Albert Camus and Damien Hirst: Always looking on the absurd side of life

The aim of this text is to consider the notions of life and art, revealed in Camus’s texts, mainly The Myth of Sisyphus (published in French in 1942) and The Rebel (1951), and extrapolate them to the present state of contemporary art by analysing a few artworks by Damien Hirst, the richest living artist, a modern Sisyphus in the self-awareness he manifests towards the incongruity of his work. Always looking on the absurd side of life dwells on the inevitability of life and art, accepting the fact, according to Camus’s words, that: the impossible remains impossible. Instead of denying the meaningless and finding some form of redemption, both French writer and British artist have embraced this potential and have used the absurd as a form of conveying meaning to their art. Hirst’s artworks that will be referred in this text include the series: The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991); Mother and Child Divided (1993); For the Love of God (2007) and For Heaven’s Sake (2008).

Empoderamento da puérpera para o sucesso no aleitamento materno

São muitas as vantagens do aleitamento materno para a mãe e recém-nascido, havendo consenso de que a sua prática exclusiva deve ser até aos seis meses de vida. A intervenção teve como objetivo empoderar a puérpera para o sucesso no aleitamento materno. Foram aplicados três questionários a duas populações-alvo: um aos enfermeiros do Serviço de Obstetrícia do Centro Hospitalar Barreiro-Montijo, Entidade Pública Empresarial e outros dois às puérperas, que permitiram a recolha de informações sobre os conhecimentos dos enfermeiros acerca das práticas no aleitamento materno e da perceção das puérperas, quanto aos cuidados recebidos durante o internamento. Os resultados apontaram para a necessidade de formação dos enfermeiros sobre o aleitamento materno e a necessidade de empoderamento/acompanhamento no pós-parto. Desenvolveram-se atividades formativas e educacionais, quer para os profissionais, quer para as puérperas. A intervenção profissional revelou-se benéfica para a melhoria contínua dos cuidados de enfermagem na promoção do aleitamento materno exclusivo; EMPOWERMENT OF POSTPARTUM WOMEN FOR SUCCESSFUL BREASTFEEDING ABSTRACT: Breastfeeding presents several advantages to the mother and child, being generally agreed that its practice should be exclusive until six months of age. The goal of this intervention was to empower the puerpera towards breastfeeding success. Three questionnaires were applied to two populations: one to the nurses from the Obstetric Department of the Centro Hospitalar Barreiro-Montijo, Entidade Pública Empresarial and other two to puerperas, which allowed collection of information on the nurses’ knowledge about breastfeeding practices and the puerperas’ perception on received care during hospitalization. The results demonstrated the nurses’ need of training on breastfeeding and the need of empowerment/follow-up during the post-partum period. Educational and training activities, directed to professionals and puerperas, were developed. The professional intervention demonstrated benefits to the improvement of the nursing care in the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding.

Labor pain: Non-pharmacological measures preferred by parturient

Background: Labor pain is a legacy given by bipedalism, sendentarism and greater fetos robustness. It is expected that nurses mostly apply non-pharmacological methods of pain relief, putting the account of the mother to your preferences. Aim: To describe the women preferences about pain relief no-pharmacological measures. Method: Convenience sample of 180 parturients, with mean age of 30.81 years (SD = 5.31), ranging from 17 to 43 years. Results: all positions are valued as a pain relief way. The most valued, classified as "strongly relief" is the lateral decubitus in bed (45.7%), followed by walking (40.4%) and sitting swing (38.9%). Conclusion: Mothers show preference for traditional measure as lateral position on the bed. A greater familiarity with other relief measures could facilitate labor experience.