Inclusive education is increasingly becoming a dominating paradigm of the educational system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, although supported by positive legislature, there are still numerous obstacles to inclusion. The goal of the present study was to examine the attitudes of regular education teachers towards inclusive education, more specifically towards obstacles to successful inclusion. The sample consisted of 200 elementary school teachers from two cantons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The greatest obstacle for inclusion as perceived by the teachers was the lack of professionals trained to work with children with special educational needs in regular schools. It is of utmost importance to support regular education teachers in their efforts to support all students in their classes. This calls for a more meaningful and thorough reformation of regular schools. Inkliuzinis ugdymas tampa vis labiau dominuojancia Bosnijos ir Hercegovinos ugdymo sistemos paradigma. Nepaisant to, kad sią paradigmą remia įstatymai, vis dar yra nemažai kliūcių, trukdancių įgyvendinti inkliuzinį ugdymą. Sio tyrimo tikslas – isanalizuoti bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų mokytojų požiūrį į inkliuzinį ugdymą, ypac atkreipiant dėmesį į tai, kas trukdo sėkmingai įgyvendinti sį ugdymo metodą. Tyrimo imtį sudarė 200 bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų mokytojų is dviejų Bosnijos ir Hercegovinos kantonų. Mokytojų nuomone, didžiausia inkliuzinio ugdymo įgyvendinimo kliūtis yra parengtų specialistų, kurie dirbtų su specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turinciais vaikais bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje, trūkumas. Labai svarbu teikti paramą tiems bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų mokytojams, kurie per pamokas stengiasi padėti visiems mokiniams. Si situacija suaktualina poreikį įgyvendinti prasmingesne ir nuodugnesne bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų reformą.

Abstract Semantic fluency is a measure of verbal functioning and cognitive flexibility. Its development is particularly rapid in preschool years. The goal of this study was to examine semantic fluency in preschool children in relation to child’s age and gender. The sample for this study comprised 133 children aged 3–6 years (mean age = 56.7 months; SD = 11.1 months) from Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In relation to child’s gender, there were 62 girls (46.6%) and 71 boys (53.8%). We used three different semantic fluency categories: animals, food and music instruments. The results of this study confirmed the effect of age on semantic fluency improvement. However, there were slightly different developmental trends for boys and girls in semantic fluency tasks. Girls achieved higher mean scores in all three semantic fluency tasks, but statistically significant differences were only for the category of music instruments. Given the rapid growth in semantic fluency in preschool children, it is very important to actively promote its development in early years.

Introduction: Quantifying science and scientific contribution has become one of the main tasks in evaluating researchers and their impact. How do we value research and science in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)? Scientific community has mostly agreed upon that one of the best ways to value researchers is through their h-index value. However, there are many databases and services from which h-index can be retrieved. Aim: To describe different databases and services such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus and Researchgate in evaluating the researcher. An additional aim of this paper is to present “the shape” of science at the University of Sarajevo and to examine what are the best predictors of h-index. Materials and methods: We analyzed the data from 100 Google Scholar Profiles of researchers from University of Sarajevo. Results: The study showed some benefits and shortcomings of mentioned databases and services. Most researchers in the sample were from natural sciences, in particular from the field of medicine. The mean value of h-index in relation to the researcher’s gender was not statistically significant. We conclude the article with some ideas on how to improve the visibility of researchers from BIH.

Purpose: Quality of life (QOL) is an important area of research in many scientific disciplines, and the findings could help in designing strategies to improve QOL for various clinical conditions. Chronic low back pain is a frequent medical condition that has a detrimental effect on QOL. The goal of this study was to examine the QOL of people with chronic low back pain in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH), and to assess the impact of demographic variables such as age and gender on the QOL. Methods: The study sample consisted of 50 people with low back pain, between 19-79 years of age (mean age 51.2, SD- 13.1 years). There were 35 females (70%) and 15 males (30%) in the sample. The instrument used for measuring the QOL was World Health Organisation Quality of Life scale BREF (WHOQOL BREF). Results: The study demonstrated that low back pain has a detrimental effect on QOL. There was a significant effect of age and gender on certain domains of QOL. Conclusions: Older age is a risk factor for lower QOL of people with chronic low back pain. Females are more likely to have lower scores on the psychological domain of QOL,and therefore need effective psychological interventions aimed at improving their QOL.

Abstract The goal of the present study was to examine the quality of life (QOL) of parents of children with intellectual disability. An additional goal was to examine the effects of gender and educational status on the QOL of these parents. The sample for this study consisted of 50 parents of children with intellectual disabilities and 50 parents of children without disabilities as a control group. As A measure of QOL, we used Family Quality of Life Survey. Results have shown that there is a statistically significant difference between the perceived QOL of parents of children with intellectual disabilities and parents of typically developing children. The effects of gender and educational status on QOL of parents of children with intellectual disabilities were also statistically significant. However, there were no interaction effects of gender and educational status on the QOL. Given the lower QOL of parents of children with intellectual disability, it is important to provide them with support programs in order to improve their QOL.

The goal of this study is to compare the attitudes of teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) and teachers from five European Union (EU) countries (Austria, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Germany) towards the inclusive education of students with special educational needs. The sample for this study is comprised of 110 teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina and 110 teachers from EU. The attitudes were examined by using a questionnaire that was adapted from the Index for inclusion. The final interview protocol consisted 20 questions, which had an excellent internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha of 0.98. A Chi square test was performed to test the differences in attitudes. The results of this study indicated highly positive attitudes towards inclusive education of EU teachers and positive attitudes of BIH teachers. EU teachers had more favourable attitudes than teachers in BIH on 18 of 20 questionnaire items. These findings were discussed in the light of previous BIH and international researches. The paper ends with a discussion for the challenges and possibilities for improvement of the inclusive education in BIH.

Quality of life (QOL) is one of the most researched topics in the field of disability in the last 30 years. However, there are few studies that examined the QOL in relation to the type of disability and self-reported health status. The goal of the present study was to examine the QOL in people with disabilities in relation to the type of disability and self-reported health status. The sample for this study consisted of 286 people with disabilities who were interviewed using the Personal Outcomes Scale as a measure of QOL. The results of this study revealed statistically significant differences in the self-reported QOL between people with different types of disabilities. The results also revealed a moderating effect that self-reported health status had on QOL across disability categories. There were no interaction effects of self-reported health status and disability category on the QOL. Generally, people with intellectual disability reported lower QOL than people in other disability categories. Self-reported health status had a significant impact on the QOL across the disability groups. Non-governmental organizations can, through their policies and practices, enhance the person-referenced QOL outcomes.

Normal 0 false false false BS-LATN-BA X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} Early intervention (EI) is widely recognized system of providing supports to children aged 0-5 years of age. Current evidence suggests that EI is the most efficacious method for reducing and potentially eliminating the symptoms of developmental disabilities. It is also widely used with children at risk or with children who already have some developmental delay. Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) does not have a well-developed system of EI. The goal of this paper is to describe the current trends in the field of EI in BIH and to describe one model of EI provision that is implemented in Zenica-Doboj Canton. There is a strong interest in creating the efficient system of early intervention in BIH. The different ideas about EI are coming from different stakeholders in the field, from Nongovernmental Organizations, UNICEF, local ministries of health, social welfare and education to the educational institutions providing services and supports to children with disabilities and their families. BIH needs to expand the system of EI and to improve the educational and rehabilitation opportunities for children with developmental disabilities. Centers, as the one described in this paper, need to be established across BIH.

Aim: The goal of this study was to examine the general satisfaction of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with treatment opportunities for their children in Bosnia and Herzegovina. An additional goal was to assess the level of mothers’ satisfaction with their own involvement in the creation and implementation of Individual Education Plans. Methods: The sample consisted of 98 mothers of children with ASD. Mothers answered to questions related to their perceived satisfaction with treatment options. Results: The results of this study indicated that mothers are generally satisfied with educational opportunities for their children (61.2%). However, their satisfaction with involvement in the creation and implementation of Individual Education Programs was much lower (35.7%). Most comments of the mothers were that the treatment options should be more widely available and that the educational programs could be improved. Conclusions: Parents of children with ASD should have more information on the treatment options available for their children. More educational opportunities need to be offered to children with ASD in Bosnia and Herzegovina.