Vulnerabilidade ao stress, estratégias de coping e autoeficácia em professores portugueses

Neste trabalho, apresentamos uma investigação realizada com professores, no qual se procura determinar a vulnerabilidade ao stress ; identificar as principais fontes de stress ; estabelecer as principais estratégias de coping; analisar se as estratégias deste condicionam a presença de stress laboral; e reconhecer se a autoeficácia percebida é preditora desse tipo de stress . Trata-se duma investigação por questionário, do tipo correlacional, e a amostra é constituída por 54 professores do Ensino Básico público português. As respostas ao Questionário sociodemográfico e profissional; ao Questionário de Vulnerabilidade ao Stress — 23QVS (Serra, 2000); ao Questionário de Stress nos Professores — QSP (Gomes et al ., 2006; Gomes, 2007); ao Coping Job Scale — CJS de Latack (adaptação de Jesus & Pereira, 1994); e à Escala de Avaliação de Autoeficácia Geral (Ribeiro, 1995) revelam que 20,4% dos docentes são vulneráveis ao stress ; os comportamentos inadequados/indisciplina dos alunos são as principais fontes de stress ; as estratégias de controlo são as mais utilizadas pelos participantes para enfrentar o stress , seguidas das de escape e das de gestão de sintomas. Os professores não vulneráveis ao stress utilizam principalmente estratégias de controlo e apresentam níveis mais elevados de eficácia perante a adversidade, bem como de iniciativa e persistência em relação aos professores vulneráveis ao stress

Interactive interface for stress relief

Every time more we hear in our everyday statements like "I'm stressed!", "Don´t worry me more than I am." But in what sense can we use technology to combat these congestions that we deal with daily? Well, one way would be to use technology to create objects, systems or applications that can spoil us and preferably be imperceptible by the user and, for this we have the ubiquitous computing and nurturant technologies. The ubiquitous computing is increasingly discussed as well as ways to make your computer more subtle in the view of the user, which is subject of research and development. The use of technology as a source of relaxation and spoil us is a strand that is being explored in the context of nurturant technologies. Accordingly, this thesis is focused on the development of an object and several applications with which we can interact. The object and applications have the purpose to spoil us and help us relax after a long day at work or in some situation more stressful. The object developed employs technologies like the use of accelerometers and the applications developed employs communications between computers and Web cameras. This thesis begins with a brief introduction to the areas of research and others that we can include in this thesis, such as ubiquitous computing and the nurturant technologies, providing yet general information on stress and ways to mitigate it. Later is described some of the work already done and that influenced this thesis as well as the prototypes developed and the experiences performed, ending with a general conclusion and future work.

Predicting and breaking sedentary behaviour at work

This thesis aimed at designing and developing a system that can a) infer individuals’ need for a break from sedentary behaviour in the workplace, and b) persuade them to take a break through the use of different techniques from persuasive psychology. We postulated three variables, namely, individuals’ posture, stress levels and involvement in their computer mediated activity. We developed and field-studied a system that could infer these using a web camera and a key presses and mouse clicks log. We found that the system could predict posture from viewing depth and stress from the movement detected. We then created a general formula that predicts individuals’ need for a break using only the posture and stress predictors. Once the first objective was set, we built and field-studied a system that used three ways to communicate a recommendation for a break to a user: implicit, just-in time and ambient feedback. The implicit feedback was operationalized through changes in the users’ computer wallpaper that provided subtle visual cues. The just-in time feedback employed prompting at the bottom right side of the user’s screen. In addition, we implemented an intuitive behind-screen interaction technique where people can snooze a notification using simple gestures. The ambient feedback mechanism employed an origami sculpture sitting on the user’s desk. This prototype was continuously reflecting the user’s posture and performed rhythmic movements when to recommend breaks. A field study demonstrated the overall success of the system, with 69% of the break recommendations received by users were accepted. The study further revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the three persuasive mechanisms.

Hospital hero: a game for reducing stress and anxiety of children while waiting in emergency room

This report tells a story which started as an idea that came to us to fight the battle-cry feeling commonly known as stress and anxiety. Before creating the solution of the idea, we first need to understand the feelings underneath and its effects on our well-being. Throughout the course of our lives, we experience states of weakness and fear. These feelings can arise, for instance, while we are in an emergency room. Needless to say, how much it would have imaginable effects on children, who are unfamiliar to such environments. We ran through a serious of scenarios to find the most suitable solution, among them the study of interaction with positive expressions by Dr. Baldwin, proved to be a valued resource. It was reduced due to its length and to be suitable to our public audience. The game was then created in order to reduce or even eliminate the stress and anxiety of children. Since the game was initially released, some modifications had been made but the original idea - interaction with positive expressions – remained. When the time came, we asked children to play one of the two versions of the game while waiting in the emergency room. This not only created a diversion for them but also a learning experience as it displayed some hospital equipment. The difference between the two versions is that one provides expressions, while the other does not. After all our hard work, we felt rewarded because the project proved its worth and we would see that in the expressions on children’s faces while they played. Most importantly, their anxiety level numbers were significantly reduced during that short period of time.