L’influence de la perte d’un parent et du deuil chez l’élève de niveau primaire sur sa réussite scolaire

La réussite scolaire au primaire est déterminante pour la réussite scolaire future de l’enfant. Certains éléments jouent un rôle important dans cette réussite comme la santé psychologique de l’élève et l’implication parentale. Ces dernières peuvent être ébranlées par certaines situations de la vie telle que le décès d’un parent. Ce mémoire porte sur une recherche qualitative effectuée auprès de trois élèves de niveau primaire régulier ayant perdu un parent au cours des deux dernières années. L’objectif de cette recherche est de connaître l’influence que peuvent avoir la perte parentale et le deuil chez l’élève sur sa réussite scolaire. Il existe peu de recherches qui ont été réalisées sur ce sujet et la plupart se sont principalement intéressées à l’influence des conséquences psychologiques du deuil sur la réussite scolaire. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire, nous avons décidé d’adopter une vision plus globale du développement de l’élève. Le projet de recherche s’intéresse non seulement à l’élève, mais aussi à ses parents et à son environnement scolaire. La recherche s’articule autour de trois concepts : le deuil, la réussite scolaire et l’implication scolaire. La méthodologie utilisée repose sur une approche qualitative exploratoire et une analyse de contenu. Les participants étaient composés de trois élèves endeuillés et non-immigrants, âgés entre 7 et 10 ans, de leurs parents survivants (deux) et de leurs enseignants titulaires (trois). Les données ont été recueillies à travers des entrevues semi-dirigées avec tous les participants, les bulletins scolaires des enfants et les plans d’intervention scolaire. Les résultats indiquent que les conséquences psychologiques du deuil peuvent avoir une influence négative sur la réussite scolaire des élèves du primaire. De plus, la perte parentale semble influer négativement sur le niveau socio-économique de la famille et sur tous les types d’implication parentale, que ce soit la supervision des leçons, la communication école-famille ou la collaboration du parent avec la communauté. Ces éléments peuvent à leur tour avoir une influence négative sur la réussite scolaire.

Saúde psicológica: Definição teórica do constructo e representação em profissionais de saúde.

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada no ISPA - Instituto Universitário

Barriers and facilitators to initial and continued attendance at community-based lifestyle programmes among families of overweight and obese children: a systematic review

The success of childhood weight management programmes relies on family engagement. While attendance offers many benefits including the support to make positive lifestyle changes, the majority of families referred to treatment decline. Moreover, for those who do attend, benefits are often compromised by high programme attrition. This systematic review investigated factors influencing attendance at community-based lifestyle programmes among families of over-weight or obese children. A narrative synthesis approach was used to allow for the inclusion of quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method study designs. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Results suggest that parents provided the impetus for programme initiation, and this was driven largely by a concern for their child's psychological health and wellbeing. More often than not, children went along without any real reason or interest in attending. Over the course of the programme, however, children's positive social experiences such as having fun and making friends fostered the desire to continue. The stigma surrounding excess weight and the denial of the issue amongst some parents presented barriers to enrolment and warrant further study. This study provides practical recommendations to guide future policy makers, programme delivery teams and researchers in developing strategies to boost recruitment and minimise attrition.

Ingestão proteica na infância e risco de obesidade

Trabalho Complementar apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de licenciada em Ciências da Nutrição

L’influence de la perte d’un parent et du deuil chez l’élève de niveau primaire sur sa réussite scolaire

La réussite scolaire au primaire est déterminante pour la réussite scolaire future de l’enfant. Certains éléments jouent un rôle important dans cette réussite comme la santé psychologique de l’élève et l’implication parentale. Ces dernières peuvent être ébranlées par certaines situations de la vie telle que le décès d’un parent. Ce mémoire porte sur une recherche qualitative effectuée auprès de trois élèves de niveau primaire régulier ayant perdu un parent au cours des deux dernières années. L’objectif de cette recherche est de connaître l’influence que peuvent avoir la perte parentale et le deuil chez l’élève sur sa réussite scolaire. Il existe peu de recherches qui ont été réalisées sur ce sujet et la plupart se sont principalement intéressées à l’influence des conséquences psychologiques du deuil sur la réussite scolaire. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire, nous avons décidé d’adopter une vision plus globale du développement de l’élève. Le projet de recherche s’intéresse non seulement à l’élève, mais aussi à ses parents et à son environnement scolaire. La recherche s’articule autour de trois concepts : le deuil, la réussite scolaire et l’implication scolaire. La méthodologie utilisée repose sur une approche qualitative exploratoire et une analyse de contenu. Les participants étaient composés de trois élèves endeuillés et non-immigrants, âgés entre 7 et 10 ans, de leurs parents survivants (deux) et de leurs enseignants titulaires (trois). Les données ont été recueillies à travers des entrevues semi-dirigées avec tous les participants, les bulletins scolaires des enfants et les plans d’intervention scolaire. Les résultats indiquent que les conséquences psychologiques du deuil peuvent avoir une influence négative sur la réussite scolaire des élèves du primaire. De plus, la perte parentale semble influer négativement sur le niveau socio-économique de la famille et sur tous les types d’implication parentale, que ce soit la supervision des leçons, la communication école-famille ou la collaboration du parent avec la communauté. Ces éléments peuvent à leur tour avoir une influence négative sur la réussite scolaire.

A longitudinal study of the impact of chronic psychological stress on health-related quality of life and clinical biomarkers : protocol for the Australian Healthy Aging of Women Study

BACKGROUND: Despite advancements in our understanding of the importance of stress reduction in achieving good health, we still only have limited insight into the impact of stress on cellular function. Recent studies have suggested that exposure to prolonged psychological stress may alter an individual's physiological responses, and contribute to morbidity and mortality. This paper presents an overview of the study protocol we are using to examine the impact of life stressors on lifestyle factors, health-related quality of life and novel and established biomarkers of stress in midlife and older Australian women.The primary aim of this study is to explore the links between chronic psychological stress on both subjective and objective health markers in midlife and older Australian women. The study examines the extent to which exposure frightening, upsetting or stressful events such as natural disasters, illness or death of a relative, miscarriage and relationship conflict is correlated with a variety of objective and subjective health markers.Methods/design: This study is embedded within the longitudinal Healthy Aging of Women's study which has collected data from midlife and older Australian women at 5 yearly intervals since 2001, and uses the Allostastic model of women's health by Groer and colleagues in 2010. The current study expands the focus of the HOW study and will assess the impact of life stressors on quality of life and clinical biomarkers in midlife and older Australian women to explain the impact of chronic psychological stress in women. DISCUSSION: The proposed study hypothesizes that women are at increased risk of exposure to multiple or repeated stressors, some being unique to women, and the frequency and chronicity of stressors increases women's risk of adverse health outcomes. This study aims to further our understanding of the relationships between stressful life experiences, perceived quality of life, stress biomarkers, chronic illness, and health status in women.

Psychological resources, their social antecedents, and association with well-being and health behaviour in early adulthood

The success of entering work life, young people s psychological resources and self-reported well-being were studied in a longitudinal setting from a life-span developmental-contextual perspective in early adulthood. The aim was to analyse how psychosocial characteristics in early childhood and adolescence predict successful entrance into work life, how this is associated with well-being, and to assess the level of psychological resources such as dispositional optimism, personal meaning of work and coping in early adulthood. The role of these and social support, in the relationship between regional factors (such as place of residence and migration), self-reported health and life satisfaction was studied. The association between a specific coping strategy, i.e. eating and drinking in a stressful situation and eating habits, was studied to demonstrate how coping is associated with health behaviour. Multivariate methods, including binary logistic regression analyses and ANOVA, were used for statistical analyses. The subjects were members of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort, which consists of all women and men born in 1966 in the two northernmost provinces of Finland (n= 12,058). The most recent follow-up, at the age of 31 years when 11,637 subjects were alive, took place in 1997-1998. The results show, first, that social resources in the childhood family and adolescence school achievement predict entrance into the labour market. Secondly, psychosocial resources were found to mediate the relationship between migration from rural to urban areas, and subjective well-being. Thirdly, psychological resources at entrance into the labour market were found to develop from early infancy on. They are, however, influenced later by work history. Fourthly, stress-related eating and drinking, as a way of coping, was found to be directly associated with unhealthy eating habits and alcohol use. Gender differences were found in psychosocial resources predicting, and being associated with success in entering the labour market. For men, the role of attitudinal and psychological factors seems to be especially important in entrance into work life and in the development of psychological resources. For women, academic attainment was more important for successfully entering work life, and lack of emotional social support was a risk factor for stress-related eating only among women. Stress-related eating and drinking habits were predicted by a long history of unemployment as well as a low level of education among both genders, but not excluding an academic degree among men. The results emphasize the role of childhood psychosocial factors in preventing long-term unemployment and in enhancing psychological well-being in early adulthood. Success in entering work life, in terms of continuous work history, plays a crucial role for well-being and the amount of psychological resources in early adulthood. The results emphasize the crucial role of enhancing psychological resources for promoting positive health behaviour and diminishing regional differences in subjective well-being.

The Psychological and Health Consequences of Caring for a Spouse With Dementia:A Critical Comparison of Husbands and Wives

Caring for someone with dementia can be demanding, particularly for spouses living with the care recipient. The main goal of this study was to clarify differences in the experience of caregivers who were husbands and wives with respect to burden, health, healthy behaviors, presence of difficult care recipient behaviors, social supports, and the quality of the premorbid relationship. The results of this study support research demonstrating a difference between the caregiving experiences of women and men. It is becoming increasingly apparent that female gender is a marker that places them at increased risk of high burden and less support.

“I used to think that they were all abnormal. And I was the normal one”: conceptualizing mental health and mental health treatment under Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)

Background: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) was introduced in the United Kingdom in 2006 to provide more effective and efficient services to people experiencing mild to moderate mental ill health. The model represents a paradigm shift in how we provide psychological care to large populations. Aims: We wanted to document how the IAPT programme impacted on patients’ understanding of their mental health, and mental health treatment. Methods: We used Foucauldian Discourse Analysis to analyse six semi-structured research interviews with patients from one IAPT service in a major UK city. Results: Participants constructed their mental health problems as individual pathologies. Constructions of mental health and of treatment evidenced the privileging of personal responsibility and social productivity over dependency on others and the state. Conclusions: Services are functioning well for some. The role of IAPT in pathologising those who are dependent on people and services requires further commentary and action. Declaration of interest: The first author was employed by the same organisation that delivered the IAPT service, although through a separate staffing and management line.

Neurophysiologic, psychological, sport and health dimensions of three meditation techniques

The aim of this study was to record experiences of three meditation conditions: Ratio Breathing, Transcendental Meditation and Zazen, with special reference to sport, health, neuro-physiology and sense of coherence. The participants (N=9), seven males and two females were all British, actively competing across a range of individual and team sports, with no experience of using meditation techniques or practices in their sporting or daily lives. Their mean age was 31.56 years with an age range of 22 to 44 years. The study employed a within-subjects, repeated measures design, with each participant practising each meditation condition in a randomly counterbalanced order. Integrative findings support the value of all three meditation conditions for health and to a lesser extent for sport, especially with regard to their effect on focus. All three meditation conditions were associated with a decrease in respiration. The differential effect of the meditations was apparent. Participants valued Ratio breathing for its effect on concentration, Transcendental Meditation for its depth of meditation and Zazen for its effect on self and removal of external distractions. These qualitative findings were associated with differentially significant quantitative effects on lowered respiration rate in the Ratio Breathing group, increased physical relaxation and alpha activity in the Transcendental Meditation group, and increases in both alpha and theta activity in the Zazen group.

Health-Enhancing Physical Activity and Well-Being: Is it How Often, How Long, or How Much Effort that Matters? A Test of Basic Psychological Needs Theory

The primary objectives of the present study were 1) to examine the relationship between health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) and well-being across the previous day and 2) to examine the role of basic psychological need satisfaction as a potential mediator of the HEPA – well-being relationship. Participants (N = 203) were a convenience sample of undergraduate students with data collected cross sectionally. HEPA was generally associated with well-being (r‟s ranged from .18 to .62). Multiple mediation analyses supported psychological need satisfaction as mechanisms underpinning the HEPA – well- being relationship. Subsequent analyses demonstrated that effort put forth in HEPA activities, as opposed to frequency or duration, uniquely predicted well-being. The role of effort was further highlighted in the multiple mediation analyses. As such future research may wish to investigate the utility of a HEPA program that facilitates effortful engagement and fulfillment of basic psychological needs.

Conversations around homework: links to parental mental health, family characteristics and child psychological functioning

Parents are increasingly expected to supplement their children's school-based learning by providing support for children's homework. However, parents' capacities to provide such support may vary and may be limited by the experience of depression. This may have implications for child development. In the course of a prospective, longitudinal study of children of postnatally depressed and healthy mothers, we observed mothers (N = 88) and fathers (N = 78) at home during maths homework interactions with their 8-year-old children. The quality of parental communication was rated and analysed in relation to child functioning. The quality of communication of each of the parents was related to their mental state, social class and IQ. While postnatal depression was not directly related to child development, there was some evidence of the influence of maternal depression occurring in the child's school years. Different aspects of parental communication with the child showed specific associations with different child outcomes, over and above the influence of family characteristics. In particular, child school attainment and IQ were associated with parental strategies to encourage representational thinking and mastery motivation, whereas child behavioural adjustment at school and self-esteem were linked to the degree of parental emotional support and low levels of coercion. Notably, the influence of maternal homework support was more strongly related to child outcome than was paternal support, a pattern reflected in mothers' greater involvement in children's schools and school-related activities. Some parents may need guidance in how to support their children's homework if it is to be of benefit to child functioning.

Algunos aspectos de salud mental en relación al fenómeno de urbanización = Psychological and mental health problems of urbanization based on case studies in Peru

Los documentos del Seminario fueron publicados por UNESCO en 1961 con el título: La urbanización en América Latina/Urbanization in Latin America

Users' psychological characterization of the Birigui Mental Health Clinic

To improve mental health services, the World Health Organization proposes an “epidemiological approach” based on the constant screening of existing research, and aimed at continuous improvement of psychological treatment rather than strict application of prescribed techniques. This study provides an epidemiological survey conducted at the psychology ward of the municipal Ambulatório de Saúde Mental in Birigui, São Paulo, Brazil. Data from 180 patients in psychotherapeutic care were collected, and subsequent descriptive analysis showed that the population consisted predominantly of adults (82.8% of total) and females (81.0%). Depressive disorder was the most common symptom (61.1%), and the majority of the participants (72.2%) received psychological treatment for the first time. The data presented in this paper can assist mental health professionals in selecting appropriate treatment by creating a profile of patients.