Rute Brites

Introduction: Although the psychological impact of war on veterans, particularly the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has been well documented, the long-term effects on their families have been less widely studied. Research suggests that veterans’ trauma can disrupt relationships and contribute to secondary/intergenerational trauma within the family. Objective: This study uses genograms to explore how PTSD symptoms experienced by veterans have influenced family relationships over time, and to uncover patterns of intergenerational and systemic impact in families of Portuguese Overseas War veterans. Method: A qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews with 32 families (each comprising a veteran, their spouse, and at least one adult child) was used (n = 100). The data were synthesized into genograms to visually map family structure, relationship quality, and patterns of psychological distress. Cross-family analysis was then conducted to identify common relational themes. Results: Families were clustered into four main impact groups: maximum negative impact, limited negative impact, no impact, and protective impact. These classifications reflect variations in family functioning, mental health symptoms, and relational patterns. In some families, the veteran's trauma appeared to affect multiple subsystems, while in others, spouses played a buffering/protective role. A fifth group was identified, with no consistent pattern. Conclusion: Findings emphasize the complexity and variability of trauma transmission within families, highlighting both vulnerability and resilience. Using genograms proved effective in capturing systemic dynamics. These results emphasize the importance of adopting a family-systems approach in the clinical treatment of veterans affected by PTSD and suggest avenues for future research.

The prevalence of dementia is rising rapidly across the European Union, necessitating comprehensive national and international responses. National Dementia Strategies serve as key policy instruments, outlining priorities for dementia care across European countries. While numerous organizations have proposed ethical principles to guide dementia policy, limited knowledge exists on ethical priorities in EU dementia policies. This study examines the ethical principles embedded in European national dementia atrategies, analyzing their definitions, contexts of application, and relative emphasis. Using framework analysis, this study systematically analyzed 17 European national dementia atrategies, identifying commonalities and variations in ethical priorities. Findings reveal a broad spectrum of ethical principles present across national dementia strategies throughout the EU. However, findings also suggest significant variations in how principles are interpreted.

This study investigates the relationship between emotion regulation (ER) difficulties, empathy, and burnout among teachers from different educational levels. The sample comprised 131 Portuguese teachers (72.5% women; M age = 50.54, SD = 9.15) from various levels of education. The findings revealed that ER difficulties were significantly associated with higher levels of personal, work-related, and student-relationship burnout, with empathic distress partially mediating these relationships. The level of education taught moderated the association between ER difficulties and cognitive empathy, with this association being significant only for teachers from secondary education. Teachers who struggled with regulating their emotions exhibited higher levels of empathic concern (regardless of educational level taught) and lower levels of cognitive empathy (only for secondary teachers), which in turn contributed to higher levels of burnout (especially work-related and student-relationship levels of burnout). These results suggest that teachers from secondary education may face complex emotional and cognitive challenges, likely due to the increased demands posed by adolescent students.

Caregiving is a complex occupation, with a significant impact for informal caregivers (IC). Stress-process models propose a framework that considers that this impact depends on primary and secondary stressors, but also on the IC situation appraisal. This work aimed to verify: whether being, or not, an IC of an individual with dementia influenced the relationship between family functioning and burnout; the association between neuropsychiatric symptoms of the individual with dementia and IC burnout and whether the IC burden and perceived family functioning had a mediating role in such relationship. This cross-sectional study investigated differences in family functioning and its association with burnout between IC and non-IC. For IC specifically, the study examined a mediation model to explore the possibility of neuropsychiatric symptoms indirectly affecting IC burnout through the impact on family functioning and burden. Measures included the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, the McMaster Family Assessment Device, the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and the Zarit Burden Interview. Results showed an association between poorer family function and high burnout, specifically in IC. They also showed that burden mediated the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptoms and burnout. The findings offer a significant contribution to the growing knowledge about the relationship between stressors associated with informal caregiving in dementia context, such as neuropsychiatric symptoms and its outcomes, like burnout.

The COVID‐19 pandemic had a huge impact on people's lives due to the fear of getting infected and having the disease, as well as the necessary prevention and containment measures. University students were one of the most affected groups, as they were forced to cope with significant life changes. However, not all displayed symptoms of psychological distress, which means that internal resources such as emotional regulation and resilience may have acted as protective variables. This cross‐sectional study aimed to examine the extent to which the relationship between emotion regulation and stress, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms was mediated by resilience in a sample of university students. Results showed that emotion regulation strategies were positively associated with lower mental health. Some resilience dimensions mediated these relationships, with perception‐of‐self mediating all associations. Planned future mediated the association between emotion regulation and depression, family cohesion mediated the relation between emotion regulation and stress, and social resources mediated the association of cognitive reappraisal with anxiety and PTSD by suppressing the direct positive relationship. These results highlight the relevance of resilience as a key resource in coping effectively with the uncertainties, and changes that arise during stressful periods such as a pandemic.

In its early stage, the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent public health measures brought several challenges to people in general, with adolescents being one of the most affected groups. To assess the psychological reactions of Portuguese adolescents in that early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted an online survey that was filled by a sample of 340 (67.6% female and 32.4% male) middle adolescents (aged 16 and 17 years). Using the Impact Event Scale-Revised and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, we found that most participants reported a normal score for depression, anxiety, and stress. However, 47.1% reported some level of pandemic-related traumatic distress, and 25.6% reported high severity values. The girls’ levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and traumatic distress were significantly higher than those of the boys. Regression models showed that gender, number of symptoms experienced in the past days, self-reported health status, and concern with family were significant predictors of these mental health indicators. Our findings underscore the need for future research on the long-term traumatic psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in adolescents, and on the gender differences in this group. This will allow the development of strategies to identify and address at-risk adolescents, since the promotion of mental health and the prevention of pathology are imperative for the health of current and future generations.