Mental Health of Parents of Children with Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome in Brazil

This study aims to analyze the potential impact of taking care of a child with congenital Zika virus syndrome (CZS) on the mental health of parents. Specifically, three objectives were formulated: (a) to assess the level of mental health of the parents; (b) to examine the influence of subjective well-being and fatigue as predictors of parents’ mental health; and (c) to identify the impact of sociodemographic variables on parents’ mental health. Sixty-nine mothers (M_age?=?26.38; SD?=?6.23) and 17 fathers (M_age?=?31.41; SD?=?7.57) of children diagnosed with CZS took part in this study. They answered a questionnaire containing measures of positive and negative affects, life satisfaction, fatigue, mental health, as well as sociodemographic questions. The results indicated that approximately 7% of the participants had low levels of mental health and probable emotional disorder. In addition, higher levels of fatigue and negative affects and lower levels of life satisfaction significantly predict a lower level of mental health. Finally, comparative analysis showed significant differences between fathers and mothers: mothers reported experiencing fewer positive and more negative affects, a lower level of satisfaction with life, a higher level of fatigue and worse mental health. In summary, this article presents an overview of the mental health of mothers and fathers of children with CZS and points the way to devising strategies for psychological intervention that promote the adaptation of parents to this kind of developmental disability in the family.     

Longitudinal Study of Life Events,Well-Being,Emotional Regulation and Depressive Symptomatology

Etiological research regarding adolescent depression is relatively recent and longitudinal studies are needed to explicate the mechanisms by which risk and protective factors impact the development of depression. This investigation evaluated the effects of time 1 predictors (e.g., depressive symptoms, life events, subjective well-being, and emotion regulation strategies) on depressive symptoms assessed at time 2 (1 year later). The sample comprised 182 Portuguese adolescents, aged 12–16. Time 1 depressive symptoms and psychological well-being were significant predictors of time 2 depressive symptoms. Time 1 rumination predicted time 2 depressive symptoms, but time 2 brooding mediated this effect. Time 1 life events did not predict time 2 depressive symptomatology. This study identified several factors that seem to play an important role in the development of depressive symptomatology. Previous depressive symptomatology and well-being had a significant effect in this process and the relationship between rumination in time 1 and depressive symptoms at time 2 (1 year later) was fully mediated by brooding at time 2. Given these results, implications for prevention and treatment of depression include addressing risk factors like early depressive symptoms, rumination and brooding, and increasing the protective effect of psychological well-being.     

Are practitioners incorporating a strengths‐focused approach when working with multi‐problem poor families?

Multi‐problem poor families have been characterized as dysfunctional and chaotic, and problem‐centred interventions have been developed. However, the activation of families' strengths has shown itself to be an important tool for intervention, hence the relevance of promoting the incorporation of a strengths‐focused approach. So, it becomes important to determine to what extent practitioners are thinking of incorporating a strengths‐focused approach when working with these families. To achieve this goal, a semi‐structured interview was administered to 23 practitioners. The findings suggest that practitioners are able to identify strengths but do not think in a strengths‐focused way. The main obstacles are: ambiguity in the definition of strengths, a focus on problems, lack of confidence in the possibility of improvement in the lives of families. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reliability of the M-FLEX™: equipment to measure palmar grasp strength in infants

The palmar grasp behavior investigation is frequent in evaluation routine of infants. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of an instrument for measuring palmar grasp strength in infants from birth to four months of age. Thirty-nine healthy infants from both sexes from birth to four months of age were evaluated and divided into three groups (“SC”, “FR”, “BL”) according to the city they came from. The equipment under test is called M-FLEX^®, which provides maximum grasp strength (FMAX), mean grasp strength (FMEAN) and grasp time (GRT) values. The repeatability and reproducibility of measures produced by the M-FLEX™ were verified. Three measurements were obtained (M1, M2, M3) from both hands, with the infant's face turned to the right. To calculate the repeatability, the three measures were compared to themselves in each group. For reproducibility, the difference between the averages of M1 of the three variables provided by M-FLEX™ was verified in the three sampling sites. The statistical tests used were ANOVA, Pearson's correlation and calculation of the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) with their respective confidence intervals (CI). The M-FLEX™ proved to be an outfit that provides measures capable of characterizing the palmar grasp phenomenon in infants.     

THE PROBLEM OF HEAVEN

An argument against the rationality of desiring to go to heaven might be put in the form of a trilemma: (1) any state of being that both lasts eternally and preserves me as the person I am would be hellish and therefore would not be a state of being that I could have any reason to desire; (2) any state of being that lasts eternally and yet fails to preserve my personhood by turning me into a non‐person would not be a state of being that I (qua person that I am) could have any reason to desire; and (3) any state of being that lasts eternally and yet fails to preserve my personhood by turning me into some other person would not be a state of being that I (qua person that I am) could have any reason to desire. This paper offers defenses of each of the three horns of this trilemma and concludes that there is no rationally compelling reason for any human being to desire to go to heaven.     

Use of multimodal imagery with precompetitive anxiety and stress of elite tennis players

The effect of multimodal imagery on anxiety and perceived stress was investigated in 46 male tennis players (16 to 18 yr.; M = 17.0, SD = 0.8). There were two groups, a multimodal imagery group and a control imagery group. The quasi-experimental design included pre- and post-treatment administrations of the 27-item Competitive State Anxiety Inventory to assess anxiety and the Perceived Stress Scale to assess stress. Analysis showed a statistically significant multivariate difference between the multimodal imagery and control groups on measures of cognitive anxiety, self-confidence, and perceived stress. Imagery plays a role in handling some specific types of anxiety and stress.     

Health-related quality of life in children and adolescents: subjective well being

The main objective of this study was to build a model, which includes personal and social factors, that helps to highlight factors that promote health-related quality of Life (HRQoL) in children and in adolescents. A sample of 3195 children and adolescents was acquired from 5th and 7th graders from all five Portuguese regions. In this study three independent latent variables were specified--Physical, Psychological and Social and two dependent latent variables were measured: Health behavior and Quality of Life. The integrative model was composed by different components: (1) health-related quality of life, integrated by 8 dimensions from KIDSCREEN-52; (2) health behavior, (3) variables related to physical health; (4) variables related to social health; (5) variables related to psychological health. As results were found strong correlation between psychological dimensions and self-esteem and other factors and a structural equation model was developed. The model presented a RMSEA index of .08. Similarly, adjustment levels for the CFI, NFI and IFI vary above or around .90, which suggests a good adjustment for the hypothesized model. The model presented significant qui-square. This study showed that in all the samples studied, the psychological variables were those that contributed at a superior level to HRQoL.     

Number processing and calculation in Brazilian children aged 7-12 years

Numerical cognition is based on two components - number processing and calculation. Its development is influenced by biological, cognitive, educational, and cultural factors. The objectives of the present study were to: i) assess number processing and calculation in Brazilian children aged 7-12 years from public schools using the Zareki-R (Battery of neuropsychological tests for number processing and calculation in children, Revised; von Aster & Dellatolas, 2006) in order to obtain normative data for Portuguese speakers; ii) identify how environment, age, and gender influences the development of these mathematical skills; iii) investigate the construct validity of the Zareki-R by the contrast with the Arithmetic subtest of WISC-III. The sample included 172 children, both genders, divided in two groups: urban (N = 119) and rural (N = 53) assessed by the Zareki-R. Rural children presented lower scores in one aspect of number processing; children aged 7-8 years demonstrated an inferior global score than older; boys presented a superior performance in both number processing and calculation. Construct validity of Zareki-R was demonstrated by high to moderate correlations with Arithmetic subtest of WISC-III. The Zareki-R therefore is a suitable instrument to assess the development of mathematical skills, which is influenced by factors such as environment, age, and gender.