Achieved a Degree in Psychology from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto, where I also completed a Master in Psychological Intervention with Children and Adolescents and completed my doctoral studies in Psychology. My major interest research is "Children’s Time Use" which is the topic of my doctoral dissertation completed in 2010. Since 1996 I have been doing psychological intervention with children and adolescents, as a clinical child psychologist, in the Cooperative O Fio de Ariana in Porto, Portugal. After five years of teaching Psychology and Communication Skills at the University of Porto, I am now teaching as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education of the University of St. Joseph, Macau. I am handling modules related to childhood and clinical psychology. My other main interest is the theme of disability and inclusion, and I am a co-founder of the “IN-Associação para a Inclusão ao Longo da Vida” (Association for Lifelong Inclusion).
Topic: Validation of Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA): Macao context
Abstract: The Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) offers a comprehensive approach to assessing adaptive and maladaptive functioning from preschool to elderly populations, using different informants. This presentation will focus on the validation of the ASEBA school-age forms (6-18 years) in Macao, a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China with a population of 679,600 (Macao SAR, 2020) and a lack of psychological instruments validated for this community. This research project will allow the development of norms for children and adolescents in Macao, important for practicing psychological counselors in this territory. The total population targeted for this study was 63270 children and adolescents, ages 6 to 18 (DSEJ, 2021), their parents and teachers. A great majority of participants are studying in private schools (N=61980; 96.89%). For the normative sample, we used a random stratified convenience sampling procedure - 1700 cases have been collected from 11 private schools and 2 public schools. A clinical sample is also being constituted and is in an ongoing process. The research design and data collection procedure will be presented with a special focus on sampling procedures and issues related to cultural specificities and constraints identified in the study. The need for a continuous and strong dialogue with the community is the main recommendation to conduct research in similar contexts.
Dr Mariam Mohamad is a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang Malaysia. Her research interest is in the field of mobile learning and mobile assistive technology. Dr Mariam was acknowledged as one of the pioneers from Malaysia in mobile learning research, in the book entitled Mobile Learning in Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific Region published by Springer. Her work also referred by UNESCO in the publication entitled; Turning on Mobile Learning: Illustrative Initiatives and Policy Implications. Dr. Mariam has extensive experience in disseminating her work internationally. She actively involves presenting her work in international conferences with ISI Web of Science and SCOPUS indexed status. She has shown her capability in her area as invited speakers. She was invited by UNESCO to present her work in Mobile Learning Week 2014 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. She was also invited by 2nd International Conference on Education and Multimedia Technology (ICEMT 2018) to give her speech in Okinawa, Japan and 5th International Mobile Learning Festival (IMLF2018) in Singapore. In 2019, she was invited by 5th International Conference in Education (ICEDU2019) in Kuala Lumpur as a plenary speaker and forum panelist. She also attended 3rd International Conference on Education and Multimedia Technology (ICEMT 2019), in Nagoya, Japan as a plenary speaker. In 2020 she was invited as a keynote speaker for the 5th International Multidisciplinary Research Conference (IMRC 2020), in Philipines followed by another invitation as a keynote speaker in the 1st International Conference on Education Science and Technology for Sustainable Development, in Philippines. In 2021, she contribute as the Keynote Speaker in TEL 2021 (International Conference on Education 2021), Plenary Speaker in ICSE 2021 (4th International Conference on Special Education) and also as Invited Speaker for ICEEL 2021 (International Conference on Educationa and E-learning). As one of the renowned researchers in mobile learning in Malaysia, she was elected as an exco member for Mobile Learning Association Malaysia. For her success in the field, in 2021, she was awarded with international grants which include Sumitomo Foundation and Japan Foundation to support her research in mobile assistive technology. She also won various prestigious innovation competition since 2016. One of her studies which is “Using tactile letters as an assistive technology in teaching alphabet for Dyslexic children”, has received the gold medal in an innovation competition known as iCompEx 2016. Her most recent project is exploring the use of mobile health application for the visual impaired individual known as Sejahtera Lestari obtained gold medal and bronze model in two prestigious innovation competition, IUCEL2018 and IIDEA2018. Latest achievements include; (i)Bronze medal award from Teaching and Learning Competition (K-Novasi) 2019 entitled “Mobile e-book for mathematics undergraduate students”, (ii)Gold medal award from Virtual Innovation Competition 2020 entitled “Historical Courses Learning Model Embedded with Virtual Reality As Remote Learning Tool Of Game Based Mode”, (iii)Bronze medal award from International Invention, Innovation and Design Competition 2020 entitled “AULSTRA guide to writing on the go”, (iv)Silver medal award from International Innovation Arsvot Malaysia (IAM 2021) entitled “ Learning module for history subject via mobile based learning” and (v)Bronze medal award from International Innovation Arsvot Malaysia (IAM 2021) entitled “Education in need and demand victory app: An innovation framework utilizing virtual reality to improve visual learning ability and students performance gain in history lessons contents”. For the community, she also devoted her time as the President for Dyslexia Association, Penang State and the Advisor for Special Need Students Association, University Sains Malaysia. She is also a committee member for Research & Development Unit, Malaysian Association for The Blind.
Topic: Mobile Assistive Technology for Special Educational Need Learners in Malaysia: A Review and Signs of Hope
Abstract: Parallel to the Education Act (1996) and Persons with Disabilities Act (1998), there are growing awareness among researchers in Malaysia in exploring the area of mobile assistive technology to support Special Educational Need (SEN) learners in Malaysia. SEN learners as categorised by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia are classified under five categories of learning disabilities; Down Syndrome, Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Dyslexia and Slow Learners. This study explores the research trend of mobile assistive technology in Malaysia within these categories. The research design of this study is qualitative and based on secondary sources and data are processed using Nvivo. The study compares and contrasts various studies in the mobile assistive area in Malaysia. The findings generate guidance which ought to be considered by prospective researchers embarking on this field to enlighten them about the research gap. It is envisaged that this study will bring significant impact for the future of mobile assistive technology in Malaysia.
Dr. Farzaneh Haratyan received her first MA in TEFL and first PhD in English Literature from University Malaya UM, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia in 2014. She studied her second MA and PhD in General Psychology at Science and Research Branch, IAU, Tehran, Iran. She has been teaching as an assistant professor at IAU for 15 years and in May 2022, she was appointed as a distinguished associate professor in the faculty of languages at Huaiyin University. Her interest lies in the way psychological theories can be applied to language studies like psycholinguistics, psychosemiotics, and psycholiterary criticism. She has published papers and books and created a translation workshop translating books on psychology with her MA students since 2020. She has been working as a counselor in clinic in the area of family therapy applying CT, REBT, and ER. She has presented papers in the conferences held in Finland, Australia, Japan, China, Romania, India, Singapore, Turkey, Malaysia, Japan, and Australia... She has been supervising and examining MA and PhD theses. Curreny she is a faculty member at Suzhou university. She is interested in calligraphy, yoga, cycling, creative poetry and motivational writings.
Topic: The Necessity of Er/Rebt Educational Implementation
Abstract: The whole globe has encountered unprecedentedly dismal despair since the outbreak of the Coronavirus which positioned people in a traumatic shock as they witnessed numerous deaths. The disaster was circulating worldwide swiftly and infecting people on a large scale. Lockdown as one of the harshest measures of social distancing brought ensuing economic and financial loss leading to poverty, which itself paved the way for negative feelings of fear, panic, anxiety, alienation, depression, and lower resilience. Counselors and researchers investigated therapies that could aid people to sustain or to improve their mental health. ER and REBT are among approaches generally concentrating on minds and thought processes. They explicate the techniques to people to help them manage and regulate their emotions successfully so appropriate behaviors and favorable interactions could be the outcome. In this lecture, I contend the necessity and significance of education for psychological awareness regarding the influence of thoughts on emotions and succeeding actions. Organizations and institutes are advised to implement instructional courses about the managing tactics for the people to learn how to respond more effectively to the stressors of traumatic circumstances linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. The knowledge of these regulatory strategies can mitigate the dire psychological effects of depression, distress, and functional impairment.
Keywords: Covid-19, ER, REBT, Educational implementation, Mental Health, and Depressio