Os efeitos do programa musical nos estádios moderados e graves de demência

O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar qual o efeito de um programa musical de 12 semanas, na sintomatologia neuropsiquiátrica e depressiva, e nas expressões emocionais em doentes com Doença de Alzheimer (DA). Participaram 13 sujeitos com diagnóstico de DA em fase moderada-grave da doença: 8 dos participantes integraram o programa musical e, os restantes 5, o grupo de controlo. Para identificar os estádios de demência foi utilizada a Escala de Deterioração Global e para a avaliação dos sintomas foram aplicadas, antes e depois do tratamento, o Inventário Neuropsiquiátrico, a Escala de Cornell para a Depressão na Demência e a Escala de Observação Emocional. Sem resultados significativos, a participação no programa musical melhorou as pontuações das provas utilizadas, revelando efeitos positivos nos sintomas psicológicos e comportamentais em estádios moderados-graves da Doença de Alzheimer, embora o grupo de controlo também beneficiasse da atividade a que foi sujeito. / ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects that a musical program held for 12 weeks had in neuropsychiatric and depressive symptoms and emotional expressions in participants with Alzheimer's disease (AD). There were 13 participants with Alzheimer's disease diagnosis in a moderate to severe stadium of the disease, 8 of them were integrated in a musical program and 5 of them constituted the control group. ln order to identify the dementia stadiums, the Global Deterioration Scale was used. ln order to evaluate the symptoms, before and after, the Neuropsychiatric lnventory, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia and Observed Emotion Rating Scale were used. Without significant results, the participation in the musical program improved the scores in the performed tasks, becoming a program with positive effects regarding behaviour and psychological symptoms in moderate to severe stadiums of Alzheimer's disease, although the control group also profited from doing the task that they were exposed to.

Early Childhood Education For Sustainable Development in Portugal

This chapter reports on the Portuguese trial of the Environmental Rating Scale for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood (ERS-SDEC) scale which was carried out in the context of the initial training of pre-school teachers at the University of Évora and during their practicum in local pre-schools. The particular context of this trial in initial teacher education provides a particular focus on the professional development of the students, and the cooperating teachers provided by their engagement in a collaborative action-research project that was focused upon Education for Sustainable Development. After providing some Portuguese contextual elements related with ESD, we will report on the trial of the scale in Évora and its results in terms of improving the quality of classroom practices and students and teachers professional development provided by their participation in the project. Finally we will share some reflections on the project, the format and use of the scale and on some critical issues that we learned to be critical in terms of ESD in Early Childhood.

VALIDATION STUDY OF HEALTH BELIEFS SCALE

Introduction: The Health Belief Scale is a questionnaire used to assess a wide range of beliefs related to health. The objective of this study was to undertake construction and culturally adapt the Health Belief Scale (HBS) to the Portuguese language and to test its reliability and validity. Methods: This new version was obtained with forward/backward translations, consensus panels and a pre-test, having been inspired by some of the items from “Canada’s Health Promotion Survey” and the “European Health and Behaviour Survey”, with the inclusion of new items about food-related beliefs. The Portuguese version of Health Belief Scale and a form for the characteristics of the participants were applied to 849 Portuguese adolescents. Results: Reliability was good with a Cronbach’s alpha coeficient of 0.867, and an intraclass correlation coeficient (ICC) of 0.95. Corrected item-total coeficients ranged from 0.301 to 0.620 and weighted kappa coeficients ranged from 0.72 to 0.93 for the total scale items. We obtained a scale composed of 13 items divided into ive factors (smoking and alcohol belief, food belief, sexual belief, physical and sporting belief, and social belief), which explain 57.97% of the total variance. Conclusions: The scale exhibited suitable psychometric properties, in terms of internal consistency, reproducibility and construct validity. It can be used in various areas of research.