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Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects

Publication . Soares, Ana Rita; Soares, Sandra; Brandão, Tânia; Teixeira, Ricardo João; Tavares, Isaura

The well-being of medical students is affected by high stress levels. The relevance of a mindfulness mediation app (Med@Med) specifically produced to help medical students at a Portuguese medical school cope with stress was evaluated. The app, consisting of 21 short meditations, was totally developed in Portuguese to fulfill with the needs of some of the students. The motivations to use the app, adherence to it, and its emotional benefits were evaluated. A total of 147 medical students were enrolled in the study. Students completed questionnaires related to emotional regulation (Emotion Regulation of Others and Self) and emotional thermometers before the first meditation and at the end of the project. Before and after each meditation, the students were invited to identify their basic emotion (joy, fear, disgust, anger, or sadness), no perceived emotion, or no reply. Participants received daily motivational messages (scientific or in lay language) or no message during the first 7 days of the project and the retention was registered. The main motivations to use the Med@Med app were to experience meditation (33%), decrease stress/anxiety (25%), or implement a daily meditation routine (16%). The remaining motivations of the students were sleep improvement or enhancement of academic performance. The self-motivation to use the app was high (7.3 ± 3.2 on a 1–10 scale). Participants that received daily messages in lay language, which summarized scientific findings about the benefits of meditation, were more likely to continue to use the app. The emotions changed from pre- to post-practice, with an increase in self-identification with joy and decrease of fear and sadness. An improvement in the intrinsic emotional regulation subscale (p < 0.01) was detected. In comparison with age-matched students that did not use the Med@Med app, the students that used the app presented less emotional distress and anxiety as evaluated by emotional thermometers. This study shows that medical students are motivated to use a meditation app. The improvement of emotion-related parameters after the use of the Med@Med app is a promising result. The benefits of using the Med@Med meditation app prepared in Portuguese keeping in mind the needs of medical students should be evaluated in other Portuguese-speaking medical schools.

2025-03-05Journal article

Open access

Couples and parenting dynamics during Covid-19 pandemic: A systematic review of the literature

Publication . Sentieiro, Maria Leonor; Ferreira, Luana Cunha; Miranda, Mariana Pires de; Vitória, Beatriz Araújo; Chrysanthi Lioupi

The COVID-19 pandemic constituted a public health crisis bound to impact couples, parents, and families globally. However, the literature on the impacts of COVID-19 in families is not yet integrated. This systematic review aims to (1) provide an overview of how the COVID-19 pandemic potentially changed family systems, especially the couples and parenting dynamics, as well as (2) integrate inconsistent findings, and, finally, (3) define new avenues for research and clinical practice. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined for this review. The data was collected in bibliographic databases using a combination of keywords. The study includes empirical research published in English, Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese, appearing in peer-reviewed journals, focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the functioning of different-gender or same-gender couples, married or cohabitating, or cohabitating parents with children aged 2 to 18, between April 2020 and December 2023. Within 381 articles, 58 studies met the inclusion criteria, which 50 were quantitative, four qualitative, and four mixed methods studies. A qualitative thematic analysis of the reviewed articles identified 12 categories that were organized by stress sources, mediators, and outcomes. There is consistent evidence across the literature showing some sources of stress during COVID-19, such as Gender Inequalities (e.g., Unequal Division of Household Duties and Lack of Support for Mothers), and External Stress. Also, we identified some themes on the mediators such as Coping Strategies (e.g., Dyadic Support, Communication as a Mediator and Adaptation to New Daily Routines) and finally as outcomes, Lower Psychological Well-Being, and Relational Growth. However, some inconsistencies were found in Relationship (In) Satisfaction, Sexual Functioning and Communication as an Outcome. Explorations of moderators showed that these inconsistencies should be understood in reference to (1) quality assessment (2) coping and (3) income. After conducting a comprehensive analysis of inconsistencies, our study revealed no notable differences in either relationship satisfaction or sexual frequency before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, a decline in sexual satisfaction was observed during the COVID-19 period. No conclusive associations were identified between income, relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, sexual frequency, and stress related to COVID-19. Nonetheless, our observations indicated that individuals with moderate or high income, in conjunction with the implementation of effective coping strategies, exhibited a diminished impact of COVID-19-related stress on both relationship satisfaction and sexual functioning. Future studies should focus on a dyadic perspective at various stages of the family cycle, including longitudinal perspectives, as well as studies focused on the role of dyadic coping during times of crises. Findings must be considered with caution because not all studies had equal methodological rigor.

2025-02-18Journal article

Open access

Displacement, personal loss, and psychological strain among physicians and nurses working in Gaza, 2023–2024

Publication . Qudaih, Mohanad S. A.; Daqqa, Hamza A. Abu; AlNajjar, Omar R.; Wehedi, Dalia T. A.; Khoury, Rasha; Bouquet, Benjamin; Matos, Lisa; Sariahmed, Karim; Tereza Hendl

On January 26th2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) recognized plausible grounds for genocide being committed in Gaza by Israel. A hallmark of the violence has been unprecedented attacks on health workers since October 7, 2023. We use the word “genocide” to refer to this period of accelerated violence and displacement in Gaza, following ICJ findings, detailed reports by human rights organizations, and statements by genocide scholars concluding that Israel is indeed committing genocide. To assess impacts of this violence, between December 2023 and January 2024 we conducted an anonymous cross-sectional online survey of physicians and nurses working in Gaza prior to and during the genocide. Participants reported on workplace displacement, personal losses, and psychological impacts using the Professional Quality of Life Scale for Health Workers (ProQOL-H). 56 participants completed one or more survey components. Among 46 participants reporting on displacement, 25 (54%) reported having to change workplaces at least once. Among 41 participants documenting personal loss, 17 (41%) reported that a family member was killed and 32 (78%) reported that a close colleague was killed. Among 35 participants completing the ProQOL-H, 17 (49%) respondents reported “high” compassion satisfaction (scores of 24–30), 13 (37%) reported high burnout, and 13 (37%) reported high secondary traumatic stress. This is markedly different from CS, BO, and STS scores reported by nurses in the West Bank in a recent study, likely reflecting the genocide in Gaza. Further work with survivors is needed to characterize their experiences and reconcile them with culture-specific coping strategies such as sumud.Culturally relevant, mixed methods follow up to this work is needed to inform interventions to support the recovery of survivors and rebuild Gaza’s healthcare system. This will only be possible when the genocide is brought to a permanent end, along with the conditions which have enabled it.

2025-09-10Journal article

Open access

Das feridas da infância aos impulsos da vida adulta: Ansiedade na vinculação e interocepção como mediadores na adversidade e impulsividade

Publication . Fonseca, Joana Gabriel Olas Leite da; Oliveira, Gonçalo

As experiências adversas na infância têm sido consistentemente associadas a diferentes comportamentos impulsivos e tem sido evidenciado que determinados estilos de vinculação e consciência interoceptiva parecem mediar esta relação. São poucos os estudos que analisam a relação destas variáveis, nomeadamente entre interocepção e impulsividade. Para clarificar estas associações foi testado um modelo de mediação em série onde foi hipotetizado que indivíduos que tenham uma maior vivência de adversidades na infância e que tenham um estilo de vinculação mais ansioso, tenderão a uma maior sensibilidade interoceptiva e maior urgência negativa. A amostra final foi constituída por 333 participantes que completaram o questionário online que consistia no Questionário Sociodemográfico, Escala de Vinculação para Adultos, Avaliação Multidimensional da Consciência Interoceptiva, Questionário de Avaliação de Trauma de Infância e Escala de Comportamento Impulsivo UPPS. Os resultados do Modelo A suportam a hipótese demonstrando que uma maior reatividade sobre estados de afeto negativo é derivada por maior ansiedade na vinculação e menor percepção de sinais internos, sendo estes fatores mediadores do impacto que estas experiências de adversidade têm na impulsividade. Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas em análises complementares. Este estudo proporciona evidências para o papel central da ansiedade na vinculação e interocepção na relação entre experiências de adversidade na infância e comportamento impulsivo.

2025-07-28Master thesis

Open access

Benefícios, práticas e desafios no envolvimento parental: Perspetivas das famílias, das crianças e da professora

Publication . Nunes, Bárbara Sofia Carvalho; Mata, Lourdes

Este relatório tem como foco um trabalho de investigação, construído no decorrer de uma Prática de Ensino Supervisionada (PES) no 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico. Pretendeu-se assim, compreender e aprofundar qual o tipo de envolvimento e relação que o contexto tinha com as suas famílias, neste caso junto de uma turma de 3º ano, constituída por vinte e duas crianças. A investigação foi orientada por três objetivos principais associados às questões de investigação, sendo eles direcionados para os benefícios, as estratégias e os principais desafios no envolvimento das famílias e relação entre escola-família. Para a realização do trabalho, utilizou-se uma metodologia qualitativa recorrendo a observação não-participante, registos do diário de bordo, um focus group com dois grupos de crianças, um questionário de respostas abertas à professora cooperante e um questionário realizado às famílias do grupo. Este relatório de investigação possibilitou a reflexão e análise das conceções das famílias, das crianças e da professora relativamente ao envolvimento que vivenciavam no contexto, demonstrando assim que todos reconheciam a importância e os benefícios de um bom envolvimento, no entanto existiam alguns desafios que estavam a ser mais difíceis de ultrapassar e, que segundo a literatura constituem fatores condicionantes ao envolvimento parental, nomeadamente a comunicação. Com este trabalho, foi possível compreender a importância e o investimento necessário que se deve fazer para obter uma boa relação com as famílias, para que as crianças possam usufruir e tirar o maior proveito de uma boa relação escola-família, visto que elas mesmas desejam esta relação.

2025-07-28Master thesis

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