Escala de estresse percebido aplicada a estudantes universitárias: estudo de validação

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Student's academic efficacy or Inefficacy? an example on how to evaluate the psychometric properties of a measuring instrument and evaluate the effects of item wording

This study evaluated the effect of item inversion on the construct validity and reliability of psychometric scales and proposed a theoretical framework for the evaluation of the psychometric properties of data gathered with psychometric instruments. To this propose, we used the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which is the most used psychometric inventory to measure burnout in different professional context (Students, Teachers, Police, Doctors, Nurses, etc…). The version of the MBI used was the MBI-Student Survey (MBI-SS). This inventory is composed of three key dimensions: Exhaustion, Cynicism and Professional Efficacy. The two first dimensions—which have positive formulated items—are moderate to strong positive correlated, and show moderate to strong negative correlations with the 3rd dimension—which has negative formulated items. We tested the hypothesis that, in college students, formulating the 3rd dimension of burnout as Inefficacy (reverting the negatively worded items in the Efficacy dimension) improves the correlation of the 3rd dimension with the other two dimensions, improves its internal consistency, and the overall MBI-SS’ construct validity and reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis results, estimated by Maximum Likelihood, revealed adequate factorial fit for both forms of the MBI-SS (with Efficacy) vs. the MBI-SSi (with Inefficacy). Also both forms showed adequate convergent and discriminant related validity. However, reliability and convergent validity were higher for the MBI-SSi. There were also stronger (positive) correlations between the 3 factors in MBI-SSi than the ones observed in MBI-SS. Results show that positively rewording of the 3rd dimension of the MBI-SS improves its validity and reliability. We therefore propose that the 3rd dimension of the MBI-SS should be named Professional Inefficacy and its items should be positively worded.

Avaliação psicométrica da escala de atitudes em relação à estatística

RESUMO: O objetivo do estudo foi estimar a validade e confiabilidade da Escala de atitudes em relação à Estatística (EAE) quando aplicada a estudantes de Ciências Farmacêuticas. A amostra de 253 estudantes foi subdividida em duas partes. Sessenta por cento da amostra foi utilizada para explorar a estrutura fatorial e 40% para confirmá-la. Para verificar a reprodutibilidade da escala a mesma foi aplicada em duplicata a 40 estudantes. Aplicou-se o Teste de esfericidade de Bartlett e o índice Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO). A extração dos fatores foi realizada pela Análise de Componentes Principais. Realizou-se rotação ortogonal Varimax. Calculou-se o Coeficiente alfa de Cronbach (α) e o Coeficiente de Correlação Intraclasse (ρ). Realizou-se análise fatorial confirmatória. Elaborou-se um modelo hierárquico de segunda ordem (MHSO). O teste de esfericidade de Bartlett e o índice KMO foram excelentes (χ 2 =1835,815, p<0,001; KMO=0,935). Verificou-se dois fatores com valores próprios acima de 1 (λ=9,748; λ=2,086) explicando 59,2% da variância total. A questão 2 foi removida. Observou-se excelente consistência interna e reprodutibilidade. O modelo fatorial apresentou índices de qualidade de ajustamento bons (λ=0,59-0,86, χ 2 /gl=1,691, CFI=0,919, GFI=0,804, RMSEA=0,079). A validade discriminante dos fatores foi adequada. A EAE apresentou estrutura bifatorial na amostra com níveis de validade e confiabilidade adequados.

Validation of the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index in complete denture wearers

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Metabolism of L929 cells after contact with acrylic resins. Part 1: Acrylic denture base resins

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of complementary heat treatment and water storage in reducing cytotoxicity of acrylic resins denture bases used in Brazil by the MTT assay. Material and Methods: First, nine specimens were fabricated from metal matrix in the form of discs with 14 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm of thick. Immediately after making, 24 or 48 hours after storage in distilled water, the samples of heat-polymerized resins were divided into 3 groups (n = 3) according to the type of thermal treatment: Group 1: samples were individually exposed to microwave energy (500 W for 3 minutes); Group 2: samples were immersed in water at 550 C for 60 minutes; Group 3: samples did not receive heat treatment. To prepare the extracts, 3 samples of each group were placed into vials containing 3 mL of culture medium and stored at 37°C for 24 hours. L929 cells were used and the MTT assay was performed to analyze the cellular metabolism. Two-factor analysis of variance was used to detect significant among groups at 5% significance. Results: After statistical analysis, the materials were classified according to the cytotoxic effect: non-cytotoxic, slightly cytotoxic; moderately cytotoxic; and strongly cytotoxic. The results showed that the resins ranged from moderately cytotoxic to non-cytotoxic, but no statistically significant difference among experimental groups. Furthermore, the water storage and thermal treatments reduced the cytotoxicity of the resins. Conclusions: It was concluded that the resins studied are potentially toxic and that treatments can decrease their cytotoxicity.

Preocupação com a forma do corpo de graduandos de Farmácia-Bioquímica

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Validation of a measuring instrument for the perception of oral health in women

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Validation of the weight concerns scale applied to Brazilian university students

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Evidências da relação entre evolução da gestão ambiental e a adoção de práticas de Green Supply Chain Management no setor eletroeletrônico brasileiro

The objective of this research is to examine if the environmental management evolution is positively related towards the adoption of green supply chain management practices (GSCM) by companies in the electronics sector in Brazil. To reach this objective, a quantitative research was conducted by survey with 100 companies in the electronics sector in Brazil. The collected data were processed using descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. The most important results are: in the sample, GSCM practices to the recovery of investment, as the resale of scrap and other waste materials, and the adequacy with legislation and auditing, obtained high scores; and research hypothesis (H1) was confirmed and considered statistically valid, indicating that, in fact, the evolution of environmental management influences the adoption of GSCM practices.

Soil greenhouse gas emissions and their relations to soil attributes in a sugarcane area

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)