Mental state talk involves words that describe the mental world of individuals. These could be words that are about thoughts, feelings, desires, intentions, and emotions. There has been dearth of research in Pakistan assessing the parents and teachers’ use of mental state talk in conversation with young children, commonly because of lack of assessment tool that are employed to measure the mental state talk in Pakistan. The present study aimed at validation and development of indigenous tool for the assessment of mental state talk of parents/teachers to use with children. Wordless picture story book reading was selected as one the various methods devised for mental state talk assessment; which facilitates interactions between parents/teachers and their children. For validation, Indigenous picture story books were reviewed for its content and modified through opinion of subject matter experts. Content and face validity of the story book were examined and found to be good. The finding concluded that finalized wordless picture story book has rich mental state content and has great potential to stimulate rich discourse on mental state talk. It will bridge the research gap and will promote as a good measurement instrument for research on mental state talk in Pakistan.
The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic is constantly posing warning and creating mental health crisis among people without any discrimination. Therefore, the current study purpose is to explore mental health upheaval and transition in future perspectives due to COVID-19. Using exploratory study design, semi structure interviews were conducted. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed by using Thematic Content Analysis. The major themes which were identified showed that COVID-19 is constantly eliciting panic and mental health issues such as anxiety, stress, and depression, fears of death, xenophobia, OCD and uncertainty about future among general population. Results also indicated the major transition in public future perspectives and perception. Concern related to adjustability in life after pandemic is major emerging future concern among Pakistani People. During pandemic outbreak, people are becoming vulnerable to different mental health problems. To overcome these issues successfully, role of mental health professionals cannot be denied. There is strong need to devise activities and strategies which help people to increase resilience and build strong relationships during the period of social distancing. This paper gives a deep insight into mental health problems among general population due to COVID-19 and it also implicates need of psychological services to overcome these issues.
Keeping in mind the importance of measuring early executive function (EF) skills in low and middle-income countries, the present study examined the feasibility and preliminary psychometric properties of a performance-based computerized EF measure; EF Touch, to be used with Pakistani preschoolers. Review of the content and Urdu translation of verbal instruction EF Touch battery was carried out by subject matter experts before data collection from the 120 preschoolers aged between 3.1 to 5.9 years. The feasibility report indicated that between 79.2% -100% of the preschoolers completed each executive function task. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the unidimensionality of the EF battery. Item response theory models were used for the initial assessment of tasks and item parameters. Results demonstrated that each task worked invariantly across subgroups of preschoolers residing in low and middle-income households. Moreover, preschoolers showed differences on each task, and task scores reflect their latent EF skills in the low to moderate range. The battery was demonstrated as a feasible and reliable measure for use with low and middle-income countries specifically in Pakistan.
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