Regina Alves

Este artigo explora o conceito de cidade educadora no contexto dos Projetos Educativos Municipais (PEM) em Portugal, em diálogo com a Didática Crítica Decolonial no Brasil (Candau, 2023; Bazzo, 2019, 2024; Oliveira, 2021). O objetivo é compreender os princípios e as dimensões que fundamentam esse modelo, enfatizando a importância de ambientes urbanos que favoreçam a aprendizagem e o desenvolvimento social. A cidade educadora é concebida como um espaço de aprendizagem contínua, onde escolas e outros espaços urbanos se articulam por meio de práticas pedagógicas intencionais. Para se constituir como tal, a cidade deve considerar dimensões humanas do processo educativo, como a cognitiva, social, intercultural, emocional, ambiental, prática, ética e política. Seus princípios incluem diálogo, participação, inclusão, diversidade, cidadania e interculturalidade, essenciais para garantir a construção crítica de um espaço democrático que valorize as identidades históricas e culturais. A Didática Crítica Decolonial contribui para os PEM ao propor uma educação que visa descolonizar saberes e práticas pedagógicas opressoras e discriminatórias, superando violências simbólicas e materiais. Assim, a cidade deve ser um território de acolhimento, poder e transformação social, onde cidadãos de todas as idades tenham acesso à educação crítica e emancipatória.

El pensamiento curricular se entiende como parte del paradigma que el futuro profesor tiene acerca de la naturaleza de la disciplina a enseñar y al cómo conducir su acción pedagógica. Este estudio tiene como objetivo validar una escala de pensamiento curricular para estudiantes universitarios chilenos de pedagogía, relacionándola con variables académicas y personales, considerando dos vertientes de pensamiento curricular: la constructivista y la conductista. Para ello, se realizó un estudio cuantitativo de corte transversal que adaptó un instrumento que incluía las dimensiones de contenido, metodología y evaluación. Participaron 572 estudiantes de carreras de pedagogía de una universidad chilena. Se evidenciaron correlaciones estadísticamente significativas entre las corrientes del pensamiento curricular y las características sociodemográficas de los estudiantes. Los resultados mostraron un buen ajuste de los datos al modelo, lo que sugiere que esta escala puede ser aplicada a estudiantes de pedagogía en universidades chilenas para explorar acerca de su pensamiento curricular.

As students progress through university, they are simultaneously preparing for their professional lives alongside their academic learning. The transition from university studies to the labour market is a process that begins in education and continues after graduation until graduates have adapted to their working roles. Preparing to work requires that students conclude their studies and face several challenges posed by job searching and adaptation to the role of a worker. Previous research indicates that self‐efficacy may contribute to success in academic performance and positive work‐related outcomes after graduation. Using a three‐wave longitudinal design, this study explores the academic and transition‐to‐work self‐efficacy developmental trajectories of university students. Multivariate latent growth analysis was conducted on two cohorts of 204 and 261 undergraduates, respectively. The results indicate that academic and transition‐to‐work self‐efficacy increased over time in both cohorts. Additionally, initial academic self‐efficacy and its change positively predicted the initial transition‐to‐work self‐efficacy and its change, respectively. This study contributes to the understanding of the interconnectedness between academic and transition‐to‐work self‐efficacy trajectories. Implications for practice, limitations and future research are also discussed.

Social prescribing inherently embodies a co-productive nature, particularly within the ‘holistic’ model facilitated by the pivotal role of Link Workers. Most attention is focused on collecting evidence about the micro-level relationship between Link Workers and their clients. However, little is known about how this co-productive relationship influences or is influenced by value co-creation at different levels, given the involvement of multiple actors in delivering the intervention. To advance research on the operational processes underlying social prescribing, we propose a conceptual framework utilizing the Service Ecosystems perspective to investigate the application of social prescribing with young people in NEET situations in Italy. A single case study was conducted as part of the European C.O.P.E. (Capabilities, Opportunities, Places, and Engagement) initiative, examining the implementation of social prescribing targeting young NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) in Italy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 participants, including six members of the C.O.P.E. coordination team, six Link Workers, and 15 young people aged 15–34 years. Findings are presented showing the ecosystem dynamics at each intervention phase: the referral process, co-production of an individualized action plan, and connection with and activation of community assets. This research illustrates how social prescribing is not a linear path but rather a complex intervention with multiple interacting elements across ecosystem layers. The dyadic relationship between Link Workers and clients operates within broader care services, fostering continuity of care. The service ecosystem perspective offers a valuable framework for examining the dynamic interactions between actors and understanding how their resource integration processes and institutional arrangements foster the emergence of opportunities to support an invisible and hard-to-reach target group, such as young people in NEET situations.

In a period globally known as long COVID, several post-acute infection sequelae and vaccination effects have been discussed. Objectives: This study aimed to identify the effects of COVID-19 infection and vaccines on the menstrual cycle of adolescents attending higher education and to verify the association between personal health factors and changes in their menstrual cycle after contact with the virus SARS-CoV-2 via infection or via the vaccine. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire for data collection, applied online to Portuguese higher education adolescents aged between 18 and 24. The sample included 401 individuals. The statistical analysis of data was performed using SPSS. Results: More than half of the sample had a COVID-19 infection only once and took two doses of the vaccine. The mRNA Comirnaty 30 µg BioNTech vaccine was administered to 73.1%. The most common menstrual changes were an increase in blood clots, the blood becoming darker, shorter menstrual cycles, scarcer blood flow, and more irregular cycles. Menstrual changes correlated significantly with vaccination but not with infection. Conclusions: This study showed a lower percentage of women affected than other studies carried out closer to the pandemic period, which could mean that the effects are diminishing over time. Thus, adolescents’ menstrual health should be monitored.

Traditionally, the prevalence of health-risk behaviours is high among university students. Although these behaviours are often analysed in isolation, there is likely evidence for the co-occurrence of multiple risk behaviours. In this study, a latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted with cross-sectional data from 840 Portuguese students (55.4% female) to explore patterns of multiple risk behaviours across seven behavioural dimensions (alcohol consumption, smoking, unhealthy eating, sedentary behaviour, risky sexual practices, illicit drug use, and self-medication). Additionally, a latent class regression was performed to explore predictors (perceived well-being and sociodemographic and academic characteristics) for each behavioural pattern. A three-class model emerged with different probabilities of risk: Low-risk behaviours (51.4%), Moderate-risk behaviors (14.9%), and High-risk behaviours (33.7%). Students with better perceptions of well-being and health were likelier to be in the healthier class. Students in the low- and moderate-risk classes were more likely to be in their first year of study, not in a romantic relationship and to be full-time students. Students who had not changed residence at the beginning of their studies and were female were more likely to be in the healthiest class. This study provides essential strategies for health promotion among university students, offering crucial insights for the design of effective health promotion interventions, especially targeted at specific groups of students with similar patterns of multiple risk behaviours.

Introduction: The intermediate stages of dementia are relatively under-researched, including in Portugal. The Actifcare (ACcess to TImely Formal Care) EU-JPND project studied people with mild-moderate dementia, namely their needs, access to and use of community services (e.g., day centers, home support). In our baseline assessment of the Portuguese Actifcare cohort, the unmet needs of some participants would call for formal support, which was not always accessible or used. We now report the main results of the 12-month follow-up, analyzing changes in needs, service (non)use, quality of life and related variables.Methods: This was a longitudinal, observational study using a convenience sample of 54 dyads of people with dementia and their family carers. Our main outcomes were the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) and the Resources Utilization in Dementia. Clinical-functional, quality of life, psychological distress and caregiving-related assessments were also used.Results: At follow-up, the cognitive and functional status of people with dementia declined (p < 0.001), and their neuropsychiatric symptoms increased (p = 0.033). Considering CANE interviewers’ ratings, the total needs of people with dementia increased at follow-up (p < 0.001) but not the unmet needs. Quality of life was overall stable. The use of formal care did not increase significantly, but informal care did in some domains. Carers’ depressive symptoms increased (p = 0.030) and perseverance time decreased (p = 0.045). However, carers’ psychological distress unmet needs were lower (p = 0.007), and their stress and quality of life remained stable.Conclusion: People with dementia displayed complex biopsychosocial unmet needs. Their cognitive-functional decline over one year was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in any pattern of unmet need, nor of service use. Reliance on informal care (namely supervision) may have contributed to this. Caregiving-related outcomes evolved according to different trends, although stability was almost the rule. Primary carers were even more present at follow-up, without an apparently heavier toll on their own needs, burden, and quality of life. Overall, this longitudinal study comprehensively assessed Portuguese community-dwelling people with dementia. Despite the lack of generalizability, participants’ needs remained overall stable and partly unmet over one year. Longer follow-up periods are needed to understand such complex processes. Introdução: As fases intermédias da demência têm sido menos investigadas. O projecto EU-JPND Actifcare (ACcess to TImely Formal Care) estudou as necessidades de pessoas com demência ligeira-moderada e o acesso/utilização de serviços na comunidade (v.g., centros de dia, apoio domiciliário). Na avaliação inicial da subamostra portuguesa, as necessidades não cobertas de alguns participantes exigiriam apoio formal, nem sempre disponível ou procurado. Apresentamos agora resultados do estudo longitudinal (12 meses), analisando necessidades, utilização dos serviços, qualidade de vida e variáveis relacionadas.Métodos: Estudo longitudinal de uma amostra de conveniência (54 díades doente/familiar-cuidador). Além dos principais instrumentos (Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly - CANE, Resources Utilization in Dementia), foram realizadas avaliações complementares: clínico-funcionais, qualidade de vida, sofrimento psicológico, experiência de cuidar.Resultados: No follow-up, o estado cognitivo e funcional das pessoas com demência piorou (p < 0,001) e os sintomas neuropsiquiátricos aumentaram (p = 0,033). O total de necessidades aumentou (p < 0,001), mas o total de necessidades não cobertas e a qualidade de vida permaneceram estáveis. A utilização de cuidados formais não aumentou significativamente, mas os cuidados informais sim (nalguns domínios). Os sintomas depressivos dos familiares-cuidadores aumentaram (p = 0,030), diminuindo o tempo de perseverança (p = 0,045). Porém, as suas necessidades não cobertas de sofrimento psicológico foram menores (p = 0,007), enquanto o stress e a qualidade de vida permaneceram estáveis.Conclusão: Estas pessoas com demência apresentavam necessidades biopsicossociais complexas e não cobertas. O declínio cognitivo-funcional ao longo de um ano não foi, aparentemente, acompanhado por um aumento de necessidades não cobertas, nem da utilização de serviços. A maior utilização dos cuidados informais (supervisão) pode ter contribuído para tal. A análise das dimensões da experiência de cuidar sugere tendências não inteiramente uniformes, embora a estabilidade fosse quase a regra. Os familiares-cuidadores ‘primários’ estavam ainda mais presentes no follow-up, sem que isso pareça ter alterado as suas próprias necessidades, sobrecarga e qualidade de vida. Em suma, apresentamos uma análise longitudinal abrangente de uma amostra comunitária de famílias de pessoas com demência ligeira-moderada. Não sendo os resultados generalizáveis, ao fim de um ano as necessidades dos participantes mantiveram-se globalmente estáveis e parcialmente não cobertas. Para compreender processos tão complexos, necessitamos de estudos com tempos de seguimento maiores.