Previous research conducted in English indicates that the visual appearances of different typefaces are perceived as possessing distinct characteristics, what we call "print personality" (e.g., masculine, feminine, serious, fun) to the extent that the typeface used conveys information to the reader beyond that which is expressed linguistically by the word. Recent work has found that these attributions of "print personality" also extend to typefaces written in Arabic, but one language that is distinct from both languages is Turkish. Turkish is written in a version of the Latinate alphabet containing 29 letters which include unique diacritics and is a genderless language which requires no gender associations for nouns, pronouns, or adjectives. Given that many print personalities appear to be strongly associated with gender (masculine, feminine, elegance, confidence), it remains to be determined if the association of print personalities extends to Turkish typefaces, and the pattern of any such associations. Accordingly, sixteen different typefaces were presented to fluent native Turkish readers who rated each typeface according to 22 different personality characteristics. The results indicate that, although Turkish participants readily assigned personality characteristics to different typefaces, gendered associations across different typefaces were far weaker than previously found. Implications for the generality of the existence of typeface personalities across different languages, and the effect this may have on perception of genderless languages, are discussed.

AimThis study explores the predictors and associated risk factors of sleep quality, quality of life, fatigue, and mental health among the Turkish population during the COVID-19 post-pandemic period.Materials and methodsA cross-sectional survey using multi-stage, stratified random sampling was employed. In total, 3,200 persons were approached. Of these, 2,624 (82%) completed the questionnaire package consisting of socio-demographic information, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the WHO Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF), Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS), Patients Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15), GAD-7 anxiety scale, and the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21).ResultsSignificant differences between genders were found regarding socio-demographic characteristics (p < 0.01). Using PHQ-15 for depressive disorders, significant differences were found between normal and high severity scores (≥ 10), regarding age group (p < 0.001), gender (p = 0.049), educational level (p < 0.001), occupational status (p = 0.019), cigarette smoking (p = 0.002), waterpipe-narghile smoking (p = 0.039), and co-morbidity (p = 0.003). The WHOQOL-BREF indicated strong correlations between public health, physical health, psychological status, social relationships, environmental conditions, and sleep disorders (p < 0.01). Furthermore, comparisons of the prevalence of mental health symptoms and sleeping with PHQ-15 scores ≥ 10 (p = 0.039), fatigue (p = 0.012), depression (p = 0.009), anxiety (p = 0.032), stress (p = 0.045), and GAD-7 (p < 0.001), were significantly higher among the mental health condition according to sleeping disorder status. Multiple regression analysis revealed that DASS21 stress (p < 0.001), DASS21 depression (p < 0.001), DASS21 anxiety (p = 0.002), physical health (WHOQOL-BREF) (p = 0.007), patient health depression-PHQ-15 (p = 0.011), psychological health (WHOQOL-BREF) (p = 0.012), fatigue (p = 0.017), and environmental factors (WHOQOL-BREF) (p = 0.041) were the main predictor risk factors associated with sleep when adjusted for gender and age.ConclusionThe current study has shown that sleep quality was associated with the mental health symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and fatigue. In addition, insufficient sleep duration and unsatisfactory sleep quality seemed to affect physical and mental health functioning.

The study of word recognition has been influenced greatly by findings obtained when visual stimuli are presented very briefly. Under these conditions, a great deal of evidence suggests that words are perceived better than nonwords, and even single letters, and it is generally accepted that these “word superiority effects” reflect the relative efficiency with which words are perceived. For more than 50 years, a key procedure for establishing these effects has been the Reicher-Wheeler Paradigm in which potentially confounding effects of non-perceptual guesswork are cleverly suppressed. More recently, however, the actual nature of the Reicher-Wheeler paradigm and its contribution to research have become misrepresented in a range of publications, and its use in experiments has been confused and conflated with other, less sophisticated procedures. In this article we describe the actual contributions made by the Reicher-Wheeler Paradigm to word recognition research and show examples of how these important contributions have been misunderstood and misconceived in experiments reported in the recent literature.

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019, which has since proved to be a pandemic of variants, the educational landscape has undergone a drastic transformation as educational institutions across the globe have shifted en masse into online learning, resulting in an unprecedented paradigm shift from on-campus face-to-face instruction to a remote teaching model. Pivotal and timely, this applied linguistic survey research, aimed to investigate this “forced immersion” into academic cyberspace and the challenges created by this “emergency adoption” of virtual education by exploring 50 English language faculty members’ experiences, challenges and perceptions of three universities in three different countries. The study sought to identify and document (1) the effectiveness of online teaching, (2) the difficulties of its implementation, (3) student interaction and engagement in the online environment, and (4) factors that could enhance its efficacy. The study employed a descriptive quantitative research approach. The study concluded that the success of online distance learning is contingent on several issues. This case study provides educators and educational leaders, based on the expressed perceptions and needs of faculty, with pedagogical insights, which could be of significance to institutional strategic planning and professional development. The study generates knowledge related to applied linguistic and educational research and furthers our understanding of the challenges of online learning.

Background: The world experienced the greatest pandemic of the 21st century with the emergence of a new and readily transmissible the coronavirus disease. Understanding knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the public towards the pandemic is an essential part of developing effective preventive strategies. Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) concerning the coronavirus (COVID-19) among population in Istanbul. Methods: This is a cross-sectional and multi-stage, stratified random sampling based on multi-center population of Istanbul. A total of 5,414 persons were contacted and 4361 participants (80.5%) gave consent. The data were analyzed using descriptive and multiple regression analyses. Results: There were significant differences between low education and high educational level with respect to age groups, gender, occupation, income, residence, number of rooms and family members (P < 0.001). Responses concerning knowledge of COVID-19 indicated that subjects with high education level were significantly higher regarding knowledge of the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and methods of detecting COVID-19 respectively. Majority of the participants consider COVID-19 risk is higher than AIDS or Cancer (75.8% of low education vs. 67.2% of high education level (P < 0.001). Multivariate stepwise regression analysis revealed that monthly income status (P < 0.001), appropriate method of detecting COVID-19 (P < 0.001), occupational status (P < 0.001), medical mask prevent against COVID-19 (P < 0.001), eating or contacting wild animals (P < 0.001), isolation and treatment of people reduce risk (P < 0.001), isolation 14 days (P < 0.001), avoid going to crowded places such as train-metro, bus, restaurants and shopping (P = 0.003), COVID-19 spreads via-respiratory droplets (P = 0.004), afraid of travel (P = 0.026) were significantly associated with COVID-19 knowledge. Conclusions: The current study results revealed that the educational level and occupation especially sedentary are correlated positively with knowledge, attitude and practices. This finding is not surprising since higher education levels and professional status are associated with good KAP in most epidemic diseases including COVID-19. Nevertheless, the recent experience with COVID-19 has provided lessons on strategy and policy making.

The need for psychosocial intervention programmes to address the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown restrictions on the mental health of young people is evident. Using a within subject pretest-posttest design, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)-based anxiety and depression management psychoeducation programmes on mental health and coping skills in youth ages 14–20. The Demographic Information Form, Revised Child Anxiety Depression Scale, and KidCope were administered before and after the psychoeducational programme to assess programme outcomes. The results indicate significant decreases in levels of anxiety, significant decreases in avoidance of anxiety-provoking situations and significant increases in coping skills following the online CBT Anxiety Management Psychoeducation Program. A significant decrease in depression scores was noted among the online CBT Depression Management Psychoeducation Program participants. Although these results should be interpreted cautiously due to limitations of the study (e.g., no control group, high attrition), they suggest that psychological prevention or intervention programmes may be beneficial for young people who are physically unable to go to school or who cannot interact face-to-face with social support networks.

AIM:The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the COVID-19 pandemic and psychological fatigue as a mental health issue among the population of Istanbul, Turkey.PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS:This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Istanbul, Turkey, between March and June 2020, where a total of 4,700 persons were approached and 3,672 (78%) of participants (64.4% males and 35.6% females) completed the Knowledge Attitude Practices (KAP) and Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) questionnaires.RESULTS:In this study, 64.1% of participants were categorized as psychologically fatigued and 35.9% as normal. There was a significant difference between fatigued and normal participants with respect to age, educational level, occupational status, place of residence and number of family members (p < .001). Other differences related to knowledge of COVID-19 were symptoms, treatment, ways of spreading (p < .001), prevention by avoiding crowded places (p = .008) and isolation (p = .002). For attitudinal items, normal participants generally showed more positive attitudes than the fatigued in believing that COVID-19 will finally be controlled, satisfaction with preventive measures taken by the authorities, reporting suspected cases with symptoms and trusting that Turkey can overcome the COVID-19 pandemic (p < .001). Multivariate stepwise regression analysis indicated that level of education, avoiding going to crowded places, eye, nose and mouth organs are sensitive organs to the virus, keeping physical distance due to epidemic affect by COVID-19 virus, isolation and treatment of people reduce the spread of COVID-19 virus and 14-days period of time, COVID-19 is mainly transmitted through contact with the respiratory droplets of an infected person, occupational status, health education programme needed and antibody treatment variables were significantly associated with fatigue after adjusting for age, gender and income variables.CONCLUSION:The current study provides valuable information for policymakers and mental health professionals worldwide regarding associations between the mental health of individuals and the ongoing outbreak, COVİD-19.

Current findings suggest that many people experience high levels of anxiety, depressive symptoms and life dissatisfaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic.However, the effects of the pandemic and life changes during the new normal of social restrictions in Turkey are yet to be examined.This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, correlates and predictors of life satisfaction, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms during the new normal of ongoing social restrictions.This is a cross-sectional study conducted online with 352 participants living in Turkey.Measures included the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Satisfaction with Life Scales.Sociodemographic variables and questions relating to the COVID-19 were collected.The results showed that low social communication and the sense of being restricted were significant predictors of life dissatisfaction, depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms.Of the participants, 91.5% were dissatisfied with their lives during the new normal of social restrictions.In addition, nearly half of the participants showed depressive symptoms (55.7%) and anxiety symptoms (54.3%).The present study suggested that social communication might be a key factor to improve psychological wellbeing.Considering the long-term effects of the pandemic on public mental health, developing effective preventive measures and intervention strategies are crucial.

Koronavirüs salgını sürecinin genel olarak toplum ve özel olarak uluslararası öğrenciler üzerindeki psiko-sosyal etkileriyle baş etmek için destek sağlayabilecek müdahale programlarına ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of COVID-19 in community. Subjects and Methods: This is a cross-sectional community-based survey and conducted among the population of Turkish on their level of awareness of COVID 19.The survey based on structured questionnaire methods were conducted to survey the KAP level about COVID-19. A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was performed between March to June 2020, a total of 5500 persons were approached and 4422 (63.7% of males and 36.3% of females) (80.4%) participants completed the questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis. Results: Of the total number of subjects surveyed, 90% of subjects recognized the term “COVID-19”. Educational level inreses awareness of COVID -19 virus. The majority 89% use medical masks and gloves to prevent against COVID-19 virus. Most people believe that there is no effective treatment or vaccine for COVID-2019, although, early prevention may help most patients contracted from the infection. In addition, a wide majority think that risk of COVID-19 is higher than AIDS or Cancer (70.6%). Over 88% people are afraid to travel due to COVID-19 virus and also majority 87% fearing to contact relatives or friend with COVID positive. Conclusion: The survey revealed a high level of fatigue, stress and fear among the respondents. The recent experience with COVID-19 provided lessons on policy making. Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, fear, depression, OCD, fatigue. Read more →

This study is a design and development-based research which intends to develop a module specifically to be implemented on adolescents to help enhance their emotional competence and also to test the content validity of the module. Seven professionals with experience in dealing with adolescent emotional issues were recruited to validate the module. A rating scale based on this is constructed to be evaluated by the professionals. The overall validity was calculated based on the percentage of agreement between the professionals. The Emotional Competency Module received an overall validity rating of 85.6%. Therefore, there is evidence that shows that this module is suitable to be implemented to enhance the emotional competency level of adolescents.

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Emotional Competency Module developed specifically for adolescents in Malaysia to help address the huge delinquent behavior cases in Malaysia. Method: This module is one of the modules that was developed based on Daniel Goleman’s four emotion competency constructs. The module reliability instrument was developed based on the objectives of the activities in the module. A pilot test was conducted to measure the reliability of the module. After the pilot test, 19 participants were asked to answer the module reliability instrument and later on a Cronbach’s alpha value was analysed. Results: All the four domains and the overall module activities items showed very high reliability values. The reliability value showed that the module had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.968 to 0.826. The reliability value of the overall module was 0.985. Implications: The findings of the study suggest that the module is effective for adolescents as each activity successfully achieved its objectives. This module also serves as a guideline for psychologists, counsellors and teachers to provide emotional competence training for adolescents. This study provides a new module to train emotional competency specifically for adolescents in Malaysia. Study is significant to provide and prove a new ECM module activities for youngster to improve their emotional well-being.

In Education sectors many researchers have focused student’s life style and effects on mental health. Currently there are many factors which are contributing to develop depressive symptoms among University Students. Study was conduct to investigate the relationship between skipping breakfast and lack of physical exercise are contributing risk factor of depression among University students. To conduct this survey research, sample (N=350) students participated from different faculties, of Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), Malaysia. Students (178% male, 172% female), age (19-27 years) were selected by using convenience sampling. This survey was conduct by administering the structured questionnaire of Breakfast information and Habitual physical exercise questionnaire, level of depression was measured by Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, et al., 1996). Results revealed that there was strongly negative correlation between the scores of having breakfast, Habitual physical activity and depression. Multiple regression shows that skipping breakfast and lack of physical activities were significant, F(2,347=87.99, p<.000), R2 33%, which revealed skipping breakfast and physical activity are significant at (p<.000). Result indicate that skipping breakfast and lack of physical activity can predict depression. Student’s life style behavior of skipping meal and lack of physical are significant for mental and emotional health. Present research predict that skipping breakfast, lack of physical exercise are risk factors toward depression among students. This study is important to learn about the contributing factors of mental health, we can encourage students to take healthy and timely meal and participate regularly in exercise to increase mental health.

Introduction Researchers portray the possibility that emotional competency issues among adolescents can cause behavioural problems in future. They are at risk of becoming dissatisfied and unhappy teenagers and may choose to become involved in negative activities such as gangsterism, bullying, drug abuse, sexual misconduct, and crime” (Kuldas et al, 2015). The aim of the study is to explore emotional issues that are more evident among youngsters. Method Interviews were conducted with 14 professionals and 13 students from the Tunas Bakti schools, secondary schools and universities. Results Through thematic analysis using the MAXQDA software revealed nine themes which are professional competency, living environment, relationship management, self-management, social awareness, self-awareness, juvenile institution negative and juvenile institution positive and ways of coping. Future recommendations, Future studies can help investigate the new findings discovered in the thematic analysis such as the professional competency. Meanwhile, studies in overcoming issues involved in the living environment theme can be explored further.