Psychological factors

1. Discuss the psychological factors associated with pain and, at least, one psychosocial intervention used to treat pain.

Psychological factors related to pain disorder get viewed to play a significant role in the onset, seriousness, exacerbation or maintenance of the pain. Psychological assessment assists in understanding patient’s experience of pain together with any associated pain behavior such as grimacing, postural changes and expressions of face. It also assists in identifying coping strategies that get used by the patient and whether they result in a positive outcome such as distraction and staying busy or adverse outcome such as catastrophising and limitation of activity. The diagnosis of pain disorder with psychological factors gets made when the patient’s reaction is out of proportion to the physical condition and when deficits in psychosocial functioning occur.

The psychological factors associated with pain include (Turk & Gatchel, 2013).

Cognitions: Fear about paralysis and despondency can result in elevated levels of pain.
Emotion: High levels of pain get associated with fear, anxiety, general stress and depression. High levels of these aspects compel individuals to seek medical treatment for the pain.
Behavior: Pain gets associated with low self-esteem as well as marked avoidance
Attention: Giving a particular pain lot of attention can result in elevated intensity.
Interpretation: Pain gets assessed differently by different patients, for instance, an individual who suffered a heart attack may ignore a muscle twitch in the chest.
Expectations: The type of expectation an individual has towards a particular pain may affect the feedback received from pain receptors.
Context: The time when pain is occurring determines the pain felt by a person, for instance, a patient who has got injected with anesthesia in a theater surgery procedure may not feel the pain until later.
Coping approaches: Different approaches get used to minimize pain. They include biofeedback, visualization, positive affirmations, and distraction.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Pain Management
This psychosocial treatment process involves several phases. The first step in treatment is pain education, where a patient gets explained about pain, how the role of own response towards pain influences pain experience and coping strategies in pain control. The second step involves in one or more coping skills for pain management. The therapist provides an educational rationale, basic instruction as well as guided practice and feedback got each strategy taught. The third step involves home practice with the skills learned from the therapist. The last step of treatment involves assisting patients to establish a program for maintaining their skills practice after the completion of training and for overcoming setbacks and relapses in the coping strategies.

2. Pick two of the five theoretical models of coping with chronic illness and describe in detail. What adherence interventions would be effective in the two models you choose?

Self-Regulation Model
It is a theoretical model of goal-directed behavior that gets applied to understanding people’s ability to cope with the chronic disorder. In this model, the human behavior gets influenced by objectives through which individuals seek to develop particular desired conditions in their lives. Patients use the self-realization process to strive to achieve certain goals. This model gets based on the assumption that patients experience stress when they get hindrances towards achieving their goals and dealing with stress gets conceptualized as efforts at self-regulation based on that adversity. Suffering from a chronic illness is stressful to the extent that it gets viewed to prevent a patient’s goals and their ability to deal successfully with the disease get determined by their capacity to reassess the goals (Suls, Davidson & Kaplan, 2010).

Self-Determination Model
It is a theoretical model based on a broader theory of human motivation and behavior referred to as self-determination theory. The theory assumes that humans have three natural psychological needs namely, autonomy, competence, and relatedness to others and when these needs get met; persons usually experience improved self-motivation, development, and well-being. The theory recognizes that behavioral and affective factors of coping with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension get facilitated by self-management. According to this model, people’s motivations for autonomy and competence are vital in successfully coping with chronic illnesses. Autonomy motivation occurs when individuals experience volition and choice in their illness-related behaviors, whereas competence occurs when patient’s feel that they can control important disease-related outcomes.

The Best Route to French Proficiency: Private Lessons vs. Group Classes

Learning a new language is something that almost all of us have considered at some point in life. Getting started with it is an enriching and stimulating journey with many challenges ahead. French is one of the most popular choices due to its widespread usage. When starting this adventure, one of the very first decisions to consider is whether to do it on a private basis or in a group class. Both approaches come with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Therefore before making a decision it is important to understand them well.

Personalized attention in private French lessons. @@@@@p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal,
As obvious as it may sound, private lessons offer a personalized attention during your learning process. This is very important because it will enable you to learn at your own pace, meaning you will not get lost in class if you are a slow learner and you will be able to progress much faster if you are a quick learner. Moreover, each individual has different skills and whilst some people might have difficulties understanding grammar, others may struggle with listening or speaking. Another obvious advantage is that you will be able to take lessons at your preferred time and frequency to match your lifestyle and learning speed expectations.

Learning at your own speed is essential to assimilate the contents and learning how to use them. Very often students go through some content only to observe after that they are incapable to use it in context when the time comes. Additionally students will be able to put more focus on certain topics that are more relevant for them live business or travel.

One final very important advantage is your capacity to engage in more meaningful conversations with your teacher. This interaction will become crucial to develop your conversational fluency. The most common problem in group classes is that students will not get many chances to practice real conversations with a native speaker, which at the end of the day is one of the main objectives of learning a foreign language.

Good for socializing: Group Classes

The main advantage of group classes is that students will get the chance to socialize with other people. This is especially useful for students taking the learning process as a chill relaxing hobby regardless of the outcome. Learning with others can be fun if your goal is to slowly learn the language as a long term process rather than a short one.

Group classes will also cost less, so for students on a tight budget often the only choice is going for group lessons. It can be a very good value for money if you consider the whole pack of learning a new skill plus socializing. It is very important though to have a good instructor following a well-structured curriculum.

Another difference is the systematic approach to learning. Such classes follow a curriculum which cannot be adapted the student needs giving less flexibility but a clear structure at the same time. Some students find the sense of progression going through different levels satisfying and something to be proud of.

Factors to consider

When deciding between private lessons and big group classes for learning French students should consider the following:

Learning goals: Are you looking to become fluent within a specific time-frame? Do you have specific immediate goals like a work trip or a holiday? Private lessons will definitely be a better choice for long term fluency.
Learning style: Do you prefer big group social interactions? Or do you thrive more in one on one sessions? Your personal style should be considered.
Budget: What is your current financial situation? Private lessons provide a more personalized attention but the cost will be higher.
Time constraints: Do you have a busy schedule? Or your timing is flexible?
Motivation: Which setting do you think can keep you personally more motivated?
Availability of resources: Take into consideration the resources provided in both set ups so that you can also do self-learning when you are not with the instructor.
Finding the Right Balance
In reality you don’t have to settle for one approach. If you want to quick start your learning process you could go with private lessons first and later on switch to group classes. If your top priority is socializing you could first go for group classes and later switch to private learning. Some people that consider themselves slow learners might opt for a group + private lesson approach which also works well.

Ultimately the choice between one or another comes down to personal preferences, goals and resources. It is essential to stay committed to the learning process if you really want to learn the language so you should find whatever keeps you engaged and motivated.
Learning French is a motivating activity and if you know yourself well and what usually works best for you, definitely you will achieve your objectives. The French language will open you a new world of opportunities. The most important thing is to push your boundaries and enjoy the journey, bonne chance!

Are SEN Teaching Assistants in Demand?

With more children being diagnosed with special needs, SEN teaching assistants are needed to help support these children. A SEN teaching assistant supports pupils with physical, behavioural, and learning difficulties. This could be supporting the learning of small groups, one on one with student or you may work in a full classroom at a special SEN school. To become a SEN teaching assistant, you may decide to take a course from traditional college education or a functional skills online course for flexibility.

What are the responsibilities of a SEN teaching assistant?
The responsibilities will vary from which position you decide to take in the education sector. Generally, you will be required to support pupils to understand instructions and understand their schoolwork, you will use your learned skills to encourage the children’s confidence and independence while providing helpful feedback to assist teachers. This may also follow on to the students’ social activities. international home study zone may also be useful to you.

More specific responsibilities could be the following:
working with pupils through care programmes
communicate with parents and professionals to share information
help teachers to maintain pupil records
communicate information to the teacher
create a stimulating environment for the children
take care of the pupils physical, social
emotional welfare
work both in and outside the classroom to support individual learners or groups
prepare learning materials under teacher supervision.
To improve your chances of getting a position as a SEN teaching assistant you will need to make sure you achieved the necessary skills and qualification for the position. If you decide to do this, you need to complete SEN teaching assistant training a you will need to make sure you meet the requirements of the job you apply to.

You will need to be patient, understanding, sensitive, flexible and have excellent verbal communication skills as well as the need to be creative so that you can change your teaching style to suit each individual learner. You can learn this on SEN teaching assistant training.

What hours will I work?
A SEN teaching assistant works from around 30-40 hours. If you work for a school, you most likely work term times which usually starts from September to December, January to March or April and then April to Mid-July.

What can I earn?
The salary for a SEN Teaching Assistant can be around £17,000 in the UK, it can then rise to an average of around £20,000 when you progress in the position. The highest earning SEN teaching assistants earn around £29,000 a year. This can depend on factors such as location, experience, responsibility and how much you already earn.

How do I find a SEN teaching assistant job?
You can use the traditional methods to find SEN teaching assistant jobs such as newspapers and online job sites. It is also worth looking at school websites as schools tend to advertise on by that method. Facebook is also beginning to advertise local jobs in your area, you can find this searching through the Facebook search bar or going to specific Facebook pages and seeing if they were advertising.