Marina Perković Kovačević

INTRODUCTION: Psychosocial factors are an important aspect of schizophrenia, both in terms of psychopathological vulnerability and in terms of their results with regard to patients’functional capacity. Treatment effectiveness is influenced by a number of psychosocial factors and their importance is also reflected in one’s quality of life. AIM OF THE RESEARCH: The aim of this research is to examine the extent to which psychosocial factors (sociodemographic variables, duration of illness, number of hospitalizations, type of therapy, cognitive functions, emotional competence, self-efficacy, locus of health control, coping strategies) are related to therapeutic effectiveness (remission) and outcome (quality of life). PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The research included 102 patients with ICD-10 and DSM-V diagnosis of schizophrenia, hospitalized at the Department of Psychiatry of the University Hospital Centre Osijek between June 2017 and June 2018. The patients were divided in two groups acco...

Background Postoperative cognitive decline following cardiac surgery is one of the frequently reported complications affecting postoperative outcome, characterized by impairment of memory or concentration. The aetiology is considered multifactorial and the research conducted so far has presented contradictory results. The proposed mechanisms to explain the cognitive decline associated with cardiac surgery include the neurotoxic accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) proteins similar to Alzheimer's disease. The comparison of coronary artery bypass grafting procedures concerning postoperative cognitive decline and plasmatic Aβ1-42 concentrations has not yet been conducted. Methods The research was designed as a controlled clinical study of patients with coronary artery disease undergoing surgical myocardial revascularization with or without the use of a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. All patients completed a battery of neuropsychological tests and plasmatic Aβ1-42 concentrations were col...

This research aimed to translate and validate the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) to the Croatian language, and to provide preliminary data on its reliability, factor structure and convergent validity in a sample of Croatian students. After translation and adaptation, the Croatian version of the MWQ was administered to 451 eight-grade elementary school students (239 female and 212 male participants). With the MWQ, we administered the Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire (ESCQ-45). Results show high internal consistency of the Croatian translation of the MWQ. Confirmatory factor analysis supports an unidimensional model. Convergent validity was supported by a significant negative correlation between MWQ and Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire. We propose further investigation of psychometric properties of the Croatian translation of the MWQ and investigating test-retest reliability as well as discriminant validity of the Questionnaire.

Aim: Emotional facial expressions are cross-culturally readily recognized. Although each of the emotions could be expressed by body language, we are better tuned to facial expressions. We wanted to confirm our assumption that recognition of facial expressions of emotions is an innate ability of individual brain with gender specific pattern. Methods: This survey was based on 12 photos, with 11 basic and complex emotions and a neutral face expressed by professional male and female actors that were given to 259 participants (139 females/120 males) from late childhood to young adult age. We tested the recognition of fa- cial expressions of the following emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, contempt, disgust, sur - prise, confusion, shame, worry, anxiety and anger. Results: Female participants were better than male participants in recognizing emotional expressions on male faces. Also, facial expre- ssions on female faces were significantly better recognized than on male faces. Remarkable ...

Poremecaji u ponasanju ukljucuju sva ona ponasanja koja nisu prilagođena životnoj dobi, okolini i ometaju funkcioniranje djeteta i adolescenta. Iz godine u godinu bilježi se porast pocinjenja kaznenih djela od strane maloljetnika, a ujedno unutar nase zajednice ne postoji strukturirano i organizirano ucenje roditeljskih vjestina. Iz tog je razloga Drustvo za psiholosku pomoc „Sunce“ uz financijsku potporu Ministarstva zdravlja pokrenula program s ciljem doprinosa rjesavanja problema djece s poremecajem u ponasanju, kao i onih koji su u riziku za nastanak poremecaja. Program se temelji na ideji o prepoznavanju važnosti i potencijala institucije obitelji u rjesavanju problema ovih rizicnih skupina te se provodi od rujna 2010. godine. Postojece nadležne institucije koje se bave problematikom te djece i njihovih roditelja ogranicene su u svome djelovanju zbog nedostatka strucnog osoblja, prevelikog obima zadataka i korisnika koji svakodnevno traže pomoc i podrsku. Ciljana skupina korisn...

Psychology Days in Zadar is an international conference organized biennially by the Department of Psychology of the University of Zadar. It started over 40 years ago and it has evolved over decades into a recognizable psychology conference that attracts many researchers from Croatia and abroad.The 21st Psychology Days conference in Zadar was held on May 24‐26 2018. It was organized by an international organizational‐scientific committee and gathered over 330 active participants from Spain, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and USA. At conference, 130 papers were presented through four invited lectures, two symposia, twelve oral sessions, two poster sessions and four workshops.Encouraged with authors` interest and positive experiences regarding previous editions of Book of Selected Proceedings (after 15th and 20th Psychology Days), we have decided to invite authors who participated at 21st Psycho...

Objectives. The goal of the study was to evaluate the effects of workshops focused on the training of communication skills. The next goal was to determine the inter-correlations between different social skills, in four situations: in experimental/ control group of participants and before/ after social skills training intervention. Materials and Methods. Experimental design type 2x2, with experimental and control group was used. Students from four Croatian universities were involved in the Social Skills Training (SST). The sample consisted of 193 students, from which N =132 in the control group and N = 61 in the experimental group. Training of Social Skills (used as an independent variable) was conducted only in the experimental group, while the Social Skills Checklist (SSC) scores were the dependent variable. Results. Some expected significant differences in certain SSC in the experimental group suggested positive effects of Social Skills Training. Similar insights provide the trend...

Psychology Days in Zadar is an international conference organized biennially by the Department of Psychology of the University of Zadar. It started over 40 years ago and it has evolved over decades into a recognizable psychology conference that attracts many researchers from Croatia and abroad.The 21st Psychology Days conference in Zadar was held on May 24‐26 2018. It was organized by an international organizational‐scientific committee and gathered over 330 active participants from Spain, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and USA. At conference, 130 papers were presented through four invited lectures, two symposia, twelve oral sessions, two poster sessions and four workshops.Encouraged with authors` interest and positive experiences regarding previous editions of Book of Selected Proceedings (after 15th and 20th Psychology Days), we have decided to invite authors who participated at 21st Psycho...

To get a better understanding of the parental perception of digital devices used by preschool children in Croatia, as well as their expectations and mediation strategies, we report the findings from a qualitative study with two measurement points. At the first point, five families with children aged 6 to 7 were interviewed at their homes, where they provided information on how their children engage with new technologies, how such technologies are perceived by different family members and how parents manage their children’s use of digital technology. A year and a half later, the same families were interviewed again, in a similar manner, focusing on the changes which happened in that period, as reported by the parents. Results show that parents find digital technology important and beneficial for children’s cognitive and emotional development, but they fear possible negative consequences of its use. Most often, they use restrictive mediation. A year and a half later, parents also expr...

The aim of this research was to translate and adapt the revised version of the "Reading the mind in the eyes test" (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) to the Croatian language, and to provide preliminary data on its reliability, factor structure and convergent validity in a healthy population of Croatian students. After translation and adaptation, the Croatian version of the RMET was administered to 146 undergraduate and graduate students (84 female and 62 male participants). Together with the RMET, we administered the Emotional Empathy Scale (Raboteg-Šarić, 1993). Results show low internal consistency reliability of the Croatian adaptation of the RMET and adequate reliability measured with maximal reliability H coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis marginally supports the unidimensional model. Convergent validity was marginally confirmed by a significant positive correlation between REMT and empathy. Additionally, we created a short version of the RMET, showing adequate fit in...