Background Ethical decision making in intensive care is a demanding task. The need to proceed to ethical decision is considered to be a stress factor that may lead to burnout. The aim of this study is to explore the ethical problems that may increase burnout levels among physicians and nurses working in Portuguese intensive care units . A quantitative, multicentre, correlational study was conducted among 300 professionals.Results The most crucial ethical decisions made by professionals working in ICU were related to (...) communication, withholding or withdrawing treatments and terminal sedation. A positive relation was found between ethical decision making and burnout in nurses, namely, between burnout and the need to withdraw treatments , to withhold treatments and to proceed to terminal sedation . This did not apply to physicians. Emotional exhaustion was the burnout subdimension most affected by the ethical decision. The nurses' lack of involvement in ethical decision making was identified as a risk factor. Nevertheless, in comparison with nurses , it was the physicians who more keenly felt the need to proceed to ethical decisions in ICU.Conclusions Ethical problems were reported at different levels by physicians and nurses. The type of ethical decisions made by nurses working in Portuguese ICUs had an impact on burnout levels. This did not apply to physicians. This study highlights the need for education in the field of ethics in ICUs and the need to foster inter-disciplinary discussion so as to encourage ethical team deliberation in order to prevent burnout. (shrink)

Aggregating snippets from the semantic memories of many individuals may not yield a good map of an individual’s semantic memory. The authors analyze the structure of semantic networks that they sampled from individuals through a new snowball sampling paradigm during approximately 6 weeks of 1-hr daily sessions. The semantic networks of individuals have a small-world structure with short distances between words and high clustering. The distribution of links follows a power law truncated by an exponential cutoff, meaning that most words (...) are poorly connected and a minority of words has a high, although bounded, number of connections. Existing aggregate networks mirror the individual link distributions, and so they are not scale-free, as has been previously assumed; still, there are properties of individual structure that the aggregate networks do not reflect. A simulation of the new sampling process suggests that it can uncover the true structure of an individual’s semantic memory. (shrink)

Authentic leadership has become increasingly important in the literature, attracting the attention of many scholars in the last decade. This study adopted an employee-centered perspective to guide its examination of the relationship between authentic leadership and individual performance and investigation of the sequential mediation of employees’ affective commitment and individual creativity. An analysis was conducted of data collected from 214 employees working in different business sectors. The results reveal a statistically significant positive relationship between authentic leadership and employees’ workplace performance, (...) which are both directly connected and indirectly linked through the two proposed psychosocial mechanisms. The findings thus indicate that authentic leadership reinforces workers’ emotional connection with their organizations, thereby increasing their individual creativity and, subsequently, promoting better on-the-job performance. This study presents new and significant results since, on the one hand, it relied on a sequential mediation analysis of variables and, on the other hand, integrated the four main constructs into a single model. The proposed model displays the chain of effects between authentic leadership, affective commitment, individual creativity, and employee workplace performance. Implications for organizational management are discussed. (shrink)

Cuando se piensa en arte, lo primero que se nos viene a la mente es una expresión de la actividad humana mediante la cual se manifiesta una visión personal sobre lo real o imaginado, es decir, el artista imita, expresa y crea, ya sea copiando lo que hay a su alrededor o fantaseando con lo que no hay. Pero, ¿será ésta una definición concreta? Al preguntar a varias personas qué es lo que consideran como arte, muchas contestarán que es eso (...) que te hace sentir, eso que te hace escapar de la realidad, mientras que otros dirán que es lo que está en las galerías o museos y que ellos no entienden las obras de arte de hoy en día. (shrink)

En la Antigüedad se consideró el arte como mímesis, es decir, como imitación. Platón fue quien añadió a este concepto una nueva definición que caracterizaba a un tipo concreto de arte y distinguió el arte que produce objetos del que simplemente los representa. Decía que el arte imita a la naturaleza, que era un espejo de la realidad, de la naturaleza. Inclusive desde su misma teoría de las ideas, el arte no era más que copia de la copia y, por (...) tanto, sombra de la realidad verdadera, y por esto mismo no lo consideraba importante, pues la misma imitación se caracterizaba en términos de duplicar algo de algo que existía, y si se tenían las cosas en frente, para qué querría alguien tener una imitación de eso. (shrink)

Nesta comunicação pretende-se desenvolver a relação entre violência e política enquadrada no pensamento de Hannah Arendt e a partir de duas obras fundamentais, On Revolution (1963) e On Violence (1970). Investigando-se sobre o que constitui cada experiência em particular, a da violência (ainda que sob a forma da guerra ou da revolução) e a da política, esta relação permitirá equacionar criticamente as possibilidades e os limites das sociedades democráticas actuais como o resultado da tradição política e das revoluções da modernidade.

En este artículo revisamos la relación que se establece entre la democracia y el proyecto socialista. Debido a que las democracias actuales son predominantemente representativas de tradición liberal, también analizamos su ideal central: la libertad, en relación con el valor más importante de toda propuesta socialista: la igualdad. Nos referimos a la propuesta de Cornelius Castoriadis de un proyecto de autonomía personal y colectiva que entiende la libertad y la igualdad como propósitos políticos, por lo que la verdadera democracia se (...) identificaría con el socialismo. Palabras clave: Democracia; socialismo; libertad; igualdad; autonomía. Democracy and Socialism? An approach to Cornelius Castoriadis’ proposalIn this paper we review the relation between democracy and the socialist project. Since current democracies are predominantly representative and liberal, we also analyze their central ideal, namely, freedom, in connection with the most important value of every socialist proposal, namely, equality. We will refer to Cornelius Castoriadis’ proposal, centered on a project of personal and collective autonomy that recognizes both freedom and equality as political purposes, whereby true democracy would be identified with socialism. Keywords: Democracy; socialism; freedom; equality; autonomy. (shrink)

A experiência da liberdade permeou todo o desenvolvimento da formação cultural e ética da Antiguidade, sobretudo, como ensina Lima Vaz, no enfrentamento da contradição entre o agir humano e o destino. A preocupação com a ideia de liberdade atravessou o pensamento Sócrates, Platão, Aristóteles e Cícero. Ao voltar os olhos para o passado, Benjamin Constant percebeu um outro aspecto da liberdade antiga que talvez não tenha sido compreendido pelos próprios antigos como liberdade, que é a capacidade de de participar coletiva, (...) porém diretamente, da vida política e das decisões da polis. Por outro lado, Constant considera que apenas na Modernidade foi desenvolvida a ideia de liberdade individual. No entanto, é possível perceber que os pilares da liberdade jurídica e individual foram desenvolvidos na Roma antiga. Tendo em vista que para alcançar a dimensão da ideia de liberdade é indispensável percorrer os momentos históricos de seu desenvolvimento e o esforço filosófico destinado a caracterizá-la e explicá-la, buscar-se-á, neste trabalho, analisar como a ideia de liberdade foi compreendida na Antiguidade e confrontá-la com a concepção elaborada pelos filósofos da Modernidade, como Rousseau, Benjamin Constant e Kant. (shrink)

Este texto reflete sobre possibilidades de educação estética na universidade como necessidade premente à formação inicial de docentes, mais especificamente de pedagogos, no sentido da ampliação e do aperfeiçoamento de sua percepção estética, aliadas ao desenvolvimento de uma postura atenta aos contextos sócio-históricos vivenciados. Nessa direção, problematiza sobre quais dispositivos pedagógicos podem ser acionadores de impulsos lúdicos na formação de docentes, sob a luz das concepções de Schiller. Dentre outras contribuições teóricas, o texto cita ainda Freire, que tece importantes considerações (...) sobre as relações entre estética e ética na formação de professores, e que, a nosso ver, o aproxima das ideias de Schiller; Snyders, que trata do espaço universitário como locus privilegiado para se gerar a alegria cultural, energia necessária à aprendizagem diversificada e enriquecedora do repertório científico-cultural dos estudantes; Moraes e Therrien que refletem sobre a necessidade de ampliação do repertório cultural dos docentes; e Moura que aponta à maleabilidade pedagógica do professor como exigência de um perfil flexível e complexo. O trabalho constitui um estudo bibliográfico imerso no campo da filosofia da educação, guiado, entretanto, por reflexões amparadas em experimentações estético-pedagógicas vivenciadas, em processos de formação inicial docente, no âmbito de uma universidade pública estadual brasileira. Com o estudo, infere-se que à universidade cabe o papel decisivo de garantir e estimular o acesso a experiências estéticas que tanto ampliem o repertório artístico-cultural de estudantes como também neles favoreça a criação de impulsos lúdicos, tornando-os mais perceptivos e criativos, sendo que isso se materializará por meio de proposições curriculares de cada curso, aliadas às condições estruturais concretas dessa universidade. Palavras-chave: Educação estética. Impulsos lúdicos. Universidade. Formação de docentes. Pedagogia. (shrink)

* Doutora em Educação pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Professora na Universidade Estadual do Ceará. E-mail: [email protected]. ** Doutor em Sociologia pela Universidade Federal do Ceará. Professor titular da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal do Ceará. Professor-pesquisador do convênio de colaboração entre a l’Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, a linha de pesquisa Marxismo, educação e luta de classes do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Brasileira da Universidade Federal do Ceará e o Mestrado Acadêmico Intercampi em Educação e Ensino, da Universidade (...) Estadual do Ceará. Professor-pesquisador do Convênio de Colaboração entre o Programa de Mestrado em Antropologia de Iberoamérica da Universidade de Salamanca e Linha de Pesquisa Marxismo, Educação e Luta de Classes do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Brasileira da Universidade Federal do Ceará. E-mail: [email protected]. Resumo: O texto problematiza a legitimação das Artes como campo de saber nos currículos de cursos de Pedagogia. Reflete, pois, sobre formação inicial de pedagogos e o repertório artístico-cultural desses profissionais para atenderem às demandas escolares referentes ao ensino de Artes. Tomamos como base de fundamentação teórica, principalmente, a noção de campo de Bourdieu e sua idéia de consagração desse campo como um processo constituído relacionalmente. O trabalho traduz um estudo bibliográfico imerso no campo da Educação, guiado, entretanto, por reflexões sustentadas em observações e vivências estético-pedagógicas no âmbito da formação inicial docente, numa universidade pública estadual brasileira. Com o estudo, infere-se que à universidade cabe a responsabilidade estratégica de garantir a ampliação de componentes curriculares que abranjam saberes em Artes.Palavras-chave: Campo de saber. Artes. Formação de pedagogos. The field of artistic knowledge in the training curriculum of pedagogos and its echo in schools: The text problematizes the legitimization of the Arts as a field of knowledge in the curricula of Pedagogy courses. It reflects, therefore, on the initial formation of pedagogues and the artistic-cultural repertoire of these professionals to attend to the school demands related to the teaching of Arts. We take as theoretical basis mainly the notion of Bourdieu's field and his idea of ​​consecration of this field as a process constituted relationally. The work translates a bibliographic study immersed in the field of Education, guided, however, by reflections sustained in observations and aesthetic-pedagogical experiences in the scope of initial teacher training, in a Brazilian state public university. With the study, it is inferred that the university has the strategic responsibility to guarantee the expansion of curricular components that cover knowledge in Arts.Keywords: Field of knowledge. Arts. Formation of pedagogues. El campo de saber artístico en los curriculos de formación de pedagogos y su eco en las escuelas Resumen: El texto problematiza la legitimación de las Artes como campo de saber en los currículos de cursos de Pedagogía. Refleja, pues, sobre formación inicial de pedagogos y el repertorio artístico-cultural de esos profesionales para atender a las demandas escolares referentes a la enseñanza de Artes. Tomamos como base de fundamentación teórica principalmente la noción de campo de Bourdieu y su idea de consagración de ese campo como un proceso constituido relacionalmente. El trabajo traduce un estudio bibliográfico inmerso en el campo de la Educación, guiado, sin embargo, por reflexiones sostenidas en observaciones y vivencias estético-pedagógicas en el ámbito de la formación inicial docente, en una universidad pública estatal brasileña. Con el estudio, se infiere que a la universidad cabe la responsabilidad estratégica de garantizar la ampliación de componentes curriculares que abarquen saberes en Artes.Palabras Clave: Campo de saber. Artes. Formación de pedagogos. Data de registro: 15/02/2019Data de aceite: 23/04/2020. (shrink)

A public health emergency, as the COVID-19 pandemic, may lead to shortages of potentially life-saving treatments. In this situation, it is necessary, justifiable and proportionate to have decision tools in place to enable healthcare professionals to triage and prioritise access to those resources. An ethically sound framework should consider the principles of beneficence and fair allocation. Scientific Societies across Europe were concerned with this problem early in the pandemic and published guidelines to support their professionals and institutions. This article aims (...) to compare triage policies from medical bodies across Europe, to characterise the process of triage and the ethical values, principles and theories that were proposed in different countries during the first outbreak of COVID-19. (shrink)

Burnout is a phenomenon characterized by fatigue and frustration, usually related to work stress and dedication to a cause, a way of life that does not match the person’s expectations. Although it seems to be associated with risk factors stemming from a professional environment, this problem may affect any person. Palliative care is provided in a challenging environment, where professionals often have to make demanding ethical decisions and deal with death and dying. This article reports on the findings of a (...) systematic review aimed at identifying described burnout levels in palliative care nurses and physicians, and the related risks and protective factors. The main findings indicate that burnout levels in palliative care, or in health care settings related to this field, do not seem to be higher than in other contexts. (shrink)

Robots are increasingly being studied for use in education. It is expected that robots will have the potential to facilitate children’s learning and function autonomously within real classrooms in the near future. Previous research has raised the importance of designing acceptable robots for different practices. In parallel, scholars have raised ethical concerns surrounding children interacting with robots. Drawing on a Responsible Research and Innovation perspective, our goal is to move away from research concerned with designing features that will render robots (...) more socially acceptable by end users toward a reflective dialogue whose goal is to consider the key ethical issues and long-term consequences of implementing classroom robots for teachers and children in primary education. This paper presents the results from several focus groups conducted with teachers in three European countries. Through a thematic analysis, we provide a theoretical account of teachers’ perspectives on classroom robots pertaining to privacy, robot role, effects on children and responsibility. Implications for the field of educational robotics are discussed. (shrink)

Neste artigo, analisamos a missão diplomática de Bartolomé Mitre no Brasil, em 1872, por meio das páginas do La Nación e do Jornal do Commercio. Em um contexto de fortes tensões e disputas territoriais, o historiador, general e ex-presidente argentino esteve no Rio de Janeiro a fim de garantir o Tratado de Aliança e a desocupação do território paraguaio por forças aliadas. Sua visita tem grande repercussão nas imprensas brasileira e argentina. Assim, conjugamos história, diplomacia e imprensa, pensando seu papel (...) na legitimação das ações diplomáticas e as relações entre políticas externa e interna nas décadas finais do Império. (shrink)

Teaching is, to date, one of the most prone jobs to experiencing occupational stress and burnout. Owing to burnout’s negative personal, social, organizational and economic impacts, researchers, practitioners and education policy leaders are interested in developing practices and interventions aimed at preventing/reducing its prevalence. With teachers’ main professional demands to be of a social and emotional nature, interventions designed with a view to promote teachers’ social and emotional competence appears to be particularly promising, positively impacting teachers’ well-being and personal accomplishment (...) and contributing to a decrease in their psychological distress, namely emotional exhaustion. However, theoretical and empirically grounded interventions with ecological validity and specifically targeting teachers are still scarce. Thus, to bridge the previously identified gaps, the present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and the quality of the intervention’s implementation of the A+, an online social and emotional learning intervention for elementary-school teachers. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with a total of 81 participants from three different school contexts. School clusters were similar in size, organizational structure and socioeconomic level, and as regards previous attendance at social and emotional learning interventions; however, they differed with regards to perceived organizational climate. Data on the efficacy of the A+ was collected across four waves using a set of self-report questionnaires that assessed proximal variables and distal variables, and analyzed through Robust Linear Mixed-Effects Models. Coefficient omegas suggested adequate reliability of the measures. Additionally, two trained observers completed an observation grid to evaluate the quality of the A+ implementation, with excellent inter-rater reliability. Results suggested that, over time, the A+ had positive impacts across proximal and distal variables favoring the experimental group. However, results differed across the school contexts. These findings were accompanied by good implementation quality indicators, namely high fidelity in the delivery of the A+ contents and high participants’ responsiveness. Despite its limitations, this study contributes to a growing body of research which reinforces the importance of investing in social and emotional learning interventions to prevent teachers’ burnout and improve their occupational health. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of implementation quality research as a component of program planning with a view to enhancing programs’ efficacy, as well as the need to adapt and consider context variables in research and practice. (shrink)

O presente artigo intenciona realizar uma breve investigação da relação dialética subjetividade-objetividade numa perspectiva emancipatória da classe oprimida. Com efeito, nosso objeto de estudo, a pedagogia do oprimido em Paulo Freire, será analisado numa perspectiva dialógica com o pensamento marxiano, com vistas a encontrar algumas marcas fundamentais da contribuição do filósofo alemão na constituição do ideário crítico freiriano. Destacamos aqui que o problema central da pesquisa, qual seja: a relação mundo e consciência, institui-se como problema indeclinável para o processo de (...) luta histórica e social. (shrink)

Walter Benjamin estudou a configuração da sociedade moderna observando textos literários, como a lírica baudelairiana. Ora, a arte é a primeira a repercutir os fenômenos de seu tempo, estando o artista à vanguarda do pensamento intelectual sistemático. Considerando a arte e a filosofia como formas legítimas de formação do pensamento crítico, buscamos ligar alguns conceitos benjaminianos com a arte moderna, de Camus a Chico Buarque, de Dostoiévski a Belquior.

Alfonso X, o sábio, monarca castelhano do século XIII. patrocinou uma produção intelectual de grande envergadura em todos os campos do conhecimento. No grupo de obras políticas, destaca-se como sua produção mais importante 'Las Siete Partidas'. Influenciada pelo Direito Romano, esta obra visa constituir um código legal com amplitude superior aos antigos fueros locais. Objetivamos estudar como 'Las Siete Partidas' desvelam as aspirações políticas do Rei Sábio, ou seja, o reforço do poder real, sua autoridade como monarca, através da elaboração (...) de uma linha teórica que vise a coesão das leis. (shrink)

This article discusses the existing duality between the terms Earth and world under the of the 21st century ecological crisis. It proposes, from the deconstruction of anthropocentric and ecocentric values, an analysis of the philanthropic/sustainable paradigm, as a way of understanding the interdisciplinary nature of the possible coexistence between Man and Nature. For this, are demonstrated some hierarchical imbalances present in the concession of Western culture proposed by Samuel Huntington, in the ecological imaginary of indigenous communities defended by Zoe Todd, (...) and in the environmental impact of consumer society from the perspective of Patrick Curry, Richard Sylvan, and David Bennett. As a result, the importance of understanding a balance between consumption and production is demonstrated, condemning the elitist anthropocentrism of western communities as the cause and solution of the ecological problem, transversally illustrated from the market and the art world under the conception of the practical uselessness of its existence and given its contribution to a problem of overproduction. (shrink)

To evaluate sustainable practices in the production of meals: the use of water and energy, the presence of chemical products, the generation of organic and inorganic residues and criteria related to the purchase of food. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from October 2015 to January 2016. The convenience sample consisted of 20 commercial self-service restaurants of varied gastronomy in the city of Santos-SP, of which 10 were located in the region of Orla and 10 downtown. Information was obtained (...) by means of the application of a structured checklist based on the recommendations of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and an interview. Results: In the descriptive data analysis, we observed a greater number of sustainable actions in the region of Orla, corresponding to 75% (n=12) of the sixteen items evaluated, which are evidenced in the questions that refer to the sustainable use of water 100% (n=4) and electrical energy: 100% (n=3), adequate management of organic and inorganic waste: 66,66% (n=2) and rationality in aspects related to economy: 66,66% (n=2). Conclusion: Sustainability in the production of meals involves a set of practices, which were observed more expressively in the Orla region. (shrink)

In an unprecedented fashion, COVID-19 has impacted the work-family interface since March 2020. As one of the COVID-19 pandemic consequences, remote work became widely adopted. Furthermore, it is expected that other pandemics will occur in the future. Hence, this context represents a chance to gain deeper insight into telecommuters’ work and family spheres. Following PRISMA guidelines, the present narrative review aims to synthesise the COVID-19 impact on the work-family interface. Out of 121 screened references, 32 articles that measure at least (...) one of the following variables–work-family conflict, work-family enrichment, work-family balance, and boundary management were included. A thematic analysis using NVIVO12 was conducted, from which eight topics emerged: “paid workload, unpaid workload, and gender”; “well-being and gender”; “job resources, job demands, and gender”; “couples and gender”; “parenting and gender”; “occurrence of work-family enrichment with work-family conflict and gender”; “enforced blurred boundaries, its management, and gender”; “boundary management impact on work-family conflict, work-family enrichment, and work-family balance.” Overall, studies point out that COVID-19 had a complex effect on both work-family conflict and work-family balance, making it difficult to state whether these variables were mitigated or augmented. Findings demonstrated that COVID-19 produced little changes in work-family enrichment. As for the COVID-19 impact on work-family boundary management, individuals had to create new tactics to manage them due to the absence of boundaries between both systems. Besides, due to traditional gendered roles, the COVID-19 health crisis seems to have brought additional hurdles to couples and women.Systematic Review Registration[https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021278254], identifier [CRD42021278254]. (shrink)

Background and ObjectiveThe outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 has raised increased challenges for older adults’ personal growth in diverse cultural settings. The aim of this study was to analyze negative emotions and their role on older adults’ self-growth in Mexico, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, a cross-national qualitative research was carried out.MethodsData were collected from 338 community-dwelling participants aged 65 years and older, using a semi-structured interview protocol. Older adults were asked about negative emotions (...) that significantly contribute to their self-growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Content analysis was used to identify key themes.ResultsSeven main negative emotions significantly contributed to seven themes of self-growth, across the samples: sharing difficult experiences with others, supportive partner, spiritual practices, engagement with life, generativity, volunteering activities, and intimacy and sexual satisfaction. Sharing difficult experiences with others was most pertinent to Mexican and to Italian participants, and a supportive partner to Portuguese, and to Spanish participants.ConclusionThe findings of this study indicate that negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to their older adults’ self-growth. This study highlighted the cultural diversity of experiences during the pandemics and underlined the upside of negative emotions and its relation to older adults’ self-growth during this period. (shrink)

Research suggested that developing mindfulness skills in children improves proximal outcomes, such as attention and executive functions, as well as distal outcomes, such as academic achievement. Despite empirical evidence supporting this claim, research on the benefits of mindfulness training in child populations is scarce, with some mixed findings in the field. Here, we aimed to fill in this gap, by examining the effects of a mindfulness training on third graders’ proximal and distal outcomes, namely, attention and executive functions (viz., inhibitory (...) control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) as well as literacy-related achievement (viz., handwriting fluency, text quality, Portuguese grades). These outcomes were measured with behavioral tasks and teacher ratings. Sixty-six Portuguese children were randomly allocated to an experimental group receiving mindfulness training (n= 29) or an active control group receiving relaxation training (n= 37). Both training programs were implemented by psychologists in two 30-min weekly sessions for 8 weeks. All students were assessed before and after the interventions. Three main findings are noteworthy: (a) mindfulness training enhanced teacher-rated cognitive flexibility and a performance-based composite score of executive functions among children with higher pretest scores; (b) relaxation training improved performance-based cognitive flexibility and the composite score of executive functions among children with lower pretest scores; (c) children receiving mindfulness training had higher handwriting fluency and better grades in Portuguese than those receiving relaxation training. These findings provide preliminary evidence on the benefits of mindfulness training in educational settings and highlight the moderating role of baseline performance on those benefits. (shrink)

Background: COVID-19 has taken many lives worldwide and due to this, millions of persons are in grief. When the grief process lasts longer than 6 months, the person is in risk of developing Complicated Grief Disorder. The CGD is related to serious health consequences. To reduce the probability of developing CGD a preventive intervention could be applied. In developing countries like Mexico, the psychological services are scarce, self-applied interventions could provide support to solve this problem and reduce the health impact (...) even after the pandemic has already finished.Aims: To design and implement a self-applied intervention composed of 12 modules focused on the decrease of the risk of developing CGD, and increasing the life quality, and as a secondary objective to reduce the symptomatology of anxiety, depression, and increase of sleep quality. The Intervention Duelo COVID follows the principles of User Experience and is designed according to the needs and desires of a sample of the objective participants, to increase the adherence to the self-applied intervention, considered one of the main weaknesses of online interventions.Methods: A Randomized Controlled Trial will be conducted from the 22nd of December of 2020 to the first of June 2021. The participants will be assigned to an intervention with elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness and Positive Psychology. The control group will be a wait-list condition, that will receive the intervention 1.5–2 months after the pre-measurement were taken. The Power Size Calculation conducted through G*Power indicated the need for a total of 42 participants, which will be divided by 21 participants in each group. The platform will be delivered through responsive design assuring with this that the intervention will adapt to the screen size of cellphones, tablets, and computers.Ethics and Dissemination: The study counts with the approval of the Research Ethics Committee of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez, México, and it is registered in Clinical Trials. The article is sent and registered in clinical trials before the recruitment started. The results will be reported in future conferences, scientific publications, and media. (shrink)

Objective: Illness perceptions are important predictors of emotional and behavioral responses in many diseases. The current study aims to investigate the COVID-19-related IP throughout Europe. The specific goals are to understand the temporal development, identify predictors and examine the impacts of IP on perceived stress and preventive behaviors.Methods: This was a time-series-cross-section study of 7,032 participants from 16 European countries using multilevel modeling from April to June 2020. IP were measured with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Temporal patterns were observed (...) considering the date of participation and the date recoded to account the epidemiological evolution of each country. The outcomes considered were perceived stress and COVID-19 preventive behaviors.Results: There were significant trends, over time, for several IP, suggesting a small decrease in negativity in the perception of COVID-19 in the community. Age, gender, and education level related to some, but not all, IP. Considering the self-regulation model, perceptions consistently predicted general stress and were less consistently related to preventive behaviors. Country showed no effect in the predictive model, suggesting that national differences may have little relevance for IP, in this context.Conclusion: The present study provides a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 IP in Europe in an early stage of the pandemic. The results shed light on the process of IP formation with implications for health-related outcomes and their evolution. (shrink)

Wearing facial masks became a common practice worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated (1) whether facial masks that cover adult faces affect 4- to 6-year-old children’s recognition of emotions in those faces and (2) whether the duration of children’s exposure to masks is associated with emotion recognition. We tested children from Switzerland (N = 38) and Brazil (N = 41). Brazil represented longer mask exposure due to a stricter mandate during COVID-19. Children had to choose a face displaying (...) a specific emotion (happy, angry, or sad) when the face wore either no cover, a facial mask, or sunglasses. The longer hours of mask exposure were associated with better emotion recognition. Controlling for the hours of exposure, children were less likely to recognise emotions in partially hideen faces. Moreover, Brazilian children were more accurate in recognising happy faces than Swiss children. Overall, facial masks may negatively impact children’s emotion recognition. However, prolonged exposure appears to buffer the lack of facial cues from the nose and mouth. In conclusion, restricting facial cues due to masks may impair kindergarten children’s emotion recognition in the short run. However, it may facilitate their broader reading of facial emotional cues in the long run. (shrink)

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 has resulted in an increase in known risk factors for mental health problems. Mexico adopted lockdown and physical distancing as a containment strategy with potential consequences on day to day life, such as social isolation, loss of income and loneliness that can have important consequences in terms of mental health.Objective: We aimed to examine the effect of the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress, well-being and perceived physical health among Mexican-base respondents and to (...) examine whether coping strategies would play a potential intermediating role in relation to these variables. Under the Existential Positive Psychology perspective, an emphasis was made on meaning-centered coping.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between April 30 and June 16th 2020 among 604 Mexicans-base respondents of which 471 were women and 132 men. Data was collected by using online questionnaires. Psychological distress was measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale. The Brief COPE Inventory was used to assess problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. We also used the Meaning-Centered Coping Scale. PERMA-Profiler was used to assess well-being, perceived physical health, and loneliness. Profiler and Descriptive analyses and bivariate linear regression were performed to examine the association of variables.Results: 45.9% of the participants reported moderate to extremely severe psychological distress. Our results demonstrate that problem-focused and emotion-focused coping were positively related to psychological distress, whereas meaning-centered coping was negatively associated with distress. Furthermore, psychological distress played a potential negative role in the perceived physical health, while meaning-centered coping and well-being buffered the negative influence of psychological distress on perceived physical health (completely standardized indirect effect = –0.01, SE: 0.012, 95% CI [−0.065; −0.017].Conclusion: Meaning-centered coping was found to suppress the negative influence of psychological distress on sensation of decreased physical health corroborating the critical role of meaning in life in promoting well-being. Future studies can further examine the value of the critical role of meaning in life in promoting well-being as a protective factor against severe distress during traumatic events. Findings of this study can be used to orient policies and interventions aimed to alleviate suffering in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

BackgroundInformation and communication technology solutions have the potential to support active and healthy aging and improve monitoring and treatment outcomes. To make such solutions acceptable, all stakeholders must be involved in the requirements elicitation process. Due to the COVID-19 situation, alternative approaches to commonly used face-to-face methods must often be used. One aim of the current article is to share a unique experience from the Pharaon project where due to the COVID-19 outbreak alternative elicitation methods were used. In addition, an (...) overview of common functional, quality, and emotional goals identified by six pilot sites is presented to complement the knowledge about the needs of older adults.MethodsOriginally planned face-to-face co-creation seminars were impossible to carry out, and all pilot sites chose alternative requirements elicitation methods that were most suitable in their situation. The elicited requirements were presented in the form of goal models. In one summary goal model, we provide an overview of common functional, quality, and emotional goals.ResultsDifferent elicitation methods were combined based on the digital literacy of the target group and their access to digital tools. Methods applied without digital technologies were phone interviews, reviews of literature and previous projects, while by means of digital technologies online interviews, online questionnaires, and virtual co-creation seminars were conducted. The combination of the methods allowed to involve all planned stakeholders. Virtual and semi-virtual co-creation seminars created collaborative environment comparable to face-to-face situations, while online participation helped to save the time of the participants. The most prevalent functional goals elicited were “Monitor health,” “Receive advice,” “Receive information.” “Easy to use/comfortable,” “personalized/tailored,” “automatic/smart” were identified as most prevalent quality goals. Most frequently occurring emotional goals were “involved,” “empowered,” and “informed.”ConclusionThere are alternative methods to face-to-face co-creation seminars, which effectively involve older adults and other stakeholders in the requirements elicitation process. Despite the used elicitation method, the requirements can be easily transformed into goal models to present the results in a uniform way. The common requirements across different pilots provided a strong foundation for representing detailed requirements and input for further software development processes. (shrink)

ObjectiveLoss of control eating has been directly related to the core aspects of the psychopathology of eating disorders and to different dimensions of emotion and behavior regulation and self-criticism. This study investigates a model representing the interplay between these dimensions to understand LOC eating among a nonclinical sample.MethodsA total of 341 participants, recruited in a college campus, completed a set of self-report measures assessing LOC eating, weight suppression, psychopathology of eating disorders, depression, negative urgency, emotion regulation difficulties, and self-criticism. Path (...) analysis modeling tested a hypothesized model with 3 paths for LOC eating as follows: psychopathology of eating disorders; emotion and behavior regulation; and interplay between these paths.ResultsWe found goodness-of-fit indexes to our data: χ2 = 17.11, df = 10, Comparative Fit Index = 0.99, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.98, Root Mean Square Error Approximation = 0.045, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.041, suggesting that: participants with higher weight suppression showed higher degrees of the psychopathology of eating disorders, which was linked to higher levels of LOC eating; self-criticism was a mediator between emotion regulation and depression/negative urgency; self-criticism was a mediator between emotion regulation and disorder eating, which was significantly associated with LOC eating via increased negative urgency.ConclusionOur model shows that LOC eating occurs for individuals with the psychopathology of higher eating disorders who experience depressive symptoms and act rashly under distress for their inability to cope adequately with negative feelings of self-devaluation. These findings point to the importance of negative self-evaluations and feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness to understand LOC eating among college students. (shrink)