Esteban Montenegro - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Esteban Montenegro

Research paper thumbnail of Remote cognitive evaluation in aging adults: A new software implementation during COVID‐19

Alzheimers & Dementia, Jun 1, 2023

BackgroundRemote cognitive testing is a convenient and efficient method to evaluate older adults ... more BackgroundRemote cognitive testing is a convenient and efficient method to evaluate older adults especially because of the sanitary restrictions due to COVID 19. Our aim was to test the psychometric properties of newly developed versions of two visuospatial attention subtests, Hidden Patterns and Identical Pictures, administered by remote cognitive evaluation platform developed by Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc. We conducted testing and analysis in a sample of healthy aging adults.MethodsParticipants were recruited in East‐Bay, California; 184 aging adults completed the computerized hidden patterns test, and 160 older adults answered the identical picture test. The mean age was 70.11 years old with a range of 60 to 85 years old. Most of the participants were female (59.60%), and dementia symptoms were not reported. Participants were evaluated twice in one year at home, the software created by Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc allowed a synchronous interaction with the remote evaluator, which helped to monitor and answer any question before, during or after the evaluation.ResultDifficulty and discrimination analysis (classical test theory) was performed in R (version 4.1.0),. We estimated a Bayesian 1PL Item Response Model (IRT) for each test along with DIF testing by gender. The IRT models were calculated with the package rstan (Stan Development Team, 2020)ConclusionThe IRT models showed group differences at the items’ difficulty. The estimated reliability showed to be adequate (α > .75), and test – retest correlations were medium to high (r > .50). Correlations with age ranged from r = ‐.33 to r = .25.

Research paper thumbnail of Using remote evaluations to cognitively test African American communities reduces racial disparities and enhances Alzheimer’s disease awareness

Alzheimers & Dementia, Jun 1, 2023

BackgroundAfrican Americans are at greater risk for cognitive decline and development of Alzheime... more BackgroundAfrican Americans are at greater risk for cognitive decline and development of Alzheimer’s Disease than any other ethnic population. Systemic and financial barriers block access to healthcare in many African American communities, preventing possibility for evaluation and treatment. During the COVID pandemic, Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc (NBS) augmented the California Cognitive Assessment Battery to become a take‐home and remote administered platform that ensured a convenient and safe cognitive evaluation. Preliminary analysis assessed the usability of the tablets among healthy African American adults.MethodTwelve out of the 20 participants recruited from East Oakland, California, took part in this study. The average participant age was 52.58 (SD = 15.22), ranging from 22 to 69 years old, 58.3% were female. About 33.3% of the participants obtained a higher education after high school, the level of education ranging from high school diploma to graduate degree. Symptoms of dementia were not reported.Participants were repeat tested two times between March and April 2021. Testing kits contained a Microsoft Pro tablet, charger, headset, mouse, modem, and USB port, provided by NBS. Units were set up and taken down in participants’ homes by an NBS staff before and after each cognitive evaluation, respectively. The tablet’s software, California Cognitive Assessment Battery, or CCAB, was created by NBS to maintain communication between a remote evaluator and the test‐taker throughout testing.ResultTwelve African Americans adults, 58.3% women and 33.3% holding a degree higher than a high school diploma, were evaluated consecutively for two days from March through April 2021. In general, the 30‐test battery could be completed within 2 hours. Of those participating, 100% completed all 30 tests within the allotted time.ConclusionDuring a verbal exit interview with their examiner, participants preferred the remote evaluation for its comfortability and convenience, and the test helped show their cognitive ability and areas that needed work. These results demonstrated that remotely monitored cognitive evaluations administered at home have great promise in reducing healthcare disparities between African Americans and other ethnicities.

Research paper thumbnail of Profiles of cognitive performance and physical activity in old age: Characterization by gender and age in an urban sample from Costa Rica

The University of Texas at Austin: Estados Unidos, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Cardiorespiratory fitness is an important marker of cognitive performance in older Latin Americans

Alzheimer's & Dementia

BackgroundOur previous research with older non‐Hispanic whites demonstrated that with increasing ... more BackgroundOur previous research with older non‐Hispanic whites demonstrated that with increasing cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) there was a concomitant linear increase in processing speed (PS) performance. PS has also been found in a number of reports as a potential precursor to memory decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive aging. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the same cognitive benefits imbued by CRF generalize within a healthy Latino aging community living in Costa Rica (CR).Method415 community dwelling older adults (315 CR and 100 non‐Hispanic whites living in the United States) with a mean age of 71 (SD = 5.29) years old were recruited from the Epidemiology and Development of Alzheimer’s Disease (EDAD), a large international study of Latino cognitive aging. Participants completed neuropsychological testing and a graded treadmill exercise stress test. We compared the relationship between Oxygen Uptake Efficiency Slope (OUES) and a composite ...

Research paper thumbnail of Improving the guidelines to conduct multigroup invariance test in Bayesian SEM

Research paper thumbnail of Fitness and cognitive performance in urban Latin Americans

Estados Unidos: Global Brain Network Meeting, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Efklides, A.; Misailidi, P. (eds.). Trends and Prospects in Metacognition Research. New York: Springer, 2010 ISBN: 978-14419-6545-5

Research paper thumbnail of Individual differences in personality and positive emotion for wealth creation

Personality and Individual Differences

Research paper thumbnail of Lessons Learned From Decentralization of an Elective Surgery Medical-Surgical Unit

HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine changes in healthcare practitioners’ percep... more Objective: The objective of this study was to examine changes in healthcare practitioners’ perception of supportiveness of their physical work environment, and trend in patient fall, when moving from a centralized to a decentralized unit configuration. Background: Previous studies on decentralization have not uniformly provided findings consistent with desired outcome. Method: A pretest–posttest study was conducted in an elective surgery medical-surgical unit in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The independent variable was the physical design supporting centralized versus decentralized nursing models. Data were collected from healthcare staff with a self-report survey “before” (September 2017; n = 42) and “after” (June 2019; n = 22), and interviews. Before–after data were analyzed using both parametric and nonparametric tests to identify significant differences. Qualitative responses were analyzed to identify triangulating evidences. Monthly patient fall data were colle...

Research paper thumbnail of Evaluation of the Validity and Reliability of the Revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education Instrument

Summary: The presentation will discuss the revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education instr... more Summary: The presentation will discuss the revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education instrument measuring healthcare educators' perceptions towards inclusive teaching methods based in universal design (UD) and findings from the face/content validity and test-retest reliability. The interactive session also provides real-time UD application in the classroom, online, clinical, and simulation settings.

Research paper thumbnail of A Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Examine the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status, Diet Quality and Dyslipidaemia in South African Children and Adolescents, 6–18 Years

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

This study utilised a structural equation model to examine the relationship between diet quality,... more This study utilised a structural equation model to examine the relationship between diet quality, socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in South African learners. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the indirect effects model for diet, socioeconomic status, diet quality and cardiovascular risk using pre-existing cross-sectional data. The structural equation model was fit using Lavaan version 0.6–5 in R version 3.6.1. Data were analysed from 178 children and adolescents, aged 6–18 years, from five rural schools in Cofimvaba, South Africa. Latent variables were created for dietary quality, dyslipidaemia and the socioeconomic status of participants. A negative association was observed between socioeconomic status and dyslipidaemia in school-aged children (p = 0.029).

Research paper thumbnail of COVID-19 Pandemic: Universal Design Creates Equitable Access

Journal of Nursing Measurement, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of The Psychometric Properties of the Universal Design in Healthcare Education Instrument

Journal of Nursing Measurement, 2021

Background and Purpose Universal design (UD) teaching approaches provide access to learning envir... more Background and Purpose Universal design (UD) teaching approaches provide access to learning environments for diverse postsecondary students; however, UD practices in healthcare education have rarely been examined. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct validity and reliability of the revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education (UDinHE) instrument. Methods The exploratory structural equation model (ESEM). Results The ESEM revealed an acceptable model with good internal consistency for the subscales, except trialability (α = .59). All scales had a Cronbach's alpha > .70, except social system support. In the final CFA without trialabiity, the model showed good adjustment to the data Χ²(334, n = 222) = 651.188, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.91, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.90, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.06, 0.07]). Conclusion This instrument performs similarly with a broader population of healthc...

Research paper thumbnail of Different Relationships Between Steps and Movements and Healthy Biomarkers in People With and Without Disability

BACKGROUND Physical activity benefits have been extensively studied. However, the public health g... more BACKGROUND Physical activity benefits have been extensively studied. However, the public health guidelines seem unclear about the relationships between steps and movements with healthy biomarkers for people with (PWD) and without disabilities (PWOD), respectively. While public health guidelines illustrate types of exercise (eg, running, swimming), it is equally important to provide data-driven recommended amounts of daily steps or movements to achieve health biomarkers and further promote a physically active lifestyle. METHODS Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2006 were used. The authors conducted sensitivity, specificity, and receiver-operating-characteristic curve analyses regarding cut points from ActiGraph 7164 of daily steps and movements for health biomarkers (eg, body mass index, cholesterol) in PWD (2178 participants) and PWOD (4414 participants). The authors also examined the dose relationships of steps, movements, and healthy biomarkers in...

Research paper thumbnail of Action control bridges the planning-behavior gap: A longitudinal study

11 Objectives. Maintaining physical exercise levels may not only require motivation and 12 planni... more 11 Objectives. Maintaining physical exercise levels may not only require motivation and 12 planning but also action control which is supposed to mediate between planning and 13 exercise. 14 Design. Behavioral intention, action planning, coping planning, and past behavior were 15 assessed at baseline, and action control and concurrent exercise were measured one month 16 later in 487 young adults. 17 Method. Three nested structural models were specified to examine different mediation 18 mechanisms. One model reflected the intention-planning-behavior chain, the other one 19 focused on the intention-action control-behavior chain, and the third model comprised the 20 full sequence. 21 Results. Indirect effects from intentions on exercise involved either planning or action 22 control as mediating variables. In model 3, all three constructs (action planning, coping 23 planning, and action control) were sequential mediators between intentions and later 24 physical exercise levels. Action an...

Research paper thumbnail of Career adaptability, hope and life satisfaction in workers with intellectual disability

Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2014

Considering that adults with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) experience many barriers and challenges... more Considering that adults with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) experience many barriers and challenges in designing and living a satisfactory life, based on Life Design paradigm, this study aimed at analyzing the direct and indirect effect of career adaptability, through hope, on life satisfaction in a sample of individuals with SUD compared to a sample of individuals without SUD. In this study, a sample of 185 adults with and 185 adults without SUD was involved and different measures to assess career adaptability (Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-Italian Form; Soresi, Nota, & Ferrari; 2012), hope (The Adult Hope Scale) and life satisfaction (The Satisfaction with Life Scale) were used. Multigroup structural analyses were conducted to test the group differences in the direct and indirect effects model hypothesized. Results showed that career adaptability is indirectly, through hope, related to life satisfaction across two groups. These results have important implications for practice and emphasize the need to promoting career adaptability and hope in people with SUD to improve their life satisfaction that is an important diagnostic and outcome criteria in substance use disorder issues.

Research paper thumbnail of Validation of a scale to measure perceived residential environment quality in a Latin American setting / Validación de una escala para medir la percepción de la calidad del entorno residencial en un contexto latinoamericano

Research paper thumbnail of The Feasibility of Remotely Delivered Exercise Session in Adults with Alzheimer Disease and their Caregivers

Journal of Aging and Physical Activity

Adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers represent a segment of the population w... more Adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers represent a segment of the population with low levels of moderate-intensity physical activity (MPA) and limited options for increasing MPA. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a group video conference approach for increasing MPA in adults with AD and their caregivers. Adults with AD and their caregivers attended 30-min group exercise sessions three times per week for 12 weeks. Exercise sessions and support sessions were delivered in their homes on a tablet computer over video conferencing software. Nine adults with AD/caregiver dyads enrolled, and seven completed the 12-week intervention. Adults with AD attended 77.3% of the group exercise sessions, and caregivers attended 79.2% of group exercise sessions. Weekly MPA increased in both adults with AD (49%) and caregivers (30%). Exercise delivered by group video conferencing is a feasible and potentially effective approach for increasing MPA in adults w...

Research paper thumbnail of Empowering the poor: A field study of the social psychological consequences of receiving autonomy or dependency aid in Panama

The British journal of social psychology, 2018

This field study investigated the consequences of receiving poverty aid through conditional trans... more This field study investigated the consequences of receiving poverty aid through conditional transfer programmes in the form of autonomy-oriented help (i.e., cash) or dependency-oriented help (i.e., vouchers) in impoverished rural communities in Panama. The empowering effects of autonomy- (vs. dependency-) help have so far only been studied in laboratory settings, or in settings where help could easily be refused. Little is known about the reactions of people who rely on help for extended periods of time. This study provides insights into how aid recipients are influenced by the type of aid they receive. Results showed that, as expected, recipients of cash reported more autonomy, empowerment, and life improvements than recipients of vouchers. Training, another type of autonomy-oriented help, was positively related to empowerment, personal, and family change beliefs. These findings illustrate the benefits of autonomy-oriented help programmes in empowering people from extremely poor co...

Research paper thumbnail of Prevalence and Risk Markers of Challenging Behavior Among Children with Disabilities

Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Research paper thumbnail of Remote cognitive evaluation in aging adults: A new software implementation during COVID‐19

Alzheimers & Dementia, Jun 1, 2023

BackgroundRemote cognitive testing is a convenient and efficient method to evaluate older adults ... more BackgroundRemote cognitive testing is a convenient and efficient method to evaluate older adults especially because of the sanitary restrictions due to COVID 19. Our aim was to test the psychometric properties of newly developed versions of two visuospatial attention subtests, Hidden Patterns and Identical Pictures, administered by remote cognitive evaluation platform developed by Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc. We conducted testing and analysis in a sample of healthy aging adults.MethodsParticipants were recruited in East‐Bay, California; 184 aging adults completed the computerized hidden patterns test, and 160 older adults answered the identical picture test. The mean age was 70.11 years old with a range of 60 to 85 years old. Most of the participants were female (59.60%), and dementia symptoms were not reported. Participants were evaluated twice in one year at home, the software created by Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc allowed a synchronous interaction with the remote evaluator, which helped to monitor and answer any question before, during or after the evaluation.ResultDifficulty and discrimination analysis (classical test theory) was performed in R (version 4.1.0),. We estimated a Bayesian 1PL Item Response Model (IRT) for each test along with DIF testing by gender. The IRT models were calculated with the package rstan (Stan Development Team, 2020)ConclusionThe IRT models showed group differences at the items’ difficulty. The estimated reliability showed to be adequate (α > .75), and test – retest correlations were medium to high (r > .50). Correlations with age ranged from r = ‐.33 to r = .25.

Research paper thumbnail of Using remote evaluations to cognitively test African American communities reduces racial disparities and enhances Alzheimer’s disease awareness

Alzheimers & Dementia, Jun 1, 2023

BackgroundAfrican Americans are at greater risk for cognitive decline and development of Alzheime... more BackgroundAfrican Americans are at greater risk for cognitive decline and development of Alzheimer’s Disease than any other ethnic population. Systemic and financial barriers block access to healthcare in many African American communities, preventing possibility for evaluation and treatment. During the COVID pandemic, Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc (NBS) augmented the California Cognitive Assessment Battery to become a take‐home and remote administered platform that ensured a convenient and safe cognitive evaluation. Preliminary analysis assessed the usability of the tablets among healthy African American adults.MethodTwelve out of the 20 participants recruited from East Oakland, California, took part in this study. The average participant age was 52.58 (SD = 15.22), ranging from 22 to 69 years old, 58.3% were female. About 33.3% of the participants obtained a higher education after high school, the level of education ranging from high school diploma to graduate degree. Symptoms of dementia were not reported.Participants were repeat tested two times between March and April 2021. Testing kits contained a Microsoft Pro tablet, charger, headset, mouse, modem, and USB port, provided by NBS. Units were set up and taken down in participants’ homes by an NBS staff before and after each cognitive evaluation, respectively. The tablet’s software, California Cognitive Assessment Battery, or CCAB, was created by NBS to maintain communication between a remote evaluator and the test‐taker throughout testing.ResultTwelve African Americans adults, 58.3% women and 33.3% holding a degree higher than a high school diploma, were evaluated consecutively for two days from March through April 2021. In general, the 30‐test battery could be completed within 2 hours. Of those participating, 100% completed all 30 tests within the allotted time.ConclusionDuring a verbal exit interview with their examiner, participants preferred the remote evaluation for its comfortability and convenience, and the test helped show their cognitive ability and areas that needed work. These results demonstrated that remotely monitored cognitive evaluations administered at home have great promise in reducing healthcare disparities between African Americans and other ethnicities.

Research paper thumbnail of Profiles of cognitive performance and physical activity in old age: Characterization by gender and age in an urban sample from Costa Rica

The University of Texas at Austin: Estados Unidos, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Cardiorespiratory fitness is an important marker of cognitive performance in older Latin Americans

Alzheimer's & Dementia

BackgroundOur previous research with older non‐Hispanic whites demonstrated that with increasing ... more BackgroundOur previous research with older non‐Hispanic whites demonstrated that with increasing cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) there was a concomitant linear increase in processing speed (PS) performance. PS has also been found in a number of reports as a potential precursor to memory decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive aging. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the same cognitive benefits imbued by CRF generalize within a healthy Latino aging community living in Costa Rica (CR).Method415 community dwelling older adults (315 CR and 100 non‐Hispanic whites living in the United States) with a mean age of 71 (SD = 5.29) years old were recruited from the Epidemiology and Development of Alzheimer’s Disease (EDAD), a large international study of Latino cognitive aging. Participants completed neuropsychological testing and a graded treadmill exercise stress test. We compared the relationship between Oxygen Uptake Efficiency Slope (OUES) and a composite ...

Research paper thumbnail of Improving the guidelines to conduct multigroup invariance test in Bayesian SEM

Research paper thumbnail of Fitness and cognitive performance in urban Latin Americans

Estados Unidos: Global Brain Network Meeting, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Efklides, A.; Misailidi, P. (eds.). Trends and Prospects in Metacognition Research. New York: Springer, 2010 ISBN: 978-14419-6545-5

Research paper thumbnail of Individual differences in personality and positive emotion for wealth creation

Personality and Individual Differences

Research paper thumbnail of Lessons Learned From Decentralization of an Elective Surgery Medical-Surgical Unit

HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine changes in healthcare practitioners’ percep... more Objective: The objective of this study was to examine changes in healthcare practitioners’ perception of supportiveness of their physical work environment, and trend in patient fall, when moving from a centralized to a decentralized unit configuration. Background: Previous studies on decentralization have not uniformly provided findings consistent with desired outcome. Method: A pretest–posttest study was conducted in an elective surgery medical-surgical unit in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The independent variable was the physical design supporting centralized versus decentralized nursing models. Data were collected from healthcare staff with a self-report survey “before” (September 2017; n = 42) and “after” (June 2019; n = 22), and interviews. Before–after data were analyzed using both parametric and nonparametric tests to identify significant differences. Qualitative responses were analyzed to identify triangulating evidences. Monthly patient fall data were colle...

Research paper thumbnail of Evaluation of the Validity and Reliability of the Revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education Instrument

Summary: The presentation will discuss the revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education instr... more Summary: The presentation will discuss the revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education instrument measuring healthcare educators' perceptions towards inclusive teaching methods based in universal design (UD) and findings from the face/content validity and test-retest reliability. The interactive session also provides real-time UD application in the classroom, online, clinical, and simulation settings.

Research paper thumbnail of A Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Examine the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status, Diet Quality and Dyslipidaemia in South African Children and Adolescents, 6–18 Years

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

This study utilised a structural equation model to examine the relationship between diet quality,... more This study utilised a structural equation model to examine the relationship between diet quality, socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in South African learners. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the indirect effects model for diet, socioeconomic status, diet quality and cardiovascular risk using pre-existing cross-sectional data. The structural equation model was fit using Lavaan version 0.6–5 in R version 3.6.1. Data were analysed from 178 children and adolescents, aged 6–18 years, from five rural schools in Cofimvaba, South Africa. Latent variables were created for dietary quality, dyslipidaemia and the socioeconomic status of participants. A negative association was observed between socioeconomic status and dyslipidaemia in school-aged children (p = 0.029).

Research paper thumbnail of COVID-19 Pandemic: Universal Design Creates Equitable Access

Journal of Nursing Measurement, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of The Psychometric Properties of the Universal Design in Healthcare Education Instrument

Journal of Nursing Measurement, 2021

Background and Purpose Universal design (UD) teaching approaches provide access to learning envir... more Background and Purpose Universal design (UD) teaching approaches provide access to learning environments for diverse postsecondary students; however, UD practices in healthcare education have rarely been examined. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct validity and reliability of the revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education (UDinHE) instrument. Methods The exploratory structural equation model (ESEM). Results The ESEM revealed an acceptable model with good internal consistency for the subscales, except trialability (α = .59). All scales had a Cronbach's alpha > .70, except social system support. In the final CFA without trialabiity, the model showed good adjustment to the data Χ²(334, n = 222) = 651.188, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.91, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.90, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.06, 0.07]). Conclusion This instrument performs similarly with a broader population of healthc...

Research paper thumbnail of Different Relationships Between Steps and Movements and Healthy Biomarkers in People With and Without Disability

BACKGROUND Physical activity benefits have been extensively studied. However, the public health g... more BACKGROUND Physical activity benefits have been extensively studied. However, the public health guidelines seem unclear about the relationships between steps and movements with healthy biomarkers for people with (PWD) and without disabilities (PWOD), respectively. While public health guidelines illustrate types of exercise (eg, running, swimming), it is equally important to provide data-driven recommended amounts of daily steps or movements to achieve health biomarkers and further promote a physically active lifestyle. METHODS Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2006 were used. The authors conducted sensitivity, specificity, and receiver-operating-characteristic curve analyses regarding cut points from ActiGraph 7164 of daily steps and movements for health biomarkers (eg, body mass index, cholesterol) in PWD (2178 participants) and PWOD (4414 participants). The authors also examined the dose relationships of steps, movements, and healthy biomarkers in...

Research paper thumbnail of Action control bridges the planning-behavior gap: A longitudinal study

11 Objectives. Maintaining physical exercise levels may not only require motivation and 12 planni... more 11 Objectives. Maintaining physical exercise levels may not only require motivation and 12 planning but also action control which is supposed to mediate between planning and 13 exercise. 14 Design. Behavioral intention, action planning, coping planning, and past behavior were 15 assessed at baseline, and action control and concurrent exercise were measured one month 16 later in 487 young adults. 17 Method. Three nested structural models were specified to examine different mediation 18 mechanisms. One model reflected the intention-planning-behavior chain, the other one 19 focused on the intention-action control-behavior chain, and the third model comprised the 20 full sequence. 21 Results. Indirect effects from intentions on exercise involved either planning or action 22 control as mediating variables. In model 3, all three constructs (action planning, coping 23 planning, and action control) were sequential mediators between intentions and later 24 physical exercise levels. Action an...

Research paper thumbnail of Career adaptability, hope and life satisfaction in workers with intellectual disability

Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2014

Considering that adults with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) experience many barriers and challenges... more Considering that adults with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) experience many barriers and challenges in designing and living a satisfactory life, based on Life Design paradigm, this study aimed at analyzing the direct and indirect effect of career adaptability, through hope, on life satisfaction in a sample of individuals with SUD compared to a sample of individuals without SUD. In this study, a sample of 185 adults with and 185 adults without SUD was involved and different measures to assess career adaptability (Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-Italian Form; Soresi, Nota, & Ferrari; 2012), hope (The Adult Hope Scale) and life satisfaction (The Satisfaction with Life Scale) were used. Multigroup structural analyses were conducted to test the group differences in the direct and indirect effects model hypothesized. Results showed that career adaptability is indirectly, through hope, related to life satisfaction across two groups. These results have important implications for practice and emphasize the need to promoting career adaptability and hope in people with SUD to improve their life satisfaction that is an important diagnostic and outcome criteria in substance use disorder issues.

Research paper thumbnail of Validation of a scale to measure perceived residential environment quality in a Latin American setting / Validación de una escala para medir la percepción de la calidad del entorno residencial en un contexto latinoamericano

Research paper thumbnail of The Feasibility of Remotely Delivered Exercise Session in Adults with Alzheimer Disease and their Caregivers

Journal of Aging and Physical Activity

Adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers represent a segment of the population w... more Adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers represent a segment of the population with low levels of moderate-intensity physical activity (MPA) and limited options for increasing MPA. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a group video conference approach for increasing MPA in adults with AD and their caregivers. Adults with AD and their caregivers attended 30-min group exercise sessions three times per week for 12 weeks. Exercise sessions and support sessions were delivered in their homes on a tablet computer over video conferencing software. Nine adults with AD/caregiver dyads enrolled, and seven completed the 12-week intervention. Adults with AD attended 77.3% of the group exercise sessions, and caregivers attended 79.2% of group exercise sessions. Weekly MPA increased in both adults with AD (49%) and caregivers (30%). Exercise delivered by group video conferencing is a feasible and potentially effective approach for increasing MPA in adults w...

Research paper thumbnail of Empowering the poor: A field study of the social psychological consequences of receiving autonomy or dependency aid in Panama

The British journal of social psychology, 2018

This field study investigated the consequences of receiving poverty aid through conditional trans... more This field study investigated the consequences of receiving poverty aid through conditional transfer programmes in the form of autonomy-oriented help (i.e., cash) or dependency-oriented help (i.e., vouchers) in impoverished rural communities in Panama. The empowering effects of autonomy- (vs. dependency-) help have so far only been studied in laboratory settings, or in settings where help could easily be refused. Little is known about the reactions of people who rely on help for extended periods of time. This study provides insights into how aid recipients are influenced by the type of aid they receive. Results showed that, as expected, recipients of cash reported more autonomy, empowerment, and life improvements than recipients of vouchers. Training, another type of autonomy-oriented help, was positively related to empowerment, personal, and family change beliefs. These findings illustrate the benefits of autonomy-oriented help programmes in empowering people from extremely poor co...

Research paper thumbnail of Prevalence and Risk Markers of Challenging Behavior Among Children with Disabilities

Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders