Rita Moura

Information and communication technologies have become an integral part of daily life. However, the increasing reliance on technology in both personal and professional contexts presents significant challenges. Individuals′ levels of digital literacy affect their ability to complete everyday and work‐related tasks that depend on digital tools. The present systematic review is aimed at identifying the main predictors of digital literacy and understanding how these influence its three levels: digital competence, digital use, and digital transformation. This work (INPLASY Reference 202310053) followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) methodology. A literature search covering was conducted across Web of Science, Scopus, Elsevier, PsycInfo, and PubMed using a PICO framework‐based search string, from 2017 to 2022. A total of 5342 records were identified, of which 103 underwent full‐text screening. A total of 44 articles was included in the review. The analysis revealed that digital competence is primarily associated with higher education, higher socioeconomic status, and older age. Digital use is mainly predicted by access to digital devices and internet connectivity. Digital transformation is often associated with health‐related contexts, where individuals are expected to self‐manage their health through digital applications. Despite the growing interest in digital literacy, research on its determinants remains scarce and fragmented. Significant challenges and gaps persist, including inconsistent definitions and measurement approaches, limited investigation into digital transformation, a lack of intersectional analyses, and the overrepresentation of WEIRD (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) populations. There is a pressing need for more systematic, inclusive, and theory‐driven research to inform policymakers and practitioners aiming to foster societal development. To address these gaps, we propose an ecological model of development that reflects how interconnected systems can shape digital literacy.

People with lower subjective socioeconomic status are more prone to experiencing anxiety and poorer subjective well-being. Nature’s restorative ability can play an important role among this group, given that spending time outdoors is often associated with better overall mental health and well-being. In this study, we aim to explore the moderating effect of recent visits to green and blue natural spaces on the mediated relationship between subjective socioeconomic status, anxiety and subjective well-being. A nationally representative sample of 946 Portuguese respondents was recruited. Results showed that anxiety mediated the relationship between subjective socioeconomic status and subjective well-being. In addition, the mediation effect was weaker for those who visited natural spaces more frequently, suggesting that spending time in nature buffers against the anxiety associated with lower subjective socioeconomic status from translating into poorer subjective well-being. These findings highlight the importance of using nature as a cost-effective strategy to assist in mitigating the negative effects of low subjective socioeconomic status.

Review question / Objective: This work aims to assess the effectiveness of immersive virtual nature in promoting psychological health. To this end, the proposed meta-analysis will address the following research question: How effective is immersive virtual nature in improving affect, emotion regulation, stress, mental health, restoration, and well-being among clinical and non-clinical adults as compared to a control condition? Population: Clinical adults, non-clinical adults. Intervention: Immersive virtual nature. Comparison: Control condition. Outcomes: Affect, emotion regulation, stress, mental health (anxiety, depression), restoration, and well-being.

Recent wastewater analyses performed in care homes for the elderly showed high levels of water pollution resulting from pharmaceutical waste. The way people perceive the environmental risk of pharmaceuticals can contribute to reversing this problem, but the factors that influence risk perception remain relatively unknown. The aims of the study are two-fold. We first focused on exploring the levels of knowledge regarding environment/water pollution due to pharmaceutical residues from the groups responsible for prescribing (health professionals), handling (staff), and consuming pharmaceuticals (residents) in care homes for the elderly. Second, we assessed the environmental risk perception of pharmaceuticals based on two main factors: prescription medication (nonprescribed versus prescribed) and disease severity (milder versus severe disease), accounting for their level of knowledge (deficit versus sufficiency of knowledge). The study was designed based on correlational research. Data were collected in homes for the elderly located in three Southwestern European countries (N = 300), using self-report surveys. Current knowledge was perceived to be low and the need to know more was perceived to be high, across all groups. As hypothesized, results indicated that to assess the environmental risk, participants made use of information that was unrelated to pharmaceutical persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity (PBT). Prescribed pharmaceuticals and/or medication used to treat severe diseases were perceived as being more hazardous for the environment. Simple main effects analysis comparing between knowledge levels confirmed that this effect occurred mostly when participants had knowledge deficit for disease severity but not for prescription medication. These misconceptions might discourage taking an active role in reducing the impact of pharmaceutical residues in the environment.

COVID-19 has brought an unexpected need for change within organizations, particularly regarding human resource management. The nature of this global crisis has meant that these processes remain under-systematized. The aim of this study, which uses an exploratory design and mixed-methods analysis, is to contribute to describing the changes in human resource management practices and processes that resulted from this pandemic and to present the outlook of human resource managers for the future. One hundred and thirty-six Portuguese companies participated in the study, with the answers provided by their human resource managers. Results show that the main changes have occurred in the processes of work and safety, training, work organization, recruitment and selection, induction and onboarding, and communication. The profiles that emerged showed an association between the level of change and size of the organization. There was an increase in the use of teleworking and layoffs, and a positive assessment of the organizations’ level of preparation and adaptation to this crisis. Human resource managers reported that the most evident changes in the future will be associated with the use of technology, teleworking, and work organization. These findings are of the upmost importance, as human resource managers are essential pillars in the adjustment of the organizations to this pandemic situation.

Background: Women diagnosed with breast cancer are often subjected to negative emotions, resulting in higher levels of emotional burden and decreased levels of well-being and quality of life. The present study aims to compare the implementation of two regulatory levels, intrapersonal and interpersonal (as social sharing of emotions) and explore their impact on breast cancer patients’ perception of quality of life. Methods: Sixty-eight women previously diagnosed with the disease participated in this study, with a mean age of 63 years old (SD = 11.58). Data was collected through a self-report questionnaire to assess emotional experience, intrapersonal regulation, social sharing of emotions and breast cancer-related well-being and quality of life. Results: Data yielded that most of the participants regulated their negative emotions within social interactions and used more antecedent-focused strategies to cognitively reformulate the emotional episode. Moreover, interpersonal regulation had a greater impact on well-being and quality of life than intrapersonal regulation. In particular, the occurrence of sharing episodes and social interactions played an important and beneficial role on patients’ emotion regulation. Conclusions: These findings suggest that social sharing of emotions is an efficient process to help breast cancer patients better cope with the psychological and emotional burden of the disease, thus positively influencing the way they perceive their well-being and quality of life.

In this research work, we present an IoT solution to environment variables using a LoRa transmission technology to give real-time information to users in a Things2People process and achieve savings by promoting behavior changes in a People2People process. These data are stored and later processed to identify patterns and integrate with visualization tools, which allow us to develop an environmental perception while using the system. In this project, we implemented a different approach based on the development of a 3D visualization tool that presents the system collected data, warnings, and other users’ perception in an interactive 3D model of the building. This data representation introduces a new People2People interaction approach to achieve savings in shared spaces like public buildings by combining sensor data with the users’ individual and collective perception. This approach was validated at the ISCTE-IUL University Campus, where this 3D IoT data representation was presented in mobile devices, and from this, influenced user behavior toward meeting campus sustainability goals.