Browsing by Author "Langer, Álvaro I."

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    Acoso Escolar y su Relación con el Consumo de Drogas y Trastornos Alimentarios: Comparación entre Adolescentes de Chile y España.
    (2015) Carmona-Torres, José A; Cangas, Adolfo J.; Langer, Álvaro I.; Aguilar-Parra, José M.; Gallego, José
    El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la asociación entre acoso escolar, trastornos alimentarios y consumo de drogas en adolescentes de España y Chile. Participaron estudiantes de Educación Secundaria y Bachillerato procedentes de Chile (n= 666) y España (n= 294). Los resultados muestran que los estudiantes de ambos países que actúan como acosadores presentan un consumo de drogas significativamente mayor que los no acosadores. Por su parte, las víctimas muestran un mayor riesgo de trastornos alimentarios. Siendo la fuerza de dichas asociaciones grandes y medias con base en el estimador del tamaño de efecto. Por el contrario, ser acosador no se ha asociado con trastornos alimentarios, ni ser víctima con consumo de drogas, salvo para el consumo de tabaco. Por su parte, mientras que los valores medios de acoso escolar son similares en ambas submuestras, los estudiantes españoles presentan un consumo mayor de sustancias y mayor riesgo de trastornos alimentarios. En conclusión, este estudio evidencia la vinculación entre ser acosador con consumo de drogas y ser víctima de acoso escolar con trastornos alimentarios.
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    Meditation focused on self-observation of the body impairs metacognitive efficiency
    (2019) Schmidt, Carlos; Reyes, Gabriel; Barrientos, Mauricio; Langer, Álvaro I.; Sackur, Jérôme
    In the last decade of research on metacognition, the literature has been focused on understanding its mechanism, function and scope; however, little is known about whether metacognitive capacity can be trained. The specificity of the potential training procedure is in particular still largely unknown. In this study, we evaluate whether metacognition is trainable through generic meditation training, and if so, which component of meditation would be instrumental in this improvement. To this end, we evaluated participants’ metacognitive efficiency before and after two types of meditation training protocols: the first focused on mental cues (Mental Monitoring [MM] training), whereas the second focused on body cues (Self-observation of the Body [SoB] training). Results indicated that while metacognitive efficiency was stable in MM training group, it was significantly reduced in the SoB group after training. This suggests that metacognition should not be conceived as a stable capacity but rather as a malleable skill.
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    Mindfulness-based interventions in secondary education: a qualitative systematic review.
    (2015) Langer, Álvaro I.; Ulloa Jiménez, Valentina; Cangas, Adolfo J.; Rojas, Graciela; Krause, Mariane
    In order to study the effects of mindfulness meditation interventions administered to adolescents within their educational institutions, a qualitative systematic review was conducted. Sixteen studies published in main databases were analysed. The results show that mindfulness, as a prevention strategy in educational contexts, resulted in significant changes in the followings variables: (a) psychological (e.g., reduction in depressive symptoms); (b) psychosocial (e.g., increased social skills); and (c) physiological (e.g., improvement of blood pressure). Although the results were conclusive, their interpretation and generalization should be carefully analysed as there were no medium- and long-term follow-up evaluations, in addition to the fact that there has been a minimal assessment of the psychological mechanisms involved in the change processes.
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    The Impact of a Yoga-Based Mindfulness Intervention versus Psycho-Educational Session for Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial
    (2022) Farhang, Maryam; Rojas, Graciela; Martínez, Pablo; Behrens, Maria Isabel; Langer, Álvaro I.; Diaz, Marcela; Miranda-Castillo, Claudia
    Background: There is a global agreement in the medical community that a significant proportion of dementia cases could be prevented or postponed. One of the factors behind this agreement comes from scientific evidence showing that mind-body interventions such as mindfulness and yoga for the elderly have been related to a range of positive outcomes, including improved cognition performance in seniors with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a yoga-based mindfulness intervention (YBM) versus psychoeducational sessions for older adults with MCI attending Hospital Clinic Universidad de Chile in Santiago. Method: Two-arm, individually randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be carried out at Clinical Hospital Universidad de Chile in Santiago. Older people over 60 years with any type of MCI using a score < 21 in the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test and a score of 0.05 in the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale; and with preserved activities of daily living will be randomly assigned with an allocation ratio of 1:1 in either the yoga-based mindfulness intervention or the active control group based on the psycho-educational program. People who have performed yoga and/or mindfulness in the last 6 months or/and people with a psychiatric clinical diagnosis will be excluded from the study. Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL), the Barthel Index (BI), the Pemberton happiness index, the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) as well as the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-5) will be administered by blinded outcomes assessors before random assignment (Pre-test), the week following the last session of the intervention (post-test), and then after 3- and 6-months follow-up. Results: The YBM intervention protocol based on a video recording has been adapted and designed. This is the first RCT to examine the effects of a yoga-based mindfulness intervention in improving cognitive and physical functions and mental health outcomes for Chilean elderly diagnosed with MCI. It is expected to be implemented as an acceptable and effective non-pharmacological option for older people with MCI. Conclusion: Providing evidence-based programs such as preventive therapy for Alzheimer’s disease has relevant implications for public mental health services in Chile.

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