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Recent Submissions

Genetic differences in reactivity to the environment impact psychotic-like and affective reactivity in daily life neus

Publication . Barrantes-Vidal, Neus; Torrecilla, Pilar; Mas-Bermejo, Patricia; Papiol, Sergi; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.; Rosa, Araceli; Kwapi, Thomas R.

Background and Hypothesis: Consistent with diathesisstress models, psychosis research has focused on genetic moderation of adverse environmental exposures. In contrast, the Differential Susceptibility (DS) model suggests that the same genetic variants that increase risk-inducing effects of adverse experiences also enhance benefcial effects from positive experiences. This study examined whether individuals with high genetic susceptibility to the environment showed differential psychotic-like and affective reactivity in response to positive and negative events in daily life. Study Design: Experience sampling methodology assessed context (positive and stressful) and momentary levels of paranoia, psychotic-like experiences (PLE), and positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) in 217 non-clinical adults oversampled for schizotypy. Linear mixed models examined whether Polygenic Risk Scores of Environmental Sensitivity (PRS-ES) moderated the impact of current context on subsequent experiences. Study Results: PRS-ES moderated positive, but not stressful, context on subsequent levels of momentary paranoia, NA, and PA, but not PLE. Genetic and environmental (G × E) interactions indicated diathesis-stress at lower thresholds of PRS-ES, but a DS model at the highest threshold of the PRS-ES. Participants with elevated PRS-ES showed increased paranoia and NA and decreased PA in subsequent assessments when reporting low levels of positive situations, but also decreased paranoia and NA and increased PA when rating contexts as positive. Conclusions: Findings support the infuence of genetic sensitivity to the environment on psychotic-like and affective reactivity in daily life, particularly in response to positive contexts. This highlights the transdiagnostic protective role of positive experiences and informs ecological momentary interventions.

2025Technical documentation

Open access

Protective and stress factors for psychological distress: A comparative analysis of LGB and non-LGB older adults

Publication . Ribeiro-Gonçalves, José Alberto; Pereira, Dora; Dora

Objectives: Population ageing raises major public health and psychosocial challenges. Particularly, lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) older people may face increased vulnerabilities and marginalization when compared to their non-LGB (heterosexual) counterparts, which may entail more risks for their mental health. The aim of this study was to comparatively evaluate the levels of protective – social support, spirituality, and resilience and stress factors – loneliness and ageism – among LGB and nonLGB older adults, and their impact on psychological distress (PD). Method: A sample of 647 people aged 60years or older (M=66.01; SD = 4.93) was collected, 368 non-LGB and 279 LGB. Participation was carried out through an online survey in Portugal. Results: LGB older adults had lower scores on all protective factors, except on social support from friends, and higher levels on all stress factors, except on hostile ageism, compared to non-LGB older adults. Further, resilience and loneliness were the main predictors of PD regardless of the sexual orientation. Stress factors explained the levels of PD over and above the effects of protective factors, both among LGB and non-LGB older adults. Conclusion: Psychological distress in aging presents different protective and stressful factors according to the sexual orientation of older adults. More comparative studies are suggested in the intersection between ageing and sexual orientation.

2025Technical documentation

Open access

Time and routines organization in early childhood education andcare: Participation, opportunities, and constraints

Publication . Pereira, Mónica; Santos, Natalie Nóbrega; Brito, Ana Teresa; Mata, Lourdes; Mata

This study aimed to identify those who are involved in time management inearly childhood education and care contexts and to understand the inten-tions underlying time and routine organization. Focus groups were carriedout with 20 educators from the public and private sectors. The contentanalysis of these interviews suggested that educators, children, and themanagement/coordinators of the educational centers participate differentlyin time organization decisions, seeking to respond to children’s needs.However, these time management decisions are often carried out accordingto adults’ agendas, with imposed schedules that create constraints in orga-nizing routines that respond to children’s interests, especially if there are nonegotiations among the agents responsible for time and routine organiza-tion. The results highlight the need to introduce greater intentionality andparticipation during time organization decision-making in the context ofearly education

2025Technical documentation

Open access

Does deliberate practice surpass didactic training in learning empathy skills? A randomized controlled study

Publication . Larsson, Johannes; Werthén, David; Carlsson, Jan; Salim, Osame; Davidsson, Edvin; Vaz, Alexandre; Sousa, Daniel; Norberg, Joakim

A large body of research identifies therapist expressed empathy as one of the most important predictors of psychotherapy outcome. Deliberate practice (DP) is an effective method to improve skills in many fields. We asked if DP also can be used to enhance the skill of expressing empathy. Objective: The aim was to compare the efficacy of DP to didactical learning methods (DLM) in enhancing the skill of empathic expression in students. Method: A repeated measures randomized controlled group design was used. Novice students (N ¼ 36) from psychologist-, medicine-, social work-, and nursing programs received two training sessions of either DP (n ¼ 21) or DLM (n ¼ 15). Participants’ skills in empathic expression were assessed with the Measure of Expressed Empathy (MEE) on three occasions: before the first, between, and after the last training session. Results: Participants in the DP-group showed improved empathic expression, whereas participants in the DLM-group did not. Conclusions: These findings suggest that DP is an effective training method for therapeutic skills such as empathic expression and holds implications for the future development of educational practices to incorporate active skill training methods.

2025Periodical

Open access

Citizen science for health in the co-creation of evidence summaries for citizens

Publication . Silva, Sílvia Manuela Dias Tavares da; Santana, Elaine dos Santos; Bernardo, Joana Vanessa Ribeiro; Silva, Aline Conceição; Lopes, Carlos; Almeida, Cristina Vaz de; Apóstolo, João Luís Alves; Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra

Background: Citizen science (CS) and health literacy (HL) promote citizen involvement in scientific research and access to health information. CS enables citizen involvement in co-creating knowledge, while HL enhances citizens’ ability to make informed decisions.Objective: To systematize older citizen involvement in the co-creation of evidence summaries for citizens (ESC), creating a replicable process and making health information more accessible.Methodology: Methodological, qualitative study based on the assumptions of Polit and Beck and conducted with older people residing in the community. The data were analyzed according to Bardin’s content analysis methodology.Results: The participants were actively involved. They reflected on each step and contributed to en-hancing the understanding of the information. This collaborative process results in a guide for ESC co-creation and co-validation.Conclusion: The methodology proved effective in involving citizens in the ESC co-creation, promot-ing health literacy and increasing the social relevance of scientific research. The guide can be replicated and used by other professionals and researchers.

2025Periodical

Open access