English summaries (03/2012)
Psychology of procrastination
Procrastination is defined in this review as self-sabotaging dilatory behavior. It is important to deepen our common knowledge about procrastination because it not only causes subjective distress but also has many negative societal consequences. Individual characteristics that predispose to procrastination include impulsiveness, distractibility, low self-efficacy, low self-control, low organization and unreasonably high expectations for achievement. People procrastinate especially when they are tired, when tasks are unpleasant, boring or difficult and the deadline is far away. Procrastination can be understood as self-regulatory failure which is theoretically modeled here by Temporal Motivation Theory. Procrastination can be reduced by modifying tasks and the working environment. It is critical to favor clear deadlines and smaller, well defined goals and tasks.
Keywords: Procrastination, TMT-model, university studies, motivation
Effectiveness of neuropsychological rehabilitation
This review describes studies on the effectiveness of neuropsychological rehabilitation and in the light of this information examines the praxis of neuropsychological rehabilitation in Finland. The review focused on the biggest illness groups receiving neuropsychological rehabilitation, those being ischemic strokes and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Progressing conditions included were MS and Alzheimer´s disease . Especially strong evidence of the effectiveness of neuropsychological rehabilitation for stroke and TBI patients was found in rehabilitating neglect, attention and disabilities in social communication, teaching compensatory strategies in mild memory disorders and teaching meta-cognitive skills. There is also evidence on the effectiveness of rehabilitation in language disabilities, apraxia, and of teaching limited skills and the use of external memory aids in severe memory disorders. In MS there is evidence that rehabilitation helps remediate cognitive and mood difficulties. For Alzheimer´s disease initial evidence was found for cognitive training being able to slow down the progression of disabilities in cognitive functioning and activities of daily living.
Keywords: neuropsychological rehabilitation, effectiveness, stroke, TBI, MS, Alzheimer´s disease