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“This Is Me” an Awareness-Raising and Anti-Stigma Program for Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Pre-Post Intervention Study

Publication . Valentim, Olga; Correia, Tânia; Moutinho, Lídia; Seabra, Paulo; Querido, Ana; Laranjeira, Carlos

Background: Stigma education for nursing students has focused solely on stigma reduction, with studies showing temporary improvements in attitudes. However, nursing education research should also emphasize the importance of critical reflection and self-reflection to enhance attitudes, beliefs, topic comprehension, and learning satisfaction. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the “This is me” intervention regarding knowledge, attitudes, and communication skills of senior undergraduate nursing students in responding to mental illness-related stigma. Methods: This study employed a psychoeducational intervention for reducing mental illness stigma, using a questionnaire survey to assess pre- and post-intervention effects, with 37 eligible nursing students undergoing clinical training in psychiatric services between 16 May and 15 July 2022. Instruments included sociodemographic and health questions, the MICA-4 scale to evaluate students’ attitudes toward mental illness, the MAKS to measure mental health knowledge, the Empathy Scale (JSPE-S), the Intergroup Anxiety Scale (SS-12), and the Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-27). Results: Most students were female (73.0%) and single (70.3%), with a mean age of around 29 years. After implementing the psychoeducational program, there was a statistically significant increase in overall stigma-related knowledge (MAKS: Z = −1.99, p < 0.05), a decrease in intergroup anxiety (IAS: Z = −3.42, p < 0.05), and reductions in the perceptions of patients as dangerous (AQ27—Dangerousness: Z = −2.399, p < 0.05) and fear (AQ27—Fear: Z = −2.415, p < 0.05). Additionally, there was an improvement in empathy, specifically in Perspective Taking (JSPE: Z = −2.555, p < 0.05). Conclusions: This program may contribute to mental health literacy related to stigma, positively impacting therapeutic relationships and communication with people with mental illness and resulting in more effective care practices.

2024-10-12Journal article

Open access

Compassionate engagement of communities in support of palliative and end-of-life care: challenges in post-pandemic era

Publication . Vitorino, Joel Vieira; Duarte, Beatriz Veiga; Ali, Amira Mohammed; Laranjeira, Carlos

Over the years, humanity has faced various global crises of different kinds that have caused great suffering in the community, such as wars, slavery, torture or the Holocaust, but also climate change, economic crises, or sanitary disasters. The recent pandemic posed a barrier to palliative and End-of-Life (EoL) care, as the need for physical distance made it difficult to retain essential human interactions while minimizing the risk of viral transmission. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the robustness of supportive networks (i.e., family, friends, neighbors, and community members) determined whether someone experienced a calm death at home or an unnecessary hospital admission, labeled as an ‘emergency’. In this vein, active establishment and strengthening of such networks are the foundation of compassionate community efforts. Firstly, providing both physical and emotional support to the entire network of caregivers enhances their ability to care for others and improves the overall experience of death, including the process of dying and the ensuing bereavement period. Furthermore, individuals can enhance their own physical and mental health by practicing compassion. The ability of networks to withstand and recover from physical and emotional challenges, while maintaining strong and supportive relationships among its members, depends on the health and overall well-being of those members. Therefore, we argue that active community participation and death education can strengthen a community’s capacity to assist people facing death, dying, and bereavement.

2024-10-18Journal article

Open access

Celiac disease gut microbiome studies in the third millennium: reviewing the findings and gaps of available literature

Publication . Luz, Vanessa C. C.; Pereira, Sónia Gonçalves

Celiac disease is an autoimmune enteropathy caused by the ingestion of minute amounts of gluten in a subset of genetically predisposed individuals. Its onset occurs at different ages and with variable symptoms. The gut microbiome may contribute to this variability. This review aims to provide an overview of the available research on celiac disease gut microbiome and identify the knowledge gap that could guide future studies. Following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR), four electronic databases were searched for literature from January 2000 to July 2023 addressing celiac disease gut microbiome characterization using next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches. From the 489 publications retrieved, 48 publications were selected and analyzed, focusing on sample characterization (patients, controls, and tissues) and methodologies used for NGS microbiome analysis and characterization. The majority of the selected publications regarded children and adults, and four were randomized clinical trials. The number of participants per study greatly varied and was typically low. Feces were the most frequently tested sample matrix, and duodenal samples were analyzed in one-third of the studies. Incomplete and diverse information on the methodological approaches and gut microbiome results was broadly observed. While similar trends regarding the relative abundance of some phyla, such as Pseudomonadota (former Proteobacteria), were detected in some studies, others contradicted those results. The observed high variability of technical approaches and possibly low power and sample sizes may prevent reaching a consensus on celiac disease gut microbiome composition. Standardization of research protocols to allow reproducibility and comparability is required, as interdisciplinary collaborations to further data analysis, interpretation, and, more importantly, health outcome prediction or improvement.

2024-09-16Journal article

Open access

Dietary patterns drive loss of fiber-foraging species in the celiac disease patients gut microbiota compared to first-degree relatives

Publication . Roque, Ana; Zanker, Joyce; Brígido, Sara; Tomaz, Maria Beatriz; Gonçalves, André; Barbeiro, Sandra; Benítez-Páez, Alfonso; Pereira, Sónia Gonçalves

Background Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder triggered by dietary gluten in genetically predisposed indi‑viduals that primarily afects the small intestine. Studies have reported diferentially abundant bacterial taxa in the gut microbiota of celiac patients compared with non-celiac controls. However, fndings across studies have inconsisten‑cies and no microbial signature of celiac disease has been defned so far. Results Here, we showed, by comparing celiac patients with their non-celiac 1st-degree relatives, that bacterial com‑munities of related individuals have similar species occurrence and abundance compared with non-relatives, regard‑less the disease status. We also found in celiac patients a loss of bacterial species associated with fber degradation,and host metabolic and immune modulation, as ruminiclostridia, ruminococci, Prevotella, and Akkermansia muciniphila species. We demonstrated that the diferential abundance of bacterial species correlates to diferent dietary pat‑terns observed between the two groups. For instance, Ruminiclostridium siraeum, Ruminococcus bicirculans, and Bacteroides plebeious, recognized as fber-degraders, appear more abundant in non-celiac 1st-degree relatives, which havea vegetable consumption pattern higher than celiac patients. Pattern of servings per day also suggests a possible link between these species’ abundance and daily calorie intake. Conclusions Overall, we evidenced that a kinship approach could be valuable in unveiling potential celiac disease microbial traits, as well as the signifcance of dietary factors in shaping microbial profles and their infuence on dis‑ease development and progression. Our results pave the way for designing and adopting novel dietary strategies based on gluten-free fber-enriched ingredients to improve disease management and patients’ quality of life.

2024-10-08Journal article

Open access

A Review of Wearable Sensor Patches for Patient Monitoring

Publication . Santos, Sónia; Guarino, Maria Pedro; Neves, Sandra; Lopes, Nuno Vieira

Wearable sensor patches are potent tools for patient monitoring in hospital care, with a particular focus on the Emergency Department waiting areas. They can enhance patient safety by alerting healthcare professionals to abnormal changes in vital physiological signals. Wearable sensors have been shown to be useful in monitoring patients’ vital signs continuously and in real-time in emergency rooms. However, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed before they can be widely adopted in emergency rooms. Some of these challenges include sensor stability with minimized signal drift, on-body sensor reusability, and long-term continuous health monitoring. This paper reviews wearable sensor patches that have the potential for use in hospital patient monitoring, considering the key variables monitored in emergency rooms. Eligible patches must be wearable, present at least one approval (CE or FDA), and measure more than one physiological parameter.

2024-01Book part

Restricted access