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OBJECTIVE In process-outcome research, there is a growing body of literature investigating the therapeutic mechanisms underlying the promotion of positive change. This study investigated the between- and within-patient effects of problem mastery and motivational clarification on outcome in patients receiving two variations of cognitive therapies for depression. METHODS This study drew on data of a randomized controlled trial conducted at an outpatient clinic and included 140 patients randomly assigned to 22 sessions of either cognitive-behavioral therapy or exposure-based cognitive therapy. To address the nested structure of the data and analyze mechanism effects, we used multilevel dynamic structural equations models. RESULTS We found significant within-patient effects of both problem mastery and motivational clarification on subsequent outcome. CONCLUSION The results suggest that changes in problem mastery and motivational clarification precede symptom improvement during cognitive therapy for depressed patients and thus there may be benefit in fostering these putative mechanisms during psychotherapy.

Ambulatory Assessment (AA) provides a range of advantages that justifies its exponential growth as a research methodology in clinical psychology. Although a plethora of research has implemented AA in social anxiety individuals, these data have not been synthesized yet.

Antecedentes: los tratamientos psicológicos han mostrado su efi cacia, efectividad y efi ciencia para el abordaje de los trastornos mentales; no obstante, considerando el conocimiento científi co generado en los últimos años, no se dispone de trabajos de actualización en español sobre cuáles son los tratamientos psicológicos con respaldo empírico. El objetivo fue realizar una revisión selectiva de los principales tratamientos psicológicos empíricamente apoyados para el abordaje de trastornos mentales en personas adultas. Método: se recogen niveles de evidencia y grados de recomendación en función de los criterios propuestos por el Sistema Nacional de Salud de España (en las Guías de Práctica Clínica) para diferentes trastornos psicológicos. Resultados: los resultados sugieren que los tratamientos psicológicos disponen de apoyo empírico para el abordaje de un amplio elenco de trastornos psicológicos. El grado de apoyo empírico oscila de bajo a alto en función del trastorno psicológico analizado. La revisión sugiere que ciertos campos de intervención necesitan una mayor investigación. Conclusiones: a partir de esta revisión selectiva, los profesionales de la psicología podrán disponer de información rigurosa y actualizada que les permita tomar decisiones informadas a la hora de implementar aquellos procedimientos psicoterapéuticos empíricamente fundamentados en función de las características de las personas que demandan ayuda. Background: Psychological treatments have shown their efficacy, effectiveness, and efficiency in dealing with mental disorders. However, considering the scientific knowledge generated in recent years, in the Spanish context, there are no updating studies about empirically supported psychological treatments. The main goal was to carry out a selective review of the main empirically supported psychological treatments for mental disorders in adults. Method: Levels of evidence and degrees of recommendation were collected based on the criteria proposed by the Spanish National Health System (Clinical Practice Guidelines) for different psychological disorders. Results: The results indicate that psychological treatments have empirical support for the approach to a wide range of psychological disorders. These levels of empirical evidence gathered range from low to high depending on the psychological disorder analysed. The review indicates the existence of certain fields of intervention that need further investigation. Conclusions: Based on this selective review, psychology professionals will be able to have rigorous, up-to-date information that allows them to make informed decisions when implementing empirically based psychotherapeutic procedures based on the characteristics of the people who require help.

Antecedentes: los tratamientos psicológicos han mostrado su eficacia, efectividad y eficiencia para el abordaje de los trastornos mentales; no obstante, considerando el conocimiento científico generado en los últimos años, no se dispone de trabajos de actualización en español sobre cuáles son los tratamientos psicológicos con respaldo empírico. El objetivo fue realizar una revisión selectiva de los principales tratamientos psicológicos empíricamente apoyados para el abordaje de trastornos mentales en personas adultas. Método: se recogen niveles de evidencia y grados de recomendación en función de los criterios propuestos por el Sistema Nacional de Salud de España (en las Guías de Práctica Clínica) para diferentes trastornos psicológicos. Resultados: los resultados sugieren que los tratamientos psicológicos disponen de apoyo empírico para el abordaje de un amplio elenco de trastornos psicológicos. El grado de apoyo empírico oscila de bajo a alto en función del trastorno psicológico analizado. La revisión sugiere que ciertos campos de intervención necesitan una mayor investigación. Conclusiones: a partir de esta revisión selectiva, los profesionales de la psicología podrán disponer de información rigurosa y actualizada que les permita tomar decisiones informadas a la hora de implementar aquellos procedimientos psicoterapéuticos empíricamente fundamentados en función de las características de las personas que demandan ayuda. Background: Psychological treatments have shown their efficacy, effectiveness, and efficiency in dealing with mental disorders. However, considering the scientific knowledge generated in recent years, in the Spanish context, there are no updating studies about empirically supported psychological treatments. The main goal was to carry out a selective review of the main empirically supported psychological treatments for mental disorders in adults. Method: Levels of evidence and degrees of recommendation were collected based on the criteria proposed by the Spanish National Health System (Clinical Practice Guidelines) for different psychological disorders. Results: The results indicate that psychological treatments have empirical support for the approach to a wide range of psychological disorders. These levels of empirical evidence gathered range from low to high depending on the psychological disorder analysed. The review indicates the existence of certain fields of intervention that need further investigation. Conclusions: Based on this selective review, psychology professionals will be able to have rigorous, up-to-date information that allows them to make informed decisions when implementing empirically based psychotherapeutic procedures based on the characteristics of the people who require help.

La metacognición hace referencia al conjunto de habilidades que nos permiten conocer cómo funciona nuestro sistema mental y reflexionar sobre esta misma experiencia de conocimiento. Los objetivos de este estudio fueron en primer lugar, diseñar un cuestionario de auto-informe para evaluar habilidades metacognitivas en el ámbito de la psicopatología, y en segundo lugar, comparar las habilidades metacognitivas evaluadas a través del nuevo instrumento en dos muestras provenientes de España y Argentina. Los resultados indican que el Cuestionario de Habilidades Metacognitivas (CHM) es un instrumento fiable que evalúa los dos grandes componentes de la metacognición: conocimiento y regulación. Así mismo, las diferencias encontradas en las muestras sugieren que las habilidades metacognitivas podrían estar relacionadas tanto con la edad, como con el contexto sociocultural de las personas. Metacognition refers to the set of skills that allow us to know how our mental system works and to think about this experience of knowledge. The objectives of this study were first, to design a selfreport questionnaire to assess metacognitive skills in psychopathology, and secondly, to compare the metacognitive abilities assessed through the new instrument in Spanish and Argentinian participants. Our results indicate that the Metacognitive Abilities Questionnaire (CHM) is a reliable instrument that assesses the two major components of metacognition: knowledge and regulation. Likewise, differences found in the study participants suggest that metacognitive abilities could be related to individuals’ age and sociocultural context.

Resumen del póster presentado a la 37th International Conference on Animal Genetics (ISAG), celebrada en Lleida (España) del 7 al 12 de julio de 2019., Morphological traits are of great importance to dairy goat production given their strong incidence on milk yield and longevity. However, their genomic architecture has not yet been extensively characterized. Murciano-Granadina is one of the most important goat dairy breeds in Spain, and its breeding program includes the measurement of 17 morphological traits related to udder, feet and body conformation. Our aim was to identify genomic regions associated with these 17 different morphological traits by performing a genome-wide association analysis (GWAS). A total of 722 Murciano-Granadina female goats with linear evaluation records of each morphological trait were genotyped with the Goat SNP50 BeadChip. Raw phenotypes were corrected for fixed factors (farm, age, number of births and milking stage at the scoring date). After quality control of the data, genome-wide association analyses and chromosome-wide association analyses were performed by using the genome-wide efficient mixed-model association (GEMMA) software. We found no significant associations between the typed SNPs and the studied traits at the genome-wide level. However, the chromosome-wide analysis made possible to identify 3 SNPs associated with diameter and positioning of the nipples in chromosomes 26 and 28. Interestingly, one significant SNP on chromosome 26 was located downstream the FGFBP3 gene, which modulates FGFR signaling, one of the main pathways determining the proper development of mammary stem cells. With regard to body conformation, SNPs on chromosome 17 were found to be associated with the chest width. These SNPs mapped to the genes ZNF268 and ZNF827, which encode zinc finger proteins playing important roles in cell growth, proliferation, development, apoptosis, and intracellular signal transduction. Our results suggest a strong additive polygenic background for these morphological traits since we were unable to identify any region on the genome with major effects on their phenotypic variance.

Background: Given the rise of Internet-based treatments (IBTs) as an effective therapeutic tool for psychological disorders, it is necessary to carry out research that examines clients’ experiences with this type of intervention. The qualitative methodology has been found to be useful for analyzing clients’ perceptions in terms of facilitators and barriers, acceptability, and negative effects of IBTs. However, a lack of integration of these primary studies has kept the results from being applied in new research studies and in clinical practice. Objective: The objective of the present paper is to describe the protocol for a meta- synthesis of qualitative studies exploring the experiences of clients who underwent an IBT. Methods: Elliot and Timulak’s meta-synthesis approach will be used to review and synthesize qualitative studies related to clients’ experiences in terms of the barriers and facilitators they perceived when undergoing IBTs. For each search string, the different aspects included in the SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type) tool will be considered. Electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science) will be searched. Two independent reviewers will analyze the material in order to determine whether the eligibility criteria are fulfilled. Findings will make it possible to create a hierarchy of domains in terms of their relevance across all the primary studies. The data obtained from primary studies will be cross-analyzed by utilizing descriptive and interpretative procedures. Results: To date, the search strategy is being conducted. It is aimed to complete the study at the end of 2018. Conclusions: A conceptual framework of the barriers and facilitators perceived by the clients will be developed. Implications and recommendations for clinical practice, research, and training will be suggested.

This chapter describes the principal characteristics of virtual reality and serious games for the treatment of psychological disorders.&nbsp

La Red para el desarrollo de jóvenes psicoterapeutas e investigadores es una Red de Investigación Orientada por la Práctica (RIOP) conformada por clínicos e investigadores jóvenes, en sus primeros años de desarrollo profesional. Siguiendo los principios de la Investigación Orientada por la Práctica, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo describir el proceso de construcción de esta RIOP proporcionando una explicación general de las razones que motivaron su desarrollo, así como las características actuales de los psicoterapeutas jóvenes. Para introducir el contexto en el que se basa esta RIOP, se proporcionan datos empíricos sobre la composición de los psicoterapeutas en Argentina y España. Se presentan dos estudios: el primero describe el desarrollo de un cuestionario que explora las actitudes de los psicoterapeutas y el uso de los resultados de la investigación en la práctica clínica, las dificultades que encuentran para acceder a los resultados científicos y para llevar a cabo una investigación. Además, se estudiaron las propiedades psicométricas del cuestionario, obteniéndose una solución de tres factores. También se observó que los clínicos españoles informan mayores dificultades de acceso a la investigación que los argentinos. El segundo estudio explora cómo los terapeutas toman decisiones clínicas y éstas impactan en el proceso de tratamiento y su resultado. Además, se observaron diferentes procesos de toma de decisión clínica al comparar un clínico puro (más orientado a la experiencia profesional y a los resultados de la investigación) con un clínico que realiza también tareas de investigación (más propenso a guiarse por la intuición y la supervisión). La alianza terapéutica y el curso clínico de los pacientes se asociaron con estos procesos de toma de decisiones. Se describen las implicaciones clínicas de los resultados y se presentan los planes futuros de la RIOP. Red para el desarrollo de jóvenes psicoterapeutas e investigadores (Network for the Development of Young Psychotherapists and Researchers) is a Practice Research Network (PRN) conformed by early career clinicians and researchers. Following Practice-Oriented Research principles, the present study aims to describe the building process of this PRN by providing an overall explanation of the reasons that motivate its development, as well as to characterize the current situation of early career psychotherapists. To introduce the context in which our PRN is built, empirical data on the composition of early career psychotherapists in Argentina and Spain will be provided. Two studies are presented. The first study describes the development of a questionnaire that explores psychotherapists' attitudes and use of research outcomes in the clinical practice, as well as difficulties in accessing to scientific results and barriers to conducting research. The second study explores how therapists make clinical decisions and how these decisions impact on treatment process and outcome. In study 1, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were explored and a three-factor solution was obtained. We also observed that Spanish clinicians reported greater research accessibility difficulties than Argentines. Study 2 revealed different clinical decision-making processes when comparing pure clinicians (more oriented towards professional experience and research outcomes) and research clinicians (more likely to be guided by intuition and supervision). The therapeutic alliance and the clinical course of patients were associated with these decision-making processes. Clinical implications of the results are described and future plans of the PRN are presented.

Correspondence between self-descriptions and observations of external judges: A study on the personal style of the therapist. The personal style of the therapist (PST) is defined as the set of characteristics that lead the therapist to behave in a particular professional way. This empirical study aims to provide evidence of the concurrent validity of the EPT-C, an instrument to assess PST. Cluster analysis was performed with data from 79 audio-taped recorded sessions of 20 psychotherapists. The contrasting groups’ method was applied to compare EPT-C scores with the scores of the Guide for the Observation of the Therapist Aiglé (GOTA-v) as the criterion variable. The mean values, obtained in the EPT-C dimensions of three therapists’ clusters arising from the sessions’ observations and codification of emerging categories, were compared. Significant differences were found in two EPT-C dimensions: attentional and operative. These results are evidence of the concurrent validity of the EPT-C questionnaire. El estilo personal del terapeuta (EPT) se conceptualiza como el conjunto de condiciones singulares que conducen a un terapeuta a operar en su desempeño profesional. El objetivo de este estudio empírico es aportar evidencia sobre la validez concurrente de un instrumento que evalúa el EPT (EPT-C). Se realizó un análisis de cluster a partir de 79 sesiones transcriptas de 20 psicoterapeutas. Para ello, se aplicó metodología de grupos contrastados para comparar los puntajes del EPT-C con los valores de la Guía de Observación del Terapeuta Aiglé (GOTA-v) como variable criterio. Se compararon las medias obtenidas en las dimensiones EPT-C para tres clusters de terapeutas, identificados a partir de la observación de las sesiones y la codificación de las categorías emergentes. Se obtuvieron diferencias significativas en dos dimensiones del el EPT-C: la atencional y la operativa. Los resultados evidencian la validez concurrente del instrumento EPT-C para evaluar el EPT.

Background: Given the rise of internet-based treatments as an effective therapeutic tool for psychological disorders, it is necessary to carry out research that examines clients’ experiences with this type of intervention. The qualitative methodology has been found to be useful for analyzing clients’ perceptions in terms of facilitators and barriers, acceptability, and negative effects of internet-based treatments. However, a lack of integration of these primary studies has prevented their findings from being applied to new research and in clinical practice. Objective: The objective of this paper is to describe the protocol for a metasynthesis of qualitative studies exploring the experiences of clients who underwent an internet-based treatment. Methods: Elliot and Timulak’s metasynthesis approach will be used to review and synthesize qualitative studies related to client experiences in terms of the barriers and facilitators they perceived when undergoing internet-based treatment. For each search string, the features in the Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type (SPIDER) tool will be considered. Electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science) will be searched. Two independent reviewers will analyze the material in order to determine whether the eligibility criteria are fulfilled. Findings will make it possible to create a hierarchy of domains in terms of their relevance across all the primary studies. The data obtained from primary studies will be cross-analyzed using descriptive and interpretative procedures. Results: The search strategy is currently being conducted. First results are expected to be submitted for publication in 2019. Conclusions: We will develop conceptual framework of the barriers and facilitators perceived by clients and propose their implications and recommendations for clinical practice, research, and training. Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42018079894; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=79894 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/73C6OtlS7). International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/9722

Background: Living in the time of theCOVID-19 means experiencing not only a global health emergency but alsoextremepsychologicalstress with potential emotional side effects such as sadness, grief, irritability, and mood swings. Crucially, lockdown and confinement measures isolate people who become the first and the only ones in charge of their own mental health: people are left alone facing a novel and potentially lethal situation, and, at the same time, they need to develop adaptive strategies to face it, at home. In this view,easy-to-use, inexpensive, and scientifically validated self-help solutions aiming to reduce thepsychologicalburdenofcoronavirusare extremely necessary. Aims: This pragmatic trial aims to provide the evidence that a weekly self-helpvirtualreality(VR)protocolcan helpovercomethepsychologicalburdenof theCoronavirusby relieving anxiety, improving well-being, and reinforcing social connectedness. Theprotocolwill be based on the “Secret Garden” 360 VR video online (www.covidfeelgood.com) which simulates a natural environment aiming to promote relaxation and self-reflection. Three hundred sixty–degree or spherical videos allow the user to control the viewing direction. In this way, the user can explore the content from any angle like a panorama and experience presence and immersion. The “Secret Garden” video is combined with daily exercises that are designed to be experienced with another person (not necessarily physically together), to facilitate a process of critical examination and eventual revision of core assumptions and beliefs related to personal identity, relationships, and goals. Methods: This is a multicentric, pragmatic pilot randomized controlled trial involving individuals who experienced theCOVID-19 pandemic and underwent a lockdown and quarantine procedures. The trial is approved by the Ethics Committee of the Istituto Auxologico Italiano. Each research group in all the countries joining the pragmatic trial, aims at enrolling at least 30 individuals in the experimental group experiencing the self-helpprotocol, and 30 in the control group, over a period of 3 months to verify the feasibility of the intervention. Conclusion: The goal of thisprotocolis for VR to become the “surgical mask” of mental health treatment. Although surgical masks do not provide the wearer with a reliable level of protection against thecoronaviruscompared with FFP2 or FFP3 masks, surgical masks are very effective in protecting others from the wearer’s respiratory emissions. The goal of the VRprotocolis the same: not necessarily to solve complex mental health problems but rather to improve well-being and preserve social connectedness through the beneficial social effects generated by positive emotions

[Background] Inbreeding depression can adversely affect traits related to fitness, reproduction and productive performance. Although current research suggests that inbreeding levels are generally low in most goat breeds, the impact of inbreeding depression on phenotypes of economic interest has only been investigated in a few studies based on genealogical data., [Results] We genotyped 1040 goats with the Goat SNP50 BeadChip. This information was used to estimate different molecular inbreeding coefficients and characterise runs of homozygosity and homozygosity patterns. We detected 38 genomic regions with increased homozygosity as well as 8 ROH hotspots mapping to chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 6, 14, 16 and 17. Eight hundred seventeen goats with available records for dairy traits were analysed to evaluate the potential consequences of inbreeding depression on milk phenotypes. Four regions on chromosomes 8 and 25 were significantly associated with inbreeding depression for the natural logarithm of the somatic cell count. Notably, these regions contain several genes related with immunity, such as SYK, IL27, CCL19 and CCL21. Moreover, one region on chromosome 2 was significantly associated with inbreeding depression for milk yield., [Conclusions] Although genomic inbreeding levels are low in Murciano-Granadina goats, significant evidence of inbreeding depression for the logarithm of the somatic cell count, a phenotype closely associated with udder health and milk yield, have been detected in this population. Minimising inbreeding would be expected to augment economic gain by increasing milk yield and reducing the incidence of mastitis, which is one of the main causes of dairy goat culling., This research was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación - Agencia Estatal de Investigación/Project Reference grant: PID2019-105805RB-I00 and by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. We also acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación for the Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa 2020–2023 (CEX2019–000902-S) grant awarded to the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG, Bellaterra, Spain). We also acknowledge the support of the CERCA programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Dailu Guan was funded by a PhD fellowship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC). Maria Luigi-Sierra was funded with a PhD fellowship Formación de Personal Investigador (BES-C-2017-079709) awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019–000902-S).