IntroductionIncorporating technology in cognitive interventions represents an innovation, making them more accessible, flexible, and cost-effective. This will not be feasible without adequate user-technology fit. Bearing in mind the importance of developing cognitive interventions whose technology is appropriate for elderly people with cognitive impairment, the objective of this systematic review was to find evidence about usability and user experience measurements and features of stimulation, training, and cognitive rehabilitation technologies for older adults with mild cognitive impairment or dementia.MethodThe Medline, PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, (...) and PsycINFO databases were searched for literature published in the last 10 years, and three researchers independently reviewed potentially eligible studies, following specific inclusion criteria. A systematic review of the studies was conducted, presenting a qualitative synthesis of usability and UX measures with their outcomes, study characteristics and features of the cognitive intervention technologies.ResultsTen studies were selected: five were cognitive stimulation and five were cognitive training. Most of them were computer-based programs with a serious game format. Efficiency and effectiveness were the most frequent measurements used for collecting objective usability data, showing that elderly people with cognitive impairment require more time and help but can complete tasks. Regarding UX or subjective usability data, questionnaires and scales were the most used methods, reporting positive experience despite certain difficulties with the interface in five studies.ConclusionMeasuring usability and UX in cognitive intervention technologies for older adults with MCI or dementia provides an integrated view that can contribute to their development according to the needs and characteristics of the target population. More research is required to include this population group in usability and UX studies, as well as standardized tools and consensus on the relationship of these terms to guarantee the future effectiveness of cognitive intervention technologies.Review registrationThis review was registered in the PROSPERO International Register of Systematic Review Protocols. (shrink)

Adolescence is a stage characterized by many biological and psychosocial changes, all of which may result in a decrease in subjective well-being. It is therefore necessary to identify those factors that contribute to increased life satisfaction, in order to promote positive development among young people. The aim of this study is to examine the dynamics of a set of variables that contribute to life satisfaction. A total of 1,188 adolescents completed the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends and Perception (...) of the School Environment Questionnaires, the Trait Meta Mood Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10, and Satisfaction with Life Scale for social support, emotion regulation, resilience, and life satisfaction. By applying structural equation modeling, the results reveal a direct prediction of family support, emotion regulation, and resilience on life satisfaction. Support from friends and emotion regulation was also found to explain resilience, and support from family and teachers was found to predict emotion regulation. In conclusion, emotion regulation and social support were found to indirectly affect life satisfaction among adolescents through resilience. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. (shrink)

There is a peak in peer victimization during middle childhood, with multiple negative consequences. Parental use of corporal punishment and child aggression are the most widely studied predictors of this phenomenon. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether parental use of corporal punishment affects peer victimization through child aggression. This mediation model was explored for both mothers and fathers and for both physical and relational forms of aggression and peer victimization. Furthermore, we also analyzed whether the mediation (...) models were moderated by the sex of the child. Participants were 234 third graders. Child aggression and victimization were measured by peers using the Mini Direct Indirect Aggression Inventory. Independent measures of mother’s and father’s use of corporal punishment were obtained from a PCA of items from the Parental Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire. Conditional process modeling was carried out using a macro for SPSS developed by Hayes. Results indicated that aggression mediated the relation of parental corporal punishment to peer victimization. Some interesting moderating effects of sex in this mediation model were found; specifically, physical, and relational aggression mediated the relation of maternal corporal punishment to peer victimization only in boys. Few studies to date have addressed the connection between aggressive behavior and peer victimization as outcomes of corporal punishment, taking into consideration the role of parent’s and child’s sex, and both physical and relational forms of aggression and victimization during childhood. (shrink)

The author presents a critique of the presentation of Female Circumcision as occasioned by the work of Alice Walker and Parthiba Pamar’s film Warrior Marks, Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women. The discussion focuses on North East Africa (with references to female circumcision by Western physicians in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries). In the African context, the author observes, the operation is implemented almost exclusively by eIder women who regard the ritual as an important affirmation (...) of one generation of women’s authority over another. The practice will not be successfully eradicated, she argues, without a strategy that offers alternative possibilities of authority between older and younger generations of women in societies where it is practiced. (shrink)