Consumo privado de ansiolíticos benzodiazepínicos e sua correlação com indicadores sociodemográficos nas capitais brasileiras

This work aims to analyze the distribution of anxiolytics and their frequency of consumption in the period of 2010 to 2012, on the Federal District and at other Brazilian cities, as well as evaluating the correlation between such consumption and its demographic, epidemiological, economic and social characteristics for each region of this study. Into the analysis, it was observed that social, economic and cultural factors seem to influence the over-consumption of these drugs in many countries. Based on this, the benzodiazepines (BDZs) have achieved great popularity among members of the medical community and among the general population, mainly because of its safety and effectiveness in controlling symptoms of anxiety, insomnia and convulsions. Concerning the methodology of this work, an ecological study was performed having as sampling Brazilian capitals and as data source the 2010 Population Census, as well as information from IBGE, DATASUS and ANVISA. Still in the case of the methodological procedure, a multiple linear regression was used. Through descriptive analysis, it was demonstrated that the Northern region has the lowest average on consumption of these drugs (being 0.24 DHD in Manaus); meanwhile in the capitals of the Southeast, higher means were identified (reaching 7.29 DHD in Belo Horizonte), with a national average of 3.04 DHD. Among the drugs analyzed, it was found that Alprazolam is the most dispensed by pharmacies and private drugstores, averaging 2.00 DHD for Brazilian capitals. A análise de regressão linear múltipla mostrou que 76% da variação no consumo foi explicada pela variação da densidade populacional (β = 0,310 p = 0,045) e pela percentagem de médicos (β = 0,507 p = 0,016). Therefore, it was concluded that the consumption of anxiolytics of short half-life has been increasing over the years, mainly in the cities of greater population density and with the highest concentration of doctors

O estrategista em perspectiva: um estudo sobre o processo de formação de estratégias no ramo varejista de construção civil de Natal e região metropolitana

The strategy research have been widespread for many years and, more recently, the process of formation of the strategies in the individual perspective has also gained attention in academia. Confirming this trend, the goal of this study is to discuss the process of formation of the strategies from an individual perspective based on the three dimensions of the strategic process (change, thinking and formation) proposed by De Wit and Meyer (2004). To this end, this exploratory-descriptive study used the factor analysis techniques, non-parametric correlation and linear regression to analyze data collected from the decision makers of the 93 retail in the industry of construction supplies in the Natal and metropolitan area. As a result, we have that the formation factors of the dimensions investigated were identified in the majority, thus confirming the existence of paradoxes in the strategic process, and that there is a relationship between logical thinking and deliberate formation with the hierarchical level of decision makers.

Fatores que influenciam a predisposição dos usuários em aderir a uma política de segurança da informação

The information constitutes one of the most valuable strategic assets for the organization. However, the organizational environment in which it is inserted is very complex and heterogeneous, making emerging issues relevant to the Governance of information technology (IT) and Information Security. Academic Studies and market surveys indicate that the origin of most accidents with the information assets is the behavior of people organization itself rather than external attacks. Taking as a basis the promotion of a culture of safety among users and ensuring the protection of information in their properties of confidentiality, integrity and availability, organizations must establish its Information Security Policy (PSI). This policy is to formalise the guidelines in relation to the security of corporate information resources, in order to avoid that the asset vulnerabilities are exploited by threats and can bring negative consequences to the business. But, for the PSI being effective, it is required that the user have readiness to accept and follow the procedures and safety standards. In the light of this context, the present study aims to investigate what are the motivators extrinsic and intrinsic that affect the willingness of the user to be in accordance with the organization's security policies. The theoretical framework addresses issues related to IT Governance, Information Security, Theory of deterrence, Motivation and Behavior Pro-social. It was created a theoretical model based on the studies of Herath and Rao (2009) and D'Arcy, Hovav and Galletta (2009) that are based on General Deterrence Theory and propose the following influencing factors in compliance with the Policy: Severity of Punishment, Certainty of Detection, Peer Behaviour, Normative Beliefs, Perceived Effectiveness and Moral Commitment. The research used a quantitative approach, descriptive. The data were collected through a questionnaire with 18 variables with a Likert scale of five points representing the influencing factors proposed by the theory. The sample was composed of 391 students entering the courses from the Center for Applied Social Sciences of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. For the data analysis, were adopted the techniques of Exploratory Factor Analysis, Analysis of Cluster hierarchical and nonhierarchical, Logistic Regression and Multiple Linear Regression. As main results, it is noteworthy that the factor severity of punishment is what contributes the most to the theoretical model and also influences the division of the sample between users more predisposed and less prone. As practical implication, the research model applied allows organizations to provide users less prone and, with them, to carry out actions of awareness and training directed and write Security Policies more effective.

Relação entre função sexual, sintomatologia depressiva e qualidade de vida em mulheres grávidas

INTRODUCTION: Human sexuality is recognized as one of the pillars of quality of life. In women, sexual function is influenced throughout life by many factors that can lead to the appearance of changes in the cycle of sexual response, and hence the quality of life (QOL). Pregnancy is a period of change, leaving them physically and mentally vulnerable, which may affect sexual function and quality of life during pregnancy. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between sexual function, presence of depressive symptoms and quality of life in pregnant women. METHODS: The study included 207 pregnant women attending prenatal examination of the Maternity Divine Love, Parnamirim / RN and the participants of the Course for Pregnant Women of the Department of Physical Therapy at UFRN (central campus). Initially it was applied, a questionnaire containing questions about sociodemographic, gynecological and obstetric data, as well as body and sexual self-knowledge. Sexual function was assessed using the Sexual Function Index Female (Female Sexual Function Index - FSFI). To assess the quality of life, we used the Quality Index Ferrans Life & Powers mom. The presence of depressive symptoms was verified by applying the Beck Depression Inventory. The Shapiro-Wilk test for normality was carried variables, Mann-Whitney test for carrying out the comparisons and the Wilcoxon test for comparing the monthly sexual frequency before and during pregnancy. Multiple linear regression was used to verify the relationship between sexual function, depressive symptoms and quality of life. We used the Spearman correlation to check correlation between the variables. Ap value <0.05 was adopted. RESULTS: Sexual function and depressive symptoms were related quality of life (R2 = 0.30, p <0.001). Depression had a moderate negative correlation with quality of life (0.53; p <0.001), whereas sexual function showed a positive correlation with low quality of life (0.22; p = 0.001). The planning of pregnancy, education and income shown to influence depression scores. With respect to sexual function, it was seen that during pregnancy, a reduction in the monthly frequency of sexual partner (Z = -10.56; p <0.001). Among the sexual domain, just the pain, showed a statistically significant difference compared between the second and third quarter (Z = -1.91, p <0.05). The score of the quality of life of women with sexual dysfunction was xvii significantly lower than that pregnant women without dysfunction (Z = -2.87, p = 0.004). Conclusion: Sexual function and the presence of depressive symptoms are related to the quality of life of pregnant women.

Análise de métodos para detecção de mudanças estruturais em séries temporais climáticas

The time series analysis has played an increasingly important role in weather and climate studies. The success of these studies depends crucially on the knowledge of the quality of climate data such as, for instance, air temperature and rainfall data. For this reason, one of the main challenges for the researchers in this field is to obtain homogeneous series. A time series of climate data is considered homogeneous when the values of the observed data can change only due to climatic factors, i.e., without any interference from external non-climatic factors. Such non-climatic factors may produce undesirable effects in the time series, as unrealistic homogeneity breaks, trends and jumps. In the present work it was investigated climatic time series for the city of Natal, RN, namely air temperature and rainfall time series, for the period spanning from 1961 to 2012. The main purpose was to carry out an analysis in order to check the occurrence of homogeneity breaks or trends in the series under investigation. To this purpose, it was applied some basic statistical procedures, such as normality and independence tests. The occurrence of trends was investigated by linear regression analysis, as well as by the Spearman and Mann-Kendall tests. The homogeneity was investigated by the SNHT, as well as by the Easterling-Peterson and Mann-Whitney-Pettit tests. Analyzes with respect to normality showed divergence in their results. The von Neumann ratio test showed that in the case of the air temperature series the data are not independent and identically distributed (iid), whereas for the rainfall series the data are iid. According to the applied testings, both series display trends. The mean air temperature series displays an increasing trend, whereas the rainfall series shows an decreasing trend. Finally, the homogeneity tests revealed that all series under investigations present inhomogeneities, although they breaks depend on the applied test. In summary, the results showed that the chosen techniques may be applied in order to verify how well the studied time series are characterized. Therefore, these results should be used as a guide for further investigations about the statistical climatology of Natal or even of any other place.

Avaliação da efetividade do Programa de Alimentação do Trabalhador

This study analyzed the Worker’s Healthy Eating Program in Rio Grande do Norte state (RN) to assess its possible impact on the nutritional status of the workers benefitted. To that end, we conducted a cross-sectional observational prospective study based on a multistage stratified random sample comparing 26 small and medium-sized companies from the Manufacturing Sector (textiles, food and beverages, and nonmetallic minerals) of RN, divided into two equal groups (WFP and Non WFP). Interviews were conducted at each company by trained interviewers from Tuesday to Saturday between September and December 2014. Data were collected on the company (characterization and information regarding the program’s desired results) and workers (personal and professional information, anthropometrics, health, lifestyle and food consumed the previous day). Population estimates were calculated for RN on the characteristics of workers and the study variables. The main variable was BMI. The secondary variables were waist circumference (WC), nutritional diagnosis, calorie intake, blood pressure, metabolic variables and lifestyle indicators. The statistical method used was hierarchical mixed effects linear regression for interval variables and hierarchical mixed effects logistic regression for binary variables. The variables measured in ordinal scales were analyzed by ordinal logistic regression adjusted for correlated variables, adopting robust standard errors. The results for interval variables are presented as point estimates and their 95% confidence intervals; and as odds-ratios and their 95% confidence intervals for binary variables. The Fisher’s exact and Student’s t-tests were used for simple comparisons between proportions and means, respectively. Differences were considered statistically significant at p<0.05. A total of 1069 workers were interviewed, of which 541 were from the WFP group and 528 from the Non WFP group. Subjects were predominantly males and average age was 34.5 years. Significant intergroup differences were observed for schooling level, income above 1 MW (minimum wage) and specific training for their position at the company. The results indicated a significant difference between the BMI of workers benefitted, which was on average 0.989 kg/m2 higher than the BMI of workers from the Non WFP group (p=0.002); and between the WC, with the waist circumference of WFP group workers an average of 1.528 cm larger (p<0.05). Higher prevalence of overweight and obesity (p<0.001) and cardiovascular risk (p=0.038) were recorded in the WFP group. Tests on the possible effect of the WFP on health (blood pressure and metabolic indicators) and lifestyle indicators (smoking, alcohol consumption and exercise) were not significant. With respect to worker’s diets, differences were significant for consumption of saturated fat (lunch and daily intake), salt (lunch, other meals and daily intake) and proteins (other meals and daily intake), with higher consumption of these nutrients in the WFP group. The study showed a possible positive impact of the WFP on nutritional status (BMI and WC) among the workers benefitted. No possible effects of the program were observed for the lifestyle indicators studied. Workers benefitted consumed less salt, saturated fat and protein. The relevance of the WFP is recognized for this portion of society and it is understood that, if the program can reach and impact those involved, the development of educational initiatives aimed at nutritional and food safety may also exert a positive influence.

Near miss materno e iniquidades em saúde: análise de determinantes contextuais no Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

The scope of this study was to identify socioeconomic contextual and health care factors in primary care associated with maternal near misses and their marker conditions. This is an ecological study that used aggregated data of 63 clusters formed by the municipalities of State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, using the Skater method of area regionalization, as the unit of analysis. The ratio of maternal near misses and their marker conditions were obtained from the Hospital Information System of the Brazilian Unified Health System. In multiple linear regression analysis, there was a significant association between maternal near misses and variables of poverty and poor primary health care. Hypertensive disorders were also associated with poverty and poor primary care and the occurrence of hemorrhaging was associated with infant mortality. It was observed that the occurrence of maternal near misses is linked to unfavorable socioeconomic conditions and poor quality health care that are a reflection of public policies that accentuate health inequalities.

Near miss materno e iniquidades em saúde: análise de determinantes contextuais no Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

The scope of this study was to identify socioeconomic contextual and health care factors in primary care associated with maternal near misses and their marker conditions. This is an ecological study that used aggregated data of 63 clusters formed by the municipalities of State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, using the Skater method of area regionalization, as the unit of analysis. The ratio of maternal near misses and their marker conditions were obtained from the Hospital Information System of the Brazilian Unified Health System. In multiple linear regression analysis, there was a significant association between maternal near misses and variables of poverty and poor primary health care. Hypertensive disorders were also associated with poverty and poor primary care and the occurrence of hemorrhaging was associated with infant mortality. It was observed that the occurrence of maternal near misses is linked to unfavorable socioeconomic conditions and poor quality health care that are a reflection of public policies that accentuate health inequalities.

Avaliação multidimensional da qualidade de vida em idosos: um estudo no Curimataú ocidental paraibano

The fast growth of the elderly population is a reality throughout the world and has become one of the greatest challenges for contemporary public health. When considering the increased life expectancy and the aging as a multidimensional phenomenon, one should highlight the need to investigate if the increase of longevity is associated with satisfactory levels of Quality of Life (QOL). This study has the objective of assessing the QOL of elderly people from the Paraíba’s Western Curimataú microregion, explained by its health and living conditions. This is a cross-sectional and observational study with quantitative design held with 444 elderly people from five cities: Barra de Santa Rosa, Cuité, Nova Floresta, Remígio e Sossego. In order to obtain information, the following instruments were used: I) Questionnaire for collection data related to the elderly population, for sociodemographic, clinical and behavioral characteristics; and II) WHOQOL-Old questionnaire, with a view to measuring and assessing QOL. Data were processed on the IBM-SPSS Statistics 20.0 software by means of the ANOVA (one-way), Student’s t, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Pearson’s correlation tests, with p-values<0,05 accepted as being statistically significant. The results indicate a good global QOL (ETT=65,69%), with better assessment by elderly men, aged between 60 and 74 years, married, living with partner and children, without caregiver, physical activity practitioners, with up to one health problem before an aspect of multimorbidity and with very good and/or good assessment of basic needs. The self-reported stress showed a negative significant correlation before the global QOL, where the greater the perception of stress, the worse the assessment of QOL. In the faceted assessment of QOL, the Sensory Operation showed the best performance (ETF= 68,86%) and the Social Participation (SP) the worst (ETF=60,37%). In the multiple linear regression model, SP is singly responsible for 51,8% (R2=0,518) of explanation of the global QOL. In the intercorrelation among the WHOQOL-Old facets, only Death and Dying did not reveal significance. The harmony highlighted among the facets raises the need to ensure a comprehensive health care for the elderly population, especially in understanding the social participation as an intrinsic part of the QOL and that it requires the re-discussion and reconstruction of individual and collective, family and community, political and government actions. Hence, guaranteeing an active, healthy and participatory aging, with QOL, is the major challenge.

Avaliação multidimensional da qualidade de vida em idosos: um estudo no Curimataú ocidental paraibano

The fast growth of the elderly population is a reality throughout the world and has become one of the greatest challenges for contemporary public health. When considering the increased life expectancy and the aging as a multidimensional phenomenon, one should highlight the need to investigate if the increase of longevity is associated with satisfactory levels of Quality of Life (QOL). This study has the objective of assessing the QOL of elderly people from the Paraíba’s Western Curimataú microregion, explained by its health and living conditions. This is a cross-sectional and observational study with quantitative design held with 444 elderly people from five cities: Barra de Santa Rosa, Cuité, Nova Floresta, Remígio e Sossego. In order to obtain information, the following instruments were used: I) Questionnaire for collection data related to the elderly population, for sociodemographic, clinical and behavioral characteristics; and II) WHOQOL-Old questionnaire, with a view to measuring and assessing QOL. Data were processed on the IBM-SPSS Statistics 20.0 software by means of the ANOVA (one-way), Student’s t, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Pearson’s correlation tests, with p-values<0,05 accepted as being statistically significant. The results indicate a good global QOL (ETT=65,69%), with better assessment by elderly men, aged between 60 and 74 years, married, living with partner and children, without caregiver, physical activity practitioners, with up to one health problem before an aspect of multimorbidity and with very good and/or good assessment of basic needs. The self-reported stress showed a negative significant correlation before the global QOL, where the greater the perception of stress, the worse the assessment of QOL. In the faceted assessment of QOL, the Sensory Operation showed the best performance (ETF= 68,86%) and the Social Participation (SP) the worst (ETF=60,37%). In the multiple linear regression model, SP is singly responsible for 51,8% (R2=0,518) of explanation of the global QOL. In the intercorrelation among the WHOQOL-Old facets, only Death and Dying did not reveal significance. The harmony highlighted among the facets raises the need to ensure a comprehensive health care for the elderly population, especially in understanding the social participation as an intrinsic part of the QOL and that it requires the re-discussion and reconstruction of individual and collective, family and community, political and government actions. Hence, guaranteeing an active, healthy and participatory aging, with QOL, is the major challenge.

Aids em idosos no Brasil no período de 2000 a 2012: uma análise de série temporal e dos fatores contextuais associados

The characteristics profile of individuals who develop AIDS in Brazil has changed over time. Among these modifications, a worrying finding is the increased incidence of AIDS in the elderly across the country. But, however, is not yet clear whether the increase in AIDS cases is sufficient to produce a change in the trend of measures in recent years in the Brazilian states, and this increase has an effect from the socioeconomic and demographic indicators. In this sense, the objective of this study is to analyze the AIDS incidence rates among the elderly in Brazil and its effect on socioeconomic and demographic inequalities in the period 2000 to 2012. This is an ecological time-series study to meet behavior of the time series of the incidence rates of AIDS in the elderly from 2000 to 2012. the rates were calculated using the secondary data from Diseases Information System Notification and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Data were analyzed statistically to know the trends in incidence rates, by polynomial regression model and joinpoint log-linear regression model, but also the simple linear regression analysis to find the relationship of trends with variables socioeconomic and demographic. SPSS 20.0® and Joinpoint 4.1.1 programs were used. All tests were carried out considering a significance of 5%. After the analysis, in Brazil were reported 62,052 new cases of AIDS in the elderly from 2000 to 2012. During this period, a significant increase was found for males, both aged 50-59 years (APPC: 3.46 %, p <0.001), such as above 59 years (AAPC: 4.38%; p <0.001). For females, the increase was significant and has the largest increments in the time series, when compared to males in both age groups (AAPC: 4.62%, p <0.001 and AAPC: 6.53%; p <0.001) respectively. The largest increases are observed in women and in the states of North and Northeast. In the Southeast Region is observed stabilization of rates throughout the series. The reason of trends between the sexes had a significant reduction, but also an approach in both age groups of the study, reaching a ratio of 1.7 males for every female in the youngest age group. The trends were related to illiteracy rates, with increasing social inequality and the lowest human development in the Brazilian states. We conclude that in Brazil the incidence of AIDS in the elderly follows an increasing trend in individuals over 50 years. Noteworthy are the highest rates of study in women and in the states of North and Northeast. In this sense, the country needs to enhance policies towards older people with STD / AIDS, training health professionals and developing effective measures for the prevention and early diagnosis of infected people, especially in places with limited resources and high social inequality. In the long term, it is developing new studies to understand whether the measures taken were effective in reducing the trends identified in this study.

Climatologia da pluviosidade na bacia hidrográfica do Rio Paranaíba

The main aim of this research was to study pluviosity in the Paranaíba Riverbasin, especially concerning the variability frame and trends. For this end, we used data from 22 pluviometric stations of the Agência Nacional da Águas- ANA(National Water Agency)spatially distributed throughout the basin area. The data comprised the years 1979-2013, which is a historical series of 35 years, and was downloaded through the ANA website and tabulated using the Hydro 1.2 software (2015) and Excel. After tabulation process were applied based methodologies for statistical analysis of annual variability, monthly, daily and seasonal rainfall in the basin beyond the trend analysis. Results of this research showed that the annual rainfall averageis 1491 mm. Seasonality is a hallmark and rainfall variability occurs spatially and temporally. Rains are accumulated in the rainy season accumulating 85% of the annual volume in the basin. In daily analysis it was found that the daily rainfall above 30 mm occur in only 3% of the time. Dry season comprises 15% of the rainfall. Trend analysis using linear regression pointed to a downward trend in rainfall in 46% of jobs, stability in 18% of posts and increased rainfall by 36%. As for the analysis using the sign test indicated that 32% of the analyzed rainfall stations showed an increasing trend of rainfall over the time series and 68% of stations showed downward trend. This research is important because shows how rainfall worksin the area of the Paranaiba basin, and may be used to develop better management of natural resources and the area through public policies for this purpose.

Escala diagramática e influência de sistemas de produção na ocorrência do crestamento gomoso da melancia

CHAPTER 1 - The gummy stem blight, caused by the fungus D. bryoniae, is a disease commonly found in watermelon cultivated in several countries. In Brazil, there are numerous studies related to the disease, but there are not uniform methods for quantifying of disease severity in the field. Thus, we developed a diagrammatic scale based on scanned photos of watermelon leaves infected with D. bryoniae. The scale developed showed levels of 0; 10; 20; 45; 65 and 90% of severity. The scale validation was divided into two parts: initially, 10 evaluators (half with experienced and other half without experience) estimated the disease severity based on the initial observation of 100 photos of watermelon leaves with symptoms of the disease at different severity levels. Before, the same evaluators estimated the disease severity with the support of the scale prepared from the Quant program. Data were analyzed using linear regression and were obtained angular, linear, and correlation coefficients. Based on these data, we determined the accuracy and precision of the evaluations. The correlation coefficients (R2) ranged from 0.88 - 0.97 for the experienced evaluators and from 0.55 - 0.95 for the inexperienced evaluators. The average angular coefficient (A) for inexperienced evaluators was 20.42 and 8.61 with and without the support of diagrammatic scale, respectively. Experienced evaluators showed values of average linear coefficient of 5.30 and 1.68 with and without the support of diagrammatic scale, respectively. The absolute errors analysis indicated that the use of diagrammatic scale contributed to minimize the flaws in the severity levels estimation. The diagrammatic scale proposed shown adequate for gummy stem blight severity evaluation in watermelon. CHAPTER 2 - The gummy stem blight (Didymella bryoniae) is a disease that affects the productivity of watermelon leading to losses over 40%. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of different production systems in control of gummy stem blight in watermelon for to establish efficient methods to combat the disease. There were applied the following treatments: conventional tillage (T1), integrated management (T2) and organic management (T3). In T1 and T2 were applied mineral fertilization and T3 was used bovine manure. There was application of fungicides and insecticides in commercial dose in T1 and T2, being after soil chemical analysis in T2. Disease severity was assessed by grading scale. The experimental design was randomized blocks. The severity of gummy stem blight has increased substantially during the fruit formation. Watermelon plants grown with integrated management (T2) showed lower levels of disease severity, while plants in organic management (T3) exhibited higher levels of severity. We conclude that management based on judicious accompaniments in field represents best way to achieve the phytosanitary aspect adequate for cultivation of watermelon in Tocantins.

Trajetórias e fatores associados a qualidade de vida de mães de recém-nascidos pré-termos de muito baixo peso até três anos após o parto

Preterm birth is a public health problem worldwide. It holds growing global incidence rates, high mortality rates and a risk of the long-term sequelae in the newborn. It is also poses burden on the family and society. Mothers of very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants may develop psychological disorders, and impaired quality of life (QoL). Factors related to mothers and children in the postpartum period may be negatively associated with the QoL of these mothers. The aim of this study was to assess factors possibly associated with the QoL of mothers of VLBW preterm newborns during the first three years after birth. Mothers of VLBW preterm answered the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-bref and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in five time points up to 36 months postpartum, totalizing 260 observations. The WHOQOL–bref scores were compared and correlated with sociodemographic and clinical variables of mothers and children at discharge (T0) and at six (T1), twelve (T2), 24 (T3) and 36 (T4) months after the delivery. We used the Kruskal Wallis test to compared scores across different time points and correlated WHOQOL-bref scores with the sociodemographic and clinical variables of mothers and preterm infants. Multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate the contribution of these variables for the QoL of mothers. The WHOQOL–bref scores at T1 and T2 were higher when compared to scores in T0 in the physical health dimension (p = 0.013). BDI scores were also higher at T1 and T2 than those at T0 (p = 0.027). Among the maternal variables that contributed most to the QoL of mothers, there were: at T0, stable marital union (b= 13.60; p= 0.000) on the social relationships dimension, gestational age (b= 2.38; p= 0.010) in the physical health dimension; post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus (b= -10.05; p= 0.010; b= -12.18; p= 0.013, respectively) in the psychological dimension; at T1 and T2, Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (b= -7.41; p= 0.005) and female sex (b= 8,094; p= 0.011) in the physical health dimension and environment, respectively. At T3, family income (b= -12.75’ p= 0.001) in the environment dimension, the SNAPPE neonatal severity score (b= -0.23; p= 0.027) on the social relationships dimension; at the T4, evangelical religion (b= 8.11; p= 0.019) and post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus (b: -18.84 p: 0.001) on the social relationships dimension. The BDI scores were negatively associated with WHOQOL scores in all dimensions and at all times points: (-1.42 ≤ b ≤ -0.36; T0, T1, T2, T3 and T4). We conclude that mothers of preterm infants VLBW tend to have a transient improvement in the physical well-being during the first postpartum year. Their quality of life seems to return to levels at discharge between two and three years after delivery. The presence of maternal depressive symptoms and diagnosis of post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus or BDP are factors negatively associated with the QoL of mothers. Social, religious and economic variables are positively associated with the QoL of mothers of VLBW preterm.

Experiências de Combate e a sua Relação com a Sintomatologia Associada à Perturbação Pós-Stress Traumático em Veteranos da Guerra Colonial Portuguesa

Objectivos: O presente estudo avaliou a relação entre diversos aspectos objectivos e subjectivos inerentes às experiências de combate/guerra e sintomatologia associada à Perturbação Pós-Stress Traumático. Os instrumentos de auto-resposta utilizados na colheita dos dados foram analisados quanto às suas principais propriedades psicométricas. Métodos: A amostra foi composta por 105 combatentes da Guerra Colonial Portuguesa. Foram utilizados os seguintes instrumentos de avaliação: um questionário sóciodemográfico de auto-resposta para a caracterização da amostra, o Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (para militares), o Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire, o Questionário de Experiências de Combate e duas escalas do Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory, nomeadamente a Difficult Livings and Working Environment Scale e a Perceived Threat Scale. Resultados: O estudo das qualidades psicométricas dos instrumentos apresenta uma consistência interna superior a .86 e uma estabilidade temporal superior a .79. A análise factorial do Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire apresenta bons valores na medida de Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin e no teste de esfericidade de Bartlett. Na rotação de Varimax é extraído um factor, predizendo a sua unidimensionalidade, que explica cerca de 70% da variância total do questionário. Os resultados relativos à validade divergentediscriminante indicam, por si só, que esta se apresenta de forma clara entre os instrumentos estudados (PCL-M, PDEQ, DLWES e PTS) no subgrupo com PTSD, com excepção da verificada entre o PCL-M e o PDEQ.. Quanto à validade de critério, constatam-se diferenças entre os subgrupos com e sem PTSD. Através do método da regressão linear múltipla, duas das seis variáveis têm, isoladamente, um peso preditivo significativo para a PTSD, nomeadamente a frequência de exposição a situações típicas e objectivas de combate/ guerra e os desconfortos diários durante a(s) comissão(ões). Ao considerarmos as variáveis no seu conjunto, aquelas que mais contribuem são a dissociação peritraumática e os desconfortos diários durante a(s) comissão(ões). Conclusão: Constata-se que os factores peritraumáticos em estudo desempenham um importante papel no desenvolvimento da sintomatologia inerente à PTSD. /