Daily Life Experiences Research Articles

‘A Prison Is a Prison’: Perspectives From Incarcerated Men on the Therapeutic and Punitive Aspects of Halden Prison in Norway

Abstract Halden prison in Norway was architecturally designed to create a humane space conducive to mental wellbeing and motivation for personal growth. However, little is known about how those imprisoned perceive these design choices and its impact on their daily lived experience. The current study uses data from surveys and semi-structured interviews to examine the perceptions of incarcerated men at Halden regarding the prison’s design and its effect on overall impressions of the prison, therapeutic benefits and experiences of punishment. Findings indicate that although incarcerated individuals acknowledge the positive design elements of the prison, they do not perceive a therapeutic or motivational benefit. Furthermore, certain ‘pains’ of imprisonment persist within this environment, and the juxtaposition of therapeutic design elements and security practices may have unintended punitive effects. Results from this study serve as an important counterbalance to overwhelmingly favorable impressions of Halden’s design as mitigating the pains of imprisonment while promoting rehabilitation.

Having the will, finding the ways, and wishes for the future: A model of relational hope and well‐being

AbstractHope is a ubiquitous experience in daily life and acts as a force to help individuals attain desired future outcomes. In the current paper, we review existing research on hope and its benefits. Building on this work, we propose a new model of hope in romantic relationships. Our model seeks to expand the study of hope, addressing limitations of past research by bringing hope into the interpersonal domain and adding a future‐oriented perspective. More specifically, we argue that relational hope encompasses three facets, including relational agency, relational pathways, and relational aspirations, or what we call the wills, ways, and wishes people have in their relationship. We outline specific ways that these three facets may promote well‐being in romantic relationships. First, we propose that relational agency—the motivation to achieve relational goals—fuels approach‐motivated goals, which in turn promotes higher quality relationships. Additionally, we posit that relational pathways—the perception of sufficient strategies to pursue relational goals—enhance self‐regulation to support effective communication and conflict management with a romantic partner. Finally, we propose that relational aspirations—the positive emotions felt in anticipation of future relationship outcomes—foster growth beliefs which in turn promote relationship maintenance and commitment over time. While our model posits that relational hope has many potential benefits for relationships, we also discuss key contexts in which hope may undermine relationships and well‐being. Overall, our proposed model of relational hope offers a new area of insight into how hope may shape well‐being in romantic relationships.

요트 VR 체험에서 데이터 기반의 인공풍이 정적 정서에 미치는 영향1

The sense of touch by natural wind is one of the most common feels that every person experiences in daily life. However, it has been rarely studied how natural wind can be reproduced in a VR environment and whether the multisensory contents equipped with artificial winds do improve human emotion or not. To address these issues, we first propose a wind reproduction VR system guided by video and wind capture data and also study the effect of the system on positive affect. We collected wind direction and speed data together with a 360-degree video on a yacht. These pieces of data were used to produce a multisensory VR environment by our wind reproduction VR system. 19 college students participated in the experiments, where the Korean version of Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (K-PANAS) was introduced to measure their emotions. Through the K-PANAS, we found that ‘inspired’ and ‘active’ emotions increase significantly after experiencing the yacht VR contents with artificial wind. Our experimental results also show that another emotion, ‘interested’, is most notably affected depending on the presence of the wind. The presented system can be effectively used in various VR applications such as interactive media and experiential contents.

Applying to a nursing home is a way to maintain control of life-Experiences from Swedish nursing home applicants.

Swedish social policy enables ageing in place with support from home-based care services despite high age and/or declining health. This study aims to describe the daily life experiences behind the decision to apply for a nursing home placement in older adults ageing in place. A qualitative design was chosen, and 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using inductive qualitative content analysis. The participants described a feeling of dependence in which they had to ignore their personal privacy when receiving home-based care. They reached a turning point when ageing in place was, for several reasons, no longer considered an acceptable option. This influenced their choice to apply to a nursing home where they expected that they could maintain control over their lives. The results indicate that when enhancing ageing in place it is important to enable older adults to receive support to maintain autonomy in daily activities and to have the opportunity to age in the right place.

Reformulasi Sastra Piwulang sebagai Alternatif Baru Model Pendidikan Karakter di Indonesia

Character education is the main basis for complete human development. For the Indonesian people, character education is a manifestation of the nation's conscience that must be understood through the existence of daily life experiences. In the repertoire of Javanese literature there is a genre of piwulang literature that was born because of the practical need for character education in the Javanese court environment in the 19th century. The values ​​of character education that were built at that time continue to be embedded in the life of the Javanese people to this day. This fact would be a strong reason for the effort to reformulate piwulang literature as a new alternative model of character education in Indonesia. The approach used in this research is a text phenomenological approach with van Dijk's theory of critical discourse analysis about discourse and its social cognition relations. From the results of a study of piwulang literary texts, it is concluded that the syntactic structure of didactic texts leads to strengthening the sense of taste which in Javanese terms is referred to as "rasa sejati". The essence of taste values ​​include: bekti (respect), tresna (love), and andhap asor (polite). The teaching formulation is in the knowledge of things related to ala-becik, adat-waton, and manners. These three are the essence of character education that is very relevant to be applied today.
 Keywords: Character education; Serat Wulangreh; critical discourse

Psychological Pathways to Paranoia and Psychotic-Like Experiences in Daily-Life: The Mediating Role of Distinct Affective Disturbances.

Background and HypothesisInfluential models of psychosis indicate that the impact of putative causal factors on positive symptoms might be explained partly through affective disturbances. We aimed to investigate whether pathways from stress and self-esteem to positive symptoms, as well as reversal pathways from symptoms to stress and self-esteem, were mediated through specific affective disturbances across the extended psychosis phenotype.Study DesignUsing experience sampling methodology, 178 participants (65 high-schizotypy, 74 at-risk mental state, and 39 first-episode psychosis) were assessed on levels of momentary stress, self-esteem, anxiety, sadness, psychotic-like experiences (PLE), and paranoia. Multilevel mediation models were fit to examine indirect effects of each of these pathways. Considering evidence of mediation, each indirect pathway will be combined in a single model to explore their relative contributions.Study ResultsAnxiety, sadness, and self-esteem mediated the pathways from stress to PLE and paranoia in daily-life. In the pathway to paranoia, sadness, and self-esteem showed larger contributions than anxiety. Pathways from self-esteem to PLE and paranoia were mediated by anxiety and sadness, the later showing a larger contribution. Pathways from symptoms to stress, but not from symptoms to self-esteem, were differently explained by emotional states; sadness lost its mediating effect and anxiety was the most important mediator. Few differences across groups were found.ConclusionsThis study lends support to psychological models of psychosis that highlight the relevance of affective disturbances in the risk and expression of psychosis. Furthermore, specific influences of different negative emotional states were identified, which could enhance psychological treatments.

Mastering Health Following Minor Stroke—A Qualitative Explorative Study

BackgroundPatients with minor stroke or transient ischemic attack are encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle to prevent recurrent stroke. After discharge health behaviour is performed in an individual everyday context and must be properly understood within this context, including which aspects act as facilitators or barriers for healthy behaviour. ObjectivesTo explore the experience of daily life in patients discharged home after minor stroke or transient ischemic attack, focusing on perceived health and reflection on health behaviour, and how this is associated with their overall experience of returning to their everyday context in relation to potential sequelae of stroke. MethodsSemi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted 3 - 13 months after discharge with sixteen patients discharged home after minor stroke or transient ischemic attack. Inductive thematic analysis was performed to analyse the interviews. ResultsParticipants associated their health and behaviour within a lens of worrying for future life prospect and triggered by perceived intrusive changes in their life condition. Even though some found it possible to resume participation in everyday life within weeks, they became increasingly aware that minor cognitive deficits, difficulties with planning, multi-tasking, memory, and fatigue influenced their health believes and behavioural patterns. The need for social and professional support had to be balanced against a wish for independence. ConclusionPatients with minor stroke or transient ischemic attacks experience changes as both being concrete in the form of persisting symptoms and abstract in the form of worries and uncertainty about the future. Perceived health was associated with a new sense of vulnerability due to realisations about the risk of recurrent stroke. Worries were anchored within the individual to handle, but for some they serve as a motivator to regulate their behaviour in order to master health.

Understanding daily life experiences of women who smoke: The role of smoking-related weight control expectancies

Smoking-related weight control expectancies are a motivational factor for maintaining cigarette use, particularly among women. Yet, less research has investigated the physiological and behavioral daily life weight-related experiences of women with smoking-related weight control expectancies. Increased research could contribute to understanding of maintenance factors for this group of smokers as well as unique intervention targets. Female smokers completed a baseline survey of smoking-related weight control expectancies and 35-days of ecological momentary assessment of physiological (i.e., smoking-related reduction in hunger, end-of-day perceived weight gain and bloating) and behavioral (i.e., daily exercise and sitting) weight-related experiences. Higher smoking-related weight control expectancies were associated with perceived smoking-related reductions in hunger and end-of-day perceived weight gain. Smoking-related weight control expectancies did not significantly associate with end-of-day bloating, daily exercise, or sitting. Given these findings, smoking-related weight control expectancies may maintain smoking in order to reduce hunger and to cope with perceived fluctuations in weight in daily life. It is critical for smoking cessation programs to assess smoking-related weight control expectancies and implement targeted treatments for these women.

Patterns of Quality of Life and Perceived Satisfaction in Adults and Elderly in Spain: Daily Practices, Life Experiences and Psychological Profiles

A study was carried out with the purpose of determining the day-to-day practices, positive and stressful life experiences, and psychological profiles that underpin different perceptions of quality of life and perceived satisfaction. A total of 1095 adults and elderly people from Spain participated in the study. An online instrument designed using the tool Google Forms was administered to them. Descriptive and multivariate analysis was performed using the general linear model (GLM). Three types of finding were obtained. First, we identified everyday practices that promote perceived quality of life and perceived satisfaction. Second, we established the relationship between certain positive and stressful life experiences, their consequences, and different perceptions of quality of life and perceived satisfaction. Finally, we identified the distinguishing psychological profiles associated with these constructs. The results obtained here can contribute to the development of more successful psychological and social interventions. They reveal a set of indicators that, based on empirical evidence, should be part of any intervention design.

"It changed the atmosphere surrounding the baby I did have": Making sense of reproduction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ObjectiveThis study examines the schemas that women employed during the COVID‐19 pandemic to make sense of their reproductive desires.BackgroundExisting research on reproduction during epidemics suggests that there are variable population responses to periods of long‐term social uncertainty. However, less is known about how individuals make sense of maintaining or adapting their reproductive desires during periods of social upheaval.MethodTwenty‐nine women aged 25–35 from a mid‐sized Midwestern county in the United States were recruited and interviewed about their experiences during the first 8 months of the COVID‐19 pandemic. They were asked about their daily lived experiences and their reproductive desires during in‐depth interviews. These interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic coding.ResultsParticipants used three normative schemas to describe their reproductive desires during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Heteronormative schemas were used by many participants to articulate their commitment to a heteronormative aged‐staged timeline of life events. Schemas of social support around being pregnant and giving birth were used by participants, primarily those who were currently or recently pregnant, to express grief and loss over the relational experience of having a new baby. Medicalized schemas were expressed by most participants to describe feelings of fear and risk at real or imagined encounters with medical institutions.ConclusionThe schemas that participants used to make sense of their reproductive desires demonstrate how sense‐making during a profound event that affects everyday realities allows participants to (re)articulate commitments to existing narratives that reinforce heterosexual, social, and medicalized hierarchies in reproduction.

“From hell to healed” – A qualitative study on women’s experience of recovery, relationships and sexuality after severe obstetric perineal injury

ObjectiveFew studies have investigated women’s experiences of daily life after childbirth complicated by obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI). The aim of the present study was to explore experiences related to recovery, sexual function, relationships and coping strategies among women affected by OASI. MethodsIn-depth interviews were conducted using a purposive sample of 11 women affected by OASI. Women were interviewed 1–2 years after their first childbirth. Inductive qualitative content analysis was applied. ResultsThe theme “From hell to healed” illustrates women’s experiences of recovery, relationships and sexual function after OASI. Three categories addressing women’s perceptions emerged: “Challenged to the core”, “At the mercy of the care provider” and “For better or for worse”. Support from partners and family and comprehensive care were important elements for the experiences of coping and healing from OASI. Elements that negatively influenced women’s experiences were the pain and physical symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, normalization of symptoms by heath care providers, and unrealistic expectations about how this period in life should be experienced. ConclusionOASI greatly affects women’s experiences of their first years with their newborn child, relationships, social context and sexuality. For some women, OASI negatively affects everyday life for a long period after childbirth. However, others heal and cope quite quickly. Health care professionals need to identify and pay attention to women with persisting problems after OASI so that they can be directed to the right level of care.

Investigating the impact of distinct contemplative mental trainings on daily life stress, thoughts and affect—Evidence from a nine-month longitudinal ecological momentary assessment study

Mindfulness-based mental training interventions have become a popular means to alleviate stress and stress-associated health risks. Previous scientific investigations emphasize the importance of exploring the effects of such interventions in naturalistic settings to evaluate their implementation into daily life. Therefore, the current study examined the effects of three distinct mental training modules on a range of measures of daily life experience in the scope of the ReSource Project, a 9-month longitudinal mental training study comparing modules targeting attention and interoception (Presence), socio-affective (Affect) or socio-cognitive abilities (Perspective). We used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to repeatedly probe levels of stress and stress-coping efficacy combined with stress-reactive cortisol levels, and further explored arousal, affective states, and thought patterns in the daily lives of 289 healthy adults (172 women; 20–55 years). We found increased presence-focused thought and heightened arousal after a training duration of 3–6 months, independent of the type of prior training. Increased coping efficacy emerged specifically after socio-cognitive Perspective training, following 6–9 months of training duration. No training effects were found for subjective stress, stress-reactive cortisol levels, or daily life affect. Our findings corroborate and add ecological validity to previous ReSource findings by showing that they replicate in participants’ everyday environment. Regarding endocrine and subjective stress markers, our results suggest caution in generalizing acute laboratory findings to individuals’ everyday routines. Overall, the current study provides substantiated insights into how cultivating one’s mind through contemplative mental training translates to daily life experience, enhances stress-coping, and may ultimately aide in maintaining health.

Using Experience Sampling Methodology Data to Characterize the Substance Use of Youth With or At-Risk of Psychosis.

ObjectivesPsychotic-spectrum disorders emerge during adolescence and early adulthood, which corresponds with the peak period for substance use initiation. Clinical and epidemiological data provide support that substance use is associated with psychotic symptom onset and severity. Experience-sampling methodology (ESM) data may provide additional insight into dynamic associations between substance use and psychotic symptoms. This is one of the first efforts to characterize substance use frequency and dynamic associations with psychotic symptoms and negative affect from ESM data in both clinical high risk (CHR) and early psychosis (EP) individuals.MethodsUsing ESM, 33 individuals, including 17 with CHR and 16 EP (age range: 15–24), provided information on substance use, negative affect, and psychotic symptoms 6 times a day across a 21-day data collection window. Psychotic symptoms and negative affect included multi-item variables rated on a seven-point Likert Scale. Participants reported recent substance use for 4 drug classes (nicotine, cannabis, depressants, stimulants) via a yes/no item. Descriptive information included data on substance use frequency, and momentary negative affect and psychotic symptoms. Exploratory analyses included multi-level and person-level dynamic structural equation models, which assessed contemporaneous and lagged associations between substance use and symptoms.ResultsTwenty-seven individuals (82%) reported recurrent substance use including stimulants (n = 12, 46%), nicotine (n = 9, 27%), cannabis (n = 6, 18%), and depressants (n = 4, 12%). Individuals with any recurrent substance use indicated usage at 47.7% of answered prompts; stimulants at 23.6%; nicotine at 74.2%; cannabis at 39.1%; and depressants at 20.1%. A multi-level dynamic structural equation model reflected that substance use (any class) was associated with lagged negative affect (β = −0.02, CI: −0.06, < -0.00) but no significant contemporaneous or lagged associations between substance use and psychotic symptoms. Person-level models suggest potentially meaningful inter-individual variability.ConclusionsCHR and EP individuals use a range of substances that may both reflect and influence other experiences in daily life experiences. Data reflected moderate to high rates of recurrent substance use with more consistent use within nicotine and cannabis classes. ESM data have the potential to increase our understanding of the dynamic relationships between substance use and symptoms and to inform treatment for individuals in early course psychosis.

Interdependence and cooperation in daily life. Correction to Columbus et al. (2020).

Reports an error in "Interdependence and cooperation in daily life" by Simon Columbus, Catherine Molho, Francesca Righetti and Daniel Balliet (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2021[Mar], Vol 120[3], 626-650). In the article (https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000253), due to a mistake in generating Figure 4, two histograms were distorted as the tallest bar in each histogram was completely omitted. The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2020-44813-001.) Philosophers and scientists have long debated the nature of human social interactions and the prevalence of mutual dependence, conflict of interests, and power asymmetry in social situations. Yet, there is surprisingly little empirical work documenting the patterns of interdependence that people experience in daily life. We use experience sampling to study how people think about 3 dimensions of interdependence in daily life and how these dimensions relate to cooperation. In Study 1, 139 romantic couples (n = 278) reported on situations experienced with their partner (k = 6,766); in Study 2, individuals (n = 284) reported on situations experienced with any other person (k = 7,248), over the course of 1 week. Across both samples, we found that most social interactions were perceived as containing moderate mutual dependence, equal power, and corresponding interests. When couples reported on the same situation (Study 1), they largely agreed on their experienced interdependence and cooperation, suggesting that their reports reflect an underlying shared reality. In daily interactions across both samples, higher mutual dependence and lower conflict of interests were associated with more cooperation, whereas relative power was not directly related to cooperation. These associations replicated in laboratory experiments (Study 2). In daily life, high mutual dependence and high relative power exacerbated the negative relation between conflict of interests and cooperation. Finally, prevalent patterns of interdependence and the experience of specific interdependent situations affected multiple relationship outcomes. Our findings stress the importance of studying a diverse array of interdependent situations-and especially situations with corresponding interests-to better understand cooperation in daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Multisensory synchrony of contextual boundaries affects temporal order memory, but not encoding or recognition

We memorize our daily life experiences, which are often multisensory in nature, by segmenting them into distinct event models, in accordance with perceived contextual or situational changes. However, very little is known about how multisensory boundaries affect segmentation, as most studies have focused on unisensory (visual or audio) segmentation. In three experiments, we investigated the effect of multisensory boundaries on segmentation in memory and perception. In Experiment 1, participants encoded lists of pictures while audio and visual contexts changed synchronously or asynchronously. After each list, we tested recognition and temporal associative memory for pictures that were encoded in the same audio-visual context or that crossed a synchronous or an asynchronous multisensory change. We found no effect of multisensory synchrony for recognition memory: synchronous and asynchronous changes similarly impaired recognition for pictures encoded at those changes, compared to pictures encoded further away from those changes. Multisensory synchrony did affect temporal associative memory, which was worse for pictures encoded at synchronous than at asynchronous changes. Follow up experiments showed that this effect was not due to the higher dimensionality of multisensory over unisensory contexts (Experiment 2), nor that it was due to the temporal unpredictability of contextual changes inherent to Experiment 1 (Experiment 3). We argue that participants formed situational expectations through multisensory synchronicity, such that synchronous multisensory changes deviated more strongly from those expectations than asynchronous changes. We discuss our findings in light of supportive and conflicting findings of uni- and multi-sensory segmentation.

When immunosuppression and COVID-19 intersect: An exploratory qualitative study of young lung transplant recipient perceptions of daily life during a pandemic.

BackgroundThe COVID‐19 pandemic poses an increased risk of infection, severe illness, hospitalization and mortality for young people who are immunosuppressed, including lung transplant (LTx) recipients. The aim of this study was to explore the intersection between immunosuppression and COVID‐19, through the impacts of the pandemic upon the daily lives of young LTx recipients residing in the Australian state of Victoria.MethodsAn exploratory qualitative research study was undertaken via consumer engagement. A purposive sample of 11 LTx recipients, residing in Victoria, was recruited during the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted to gain insights into their daily life and healthcare experiences, including the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Data were interpreted using thematic analysis.ResultsFour major themes were identified: (1) occupational deprivation due to the intersection of COVID‐19 and lung transplant; (2) resilience and acceptance of restrictions; (3) infection control and vigilance about risk; and (4) care experiences of telehealth.ConclusionsOccupational deprivation emerged as a common theme, specifically in the context of loss of access to meaningful everyday activities of developmental significance. However, participants also commonly reflected upon their ability to flexibly adjust to changing socially regulated community and healthcare environments. A high degree of acceptance and compliance with public health orders was self‐reported, may be indicative of this cohort's long‐term experience of chronic illness and their understanding of the importance of minimizing infection risks. Youth‐informed healthcare strategies were identified as keystone to engaging them in institutional change and program adaptation during a pandemic.

Children of Parents With a Mental Illness-Stigma Questionnaire: Development and Piloting.

Children of parents with a mental illness are a particularly vulnerable group as they have a high risk to develop a mental disorder themselves and those are associated with high stigma. Moreover, just like primary recipients of stigma, they are affected by the social taboo surrounding mental illness: they do not receive enough information, are often left alone with their problems, and are thus considered “invisible children”. In previous research, family stigma has only been assessed through general questionnaires for all family members. What has not yet been adequately investigated is how stigma difficulties affect the children of parents with mental illness in particular. To address these limitations, we developed the Children of Parents with Mental Illness-Stigma-Questionnaire (COPMI-SQ), a self-report instrument for young people aged 12–19 years, designed to assess young people's stigma experiences in daily life. Based on a systematic review preceding the questionnaire, we identified relevant stigma dimensions for children of parents with a mental illness that resulted in 93 items that according to theory were assumed to load on four different scales: experienced stigma, anticipated stigma, self-stigma, and structural discrimination. An expert discussion, and a comprehensibility analysis with the target group followed. In this paper, we report on the development process and initial pilot data (N = 32) on the psychometric properties of the COPMI-SQ. Item analyses via an item difficulty index, discriminatory power, as well as internal consistency analysis resulted in a revised instrument reduced to 67 items. We observed very high internal consistencies (between α = 0.868 and α = 0.975) for the subscales. The approach taken to develop the COPMI-SQ followed scientifically accepted principles by ensuring different construction phases and is considered a solid basis for further reliability and validity studies. The study is ongoing and undergoing a further validation investigation; dimensionality and factor structure will also be examined.

Be(com)ing social: Daily-life social interactions and parental bonding.

Parents are known to provide a lasting basis for their children's social development. Understanding parent-driven socialization is particularly relevant in adolescence, as an increasing social independence is developed. However, the relationship between key parenting styles of care and control and the microlevel expression of daily-life social interactions has been insufficiently studied. Adolescent and young adult twins and their nontwin siblings (N = 635; mean age = 16.6; age range = 14.2-21.9; 58.6% female; 79.5% in or having completed higher secondary/tertiary education; 2.8% speaking language other than Dutch at home) completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) on parental care and control. Participants also completed a 6-day experience sampling period (10 daily beeps, mean compliance = 68.0%) to assess daily-life social interactions. Higher overall parental bonding quality (of both parents) related to more positive social experiences in daily life (e.g., belonging in company), but not to more social behaviors (e.g., being with others). Factor analysis indicated a three-factor structure of the PBI, with care, denial of psychological autonomy, and encouragement of behavioral freedom. Paternal care was uniquely predictive of better social experiences. These findings demonstrate how parenting styles may be uniquely associated with how adolescents experience their social world, with a potentially important role for fathers in particular. This complements the long-held idea of socialization through parenting by bringing it into the context of daily life and implies how both conceptualizations of social functioning and interventions aimed at alleviating social dysfunction might benefit from a stronger consideration of day-to-day social experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

КАЧЕСТВО ЖИЗНИ СЕМЕЙ С ДЕТЬМИ С РАССТРОЙСТВАМИ АУТИСТИЧЕСКОГО СПЕКТРА В СРАВНЕНИИ С КАЧЕСТВОМ ЖИЗНИ СЕМЕЙ С НЕЙРОТИПИЧНЫМИ ДЕТЬМИ: РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ОПРОСА И ИНТЕРВЬЮ

Introduction. The significant increase in the number of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) today makes it relevant to study the quality of life of families raising children with ASD compared to families of neurotypical children. Aim. The aim of the study was to identify the quality of life of families with children with ASD and to compare it with the quality of life of families with neurotypical children to determine the level of deprivation. Material and Methods. The study involved: 1. А survey of parents of neurotypical children and children with autism, based on The Beach Center on Disability at the University of Kansas «Concepts and Methods for Measuring Family Quality of Life» questionnaire. Verification of this instrument was ensured by double translating the questionnaire (English-Russian-English), and a pilot survey of parents (N=112) was conducted. One hundred and nine parents of neurotypical children in 19 Russian cities were interviewed. 2. Semi-structured interviews with parents of children with ASD (N=40). We performed a standardization procedure in which the responses of the participants were converted into scores for each subscale by calculating the average score. Results and discussion. The survey showed a set of problems in the accessibility of social and medical care, education, and safety concerns that were significantly lower compared to the results of the survey of parents of neurotypical children. Comparison of the survey data with the results of parent interviews revealed detailed experiences of daily life for families with children with ASD. There were significant differences in seeking medical care: 82.5% of parents with neurotypical children are satisfied with the medical care they receive, while for parents of children with ASD, this figure is much lower - 64.3%. Slightly more than half are satisfied with home, work, school and neighborhood safety (42.9% satisfied, 9.8% completely satisfied). The proportion of parents of neurotypical children who are completely satisfied with safety is 28.4% and 42.2% who are satisfied. Most parents support inclusive or integrative education (they could choose more than one answer). 72.3% considered the most effective education for children with autism in classes with children without disabilities, a little more than half (54.5%) supported inclusive education. They also consider education in special classes in general schools to be effective. 8.9% of parents support home schooling. Conclusion. The findings reveal dangerous trends in the marginalization of families with children with ASD compared to families with neurotypical children. The solution to the problems of social integration must consider the indicators of these inequalities, both in terms of the quality of life of both the child and his/her immediate family.

Factor Structure of the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale in a Polish-Christian Sample

The current article presents the factor structure of the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) in a Polish-Christian sample. The DSES is a scale that attempts to measure a person’s perception of transcendent experiences in daily life. It covers the following constructs: awe, gratitude, mercy, a sense of connection with the transcendent, and compassionate love. Most validation studies on the DSES show the scale loadings on a single factor, although different populations can show different factor loadings. The study aims to verify the factor structure of the DSES results and to test the psychometric properties of its Polish version. The results of exploratory factor analysis conducted on a sample of 246 individuals and confirmatory factor analysis performed in a sample of 738 participants supported the single-factor model, which includes all 16 items of the DSES. Therefore, it was concluded that qualitatively different spiritual experiences have one common and integrated core with a homogeneous structure. Very high values of internal consistency measures indicate the excellent reliability of the Polish version of the DSES.