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PURPOSE. The aim of this study is to discuss personal and demographic factors that influence the relationship between physical activity and awareness of one's own body, as well as the pain response (threshold and tolerance of pain), situational anxiety and personality. In the study 38 healthy individualvolunteers, students in Trakia University -Stara Zagora were selected. All participants were divided into two groups: actively involved in individual or team sport (n = 19) and healthy normaly active subjects (non-athletes, n = 19). The age of the study participants ranged between 18 and 39 years, while the gender breakdown was as follows: men -22 women -16. Methods: Psychological Questionnaires: Body Awareness Questionnaire that asks subjects to rate, on a 4 point scale, the degree to which they were currently experiencing symptoms of sympathetic arousal, State Trait Anger Scale, and State Trait Anxiety Scale. Objective methods (cold pressure test) are used only to determine the pain sensation and pain tolerance thresholds. The results of investigation support significant differences between athletes and non-athletes in pain thershold, body awareness and anxiety. The study conclusions discuss body awareness as an increasing factor for pain resistance in athletes and as an integral part of the learning process among them.

Self-efficacy is central to the management of chronic disease. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify the influence of optimism, general self-efficacy and perceived social support on self-efficacy for managing chronic disease in patients with rheumatic diseases. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. 113 rheumatic disease patients completed instruments related to chronic disease self-efficacy, general self-efficacy, optimism and negative expectancies, perceived social support and demographic/clinical variables. Results: Optimism, general self-efficacy and perceived social support significantly and positively influence chronic disease selfefficacy. Behavioral, cognitive and affective mechanism of these factors influence on self-efficacy is discussed. Newly diagnosed patients perceived lower competence to manage symptoms and particular the pain. Conclusions: Chronic-disease self-efficacy is influenced by personal (optimism, general self-efficacy) and social factors (supportive social environment) but not by clinical and demographic factors.

Pain is an experience that has physical, psychological and social aspects. Sensitivity to pain is individual and depends on psychological factors. Studies have shown that anxiety is associated with the perception of experimentally induced pain. PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between anxiety, threshold and tolerance to experimentally induced pain in healthy persons. METHODS: 35 healthy persons at the age from 19 to 39, 20 women and 15 men were examined. Methods: Spielberger’s questionnaire, Cold pressor test, Visual Analog Scale for Pain, Descriptive statistics, Correlation analysis, Mann-Whitney’s Test. RESULTS: Significant differences in tolerance to pain were identified depending on the levels of state anxiety (U=12.5, Р=0.037). The state anxiety was greatly related to the intensity of the pain experienced. (Spearman rho=0.49, P=0.008). Significant differences were not found in threshold, tolerance and intensity of pain depending on the levels of trait anxiety in the examined people. CONCLUSIONS: The increased levels of state anxiety in healthy persons exposed to experimentally induced pain suggest a weaker endurance to pain and perceiving it as stronger.

The relationship between logarithmic and rhythm therapy is multifaceted, which explains the good opportunities for their application in a primary school in students with fluency and tempo-rhythmic organization of speech, which form the picture of development- stuttering. Research related to the pedagogical aspects of this application is relevant, as the problem is analyzed mainly theoretically as related to other scientific fields. This article presents methods for corrective work, which is also the concept of this framework of speech therapy rhythmic: object, subject, goal and tasks. A theoretical analysis on the topic was made and a study of the role of logarithmic and rhythm therapy from the point of view of pedagogues in primary school was presented. Тhe results are analyzed in terms of their applicability and adequacy to the learning process and pedagogical practice.