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The objective of the study was to analyse the effect of a psychological flexibility intervention programme based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on 36 family members of children with intellectual disabilities. The 6-PAQ (parental psychological flexibility), PSS-14 (perceived stress), GHQ-12 (psychological health), and WBSI (suppression of unwanted thoughts) were used as measurement instruments before the programme (pre), after (post), and at follow-up (after two months). Possible change in family interactions due to the family intervention was also assessed through self-monitoring. A decrease in psychological inflexibility, a reduction in stress, an improvement in psychological well-being, and a reduction in the tendency to suppress thoughts and emotions were observed after the programme. Furthermore, the effects seem to extend to family interactions, with an increase in positive interactions and a decrease in negative ones. The study leads us to think about the importance of psychological flexibility in children with chronic conditions as a process that mediates the impact of stress and family well-being.

The purpose of this study was to examine how 14 parents of children with autism and intellectual impairments responded to an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based psychological flexibility intervention programme. A randomised clinical trial was conducted. Parents were randomly assigned to the training programme group (n = 8) or waiting list group (n = 6). The treatment effect was measured using the 6-PAQ, PSS-14, GHQ-12, and WBSI questionnaires. Changes in interactions were assessed through self-recording, including a baseline to observe the previous functioning. Measures were taken before and after the application of the intervention programme and three months later. After that, the control group was switched to the psychological flexibility programme condition. After the programme’s implementation, we could see a reduction in stress and the tendency to suppress unwanted private events. The impacts also appeared to apply to family interactions, resulting in a rise in positive interactions and a decrease in unfavourable ones. The results led us to think about the importance of psychological flexibility for the parents of children with chronic conditions, facilitating a reduction in the emotional impact derived from parenting and the emission of behaviours that promote the harmonious development of the diagnosed child.

Título: Entrenamiento de discriminación simple y respuesta de discriminación condicional. Resumen: La discriminación condicional es un procedimiento cuyo uso está ampliamente extendido en el AEC (Análisis Experimental del Comportamiento), especialmente las denominadas "Igualaciones a la Muestra". Aunque se ha puesto en práctica con una amplia variedad de especies, el comportamiento de humanos con competencias verbales en este tipo de tareas puede involucrar otras variables de control diferentes a las contingencias de cuatro términos programadas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue comprobar si se podían adquirir discriminaciones condicionales aunque las contingencias de refuerzo no involucrasen a la muestra. Participaron 109 alumnos de psicología que fueron distribuidos en tres condiciones. Todos fueron expuestos a dos bloques de entrenamiento (A y B) con una muestra y tres comparaciones, no obstante, en el 75% de los ensayos del bloque B la muestra no funcionaba realmente como un estímulo condicional. Se manipularon la simultaneidad muestra-comparaciones y el requerimiento de respuesta de observación a la muestra, dando lugar a tres condiciones diferentes. Los resultados no mostraron diferencias entre la velocidad de adquisición del bloque A y del B en ninguna condición, lo que apunta a que el comportamiento de los participantes estaba más controlado por la configuración estimular que por las contingencias de reforzamiento. Palabras clave: Igualación a la muestra; discriminación simple; conducta gobernada por reglas; humanos. Abstract:The conditional discrimination is a procedure the use of which is widely extended in the EAB (Experimental Analysis of Behavior), especially those known as "Matching to Sample". Although it has been used with a wide variety of species, the behavior of humans with verbal skills in these kinds of tasks may involve other control variables which are different from the scheduled contingencies of four terms. The aim of this work was to verify if conditional discriminations could be acquired, although reinforcement contingencies did not involve the sample. 109 psychology students, who were divided into three conditions, participated in the study. All of them were exposed to two blocks of training (A and B), with one sample and three comparisons, however, the sample did not really function as a conditional stimulus in 75% of the trials in block B. Simultaneity between sample and comparisons, as well as the requirement of a sample observation response, were manipulated resulting in three different conditions. The results showed no differences between acquisition speed in block A and block B in any condition, which suggests that the behavior of the participants was more controlled by the stimuli configuration than by the reinforcement contingencies.

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