Nationwide survey of contraceptive and sexually transmitted infection knowledge,attitudes and skills of university students in Portugal

Sexually transmitted infections and (STIs) unintended pregnancies are contemporary public health concerns. Understanding factors (e.g. knowledge, attitudes and skills) influencing sexual behaviours of university students are critical to develop targeted and tailored risk-reduction interventions for this vulnerable population. Thus, the goals of this study were to describe sexual behaviours and analyze differences between genders for sexual behaviours; to identify whether differences exist between genders and age groups regarding knowledge, attitudes and skills concerning contraceptive methods and STIs, and to evaluate the association of knowledge with attitudes and skills with sexual behaviour among university students in Portugal. The sample included 3278 students. Results show that the majority were sexually active and use condoms and oral contraceptives. In general, university students have high knowledge, positive attitudes and skills about contraception and STIs. Gender analyses indicated that women had greater knowledge, and more favourable attitudes, and higher skills toward contraceptive and STI preventive behaviour College students, in particular, face new challenges in sexual health and would benefit from more comprehensive education aimed at promoting healthy decision-making about family planning and STI prevention.     

The impact of mindfulness on well-being and performance in the workplace: an inclusive systematic review of the empirical literature

Work can be demanding, imposing challenges that can be detrimental to the physical and mental health of workers. Efforts are therefore underway to develop practices and initiatives that may improve occupational well-being. These include interventions based on mindfulness meditation. This paper offers a systematic review of empirical studies featuring analyses of mindfulness in occupational contexts. Databases were reviewed from the start of records to January 2016. Eligibility criteria included experimental and correlative studies of mindfulness conducted in work settings, with a variety of well-being and performance measures. A total of 153 papers met the eligibility criteria and were included in the systematic review, comprising 12,571 participants. Mindfulness was generally associated with positive outcomes in relation to most measures. However, the quality of the studies was inconsistent, so further research is needed, particularly involving high-quality randomized control trials.     

Job Satisfaction and Innovative Performance in Young Spanish Employees: Testing New Patterns in the Happy-Productive Worker Thesis—A Discriminant Study

We aimed to make a theoretical contribution to the happy-productive worker thesis by expanding the study to cases where this thesis does not fit. We hypothesized and corroborated the existence of four relations between job satisfaction and innovative performance: (a) unhappy-unproductive, (b) unhappy-productive, (c) happy-unproductive, and (d) happy-productive. We also aimed to contribute to the happy-productive worker thesis by studying some conditions that influence and differentiate among the four patterns. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 513 young employees representative of Spain. Cluster analysis and discriminant analysis were performed. We identified the four patterns. Almost 15 % of the employees had a pattern largely ignored by previous studies (e.g., unhappy-productive). As hypothesized, to promote well-being and performance among young employees, it is necessary to fulfill the psychological contract, encourage initiative, and promote job self-efficacy. We also confirmed that over-qualification characterizes the unhappy-productive pattern, but we failed to confirm that high job self-efficacy characterizes the happy-productive pattern. The results show the relevance of personal and organizational factors in studying the well-being-performance link in young employees.     

Moral Clarity in Narratives Elicits Greater Cooperation than Moral Ambiguity

In disciplines such as moral psychology and media theory, investigations of moral clarity versus ambiguity in narratives are increasingly important. Untested mechanisms have been proposed for how moral clarity and ambiguity might affect audiences. Based on literature regarding joint action and coordinated experiences, we reason that morally clear narratives elicit coordinated responses across audience members, which should increase within-group cooperation. By contrast, we reason that morally ambiguous narratives elicit divergent, uncoordinated responses across audience members, and this experience decreases cooperation. We conducted three independent studies (one using short text narratives, one using feature-length films, and one using morally and emotionally neutral stimuli). Results indicate that moral clarity is indeed associated with subsequently higher levels of group cooperation than moral ambiguity, and the effect cannot be attributed to changes in affect or moral priming.     

Travelling Spirits,Localizing Roots: Transnationalisms,Home and Generation among Portuguese-Canadians in British Columbia

The objective of this article is to address the relation between transnationalism and intergenerational transformations of the notions of home and belonging. While doing an ethnographic research in Vancouver, British Columbia, it was possible to pinpoint the existence of two discourses about Portuguese-Canadian ethnicity. The first one, centered on the Holy Ghost festivals, (re)produces an idea of ‘azoreanness’, albeit fragmented along the islands of origin, and is linked to specific social networks that go from Vancouver to the Azores. It is essentially fostered by the migrants that arrived in the region after the 1950s and to whom the festas are a constant reminder of the emotional, symbolic and social ties with these Atlantic Islands. The second discourse is fostered by the children of these migrants, which moved away from the Holy Ghost festas and the Portuguese Catholic Parish, and is centered on a notion of portugueseness. This enactment of a national identity has to be interpreted in the context of Canadian multicultural politics and specific diasporic politics developed by the Portuguese authorities in the region. Simultaneously, this second discourse is also part and parcel of an intergenerational social mobility process. Based on this ethnographic case study, this article has two main arguments: on one hand, I want to show how home and homeland are fields of struggle for hegemonic representation in the public domain and and on the other hand how such debates have to be interpreted in relation to local and transnational political contexts and subjectivities.     

Testing Practices and Attitudes Toward Tests and Testing: An International Survey

On behalf of the International Test Commission and the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations a world-wide survey on the opinions of professional psychologists on testing practices was carried out. The main objective of this study was to collect data for a better understanding of the state of psychological testing worldwide. These data could guide the actions and measures taken by ITC, EFPA, and other stakeholders. A questionnaire was administered to 20,467 professional psychologists from 29 countries. Five scales were constructed relating to: concern over incorrect test use, regulations on tests and testing, internet and computerized testing, appreciation of tests, and knowledge and training relating to test use. Equivalence across countries was evaluated using the alignment method, four scales demonstrated acceptable levels of invariance. Multilevel analysis was used to determine how scores were related to age, gender, and specialization, as well as how scores varied between countries. Although the results show a high appreciation of tests in general, the appreciation of internet and computerized testing is much lower. These scales show low variability over countries, whereas differences between countries on the other reported scales are much greater. This implies the need for some overarching improvements as well as country-specific actions.     

Testing the online reading effects of emotionality on relative clause attachment

Previous research has shown the impact of the emotional dimension of nouns (i.e., valence and arousal) on the completion of relative clauses (RC) that are preceded by a double antecedent [e.g.,: Someone shot the servant (the first noun phrase, NP1) of the actress (the second noun phrase, NP2) who was on the balcony] (Fraga et al. in Q J Exp Psychol 65:1740–1759, 2012). The present study explored for the first time the role of emotional valence, specifically emotional positive nouns, on RC disambiguation in a self-paced reading experiment. Two types of NP1–NP2 relationships were compared: emotional–neutral vs. neutral–emotional. Results showed NP1 preferences in the emotional–neutral condition, whereas no preferences were found in the neutral–emotional condition. We conclude that during reading, the emotional properties of nouns play a role in disambiguation preferences: RC attachment preferences can be neutralized when emotional factors are manipulated. The results are discussed within the framework of current models of sentence processing and with reference to the controversial differences between comprehension and production.     

高中生感恩对心理幸福感的影响:领悟社会支持和基本心理需要的链式中介作用

本研究采用感恩量表GQ-6、领悟社会支持量表、基本心理需要量表以及心理幸福感量表,测查了583名高中生,考察了社会支持和基本心理需要在感恩与心理幸福感之间是否起着链式中介的作用。结果表明:(1)领悟社会支持和基本心理需要在感恩和心理幸福感中起着链式中介的作用;(2)在感恩—领悟社会支持—基本心理需要—心理幸福感这一链式中介模型中,除了领悟社会支持到心理幸福感这条路径的系数不显著以外,其余的路径系数均显著。此外,本研究不支持心理幸福感量表的原维度构念。以往研究对该量表构念的结论不一,存在争议,建议对该量表进行全面修订。     

Motivational enhancement treatment in outpatient addiction centers: A multisite randomized trial

Background/Objectives: Motivational Enhancement Treatment in Spanish (METS) is a brief intervention aimed at resolving patient ambivalence towards behavior change that has demonstrated efficacy in substance use disorder treatment to reduce use and increase treatment engagement in different populations. In order to have evidence for its implementation in Mexico, a multi-site, randomized, two-arm, controlled clinical trial was conducted at three outpatient addiction treatment centers in the country to compare the effect of METS with Counseling as Usual (CAU). Method: One hundred and twenty patients were randomized to receive three sessions of METS (n = 54) or CAU (n = 66) during the first four weeks of treatment and were assessed during the following 12 weeks. Primary outcome measures were self-reported days of substance use and of treatment services utilization, which were tested using Generalized Estimating Equations. Results: Results associated both conditions with significant changes in substance use over, whereas there were no differences between conditions in substance use or in service utilization. Conclusions: Findings do not support the hypothesis that METS is more effective than CAU, but suggest that brief interventions at treatment initiation may improve patient outcomes.