Emotional competences and promotion of school success: Preliminary data of an intervention programme with teachers

Teachers’ emotional competences and well-being are fundamentally important to developing and maintaining positive relationships in the classroom, which can contribute to improving pedagogical action. References to several intervention programmes are found in the literature with the purpose of changing the practices, attitudes, and beliefs of teachers, who show evidence of a significant improvement in personal competences and school success. Therefore, an intervention with teachers integrating a broader line of research was carried out, involving parents and students as well. It consists of a programme which promotes personal (well-being and emotional intelligence) and professional (acquiring differentiated pedagogical strategies) competences over a period of six months, followed by a focus group to assess the contribution of an empowerment programme with the intention of promoting school success. The preliminary action-research study involved 10 teachers of two classes with students who show disruptive behaviour in the 7th year in a school in the central region of Portugal. The teachers, of both genders, are aged between 44 and 52, and belong to several recruitment groups. The main research question was: “To what extent does an intervention programme, intended for training, contribute to developing personal and professional competences in teachers of the 3rd cycle of basic education?” The teachers revealed a rather favourable view of their participation in the programme, considering that it helped them perceive some behaviours and practices which are less adjusted to their action in the classroom with these students (shouting, scolding, etc.). From the pretest to the posttest, statistically significant differences were found in assessing their own emotions and in their use. Signs of improvement in positive affections and satisfaction with life were also found, though with a marginal significance. The preliminary data in this empowerment programme for these educational agents points towards the importance of teachers’ awareness in what concerns their pedagogical action, as well as the need to change traditional pedagogical practices that contribute to discouraging students towards learning. The need to establish closer and systematic contact with the students and their families in order to meet their needs and expectations was also highlighted.

Sleep and academic performance of Portuguese teenagers

Abstract: Sleep has numerous important functions in the body, such as consolidation of memory, concentration and learning. Changes in sleep cycles in adolescents lead to sleep deprivation with consequences to academic performance. Our research question was What are the sleep habits that influence school performance (study environment, study planning, study method, reading skills, motivation to study, overall school performance) in adolescents? We aimed to identify sleep habits predictors of the quality of school performance in adolescents. Research Methods: Crosssectional analytical study. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire with socio-demographic questions, sleep habits and school performance scale. The sample consisted of 380 students between 7th and 9th grade, with an average age of 13.56 ± 1.23 years in the school year 2011/2012, from a 2nd and 3rd Cycle Basic School of the municipality of Viseu, Portugal. Findings: School performance in adolescents was associated with better subjective quality of sleep (p=0.000), with longer sleep duration (p=0.000), with watching tv/video before sleep (p=0.000), with the habit of studying before bedtime (p=0.012), with no computer use (p=0.013) and with reading habits before bed (p=0.000). School performance was also associated with adolescents who reported not feeling sleepy during class. The teenagers who sleep more and better, and who watch tv/video, study, do not use computers, and who read before going to bed, have a better school performance.

A segurança e qualidade dos cuidados : revisão da literatura

A segurança é um princípio fundamental nos cuidados prestados e exige um complexo sistema de sinergias e um amplo leque de ações para a melhoria da qualidade. É indiscutível que a ocorrência de erros cria uma preocupação constante para os profissionais, sendo primordial fomentar uma cultura de segurança. Este artigo tem por objetivo identificar os fatores determinantes na segurança e qualidade dos cuidados de Enfermagem. Realizou-se uma revisão da literatura, utilizando descritores “Segurança do doente”, “Cultura de Segurança”, “Enfermagem”, “Qualidade dos Cuidados”, emergindo 309 artigos. Efetou-se uma pesquisa na PubMed, SciELO, Web of Science, com artigos publicados entre janeiro de 2010 e março de 2016. Foram selecionados 11 artigos que respondiam à questão de investigação “Quais os fatores determinantes da segurança e qualidade dos cuidados de Enfermagem?“. Dos 11 artigos seleccionados emergiram duas temáticas: a consciencialização do erro e a criação de uma cultura de segurança nas organizações. Este estudo evidencia que a ocorrência de erros constitui uma ameaça à qualidade dos cuidados e segurança dos utentes, contudo, a consciencialização dos riscos e a aplicação de medidas para o desenvolvimento de uma cultura de segurança contribui para a diminuição da frequência e severidade dos erros nas instituições de saúde.