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As habilidades sociais têm sido tomadas como um importante indicador de desenvolvimento social e emocional. Para avaliação desse repertório, tem-se, no contexto brasileiro, o Inventário de Habilidades Sociais para Adolescentes (IHSA-Del-Prette). Esse instrumento de medida é amplamente utilizado na investigação e intervenção, com propriedades psicométricas favoráveis obtidas por Análise de Componentes Principais (ACP). Este estudo visa comparar a estrutura obtida por ACP à obtida por Análise Fatorial Exploratória (AFE) e verificar os indicadores de validade e confiabilidade produzidos por Análise Fatorial Confirmatória (AFC). Participaram 2291 estudantes do 6º, 7º e 8º ano do Ensino Fundamental e do 1º e 2º ano do Ensino Médio. Os resultados evidenciaram uma estrutura fatorial muito similar à originalmente produzida com a ACP, com seis fatores oblíquos confirmados pela AFC e com indicadores adequados de confiabilidade. Conclui-se que o IHSA-Del-Prette apresenta qualidades psicométricas que o recomendam para uso no contexto brasileiro

Este estudo analisa a relação entre a percepção sobre práticas educativas maternas e sobre as próprias habilidades sociais em adolescentes de diferentes configurações familiares, bem como a influência do gênero sobre essa avaliação. Participaram 454 adolescentes de famílias nucleares, monoparentais e recasadas do primeiro e segundo ano do Ensino Médio. Os instrumentos utilizados foram: Inventário de Estilos Parentais (IEP); Inventário de Habilidades Sociais para Adolescentes (IHSA-Del-Prette). Análises de variância indicaram que a configuração familiar não exerceu influência nas práticas educativas maternas. Os adolescentes de famílias recasadas apresentaram mais habilidades sociais de abordagem afetiva que os adolescentes de famílias nucleares e monoparentais; as mães foram mais inconsistentes e negligentes com as filhas e utilizavam mais monitoria positiva com os filhos; as garotas foram mais empáticas que os rapazes. De forma geral, o estudo sugere que as transições familiares não tem impacto negativo em várias dimensões do desenvolvimento saudável dos adolescentes

Europe witnessed a mass influx of refugees in the last few years, challenging its capability to deal with this humanitarian crisis and calling upon the efforts of all professionals who work with/for refugees, to intervene under a demanding situation. This paper presents the results of four focus groups implemented in Portugal with professionals who work with/for refugees and refugees themselves, developed within two European projects: Advenus and ReGap. The focus groups aimed at understanding the participants' perceptions about key knowledge, competences and practices to work towards refugees' social inclusion. Thematic analysis was applied and the results of the Advenus and ReGap focus groups combined, allowed to identify three main themes: i. Fit the context and meet the needs with a multidisciplinary, pragmatic, and flexible approach; ii. Will to make the change through activism and advocacy; and iii. Embrace diversity by developing empathy, cultural and gender sensitivity and sense of belonging. These main themes promote a reflection about the key knowledge, competences and practices of professionals who work with/for refugees.

Europe has stressed the importance of lifelong learning as a way for its citizens to enrol and to engage fully in day-today demands of work and citizenship life events. Support is more urgent for those who are at risk of social and educational exclusion. This paper presents an overview on the goals of the European project LIBE "Supporting Lifelong learning with Inquiry-Based Education", that aims at designing, developing and trying out an innovative e-learning management system devoted to develop key information processing skills for ICT with an inquiry-based approach to learning, focused on the young adult population (16-24) that have low levels of competences regarding literacy, numeracy and ICT skills. Additionally, it presents the results of a content analysis of focus groups sessions, carried out with Portuguese teachers, trainers and students, aiming to identify the key competences and skills most needed by young low achievers. The Portuguese results integrate the alignment of the proposal of the LIBE framework for the learning outcomes, instructional objectives and ICT key information processing competencies. Results highlight literacy skills and social competence as the most relevant for the target audience, adding ICT competences as very important in developing literacy skills and self-efficacy. Pedagogical support is considered a significant part of the students' successful learning, both in face-to-face or e-learning environments.

Background: Intergenerational solidarity between parents and emerging adult offspring requires more substantial attention at the present time. Changing demographic structures and transformations in family dynamics over recent decades have increased both opportunities and the need for parent-child interactions and exchanges of support and affection during emerging adulthood. Purpose: The study had two aims: first, to explore patterns in intergenerational solidarity in accordance with different sociodemographic characteristics of emerging adults; and second, to analyse associations between intergenerational solidarity and emerging adults' psychological distress and satisfaction with life. Methods: Participants were 644 emerging adult university students from Southern Europe (Spain and Portugal), aged between 18 and 29 years, who completed a self-report questionnaire designed to assess variables linked to sociodemographic aspects (gender, country of residence, sexual orientation, living status, family income), intergenerational solidarity, psychological distress and satisfaction with life. Results: The results indicated some differences in intergenerational solidarity patterns in accordance with a range of sociodemographic characteristics. They also revealed significant associations between intergenerational solidarity dimensions and emerging adults' satisfaction with life and psychological distress. Moreover, affective solidarity was found to fully mediate the relationship between associational, functional and normative solidarity and emerging adults' adjustment. In the case of conflictual solidarity, affective solidarity was found to partially mediate the relationship between this dimension of intergenerational solidarity and emerging adults' distress and to fully mediate the relationship between this same dimension and emerging adults' satisfaction with life. Conclusion: The results indicate that it is important to take sociodemographic diversity into account when exploring relationships between emerging adults and their parents. They also suggest that affective solidarity acts as a protective factor in promoting emerging adults' adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to study the impact of polymorphisms in the genes encoding interleukin-6 (IL6) and tumor necrosis factor receptor-2 (TNFR2), reported to be mortality risk predictors, in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) undergoing dialysis. TNFRSF1B (rs3397, rs1061624, and rs1061622) and IL6 (rs1800796, rs1800797, and rs1554606) polymorphisms were studied in patients with ESKD and controls; the genotype and allele frequencies and the associations with inflammatory and erythropoiesis markers were determined; deaths were recorded throughout the following two years. The genotype and allele frequencies for the TNFRSF1B rs3397 polymorphism were different in these patients compared to those in the controls and the global and European populations, and patients with the C allele were less common. Patients with the CC genotype for TNFRSF1B rs3397 presented higher hemoglobin and erythrocyte counts and lower TNF-α levels, suggesting a more favorable inflammatory response that seems to be associated with erythropoiesis improvement. Patients with the GG genotype for TNFRSF1B rs1061622 showed lower serum ferritin levels. None of the TNFRSF1B (rs3397, rs1061624, and rs1061622) or IL6 (rs1800796, rs1800797, and rs1554606) polymorphisms had a significant impact on the all-cause mortality rate of Portuguese patients with ESKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and peroxiredoxin 2 (Prx2) are particularly important in erythroid cells. Reticulocytes and other erythroid precursors may adapt their biosynthetic mechanisms to cell defects or to changes in the bone marrow environment. Our aim was to perform a comparative study of the mRNA levels of CAT, GPX1, PRDX2 and SOD1 in reticulocytes from healthy individuals and from patients with hereditary spherocytosis (HS), sickle cell disease (SCD) and β-thalassemia (β-thal), and to study the association between their transcript levels and the reticulocyte maturity indices. In controls, the enzyme mRNA levels were significantly correlated with reticulocyte maturity indices for all genes except for SOD1. HS, SCD and β-thal patients showed younger reticulocytes, with higher transcript levels of all enzymes, although with different patterns. β-thal and HS showed similar reticulocyte maturity, with different enzyme mRNA levels; SCD and HS, with different reticulocyte maturity, presented similar enzyme mRNA levels. Our data suggest that the transcript profile for these antioxidant enzymes is not entirely related to reticulocyte maturity; it appears to also reflect adaptive mechanisms to abnormal erythropoiesis and/or to altered erythropoietic environments, leading to reticulocytes with distinct antioxidant potential according to each anemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, higher education institutions have made efforts to attract people who are either in the labor market or unemployed to the educational system. Accordingly, the participation of nontraditional students in postsecondary education has been increasing over the years in Portugal, including working students and working student parents. This growing phenomenon has received relatively little empirical attention since few country-level studies have been conducted targeting the combination of school with other life roles with a nontraditional student population enrolled in postsecondary education. The current study investigates the combination of school with other life roles for nontraditional Portuguese students enrolled in postsecondary education. Participants were 73 working student parents (enrolled in full-time undergraduate programs). Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used to test the model. The coexistence of school-family conflict and school-family enrichment was found. Gender differences on the antecedent variables of school-family conflict and enrichment were also found, emphasizing the advantage in examining conflict and enrichment experiences simultaneously and by gender when investigating school and family relations. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

C. R. Snyder conceptualized hope as a cognitive construct that reflects people's motivation and capacity to strive toward personally relevant goals. Using this definition, Snyder and colleagues developed and validated the Hope Scale (HS). This study is the first study to examine the psychometric properties of the HS in a sample of high school students (N = 1,012 Portuguese students). Reliability, factor structure, and criterion-related validity were investigated. The results support the psychometric properties of the scale, as well as the two-factor structure of Agency and Pathways. Findings from this study suggest that the HS can be used with high school students and Portuguese-speaking samples.