Percorrer por autor "Souto, Maria Teresa Soares"

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    Alexithymia among long-term drug users: a pilot study in Oporto
    (Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2019-09-18) Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; Alves, Hélder; Dias, Ana Rita Conde; Pinto, Luísa; Ribeiro, Óscar; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    Increasing scientific evidence supports an association between alexithymia and psychoactive substance use. This study explores alexithymia ́s expression in sample of long-term drug users, undergoing outpatient treatment in public health units in Oporto, Portugal, as well as its ́ association with social demographic risk factors. Data was collected from a sample of 90 adults, participants, mainly men (n=90; 87%), considered to be old consumers (81% with a age>40 years), with a mean age of 46.1 years (SD=8.3; range=21–64).Two instruments were used: a sociodemographic questionnaire and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). More than 51.1% of the individuals were alexithymic, indicating a high prevalence of deficits in emotional awareness. The treatment period varied from 0 to 15 years, included a medication in 55% of cases, mostly methadone (83%). This profile illustrates the gradual aging of the long-term users of illicit drugs and alcohol with a clear diagnosis of an emotional disorder. Therefore, clinicians who develop treatment strategies may want to take into account the likelihood that many of their patients may be alexithymic; in being so, they should integrate specific psychotherapeutic techniques that promote both the identification and the differentiation in emotionally dysfunctional patients.
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    Ethical decision-making training goes virtual
    (Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2021) Oliveira, Miguel; Gamito, Pedro; Dias, Ana Rita Conde; Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; Dias, Fábio André Sousa; Alves de Sousa, João; Ricou, Miguel; Marina, Silvia; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    We present the VREthics application that enables immersive training in ethical decision making of internship psychologist. The development of this app is supported on theoretical information regarding best practices for ethics decisions in Psychology and technological issues concerning the system design. Eleven internship psychologists tested the VREthics and were questioned about their subjective assessment of the app, the VR training experience and its impact on the learning process. They reported a positive appreciation of both the VR training experience (43.52%) and of the impact on their training (31.98%). The most referenced characteristic is related to the realism and interactivity of the case, allowing them a sense of presence. Results are accordingly to the scarce literature and suggest that the VR training can be an important resource for practical learning, providing an educational context close to the real, interactive and engaging context. Therefore, the use of technological tools, more specifically VR, should be integrated in the psychologists skills´ training of the utmost relevance to practice, namely in ethical decision-making. The next steps will be to implement VREthics in the initial training plan for internship psychologists at the Portuguese Psychologists Association, being a differentiating tool in their training that allows a more practical and interactive level of access to fundamental theoretical concepts.
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    Mental health and victimization: an exploratory study in prisons of Cape Verde
    (2019-10-09) Dias, Ana Rita Conde; Dias, Jorge; Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; Gamito, Pedro; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    Background: There is insufficient information available regarding the psychopathological characteristics of the inmate population in low-middle-income countries as Cape Verde. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of mental disorders in a sample of Cape Verdean inmates and explore its’ relation with victimization in the prison context Participants and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 5 prisons of Cape Verde. 402 subjects were included in stratified convenience sample and assessed with Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS 25 software applying descriptive and inferential statistical measures. Results: Inmate ́s mean age was 31, 16 years, mainly men (96%), single (87,6%) from Cape Verde (90,8%) with a basic level of education. 62.9% reported substance use problems. According to the psychopathological dimensions included in BSI, paranoid ideation, obsessive-compulsive and depressive symptoms stand out either in the sample or in the 2 sub-samples. Symptomatology was significantly higher among victims namely in interpersonal sensitivity), anxiety and hostility. The increasing reoccurrence of victimization in the past 12 months is associated with an increase in the severity of symptoms. Conclusion: Victimization and mental health problems should be identified as early as possible to enable joint and combined intervention, given the negative impact of psychopathological manifestations on the reintegration of prisoners in society affecting the reintegration of prisoners into society.
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    Perceção da Saúde: Validação de uma Escala para a População Portuguesa
    (Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia, 2018-12) Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; Ramires, Ana; Leite, Angela; Santos, Vanessa Margarida Amorim; Espírito Santo, Raquel Pereira da Silva do; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    A validade do construto perceção da saúde tem aumentado ao longo do tempo; as pessoas avaliam melhor a sua saúde devido a um acréscimo da escolaridade. Diferentes instrumentos têm sido desenvolvidos para avaliar esta dimensão da saúde. Este estudo tem como objetivo a validação para a população adulta portuguesa do Health Perception Questionnaire, dada a inexistência no contexto português de instrumento validado que avalie a perceção da saúde. É um instrumento de autoresposta que avalia a perceção da saúde em três momentos – passado, presente e futuro, a resistência e atitudes em relação à doença. Participaram 1,139 sujeitos da população geral, com idades entre os 18 e os 79 anos e maioritariamente mulheres. Foram realizadas análises fatoriais exploratória e confirmatória, tendo sido encontrado um modelo de 2.a ordem, onde a perceção da saúde se define em torno de dois fatores – saúde atual (sete itens) e saúde anterior (dois itens). A vivência de doença grave ou significativa, assim como o bem-estar e a saúde, assumem-se como elementos chave na construção individual da perceção de saúde anterior e atual respectivamente.
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    Psychological intervention with victims of prison violence: a systematic literature review
    (Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2021-05) Dias, Ana Rita Conde; Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; Almeida, Ana; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    Background: Prison victimization has been a focus of attention by the scientific community with studies that indicate a high prevalence and negative effects on mental health and social reintegration of prisoners. However, there is few information on intervention responses, so it is rele- vant to obtain reliable data about intervention strategies that seeks to miti- gate its consequences and provide support to victims. Objective: accomplish a detailed description of the literature on psychologi- cal intervention that seeks to respond to victimization in prison and its consequences. Method: Systematic review (SR) using the PRISMA-P method. The research was carried out in 10 electronic databases and the data collection and anal- ysis process carried out by two independent researchers. Results: Five publications were included, three quantitative studies and two theoretical articles although none specifically focuses on intervention with individuals subject to prison victimization. This feature is addressed and theoretically analyzed throughout the discussion. Conclusion: There are few publications on intervention with victims of pris- on victimization and existing ones do not focus on specific intervention in the context of this type of victimization. However, important guidelines were obtained to be included into future intervention proposals. There is a consensus regarding the need to adopt empirically validated intervention models, referring to the Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), specifically to the Trauma-Informed Treatment (TIT).
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    Psychological well-being and health perception: predictors for past, present and future
    (Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2019-07) Leite, Angela; Ramires, Ana; Moura, Andreia de Paiva Ribeiro de; Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; Marôco, João; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    Background Increasing evidence supports an association between psychological well-being and overall health, however, much remains to be understood about this association. The current study addresses this issue by presenting a new perspective focusing on health perceptions. Additionally, it examines the impact of each of six dimensions of psychological well-being on health perception. Methods Data for this study were collected from a sample of 1,155 Portuguese adults in various settings. Findings reveal that psychological well-being dimensions' impact differently on prior, current, and health outlookperceptions. Furthermore, the dimension depressed mood influences current health perception; in turn, current health perception is the strongest predictor for psychological well-being. Our results provide support for a bidirectional relationship between health perception and psychological well-being
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    Victimization and Psychopathology Prevalence’s in a Sample of Inmates in Cape Verde
    (Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2019-07) Dias, Jorge; Dias, Ana Rita Conde; Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    The literature and research suggested that both victimization and psychopathology are in themselves two risk factors associated with criminal recidivism. If on an international level, studies regarding the prevalence of prison victimization and on the prevalence of mental disorders have proliferated in the last decades, in Cape Verde they are nonexistent. So, the present research resorts to an inmate sample and aims to: characterize it regarding socio-demographic and criminal indicators and estimate either the prevalence of victimization and of psychopathological indicators. The sample includes 402 inmates, approximately 25% of the inmate popula- tion of Cape Verde. Two self-report instruments were used: a questionnaire on socio-demographic, criminal and prison characteriza- tion and the Brief Symptom Inventory. The results indicated that a significant number of prisoners reported having suffered some kind of violence in the prison context (37.1% reported having suffered some type of violence during their imprisonment and 21.4% reported having suffered violence in the last 12 months) and revealed indicators of psychopathology (namely psychotic problems and paranoid ideation). This study concludes that both victimization and mental health problems are present in inmates of Cape Verde and stresses the need to implement a system to identify, evaluate and intervene in these phenomena in the prison context. The eradication of victimization and the existence of mental health services and care, through the development and implementation of procedures for the evaluation, intervention and monitoring of prisoners for their rehabilitation and social integration, should be considered as guidelines to ensure safeguarded in the prison context and to promote high standard quality services.
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    Virtual reality-based cognitive stimulation on people with mild to moderate dementia due to alzheimer’s disease : a randomized controlled trial
    (MDPI, 2021) Oliveira, Jorge; Gamito, Pedro; Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; Dias, Ana Rita Conde; Ferreira, Maria; Corotnean, Tatiana; Fernandes, Adriano; Silva, Henrique; Neto, Teresa; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    The use of ecologically oriented approaches with virtual reality (VR) depicting instrumen-tal activities of daily living (IADL) is a promising approach for intervention on acquired brain inju-ries. However, results of such an approach on dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are still lacking. This research reports on a pilot randomized controlled trial that aims to explore the effect of cognitive stimulation reproducing several IADL in VR on people with mild to moderate dementia caused by AD. Patients are being recruited from residential care homes of Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Amadora (SCMA) which is a relevant non-profit social and healthcare provider in Portugal. This intervention lasts 2 months with a total of 10 sessions (2 sessions/week). Neuropsy-chological assessment is carried out at baseline and follow-up using established neuropsychological instruments for assessing memory, attention and executive functions. The sample consisted of 17 patients of both genders randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The prelimi-nary results show an improvement in the overall cognitive function in the experimental group, which suggest this approach to be effective for neurocognitive stimulation for older adults with dementia, contributing to maintain cognitive function in AD.
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    VR-based assessment and intervention of cognitive functioning after stroke
    (2020) Gamito, Pedro; Souto, Maria Teresa Soares; Dias, Ana Rita Conde; Salvador, Ágata; Galhordas, João; Oliveira, Jorge; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    Worldwide, stroke affects one out of every six individuals, being associated with physical and cognitive impairments, and leaving a striking footprint on individuals, their families and society. Assessment of acquired deficits and rehabilitation of lost and compromised functions is based typically on exercises that may not replicate the demands of everyday life activities lacking ecological validity. These tests fail at predicting daily functioning and their similarity with daily life activities is far from being sound. Assessing and training cognitive functions under an ecologically oriented approach, i.e. using exercises that replicate instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) seems to be the suitable strategy to follow. Virtual Reality (VR) worlds have been used to simulate IADL for assessment and rehabilitation of acquired cognitive deficits since the late 1990’s. This chapter reports and debates existing studies that support the use of VR in this context. When it comes down to veridicality and verisimilitude, evidences illustrate the opportunity of adopting this strategy that outperforms traditional paper and pencil exercises. A glance through the perspective of a therapist, that has adopted VR for cognitive rehabilitation in patients with stroke is also debated.