Impacto do cancro da mama: Mudanças em diferentes fases do ciclo de vida da mulher

Dissertação de Mestrado realizada apresentada no Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para a obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Clínica

A experiência de Suporte Social em mulheres com cancro da mama

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Clínica.

Young people's well-being and the economic crisis: How does parental unemployment and family wealth affect the downturn experience?

Background: Portugal is among the European countriesmost severely hit by the economic recession and the fifth with the highest unemployment rate. Given that adolescents' development is highly influenced by their living contexts, monitoring the repercussions of the economic recession is essential for the evaluation and improvement of their current and future public health. Objective: To investigate youth perceived repercussions of the economic recession, its association with life satisfaction, as well as to assess differences across parental employment status and family perceived wealth. Methods: Data were drawn from the Portuguese 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged children survey, aWHO collaborative cross-national study, with a nationally representative sample of 2748 students (Mage = 14.7 years ± 1.2; 48% boys). Descriptive statistics and linear regression models were performed. Results: Levels of life satisfaction are lower when young people perceive that the economic recession generated negative lifestyle changes. Having unemployed parents was found to be significantly associated with perceiving such repercussions and family wealth to decrease the perception of repercussions of the recession. Conclusions: Findings enhance our understanding of how Portuguese youth are being affected by the socioeconomic conditions surrounding them. Such information contributes to improve future research and also allow some considerations about the policies aimed at protecting young people'swellbeing during a period of high unemployment and socioeconomic downturn.

Career and work-family relationship among academics : An exploratory study

Despite the increase, in recent years, of women’s participation in the labour market, sex discrimination remains a reality in most work organisations. In this matter, academic organisations are no exception. Evidence of sex inequalities is well documented in the literature. At the individual level, inequalities are partly explained by family responsibilities mainly held by women. Having to spend a considerable amount of time in home and children related activities women are left with less time available for scientific work than their male colleagues. With the purpose of understanding how academics experience the relationship between work and family, 32 in-depth interviews were conducted among Portuguese academics of both sexes in one particular university. The findings confirmed that work-family conflict is stronger among female faculty than among their male counterparts. Additionally, the prejudice against maternity and the way it is compatible with a successful career appears to survive the new gender relations. Difficulties felt by female academics could be minimised by the introduction of «family-friendly» policies and the development of a positive organisational climate towards maternity and family issues.

Cancro da mama vivido na relação mãe-filhos e na parentalidade

O diagnóstico de Cancro da Mama (CM) desencadeia uma crise na doente e no seu sistema familiar, levando a mudanças no seu modo de funcionamento. O presente estudo tem como objetivos analisar as mudanças percebidas, a curto e a longo prazo, na relação mãe-filhos e na parentalidade na sequência do diagnóstico de CM materno, bem como analisar de que forma “ser mãe” influenciou o modo como as pacientes lidaram com o CM. Foram entrevistadas 17 mulheres sobreviventes de CM com filhos dependentes no momento do diagnóstico através de uma entrevista semiestruturada. Os dados foram analisados segundo a Grounded Theory. Os resultados demonstraram que esta experiência desencadeia mudanças, temporárias e permanentes, nos padrões de funcionamento familiar. Perante as mudanças nos comportamentos dos filhos, as mães adotam novas estratégias para promover bem-estar nos descendentes. Após a família se conseguir descentrar da doença, as mulheres conseguem refletir sobre os contributos da vivência do CM na relação mãe-filhos. Clinicamente, estes resultados permitem conhecer as necessidades destas mães e apoiar a elaboração de programas de intervenção psicológica, capazes de responder a essas necessidades, salientando a importância de uma intervenção sistémica e que potencie a expressão emocional.