Unilateralni test ravnoteže proveden je u tri pokušaja po 20 sekundi. Promatrana je ukupna putanja tijela, kao i morfološke varijable: težina tijela i visina tijela. Za sve varijable izračunati su osnovni deskriptivni parametri, a za utvrđivanje statističke značajnosti između dječaka i djevojčica koristila se neparametrijska metoda Mann-Whitneyev U test. Obradom podataka utvrđeno je da postoji statistički značajna razlika između dječaka i djevojčica u testu unilateralne ravnoteže (p<0,05). Djevojčice imaju manji ukupni varijabilitet tj. manju putanju tijela u odnosu na dječake (AS_ž= 494,76, AS_m= 704,34). Rezultati ove studije pokazali su da postoje značajne spolne razlike tijekom izvođenja unilateralnog testa ravnoteže kod djece od 7-10 godina u korist boljih rezultata kod djevojčica. U daljnjim istraživanjima razlike bi trebalo analizirati na većem uzorku i kod djece starije životne dobi, bliže pubertetu

Development and Improvement of the Quality of the Mobile Services at the Mobile Market in Macedonia

To determine the strategic direction for the development of electronic communications market in the part of mobile telecommunication services in Republic of Macedonia, the Agency for electronic communication has made an assessment of the regulatory progress and that has been made in recent years. The needs are in order to obtain a clear strategy for the development of the mobile telecommunication market in Macedonia, and primarily will create a clear picture in the: technical, financial, operational and competitive segments. Republic of Macedonia at this moment has 2 mobile operators with own network and the third mobile virtual operator. They are with excellent prospects in this direction and potential that enables low-cost services to the users. This shows that in Macedonia the telecommunication services are with high quality and the lower prices. They are currently among the lowest in the region and in Europe. The analysis in this paper are made according to the actual results achieved of the situation on the mobile market and some basic recommendations for their better development, better quality and better prices