Anabela Caetano Santos

This chapter aims to (1) explain the relevance of using reporting guidelines to support the scientific writing process; (2) define what reporting guidelines are and explain what distinguishes them from other guidelines used in academic and scientific contexts; (3) summarize common reporting elements across different guidelines for a broader understanding of their shared sections and items; (4) provide recommendations and resources for identifying and selecting reporting guidelines appropriate to the research design.

The global rise in intentional non-adherence to medical advice and the use of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine poses a burden on public health and national economies. In a large-scale, preregistered study, we found that these two types of questionable health behaviours were positively associated in 32 out of 33 countries and that nearly all of the 15,218 participants had engaged in at least one such behaviour during their lifetime. Both behaviours were consistently predicted by psychological factors—especially negative healthcare experiences and a set of epistemically flawed beliefs including conspiracy, magical health, and extrasensory perception beliefs, along with the personality trait disintegration — with effect sizes often larger than previously reported. Predictiveness of these individual-level factors outweighed that of national health system characteristics. Our findings suggest that health systems should build trust, improve patient experience, and screen for individuals vulnerable to unfounded beliefs that can undermine evidence-based health decisions.

Psychological studies on close relationships have often overlooked cultural diversity, dynamic processes, and potentially universal principles that shape intimate partnerships. To address the limited generalizability of previous research and advance our understanding of romantic love experiences, mate preferences, and physical attractiveness, we conducted a large-scale cross-cultural survey study on these topics. A total of 404 researchers collected data in 45 languages from April to August 2021, involving 117,293 participants from 175 countries. Aside from standard demographic questions, the survey included valuable information on variables relevant to romantic relationships: intimate, passionate, and committed love within romantic relationships, physical-attractiveness enhancing behaviors, gender equality endorsement, collectivistic attitudes, personal history of pathogenic diseases, relationship quality, jealousy, personal involvement in sexual and/or emotional infidelity, relational mobility, mate preferences, and acceptance of sugar relationships. The resulting dataset provides a rich resource for investigating patterns within, and associations across, a broad range of variables relevant to romantic relationships, with extensive opportunities to analyze individual experiences worldwide.

Semantic priming has been studied for nearly 50 years across various experimental manipulations and theoretical frameworks. Although previous studies provide insight into the cognitive underpinnings of semantic representations, they have suffered from small sample sizes and a lack of linguistic and cultural diversity. In this Registered Report, we measured the size and the variability of the semantic priming effect across 19 languages (N = 25,163 participants analyzed) by creating the largest available database of semantic priming values based on an adaptive sampling procedure. We found evidence for semantic priming in terms of differences in response latencies between related word-pair conditions and unrelated word-pair conditions. Model comparisons showed that inclusion of a random intercept for language improved model fit, providing support for variability in semantic priming across languages. This study highlights the robustness and variability of semantic priming across languages and provides a rich, linguistically diverse dataset for further analysis.

Self-regulated learning is one of the most relevant learning concepts, representing cognitive, metacognitive, emotional, behavioural and motivational aspects. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) is the most used instrument to measure self-regulated learning. Though, its 81-item structure is lengthy and presents psychometric issues. Additionally, there is no translation/validation of MSLQ for European Portuguese secondary students. This study involved two stages; in the first, the scale’s psychometric properties were examined, and a short version with 56 items was proposed; in the second, the short version was re-analysed. The first sample consisted of 795 adolescents aged 14–19; 429 adolescents formed the second sample, aged 13–17. Confirmatory factor analyses using robust estimators showed a good fit to the data for the three separated first-order models. Also, good reliability values were found, and information reproduction between the original version and this reduced proposal was verified. These results suggest that the proposed Portuguese short version of the MSLQ (MSLQ-PTS) is a valid and reliable measure for adolescent Portuguese samples. Moreover, the shorter version length makes it a more effective tool for practitioners and researchers.

Despite evidence of the positive impact of school-based mental health promotion interventions, there remains a need for robust studies, particularly to evaluate newly developed programs, in order to promote the adoption of best practices and identify effective intervention strategies. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of implementing the PROMEHS curriculum in Portugal in a school setting, using a sample of children and adolescents (N=1,764). A longitudinal quasi-experimental design was adopted with an experimental group and a waitlist control group, assessed at the pre- and post-test phases of implementation. Data were collected from teachers, parents/guardians, and students using a set of instruments: the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Social-Emotional Skills (SSIS-SEL Brief Scales), Academic Competence, Resilience (CD-RISC10), and PROMEHS impact. The results indicate a significant impact on students’ socioemotional competencies and academic outcomes, as well as a reduction in difficulties, according to teacher assessments. No statistically significant results were found in the assessments of parents/guardians or the students. However, the evaluation of the program impact across all three informant sources was highly positive. Overall, the findings demonstrate the effectiveness of PROMEHS in promoting students’ socioemotional development and highlight the importance of this type of program in Portuguese schools.

Resumo Apesar da evidência do impacto positivo das intervenções na área da promoção da saúde mental nas escolas, existe a necessidade de realizar estudos robustos, em particular quando novos programas são desenvolvidos, de forma a promover a adoção de boas práticas e a identificação de estratégias eficazes de intervenção. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o impacto da implementação do currículo PROMEHS em Portugal, em contexto escolar com um grupo de crianças e adolescentes (N=1764). O estudo utilizou um desenho quase-experimental de caráter longitudinal no grupo experimental e no grupo em espera nas fases pré e pós-teste da implementação. Foram coletados dados com professores, pais/responsáveis pelos alunos e alunos, através de um conjunto de instrumentos: nomeadamente, o questionário das Capacidades e Dificuldades (SDQ), Competências Socioemocionais (SSIS-SEL Brief Scales), domínio académico, resiliência (CDRisc10) e impacto do PROMEHS. Os resultados apontam para um impacto significativo no aumento das competências socioemocionais e resultados académicos dos alunos, bem como na redução das dificuldades, de acordo com a avaliação dos professores. Na avaliação dos pais/responsáveis pelos alunos e dos alunos não se obtiveram resultados estatisticamente significativos. No entanto, a avaliação do impacto pelas três fontes foi muito positiva. De um modo geral, os resultados apontam a eficácia do currículo PROMEHS na promoção do desenvolvimento socioemocional dos alunos e destacam a importância desse tipo de programa nas escolas portuguesas.

Creative self-efficacy and social skills are two elements that can significantly enhance personal and professional development. The main objective of this research is to analyze the relations established between creative self-efficacy and social skills with other variables such as self-esteem, academic performance, and life satisfaction. The participants included in the methodology of this study are a total of 238 Portuguese university students. The instruments used were the Creative Self-Efficacy Scale, the Social Skills Questionnaire (CHASO), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and a series of ad hoc questions to assess academic performance. The results obtained indicate the existence of significant relations between creative self-efficacy and social skills, with the latter also being positively associated with self-esteem and life satisfaction. Analyses indicate that there are significant differences according to gender, academic performance, and the level of self-esteem of the participants. In addition, variables such as self-esteem, academic performance, and fluency act as predictors of life satisfaction. The importance of further exploring and understanding the complex relationship between creative self-efficacy, social skills, and individual well-being in the university context is discussed.