This study examined the effects of the Dohsa-hou intervention package including the shaping of verbal requests using voice-output communication aids （VOCA） in a child with autism spectrum disorder. The subject was a third grader enrolled at a special support elementary school who was scored at 8 months on the joint attention score, having reached the stage of following of attention. The subject was intervened with using the Dohsa-hou intervention package for nineteen sessions. The package consisted of Dohsa-hou, playing catch, and shaping verbal requests with snacks and emotional contact play, using VOCA. The dependent variables were the following: joint attention score, eye contact during Dohsa-hou and playing catch, and differences between the subject’ s personal interactions at baseline and at evaluation. The results indicated that the eye contact during Dohsa-hou and playing catch as well as the percentage of verbal requests completed increased. After having gone through the package, the subject advanced to 11 months on the joint attention score, that is, to the following-of-behavior stage. These results were discussed in relation to the effects of the Dohsa-hou intervention package in promoting the development of joint attention and generalization of verbal requests.

This study examined gender differences in the fatigue feeling and coping with it in Japanese university students because fatigue is a more familiar feeling and can be recognized easily. In the preliminary study, the scenes in which the students were asked to make a plan with their friends when tired were classified into four categories according to the types of fatigue. In the main study, university students （n = 207） answered questionnaires asking them to openly describe their feelings and aimed to examine how they felt and behaved in the four scenes. The free descriptions were categorized to classify their responses. The chi-squared test indicated that both men and women tend to feel one’ s fatigue and behave in consideration of various other things, for example, others’ feelings, one’ s situations, and personal relationships in all fatigue situation. This study suggests that it is important to understand students’ thinking processes so as to support their intentions of self-management.

In this paper, we discuss the clinical psychological significance of Dohsa-hou for students with physical disabilitiess, who are just about to graduate, in the student counseling. The case was student A who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. A was a student with a mild physical disabilities, who could send daily life, and from his story, it was inferred that he had trouble due to his disability, a feeling of loneliness, and conflicts in accepting his disability. The therapist performed Dohsa-hou in 15 sessions with A. From the course of the case, it was thought that A would face his own disability by Dohsa-hou to A in student counseling, and that support for self-establishment including disability acceptance was provided. In addition, A experienced a feeling of security in his daily life by being sensuously understood by the therapist through Dohsa-hou in student counseling. Thus, it was found that Dohsa-hou for a student with physical disabilities in student counseling led to invisible isolation feeling hidden by visible physical disabilities and support for their self-establishment.

Interpersonal conflict exhibited by children and therapists’ interventions were examined in 64 therapists who supported 36 children with developmental disorders through group psychotherapy. The children were supported by a main-therapist and sometimes a co-therapist every second week. The therapists were asked to provide an estimate of the children’ s conflict-related behaviors at every group psychotherapy session. Based on these estimates, the children were statistically categorized into four groups: “Normal interaction group”,“Active interaction group”,“Self-centered interaction group”, and “Passive interaction group”. Thereafter, the therapists were asked to complete questionnaires regarding the interventions provided when the children experienced interpersonal conflict with peers. Two conditions of interpersonal conflict emerged in children with developmental disorders: 1） “difficulty with impulse control”and 2） “difficulty in being considerate toward others”. There were significant differences between these conditions in terms of the frequency and quality of behaviors during interpersonal conflicts with peers. The therapists found that self-centered children had more difficulties with impulse control and in being considerate toward others, and passive children had more difficulty being considerate toward others. The therapists selected their interventions based on the children’ s specific behaviors. For example, accepting the children’ s feelings and assisting to improve the children’ s inter-personal relationships. Additionally, they attempted to support children’ s interactions with peers, even when concerns were present regarding discrepancies between ideal interventions and interventions actually implemented.

Theories underlying the mechanism of Dohsa-hou and its psychotherapeutic configurations stipulate that the experience of movement attenuates and enhances body awareness related to internal sensations. However, the precise relationships between known constructs of body awareness have yet to be established and studies have yet to theoretically disambiguate their content validity. This study examined whether dimensions of positive body awareness are convergently or divergently associated with variables from an existing framework of responses to movement experiences described by Dohsa-hou. Interoceptive attention tendencies were measured using the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness （MAIA） and were subsequently compared with the Dohsa-hou Experience Scale （DES） in university students （N= 169） participating in a stress management program with self-active relaxation tasks. In support of two foundational accounts of theoretical convergence for the DES, positive correlations were observed for Bodily Self-Awareness and Noticing and Experience of Feeling States and Emotional Awareness. In addition, the control-related constructs of the DES correlated with regulatory MAIA dimensions and provided insights into the content of “Sense of Self-Activeness” as a facet. Overall, the observed relationships provide specificity for the attention tendencies present in short-term exposure to Dohsa-hou experiences, offer indications of incremental validity for the MAIA and instrument maturity implications for the DES, and suggest directions for further theorizing about Dohsa-hou constructs as incorporating elements of interoceptive and proprioceptive awareness.

This study aimed to examine the physical responses of Japanese students under stress conditions. In the present study, we compared Japanese and Malaysian university students’ physical and mental condition over a month, whether they experienced any physical response under stress conditions, and the contents of their physical response during stress conditions. The following results were obtained. Data analysis using a t test showed that the Japanese students’ score on the stress response scale was significantly higher as compared to Malaysian students. This indicates that Japanese students experience more stress and are more aware of the stress reactions of their mind and body than Malaysian students are. The Japanese and Malaysian students did not differ significantly in response to whether they experienced bodily pain or tension. This finding suggests that, in stress conditions, both Japanese and Malaysian students experience and perceive physical stress reactions and sensations. The descriptive contents of physical responses in stress conditions revealed that Japanese students reported clear symptoms such as headache and stomachache, and described subjective body sensations using onomatopoeic expressions. On the other hand, Malaysian students provided clear symptoms and descriptions about the degree of pain. However, their descriptions contained few reports of subjective body sensations using onomatopoeic expressions. These comparisons show the cultural features and differences in the expression of bodily sensations. In future, examining the cultural differences and cultural features of attitudes towards body sensations in daily life will clarify the characteristics and uniqueness of Japanese individuals’ attitudes towards bodily sensations.