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Gentile M, Messineo L, La Guardia D, Arrigo M, Città G, Ayala A, Cusimano G, Martines P, Mendolia G, Allegra M. A Parent-Mediated Telehealth Program for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder : Promoting Parents' Ability to Stimulate the Children's Learning, Reduce Parenting Stress, and Boost Their Sense of Parenting Empowerment. J Autism Dev Disord 2022; 52:5285-5300. [PMID: 35235129 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05482-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
This study investigates the effectiveness of a 6-month parent-mediated early intervention telehealth program for children with an autism spectrum disorder. The participants comprised a total of 27 parents. The findings showed that participation in the program promotes parents' empowerment and reduce parental stress and a general improvement in the parents' ability to stimulate children's learning. Moreover, the study reveals an effect of parents' age in mediating the relationship among the parents' ability, stress, and empowerment levels. These results suggest that an early intervention telehealth program may help parents become aware of how to benefit from interactions with their children, promote their empowerment, and reduce parenting stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Gentile
- Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Ugo la Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy
| | - Linda Messineo
- Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Ugo la Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy.
| | - Dario La Guardia
- Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Ugo la Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy
| | - Marco Arrigo
- Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Ugo la Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Città
- Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Ugo la Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy
| | - Antonia Ayala
- Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Ugo la Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy
| | - Gaspare Cusimano
- Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Ugo la Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy
| | - Pio Martines
- Azienda Sanitaria Provinciale di Trapani, Cittadella della Salute, viale della Provincia, 2, 91016, Erice Casa-Santa, Trapani, Italy
| | - Giovanna Mendolia
- Azienda Sanitaria Provinciale di Trapani, Cittadella della Salute, viale della Provincia, 2, 91016, Erice Casa-Santa, Trapani, Italy
| | - Mario Allegra
- Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Ugo la Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy
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Abstract
We present a storytelling robot, controlled via the ACT-R cognitive architecture, able to adopt different persuasive techniques and ethical stances while conversing about some topics concerning COVID-19. The main contribution of the paper consists in the proposal of a needs-driven model that guides and evaluates, during the dialogue, the use (if any) of persuasive techniques available in the agent procedural memory. The portfolio of persuasive techniques tested in such a model ranges from the use of storytelling to framing techniques and rhetorical-based arguments. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first attempt of building a persuasive agent able to integrate a mix of explicitly grounded cognitive assumptions about dialogue management, storytelling and persuasive techniques as well as ethical attitudes. The paper presents the results of an exploratory evaluation of the system on 63 participants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnese Augello
- Institute for High Performance Computing and Networking of the National Research Council of Italy (ICAR-CNR), Palermo, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Città
- Institute for Educational Technology of the National Research Council of Italy (ITD-CNR), Palermo, Italy
| | - Manuel Gentile
- Institute for Educational Technology of the National Research Council of Italy (ITD-CNR), Palermo, Italy
- Department of Computer Science of University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Antonio Lieto
- Institute for High Performance Computing and Networking of the National Research Council of Italy (ICAR-CNR), Palermo, Italy
- Department of Computer Science of University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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Città G, Gentile M, Augello A, Ottaviano S, Allegra M, Dignum F. Analyzing Creativity in the Light of Social Practice Theory. Front Psychol 2019; 9:2752. [PMID: 30692955 PMCID: PMC6340098 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In this work, starting from the social practice theory, we identified two kinds of creativity: a situational creativity that takes place when, starting from a defined situation, a social practice is played; and a creativity of habit that concerns the agents' capacity for generating new practices from habit when the situation is not defined or is unexpected. To test this hypothesis, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (Verbal Form A) was analyzed in the light of praxeology, and the results are analyzed in a computational creativity perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Città
- Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Manuel Gentile
- Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Agnese Augello
- Institute for High Performance Computing and Networking, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Simona Ottaviano
- Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Mario Allegra
- Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Frank Dignum
- Department of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
- Department of Computer Science, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czechia
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