How important is personality in neurological patient' quality of life perception?

In the last decades, the value of research on neurological patients’ quality of life (QOL) has become unquestionable. In this context, most studies focus on the relationship between patients’ QOL and their sociodemographic and/or clinical and/or modifiable psychosocial characteristics. They give us information regarding the sociodemographic and clinical profile most prone to low QOL reports and also on ways to improve patients’ QOL (e.g., targeting their selfesteem). Nevertheless, little is known about the role nonmodifiable psychosocial variables can have on patients’ QOL perception. Consequently, the aim of the present study is to explore the relationship between QOL and personality in neurological patients.

Conceptual, methodological and ethical issues in children's research in Portugal

Methodological issues in research with children have sparked a growing interest by the Sociology of Childhood since the last decades. In Portugal, this interest is more recent, but it has had a significant increase. Considering several researches, namely master thesis, supervised by the authors on the framework of Sociology of Childhood, this proposal intends to characterize some methodological complexities in research with children in Portugal, when we consider their voice and agency in the knowledge producing about them. The goal of this paper is to contribute to the methodological discussion on research with children through the identification of a set of challenges related to: (i) the diversity of methodologies uses in children’s research, (ii) ethical concerns and (iii) the role of the researcher.