Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Background Therapeutic Physical Activity (TPA) is an unaddressed behavioral recreational method in anger management programs in higher education in Egypt, especially among students with physical disabilities (SWPD). Purpose This study aimed to assess the efficacy of an 8-week TPA intervention on the severity of anger in male university students with physical disabilities in Egypt. Methods A randomized controlled trial (RCT) design (parallel-group) was used with 140 male undergraduate students at Minia University who were randomly divided into an 8-week TPA group ( n = 70) and a treatment-as-usual (TAU) control group ( n = 70). Severity of anger was measured at baseline and at the end of the intervention with the PROMIS Anger Short Form 8a. Results There was a clinically significant and statistically significant difference between the TPA and controls in the severity of anger, F (1, 137) = 48.62, p < 0.001, partial η 2 = 0.262, with a mean difference of −10.42 T-score points (95% CI: −13.48, −7.36) greater than the MCID. Reductions in anger were not associated with physical functioning changes, indicating non-physiological mechanisms. Moderately positive relationships were found between adherence and anger reduction (r = 0.42; p < 0.001), and sensitivity analyses showed that the results were consistent across disability severity. Conclusion TPA is a culturally affirming, body-based, anger-management approach that incorporates adaptive sports and behavioral learning for SWPD emotion regulation. Therapeutic recreation may be implemented as a low-stigma, easy-to-access supplemental mental health support program in the University disability services, especially for male students in collectivist contexts.

زمینه: فعالیت بدنی درمانی (TPA) روشی رفتاری و تفریحی است که در برنامه‌های مدیریت خشم در آموزش عالی مصر، به‌ویژه در میان دانشجویان دارای معلولیت جسمی (SWPD)، مورد توجه قرار نگرفته است. هدف: این مطالعه با هدف ارزیابی اثربخشی یک مداخله TPA هشت‌هفته‌ای بر شدت خشم در دانشجویان پسر دانشگاهی دارای معلولیت جسمی در مصر انجام شد. روش‌ها: طرح کارآزمایی تصادفی‌شده‌ی کنترل‌شده (RCT) با گروه‌های موازی با حضور ۱۴۰ دانشجوی پسر مقطع کارشناسی در دانشگاه Minia اجرا شد که به‌طور تصادفی به دو گروه TPA هشت‌هفته‌ای (n = 70) و گروه کنترل با درمان معمول (TAU) (n = 70) تقسیم شدند. شدت خشم در آغاز و پایان مداخله با فرم کوتاه خشم PROMIS Anger Short Form 8a سنجیده شد. یافته‌ها: تفاوت معنادار بالینی و آماری بین گروه TPA و کنترل‌ها در شدت خشم مشاهده شد، F (1, 137) = 48.62, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.262، با اختلاف میانگین −10.42 امتیاز T-score (95% CI: −13.48, −7.36) که بیش از MCID بود. کاهش خشم با تغییرات عملکرد جسمانی ارتباطی نداشت و این امر نشان‌دهنده وجود سازوکارهای غیر فیزیولوژیک است. روابط مثبت متوسطی بین پایبندی به مداخله و کاهش خشم (r = 0.42; p < 0.001) یافت شد و تحلیل حساسیت نشان داد که نتایج در سطوح مختلف شدت معلولیت یکسان است. نتیجه‌گیری: TPA رویکردی مبتنی بر بدن و تأییدکننده فرهنگی برای مدیریت خشم است که ورزش‌های تطبیقی و یادگیری رفتاری را برای تنظیم هیجان SWPD ادغام می‌کند. تفریحات درمانی می‌تواند به‌عنوان برنامه حمایتی سلامت روان با برچسب‌گذاری پایین و دسترسی آسان در خدمات معلولیت دانشگاه، به‌ویژه برای دانشجویان پسر در زمینه‌های جمع‌گرا، اجرا شود.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) has developed an effective technology of reinforcement delivery, including Discrete Trial Training, Natural Environment Teaching, and token economies, largely on functional-behavioral grounds. Computational neuroscience has independently produced formal accounts of reinforcement learning centered on prediction errors and credit assignment. I propose a testable hypothesis connecting the two: the effectiveness of a reinforcement procedure depends on the quality of the learning signal that its delivery produces on each occasion, a property I term Reward Prediction-Error Fidelity (RPE Fidelity). The property is decomposed into four dimensions, temporal credit, contingency, prediction, and outcome value, each corresponding to a construct long studied in behavior analysis. Formalized within an actor-critic model with eligibility traces, the four dimensions enter the learning update multiplicatively, which implies that they cannot compensate for one another and that the effect of each depends on the others and on the learner’s history. The combination rule distinguishes the hypothesis from the separate behavioral constructs it draws on, and its dependence on learning history distinguishes it from steady-state quantitative models of reinforcement. I situate the hypothesis within an integrative framework, discuss its application to autistic learners, including differences in reward processing and volatility estimation and the role of learner assent, and compare it with procedural fidelity, quantitative behavioral theory, and alternative learning models, including attentional, timescale-invariant, successor-representation, and Bayesian accounts. I derive nine predictions, specifying for each the result that would favor the hypothesis and the result that would favor its strongest competitor, and outline a staged research programme compatible with single-case experimental designs.