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Objective: The ability to recognize others' emotions is a central aspect of socioemotional functioning. Emotion recognition impairments are well documented in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, but it is less understood whether they are also present in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Results on facial emotion recognition are mixed, and crucially, it remains unclear whether the potential impairments are specific to faces or extend across sensory modalities, Method: In the current study, 32 MCI patients and 33 cognitively intact controls completed a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and two forced-choice emotion recognition tasks, including visual and auditory stimuli. The emotion recognition tasks required participants to categorize emotions in facial expressions and in nonverbal vocalizations (e.g., laughter, crying) expressing neutrality, anger, disgust, fear, happiness, pleasure, surprise, or sadness. Results: MCI patients performed worse than controls for both facial expressions and vocalizations. The effect was large, similar across tasks and individual emotions, and it was not explained by sensory losses or affective symptomatology. Emotion recognition impairments were more pronounced among patients with lower global cognitive performance, but they did not correlate with the ability to perform activities of daily living. Conclusions: These findings indicate that MCI is associated with emotion recognition difficulties and that such difficulties extend beyond vision, plausibly reflecting a failure at supramodal levels of emotional processing. This highlights the importance of considering emotion recognition abilities as part of standard neuropsychological testing in MCI, and as a target of interventions aimed at improving social cognition in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women in menopause have more mood swings than before menopause. Several studies attempt to clarify the role of menopause in the development of depression, anxiety, and stress in midlife. However, there is controversy about the relationship of body composition with psychological distress in postmenopausal women. This study investigated the relationship between fat mass (FM) and visceral fat level (FVL) with anxiety, depression and stress in women with menopause for at least 1 year. The study included 50 women (57,49±5.62 years), 46% for more than 6 years in estrogen depletion. Women who documented the use of antidepressants or anxiolytics were excluded from the analysis. The short-form version of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was administered, and body composition (FM, VFL, SMM - skeletal muscle mass) was assessed with the bioimpedance InBody 120. High levels of total and central adiposity were considered for %FM≥35% (Lohman & Going, 1998) and VFL>9 (Biospace, 2021). Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to analyse the association of variables. Comparisons between groups were conducted using non-parametric tests, based on the normality test results, and a statistical significance was set at p< 0.05. The largest part of the sample documented a natural menopause (86%) and the absence of hormone therapy. The mean DASS-21 scale was 10.56 (±8.83), with higher levels for stress (4.72±3.77) and depression (3.56±3.81). All women exhibited normal muscle condition (SMM≥16 kg), but most of them had obesity (68%), especially central obesity (76%). A significant association (p=0.04) was identified between %FM and the DASS-21 scale (r=0.20, p=0.04). Obese women had lower stress (p=0.04) but a higher value on the DASS-21 scale (p=0.04). In parallel, the presence of greater levels of central adiposity determined higher values of these two measures of psychological distress (p=0.01). The results suggest that postmenopausal women with higher levels of fat mass or central adiposity tend to have a higher DASS-21 scale score. Central obesity produces in women symptoms such as difficulty in relaxing, irritability, and nervous excitement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women are more likely to experience depressive symptoms and poor quality of life during postmenopause. Physical activity is an effective strategy to improve the mental health of women in this climacteric phase. This study aimed to investigate the variation of depressive symptomatology and mood states in postmenopausal women as a function of moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels. The search was conducted on the project Meno(s)Pause+Movement and involved 62 women (age range 48-71 years), most of them with natural menopause (87.1%) and without hormone therapy (85.5%). The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was applied, and the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) was used to measure dispositional optimism. Body composition was assessed by bioimpedance, and triaxial accelerometers wGT3X-BT were used to measure MVPA. The cut-off points for the non-dominant pulse proposed by Kamada et al. (2016) were considered, and physical activity was classified according to WHO (2020) guidelines. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the means of the variables in the three MVPA groups (<150 minutes/week; 150-300 minutes/week); >300 minutes/week), being considered a 5% degree of statistical significance. Women who documented using antidepressants or anxiolytics were excluded from the analysis. The research was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (ref. Doc77-CE-UTAD-2022). The mean age, LOT-R, and DASS-21 scores were 53.69 years, 16.52 (±3.0) points, and 11.02 (±9.22) points, respectively. Most of the sample exhibited obesity but a normal muscle condition (skeletal muscle mass ≥16 kg). The average MVPA was 299.05 min/week, with 41.9% of the women showing very recommended levels. No differences were identified in the mean values of the LOT-R, the DASS-21 scale and its dimensions (anxiety, depression and stress) between the 3 AFMV groups. The results suggest that physical activity levels do not influence variation in optimism and depression symptomatology in postmenopausal women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demotivation in nursing work conditions leads nurses to perform their duties less productively and hinders the development of their potential and a satisfactory professional performance, with negative results in interpersonal relationships and in the provision of care to users and their families, with lower quality. Instituting motivational strategies in nursing work is a challenge for nurses in their professional practice, team leaders, managers and supervisors. Purpose: Synthesize the analysis of the scientiic evidence of selected studies on motivational strategies in nursing work. Objectives: The general objective of this scientiic Systematic Literature Review is to identify strategies that promote motivation in the context of nursing work. The speciic objectives are: describe the scientiic evidence available on the subject under study, clarify the concepts of motivation and satisfaction and summarize the decision-making process in the promotion of motivational strategies in nursing work. Method: The methodological strategy used was the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). A research question was structured according to the PICo mnemonic, in Portuguese, English and Spanish, with the Boolean operator AND and the keywords were transcribed according to the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS). Data collection took place in May 2020 in the following databases: SciELO with Full Text from the Open Journal System (OJS) platform, IBECS with Full Text and LILACS with Full Text from the Virtual Health Library (BVS) platform. Sixty-ive studies resulted and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria and evaluating the methodological quality of the selected studies through critical evaluation, degrees of recommendation for practice and levels of evidence, six studies were considered eligible for the study. The methodological quality assessment was performed by two independent reviewers. Results: The results obtained in the selected studies indicate a multiplicity of factors that inluence motivation: the quality of the work environment, the age of the nurse, the performance of functions in the public or private sector and the presence/absence of feelings of autonomy, recognition, accomplishment and professional development, motivational meetings, standardization of conducts and elaboration of care/intervention protocols, communication and feedback between collaborating nurses, managers and supervisors, the possibility of attending training courses, the availability of materials for the provision of care and the existence of facilitating/non-facilitating factors in the face of stressful situations with the relatives of end-of-life patients. Conclusion: The strategies that promote motivation in the context of nursing work are related to the policies of health organizations/institutions, the conduct of nurse managers and supervisors, interpersonal relationships in the nursing team, the construction of protocols, continuous training attendance, the care provided and the existence of a feeling of self-fulillment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine whether attachment orientations (anxiety and avoidance) were associated with perceived stress through self-critical rumination (a specific type of rumination focused on the content of self-critical thoughts). It also aimed to examine the factor structure of the Portuguese version of the Self-Critical Rumination Scale (SCRS) and to present additional evidence on its construct validity and reliability. A sample of 317 Portuguese women from the general community was recruited online. Participants completed the SCRS and measures of self-compassion, perceived stress, difficulties in emotion regulation, and adult attachment. The results of the mediation analyses showed that self-critical rumination mediated the association between attachment anxiety and perceived stress but not the association between attachment avoidance and perceived stress. In addition, the SCRS showed good psychometric properties. Specifically, the scale showed adequate reliability (Cronbach's alpha was.933 and composite reliability was.932) and construct validity. Significant correlations were found between the SCRS and measures assessing constructs expected to be associated with self-critical rumination (self-compassion, perceived stress, difficulties in emotion regulation, and attachment anxiety and avoidance). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the one-factor structure of the Portuguese SCRS. This study identifies a new mechanism underlying the association between adult attachment and perceived stress. In addition, the results of the present study provide further evidence of the internal consistency and construct validity of the SCRS and indicate that the Portuguese version is a psychometrically robust and adequate measure of self-critical rumination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examination of morphological characters of two arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF; phylum Glomeromycota), which produced clusters with glomoid spores in single-species cultures, suggested that they were undescribed species, one belonging to the genera Dominikia, Microdominikia or Kamienskia, and one to the genus Glomus. Phylogenetic analyses of the nuc rDNA small subunit (18S), internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 = ITS) and large subunit (28S) (= 18S-ITS-28S) region, of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB1) gene, as well as of concatenated sequences of these two loci (18S-ITS-28S + RPB1) confirmed our hypotheses and proved that both fungi were new species, here described as Dominikia bonfanteae sp. nov. and Glomus atlanticum sp. nov., respectively. In nature, D. bonfanteae was found in a plant community on the shore of Kokotek pond II (Lubliniec in the Silesian Upland, Poland). Glomus atlanticum originated from the Dunes of Aguda Park (Northern Portugal). The phylogenetic position of these new species and their close family relatives within the Glomeraceae were compared and discussed depending on the sequence alignment analysed. This paper for the first time shows the phylogeny of AMF reconstructed from analyses of two concatenated unlinked loci: 18S-ITS-28S plus RPB1. The partial RPB1 gene of D. bonfanteae was amplified using newly designed primers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aims to examine postpartum Portuguese mothers' emotional experiences, help-seeking behaviours, and perceived barriers to seeking help. It also intends to analyze mothers' knowledge and acceptability of mindful parenting interventions and their preferences concerning the characteristics of these interventions. Differences between mothers with positive and negative screenings for depression were explored for all variables. Methods: Participants were recruited online and answered several questions aimed at assessing their emotional experience, help-seeking behaviours, perceived barriers to seeking help, knowledge about mindful parenting, acceptability of parenting and mindful parenting interventions during the postpartum period, and preferences concerning those interventions. They also completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. The sample comprises 599 mothers with a child aged 0–12 months (Mage = 5.28 months). Results: Approximately 36% of mothers screened positively for depressive symptoms, and 24.2% thought about seeking help or actually sought help. Structural barriers were the most cited reasons for not seeking help. Approximately 95% of mothers felt that participating in a mindful parenting intervention during the postpartum period would be useful. Concerning mothers' preferences, most mothers preferred a weekly frequency (85.0%) and an average of 10 sessions (48.6%) of 45–60 min in length (52.6%). Learning how to better understand the baby's emotions and behaviours and learning new tools to better cope with parenting stress were among the intervention contents considered most useful. Conclusions: Our findings support postpartum mothers' acceptability of mindful parenting interventions and provide important insights concerning specific features to consider and content to include in those interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The main goal of this study is to investigate the mediating role of mindful parenting dimensions in the relationship between parents' and children's tendency to experience negative affect (i.e., parents' neuroticism and children's negative reactivity) and parents' overprotection and supportive behaviors. Methods: A sample of 399 parents (84.2% mothers) of children aged between 6 and 13 years completed self-report questionnaires assessing neuroticism, children's negative reactivity, mindful parenting, parental overprotection, and support of children's coping behaviors. A path model was tested through structural equation modeling. Results: Parents' and children's tendency to experience negative affect were shown to be associated with lower levels of all mindful parenting dimensions. Parents' neuroticism was shown to be directly associated with greater overprotection. In addition, parents' neuroticism and children's negative reactivity were both shown to be indirectly associated with lower levels of overprotection and supportive behaviors through lower levels of compassion towards the child and of emotional awareness of the child. In contrast, parents' neuroticism and children's negative reactivity were indirectly associated with a greater overprotection through lower levels of nonjudgmental acceptance of parental functioning. Conclusions: This study provides insight into how the temperamental tendency to experience stronger and more frequent negative emotions can contribute to parental overprotection and the parental support of children's coping behaviors. Mindful parenting dimensions seem to shape the way neuroticism and children's reactivity are associated with overprotection and supportive behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate whether mindful parenting differs according to maternal anxious and/or depressive symptomatology and mothers' perception of infant temperament and to explore the potential mediating role of parenting stress in the relationship between anxious and depressive symptomatology, perception of infant temperament, and mindful parenting. Methods: The sample comprised 560 mothers (18–46 years) with a child 12 months old or younger, who completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Parental Stress Scale and the Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting Scale—Infant version. Results: Approximately 22.1% of the mothers presented clinically significant anxious and depressive symptomatology levels. Those mothers had significantly higher levels of parenting stress and lower levels of mindful parenting than mothers with normal levels of anxious and depressive symptomatology. Mothers who perceived their infant temperament as difficult had significantly higher levels of parenting stress and lower levels of mindful parenting than those who perceived their infant temperament as easier. A path model was tested through structural equation modeling. Parenting stress mediated the relationship between anxious and depressive symptomatology and mothers' perception of infant temperament and mindful parenting. Conclusions: Parenting stress seems to be an important mechanism explaining the associations between maternal anxious and depressive symptomatology, the perception of infant temperament, and mindful parenting. During the postpartum period, it is important to identify mothers with anxious/depressive symptomatology, as they appear to contribute to parenting stress and to be related to parenting skills. Psychological interventions may focus on reducing that symptomatology and parenting stress and promoting mindful parenting skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters are potentially traumatic events due to their disruptive nature and high impact on social and physical environments, particularly for children and adolescents. The present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES‐13) in a sample of Portuguese children and adolescents exposed to a specific type of natural disaster (i.e., wildfire). The sample was recruited at six school units of the Central region of Portugal following wildfires in the summer of 2017 and included children and adolescents without a clinical diagnosis of a psychopathological condition associated with exposure to the traumatic event (i.e., nonclinical sample, n = 486) and those with a clinical diagnosis of a trauma‐ and/or stress‐related disorder (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], adjustment disorder, separation anxiety disorder, or grief; clinical sample, n = 54). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a two‐factor model (i.e., Intrusion/Arousal and Avoidance) provided a better fit than a three‐factor model (i.e., Intrusion, Arousal, and Avoidance) and was found to be invariant across gender and age groups. The CRIES‐13 showed good reliability for all subscales, with Cronbach's αs >.79. Higher CRIES‐13 scores were associated with poorer health and well‐being and more internalizing and externalizing problems. The clinical sample presented with significantly higher CRIES‐13 scores than the nonclinical sample, ηp2 =.13. These results contribute to the cross‐cultural validation of the CRIES‐13 and support its use as a reliable and valid measure for assessing posttraumatic symptoms in children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, different factor analysis models were employed to test the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) in 11 distinct populations (n = 15,266) in different countries. The results strongly suggest that the most appropriate use of the SCS is to measure levels of Self-Compassionate responding (positive items) and Self-Uncompassionate responding (negative items) separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Child Post-Traumatic Cognitions Inventory (CPTCI) in a sample of Portuguese children and adolescents, following the exposition to a wildfire disaster. The sample included 533 children and adolescents living in regions exposed to the wildfire disaster (non-clinical sample: n = 483; clinical sample: n = 50). The short form of the instrument (CPTCI-SF) including two correlated factors ('Sense of Disturbing and Permanent Change' and 'Sense of Being a Fragile Person in a Scary World') showed good model fit and was invariant across gender and age-groups. Good internal consistency (>.70) was found, and higher CPTCI scores were associated with poorer adjustment indicators. The clinical sample presented significantly higher CPTCI scores than the non-clinical sample. These results contribute to the cross-cultural validation of the CPTCI and support the adequacy of its short form as a reliable and valid measure to be used with Portuguese children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]