Validation of the Duke Religion Index: DUREL (Portuguese Version)

The purpose of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Duke Religion Index (PDUREL) in a community setting. PDUREL was translated and adapted for administration to 383 individuals from a population-based study of low-income community-dwelling adults. The PDUREL intrinsic subscale and total scores demonstrated high internal consistency (alphas ranging from 0.733 for the total scale score to 0.758 for the intrinsic subscale). Correlations among the DUREL subscales were also examined for evidence of discriminant validity. Correlations were ranging from 0.36 to 0.46, indicating significant overlap between the scales without marked redundancy. PDUREL is a reliable and valid scale. The availability of a comprehensive, but brief measure of religiousness can help to study the role of religiousness in health by researchers from countries that speak the Portuguese language.

Semiótica e publicidade de alimentos: uma revisão teórica e aplicada

Este texto é parte das reflexões teóricas do nosso Pós-doutorado realizado junto ao Laboratório de Antropologia Visual da Universidade Aberta de Portugal que abordou aspectos interculturais do estudo fotoetnográfico da publicidade e do consumo alimentar no Brasil e em Portugal. Aqui serão ressaltados os aspectos referentes às contribuições da semiótica para o estudo das comunicações publicitárias de alimentos. A proposta é entender os modelos de análise semiótica da publicidade como um meio de operacionalização da descrição densa, na perspectiva etnográfica, a partir da interface interdisciplinar com a produção de sentido das imagens publicitárias, no campo da alimentação, apresentado a análise de um anúncio do azeite Gallo como exemplo.

Spiritual support for people living with HIV/AIDS: A Brazilian explorative, descriptive study

y In this exploratory and descriptive research, we identified the meaning of religion and spirituality in the experience of patients at a public health service for treatment of HIV/AIDS in a Brazilian upcountry town. Eight participants were selected through theoretical sampling. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, and analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis. The emerging themes were religion: a path to support, and God is everything. Religion, as a path that leads patients to different sources of support, included exploration of different churches, acknowledgment of guilt, and finding strength to cope with the disease, rationalization of the disease process, meeting other churchgoers, and finding God and faith. God, an important source of support, was present in prayers, in the belief in healing through faith, and in the feeling of comfort and relief. Because spirituality and religion were seen as important sources of support, in this study we that health professionals include these aspects in care planning.