Challenges for prevention and promotion in the 21st century

© 2018 Matos and Ramiro; This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Prevention is now considered as a way to spread curiosity and commitment and has to do with the creation of communities where it is believed that "good things happen" and that people are part of them. Promoting people positive development, that is, promoting competence, motivation, opportunities and positive expectations is now considered the best prevention strategy, making prevention and promotion two sides of the same coin. Consequently, the approaches based on positive aspects are preferred and considered more effective in various contexts. In the field of health, this positive focus was represented in the "Model of Assets in health" which includes the mapping of resources of each community, both individually and collectively. It also aimed at the increasingly progressive participation of populations. Some aspects of the trajectory of knowledge in recent decades and their impact on interventions in Psychology, Public Health and Public Policies will be highlighted.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Worries, mental and emotional health difficulties of portuguese university students

Copyright © Society for Science and Education, United KingdomThe aim of this study was to reach an in-depth understanding on how Portuguese university students feel towards life in general, which are their worries, how often they feel worried, and how intense their worries are. Moreover, it was intended to identify the kind of psychosocial variables involved, strategies they use as well as which are the sources of their well-being. A total of 2991 university students, participated in the quantitative study and in the qualitative study, there were 50 participants between 18 and 35 years old. A significant minority of students got worried frequently, allowing their worries to interfere significantly in their lives. Gender and age differences were found. Having worries demonstrated to be relevant and negatively associated with young people’s perception of well-being, self-regulation and resilience; showing that the mental health of the Portuguese university students is at risk, mainly when their social emotional skills are underdeveloped.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (Grants: Marta Reis-SFRH/BPD/110905/2015)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What teens know about HPV? A cross-sectional study with HBSC Portuguese survey

© 2016 Apex Journal InternationalGlobally, cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of death for women and is usually associated with infection by the human papillomavirus (HPV). To analyse knowledge related to HPV in Portuguese adolescents, and identify the influence of gender, school year, having had sexual education/sexual intercourse in adolescents’ knowledge of HPV. The 2010 study provides national representative data of 5050 Portuguese adolescents, randomly chosen from those attending 6th, 8th and 10th grades during the 2009/2010 academic year. The sample included 52.3% girls and 47.7% males; whose mean age was 14.0 years old. Measures included knowledge of HPV transmission/prevention and having had sexual education/sexual intercourse. Overall, results showed the majority had low level of knowledge, responding incorrectly or saying they did not know the answer. Nevertheless, girls and adolescents who reported having had sex education in a school context showed significantly more knowledge than boys and adolescents who did not report having had sex education in a school context. Another result that should be emphasized is the positive effect that sex education at school had specifically in what regards knowledge about HPV. These results could have significant implications for information provision andthe targeting of future education programmes. In terms of prevention, it emphasises the need to teach about this issue, encourages HPV vaccination and regular screening for cervical cancer and other STIs, that are crucial for the promotion of healthy sexual behaviours.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

National survey on the importance of sleep in the quality of academic life and mental health of college students in Portugal

© Associação Brasileira do SonoThe academic years are a period of vulnerability when considering sleep problems and mental health. Growing evidence suggests poor sleep patterns are related to impaired academic life and lower psychological well-being. The aim of this study was to explore the importance of sleep habits and report the associations of sleep problems with quality of academic life and different dimensions of mental health (e.g. worries, anxiety, self-regulation and resilience) in a large sample of college students. The HBSC/JUnP data base comprises a representative sample of 2991 college students (n=2203; 73.7% women), aged from 18 to 35 years old (22.43±3.83). Participants socio-demographic characteristics included sex and age. Besides, participants were inquired about sleep duration, characteristics of their sleep habits, questions about quality academic life, namely feeling bored in university, pressure from academic work and academic performance perception and mental health, namely worries, anxiety, self-regulation and resilience. Results showed most young people report an average value for sleep habits (M=4.41; SD=1.46) and that they sleep an average of 7 hours a night. More than half of the young people report either being affected by difficulty falling asleep, showing signs of sleep onset insomnia (67.7%). The conducted analyses indicated that the difficulty falling asleep (having insomnia) was associated with poor/reasonable academic performance perception, higher levels of concerns and anxiety, and lower levels of self-regulation and resilience, thus jeopardizing the mental health of college students. In turn, that characteristics of sleep was also associated with poor sleep habits. In conclusion, this study showed that poor sleep habits were associated with a worse level of academic performance perception and low levels of mental health among college students in Portugal. Universities offer enormous potential as settings to promote sleep-health programs since they can reach many young people who are future-oriented and willing to learn. There is then the need for academic researchers, teaching staff and health professionals working for college students health, to develop and test a wide array of sleep-promoting interventions (e.g., education classes, online programs, adjustment of class time), thus preventing negative secondary outcomes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Educação sexual na mudança de conhecimentos, atitudes e comportamentos sexuais dos adolescentes

Doutoramento em Ciências da Educação, especialidade Educação para a SaúdeO presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar o estado da Promoção da Educação para a Saúde (PES) e da Educação Sexual (ES) nas escolas portuguesas e se a ES influencia conhecimentos, atitudes e comportamentos sexuais dos adolescentes no sentido da adoção/manutenção de estilos de vida saudáveis. A recolha dos dados foi realizada através de inquéritos ou grupos focais com adolescentes, professores, pais e órgãos de gestão. Os resultados mostraram que as escolas estão a implementar as medidas regulamentadas pela tutela. Órgãos de gestão, professores e alunos estão envolvidos ativamente na PES/ES mas os pais mantêm dificuldade em promover e rentabilizar oportunidades de ES. Salientou-se a necessidade de formação específica na área da sexualidade para professores e pais. A maioria dos adolescentes portugueses não teve relações sexuais. Dos que tiveram, a maioria tem comportamentos protetores. Os adolescentes que referiram ter tido ES menos frequentemente tiveram relações sexuais ou iniciaram aos 11 anos ou menos, têm mais conhecimentos face ao VIH/SIDA e mais atitudes inclusivas face aos portadores de VIH/SIDA. A ES não teve qualquer efeito negativo nos conhecimentos, atitudes ou comportamentos dos adolescentes portugueses. A pertinência do estudo reside numa avaliação do atual programa de ES e das escolas portuguesas.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Youth have a voice : qualitative exploration of a participatory action-research program

© Under License of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 LicenseAlthough the participatory action-research programs with young people are increasingly common around the world, their inclusion in the evaluation of intervention programs in the area of health promotion is still not a rule. This study presents youths’ assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Dream Teens project, along with its impact on their development as a person, the development of their individual action and their social support (family, school and community). Two studies are presented: study 1, referring to individual interviews, including a total of 12 young people, with a mean age of 18.5 years (± 1.62), mostly girls (83.3%) attending secondary school (41.67%), higher education (33.33%) and third grade (25%); and study 2, referring to a focus group that involved 8 young people, mostly girls (75%), age 18.5 years ( ± 2) attending higher education (37.5%), secondary school (37.5%) and third grade (25%). The NVivo software was used for the analysis and processing of data. Overall, young people identify the establishment of goals in the project, the relationships established, the acquired knowledge and face-to-face meetings as forces; their difficulty in dealing with empowerment, and weak participation of some young people as weaknesses; the availability of local authorities and some teachers to listen to young people as opportunities; and the necessary bureaucracy in order for a project to be implemented, the lack of support from the educational community and some teachers, along with the lack of support of political power as threats. In terms of impact on the participants, there is an increase in their capacity for the development of the person, in the promotion of their self-esteem, personal goals, a sense of community participation, communication skills and respect for themselves and for others; and their development of individual action, a greater political empowerment, development of skills and confidence for research-action, and relationships established. The opportunities created include the establishment of new contacts and the feeling of support from some political bodies at a social support level; promotion of active listening, capacity for argumentation and development of new interests at the family level; at school, these include better relationships with teachers and colleagues, better academic performance, easier coping with frustration, better acceptance of the other; and in the community, although they have not noticed significant changes, they believe that their work will have future repercussions. This work is expected to contribute to an increase in the number of research-action programs with the participation of young people, enhancing their effectiveness as a way to promote their health and wellbeing.Branquinho, C. receives a PhD grant from The University of Lisbon (UL) (Grant Number 800178), and Matos, M. G. receives a Sabbatical grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (SFRH / BSAB / 135160 / 2017).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The promotion of healthy universities : a systematic review

© 2018 Dr. Marta Reis, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Universities are important organizations in what concerns the creation and improvement of health and wellbeing, thus healthy universities represent a key application of the health-promoting settings approach. The healthy Universities concept has a strong theoretical basis, and it appears appealing amongst universities worldwide. However, the way in which the approach has been implemented remains poorly grounded in theory. This systematic review aims to describe how universities have implemented the Healthy Universities concept in different cultures. In order to achieve this aim, we analyzed the following aspects of the implementation of the Health Promoting University: (a) definition of Healthy University; (b) priority areas of action; (c) subject matters; (d) projects and coordination; and (e) project evaluation and possible results. PsycINFO, ISI Web of Knowledge, ISI Proceedings, PubMed, Medline, Lilacs and Scielo were searched for articles on Health Promoting Universities, published between 1997 and 2017. Studies detailing the implementation of a Health Promoting University approach were included. Results: Fourteen studies were identified for in-depth analysis. Of those, four were theoretical papers, and ten were intervention studies. The programs described in the selected studies are mostly based on the guidelines of the Edmonton Charter. They incorporated the main areas of action and subject matters proposed by the Healthy Universities framework. The implementation of healthy policies and the incorporation of health promotion in the curriculum remain challenging. The review suggests that most of the universities work towards similar goals, relying on the Healthy Universities framework, yet that the way in which initiatives are implemented depends on the context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comportamento sexual dos adolescentes portugueses entre 2002 e 2014: estudo de HBSC em português

ABSTRACT - This study examined trends in adolescent sexual behaviors from 2002 to 2014 in Portugal. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires from 8th and 10th graders in classrooms during 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. Overall, the prevalence of sexual intercourse, age of sexual initiation, pill use, and sexual intercourse under the influence of alcohol or drugs decreased in Portugal between 2002 and 2014, while condom use increased. Boys and 10th graders more frequently reported having ever had sexual intercourse, boys and 8th graders more frequently reported having had sexual intercourse under the influence of alcohol or drugs, girls and 10th graders more frequently reported having had their first sexual intercourse at 14 years or older (except in 2014, where boys and girls reported more frequently having initiated at 12–13 years), and girls and 10th graders reported more frequently having used condoms and the pill (except in 2014) at the last sexual intercourse. Eighth graders more frequently reported having had their first sexual experience at 12–13 years (except in 2006).RESUMO - Este estudo examinou as tendências dos comportamentos sexuais de adolescentes de 2002 a 2014 em Portugal. Os dados foram recolhidos usando questionários de autorrelato nos alunos de 8° e 10° anos de escolaridade, nas salas de aula durante 2002, 2006, 2010 e 2014. Em geral, a prevalência de relações sexuais, a idade de iniciação sexual, o uso da pílula e as relações sexuais sob a influência de álcool ou drogas diminuiu em Portugal entre 2002 e 2014, enquanto o uso de preservativos aumentou. Os rapazes e os alunos do 10° ano referiram mais frequentemente terem tido relações sexuais, os rapazes e os alunos do 8° ano mencionara ter tido, mais frequentemente relações sexuais sob a influência de álcool ou drogas, as raparigas e os alunos do 10° ano relataram mais frequentemente terem tido sua primeira relação sexual aos 14 ou mais (exceto em 2014, onde rapazes e raparigas referiram mais frequentemente ter iniciado às 12–13), e as raparigas e os alunos do 10° ano relataram mais frequentemente ter usado preservativo e pílula (exceto em 2014) na última relação sexual. Os alunos do 8° ano referiram mais frequentemente terem tido sua primeira experiência sexual aos 12–13 (exceto em 2006).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Intervention in Schools promoting mental health and well-being: a systematic review

Schools have been identified as a main scenery for building social, emotional, and behavioural support among children because students spend a substantial amount of time there. This systematic review was developed and registered based on the PRISMA recommendations. The main objective was identifying school context interventions that focus on students’ wellbeing and mental health. This review refers to papers focusing on young people ages 0 to 18 years old who attend school and had been the target audience for mental health and wellbeing promotion interventions. Inclusion criteria for this systematic review was that interventions must have been carried out within a school context. The results indicate that most studies (n=13; 68%) were conducted using quantitative methodology. The majority of articles intended to promote mental health in a school context, either involving the whole school or only students. Results highlight the importance of the involvement of the whole school in order to better promote mental health and wellbeing. Findings also indicate that after years of “stigma”, mental health has become a main concern in school-aged population