/ Research

Projects

CBPC

Cognitive and Behavioral Processes and Change

Principal Investigator: Ana Allen Gomes
Period: 2012 - 2015
Funding: FCT/COMPETE (PTDC/PSI-EDD/120003/2010)

Summary of the main aims and conclusions

Central aims:

To study the Portuguese version of the Children Chronotype Questionnaire for Children (CCTQ) of Werner, LeBourgeois, Geiger and Jenni (2009) in a national sample of preschool and primary school children, aged 4 to 11 years-old, in order to obtain a reliable and valid instrument to measure diurnal type/chronotype (morningness-eveningness);
To study the influence of chronotype (morningness-eveningness), and time of the day, on primary school children’s performance in standardized psychoeducational measures used for assessing reading and writing skills and to inform diagnostic decisions regarding impairment of these skills. That is, we sought to determine whether the congruence versus incongruence between children chronotype and time-of-the-day has an effect on the performance scores of the children tested.

Main general conclusions:

I part/aim of the project: the Portuguese version of the CCTQ is a reliable and valid questionnaire to estimate chronotypes and in particular morningnesss-eveningness (diurnal type) in children. Besides, this Portuguese study contribute to the knowledge about children morningness-eveningness, given the large sample size collected and the available data to characterize 9-11 years old pubertal children too (in addition to non-pubertal ones).

II part/aim of the project: children performance in standardized measures used in psychoeducational assessments of reading/writing competencies/difficulties, and school learning skills, might be affected by time of day depending on their diurnal type. However, our results show that the relationships between diurnal type and time of day are far more complex than the initial simplistic supposition that better performance would be achieved in the optimal time. Therefore, for the moment, no specific recommendation seems to be possible regarding our initial concern on whether test norms should take into account children diurnal type. In reality, non-optimal times might eventually favour performances in specific tasks.

Our results suggest that studies concerned with synchrony effects should anticipate asynchrony findings, and should consider also the nature of the tasks, as the combined effects of diurnal type and time of day seem to be highly variable depending on specific cognitive processes and demands involved. In conclusion, our results in school children raised new research questions and hypothesis that deserve further investigation.

https://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos/consulta/vglobal_projecto.phtml.en?idProjecto=120003&idElemConcurso=4236

Principal Investigator: António Ferreira de Macedo
Period: 2017 - ...
Funding: Janssen, Cilag Pharmaceutic (Investigator initiative project; PEP:IN0851)

The Department of Psychological Medicine (University of Coimbra, Faculty of Medicine) and the Cognitive and Behavioral Center for Research and Intervention (University of Coimbra, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences) developed a new semi-structured clinical interview for the assessment of the psychotic-spectrum. The “Clinical Interview for Psychotic Disorders” (CIPD is used thereafter), based on DSM5 (2013) criteria, is divided in four main sections: 1) Psychosis-spectrum disorders; 2) Mood-related disorders; 3) Substance-related disorders; 4) Co-morbidity and Associated Symptoms. The sections are independent, and individual sections can be used independently (e.g. psychosis-spectrum) to assess change (e.g. after psychopharmacological intervention). The CIPD has two types of scores: a) diagnosis scores (absence/presence of symptoms; total score for symptom severity and frequency – positive and negative symptoms); and extra-diagnosis scores (total score of conviction regarding delusions; total score for empowerment with psychotic symptoms; total score of interference caused by symptoms of all sections; total score for suicide risk – considering psychotic and humor-related symptoms, past and present). The CIPD also have a total score for severity of psychotic illness (considering the different contributions of different symptoms to the diagnosis and a score for treatment adherence. This score can be useful in assessing overall change due to treatment. The CIPD has two types of raters – there are clinician-rated questions and patient-rated questions. The CIPD has already been submitted to an expert panel evaluation in order to assess: the relevance of the items and the clarity of language (for the specific population. Results from the panel highlight the adequacy and clinical pertinence of the CIPD. This Project aims at studying the psychometric properties of the CIPD in a sample of patients with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder.

Objectives and Hypothesis:

1. Primary

Specific objective: Validating the CIPD in a clinical Portuguese population with a diagnosis of a psychotic-spectrum disorder (DSM-5).
Hypothesis:

1.1. The CIPD will have high inter-rater agreement;

1.2. The CIPD will have sensitivity and specificity – the ability to detect differences in different psychotic diagnostic categories and ability to correctly identify the diagnosis.

2. Secondary

Hypothesis:

2.1. Specific sections of the CIPD (e.g. psychotic symptoms) will have good convergent and divergent validity;

2.2. Quantitative ratings will fit acceptably to factorial models.

3. Other

Hypothesis:

3.1. The CIPD will have predictive validity as evaluated by measuring change after a clinical (e.g. psychotherapeutic) intervention (1 week after the intervention).

3.2. The CIPD will be well accepted by the patients and the interview will not be an aversive moment.

Principal Investigator: Cristiana Carvalho
Period: 2011 - 2018
Funding: FCT Individual Doctoral Fellowship (SFRH/BD/75130/2010)

Relations between sociocognitive, affective, relational, and situational factors have challenged sex education to increase protective sexual behaviours and to decrease risky sexual behaviours. In this line, the main aim of the present work was to explore relations between personal (knowledge, views and attitudes regarding sexuality and sex education), educational (sex education practices by parents and teachers) and relational (communication and relationship quality with educators and romantic partners) variables, and to integrate these relations in a comprehensive model of youngsters’ protective sexual experiences. The operationalization of the variables under study required the adaptation, development, and validation of several instruments.

This research project includes thirteen empirical studies conducted with three different samples, namely, adolescents (N=1586), parents (N=367) and teachers (N=144). In these studies, a quantitative analysis using descriptive, differential, and correlational approaches prevailed, which allowed the development of a comprehensive path analysis model of adolescents’ protective sexual behaviours.

The studies conducted with the three samples showed that knowledge, attitudes and opinions, although diverse, are generally favourable to sex education in school and in the family. Regarding adolescents, results suggested the importance of communication competencies and strategies with partners, parents, and teachers. Regarding the sex education curriculum, adolescents showed a preference for themes related to sexual pleasure. Additionally, results showed that teachers have more knowledge and less limiting beliefs about sexuality when compared to parents and adolescents. Results also showed divergences between educators and adolescents in the perception of communication strategies about sexuality and sex education: adolescents would like to talk more with their parents and only seldom talk to their teachers, as well as they attribute to both educators higher levels of communication strategies based on manipulation than educators’ self-ratings. In line with these divergences, path analysis showed that the use of communication strategies based on manipulation by teachers has a negative impact on favourable attitudes about the negotiation of the use of condoms with the sexual partner. In the same line, communication competencies with the romantic partner based on controlling the other and on ambience management, emotional negligence and inattentiveness in the romantic relationship, were also predictors of condom use negotiation. This model also showed that positive attitudes about negotiation of the use of condoms mediated the relation between communication with the romantic partner and with teachers, besides mediating the motivational intention to use a condom in the next sexual encounter. Taken together, communication variables explain 40% of the variance of the negotiation attitude. Motivational intention, in turn, had a positive direct effect on the protective sexual behaviour index, as did the number of years of sex education in school and positive attitudes regarding sexual pleasure related to condom use. Hence, in addition to the indirect effect mediated by the motivational intention to use a condom in the next sexual encounter, positive attitudes regarding sexual pleasure related to condom use have a direct effect on protective sexual behaviour.

In general, results from the empirical studies offer new perspectives regarding the nature of protective sexual behaviours. Favourable attitudes towards sexual pleasure associated with condom use, communication with the sexual partner, negotiation of the use of condom, quality of the interpersonal relationship with the romantic partner, and communication with teachers and years of sex education in school are variables that directly or indirectly interfere with the motivational intention to use condom in the next sexual encounter, as well as with one’s protective sexual behaviour (consistent condom use). This work presents new challenges and provides new support for research and intervention. Implications for the promotion of youngsters’ sexual and reproductive health are presented, as well as recommendations for parents, health technicians and education professionals. Lastly, this work provides guidelines for the development of sex education programs and for the update of health policies and practices directed to the promotion of sexual and reproductive health in adolescents.

Principal Investigator: Daniel Ruivo Marques
Period: 2012 - 2015
Funding: FCT Individual Doctoral Fellowship (SFRH/BD/77557/2011)

Primary Insomnia is the more prevalent sleep disorder both in clinical and community samples. One of the most frequent subtypes is psychophysiological insomnia (PI). The hyperarousal at different levels – biological, affective, cognitive, and behavioral – and the maladaptive conditioning between sleep related stimuli and arousal are two major features of PI. Since this is a disorder which assumes an important role in public health, we performed 4 empirical studies recurring to fMRI: In the first study, we compared neurobiological activation between a group of PI patients (n=5) and a sex- and age-matched control group (n=5) when they were exposed to words concerning to past/present worries, future worries and neutral words; in the second study, we explored the activity of default-mode network (DMN) and other brain resting states in the same groups as study 1; in the third and fourth studies, we repeated both experiments in a clinical group of patients with PI (N=2) after they underwent cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). In general, it was observed that PI patients exhibited a generalized pattern of hyperarousal in several brain areas associated with DMN when they were confronted with affective stimuli and when they were resting in the fMRI scanner. In terms of activation of brain resting networks, we observed that the clinical group presented significant dysfunctions. After CBT-I, it was detected that the dysfunctional indicators observed in previous studies normalize, approaching the activation patterns typical of healthy individuals. The obtained results enhance the idea that the hyperarousal in PI is present during the 24-hours of the day; besides, the key role that cognitive arousal may be in the etiology and therapy of insomnia is also highlighted. In conclusion, this work contributes to a better understanding of neurobiology of insomnia and suggests that it might be possible to identify neural mechanisms underlying modifications accounted by CBT-I.

http://hdl.handle.net/10773/16787

Principal Investigator: Paulo Renato de Jesus
Period: 2013 - 2015
Funding: FCT Project (PTDC/MHC-FIL/4203/2012)

The main goal of this Project consists in investigating how the narration imposes, by its rhetoric morphogenesis of self-coherence, both order and loss on lived experience. Thus, we propose a return of the hermeneutics of the self to the phenomenology of sensation, memory, imagination and symbolic experience, asking:

What is the temporal geometry of events and feelings? How do random, discontinuous, multilinear and multidirectional events become the matter of biographical experience and expression? How do pathos and trauma, be it psychological or historical, (un)form time, consciousness, and narrative?
What is the relationship between the sensorial layer of life, the autobiographical memory system and the narrative constructions? What is the degree of poiesis and mimesis in biographical writing? How does the Diltheyean triad Life-Expression-Understanding function?
What is the relationship between memory, imagination and language in biography? Is memory essentially a subsystem of one’s imagination and will to meaning? And is imagination the subjective appropriation of the imaginary metanarratives of a semiotic community (codified e.g. in mythic-theological discourse)?
What is the intentionality of a life history/story? Who are its writer, narrator, and actor? What is the relationship between life, art and truth? Is there truth in an ethical and aesthetic Self? What is narrative, historical, hermeneutical and performative truth?
What is the ethical and political meaning of the Narrative Self? Does moral personality lie in narrative competence? Does responsibility consist in narratability? Does struggle for recognition translate into psychosocial internarrative conflict (being unnarratable experience confined in an apolitical and amoral realm)?

Methodologically, the integrated analysis of Biographical Selfhood should become a crossdisciplinary space shared by an international, interdisciplinary network of approx. 30 scholars from Philosophy, Literary Studies and Social Sciences (besides other collaborators and graduate students). Departing from a common set of issues and sharing the same philosophical references, the researchers—most of them already in collaboration before this project—will explore with multiple perspectives the limits and virtues of the narrative paradigm of subjectivity, promoting research seminars at various institutions in constant exchange (CFUL, EHESS, UFRJ, ULaval, UCLouvain, UParis3, UParis4, USP). The Seminars will be coordinated and integrated to fulfill joint research tasks requiring the implementation of a collective process of co-reading/writing, which leads to joint publications and organization of regular plenary meetings and conferences. Philosophy will offer analytical devices and formulate the theoretical hypotheses to be tested in the empirical laboratories of Literature and Social Sciences.

Principal Investigator: Pedro Cordeiro
Period: 2010 - 2016
Funding: FCT Individual Doctoral Fellowship (SFRH/BD/74193/2010)

We carried out a comprehensive study of the way as several contextual, cognitive and motivational variables combine to predict differentiated trajectories of career decision-making and adjustment in adolescents who are making the transition from high school to higher education/job market. With this purpose in mind, we developed and tested an integrative conceptual model, which includes constructs obtained from motivational, social cognitive and clinical models. The study presented has a longitudinal research design with two measurement waves: the first was carried out in the first term of the 2012-2013 school year and a second in the third term of the 2013-2014 school year. In this study participated 12th grade students enrolled in Portuguese secondary schools. Students were assessed in several constructs, including perceived parenting, psychological needs, career self-efficacy beliefs, dysfunctional schematic functioning, career exploration and commitment-making processes, regulation of career commitments and psychological well/ill-being. Findings suggest that experiences of parental need-support seem to associate to the adolescents´ feelings of higher need satisfaction and to an increased self-confidence in career decision-making, what, in turn, leads to the proactive exploration of career options, to more self-determined career choices and to feelings of higher well-being. On the other hand, they suggest that active parental need-thwarting experiences associate to the adolescents´ to an increase in feelings of psychological need frustration, which, in turn, lead to exploration and career choice processes based on dysfunctional schematic functioning, namely to ruminative exploration an exploration of career options, controlled choices and to the experience of higher ill-being. Overall, these associations seem to indicate the existence of substantively distinct pathways of career identity development and adjustment, one essentially self-determined and adaptive, and a second one more controlled and dysfunctional. This argument, despite somehow speculative, extends the SDT-based distinction between bright” and “dark” pathways of development, to the field of career development. It also suggests the need to differentiate career interventions of a promotional and remediate nature, in function of the degree of self-determination that is associated to the processes of exploration and commitment-making. We hope that with this research we have inspired the development of more integrated career interventions focused on building more self-determined psychological processes.

Principal Investigator: Rute David
Period: 2011 - 2017
Funding: FCT Individual Doctoral Fellowship (SFRH/BD/68364/2010)

Childhood has been acknowledged by specialized literature as central period in vocational development, a process that begins at this stage and goes throughout the entire life of the individual. Several authors argue that in early childhood there are processes that influence the individuals’ perception of vocational aspirations that are more appropriate or desirable, which can lead to early decisions that may affect future educational and occupational choices to be made later. Despite the importance of childhood, acknowledged by many, most of the research in the vocational context still focuses on studies with adolescents and adults, which has led many authors (national and international) to warn about the need to develop studies focusing on this age group, as many statements about it have been mostly inferred rather than studied. With this study we sought to deepen the knowledge regarding vocational aspirations of elementary and middle school children, using a longitudinal methodology, which allows to obtain data resulting from intra-individual differences, thus facilitating the understanding of the importance of aspects such as gender and socioeconomic status in the formation of vocational aspirations and in the early elimination of occupational aims. We also analysed the educational aspirations, as well as the interests and perceived competencies of children, and their perceptions of support from significant figures who have an influence on their vocational development, such as parents and teachers. This study presents data from 498 participants, spread across three cohorts and evaluated over three school years, starting when the children were attending the 2nd, 4th and 6th grades, corresponding the last moment of evaluation to the frequency of 4th, 6th and 8th grades, respectively. Some of the instruments used in this research were translated and adapted to Portuguese language, and data from their validation is presented. The results obtained derive from the application of the Portuguese versions of the Inventory of Children’s Activities- Revised (ICA-R), the Career Choices Questionnaire (CCQ), the Teacher Support Scale (TSS), and the adaptation of the Parental Support Behaviors during Childhood scale. The results obtained from this investigation indicate that the majority of participants state that they have vocational goals, and these aspirations are fairly stable over the duration of this study. There are differences between boys and girls in relation to their vocational aspirations, as well as in relation to but also in their interests and competence perceptions. The socioeconomic status has also generated differences in the results, particularly in the educational aspirations of the participants. Parents and teachers are perceived as facilitators who support the vocational development of children. From the conclusions of this study, we drew implications for the implementation of educational practices and interventions that are able to facilitate healthy educational and occupational trajectories.

Principal Investigator: Victor Ortuño
Period: 2009 - 2014
Funding: FCT Individual Doctoral Fellowship (SFRH/BD/33648/2009)

The individuals’ subjective notions about time represent a vast and relevant topic with strong implications not only for the understanding of human behaviour, but also because they function as the backbone for critical cognitive processes and permeate the objects’ perceptive process. Among these very unique and individual notions there is one that has gained tremendous prominence in recent decades and it is called Time Perspective. This construct has been considered for many years as a keystone in the motivational domain, more specifically in the school context, mainly through its future frame or Future Time Perspective. Recent theoretical and empirical developments have also demonstrated the importance of Time Perspective in a wide array of behaviours and cognitions. Yet, although empirically validated by several authors, in different countries and with different methodologies, there is still a lack of information about which external influences affect the stability of Time Perspective as a cognitive-motivational process. In this project, the factor structure of Time Perspective was addressed, with the development of an integrative model of Time Perspective, which combines Zimbardo & Boyd’s (1999) 5-dimension model, the Transcendental Future (Boyd & Zimbardo, 1997) and the notion indirectly referred to by Lewin (1965) of Future Negative. This model’s predictive and conceptual validity was tested through a series of studies using Structural Equation Modelling, in which Time Perspective appears as an important predictor of several well-known psychological traits such as Consideration of Future Consequences, Hope and Self-Esteem. The issue of Time Perspective stability as also addressed, via a short-term longitudinal study analyzing the differences observed in Time Perspective after a one-year time period. The obtained results suggest that context has little or no effect on Time Perspective, since no strong differences were found between the assessments in the college and the home context. Regarding the temporal stability of Time Perspective, the results allow us to consider that in a one-year period Time Perspective is a quite stable construct, since there were no significant differences in any of its dimensions.

Principal Investigator: Célia Barreto
Period: 2019 - 2021
Funding: DRCT

OBJETIVO PRINCIPAL:

O desenvolvimento turístico em áreas rurais periféricas tem tido pouca atenção e a maioria das comunidades rurais não está preparada para lidar com mudanças estruturais na sua economia. As pessoas que aí vivem trabalham normalmente na agricultura ou na pesca, têm baixa escolaridade e não possuem as competências adequadas para estabelecer relações sinergéticas com turistas e empresas de turismo. É, pois, fundamental capitalizar os pontos fortes dessas comunidades, especialmente no que se refere à relação com recursos naturais, atividades económicas tradicionais, folclore, gastronomia, festividades e rituais. Através destes elementos, o GREAT procurará formas de criar experiências turísticas inovadoras em áreas rurais e criar valor para as comunidades locais, contribuindo para a redução da pobreza e da exclusão social e aumento do emprego. Os objetivos gerais são:

Avaliar o potencial turístico de zonas periféricas das ilhas dos Açores;
Compreender como potenciar o desenvolvimento de pequenas zonas periféricas através do turismo;
Contribuir para a diversificação da oferta e da procura turística nos Açores;
Fomentar o desenvolvimento de serviços e competências para o turismo em zonas rurais.

ENTIDADE BENEFICIÁRIA: Fundação Gaspar Frutuoso / Universidade dos Açores

CUSTO TOTAL ELEGÍVEL: 177.997,19€

FUNDO EUROPEU DE DESENVOLVIMENTO REGIONAL (FEDER): 148.237,61€

DESCRIÇÃO:

No projeto GREAT, a investigação será especialmente orientada para o desenvolvimento do turismo em áreas periféricas/remotas, como pequenas freguesias e comunidades rurais, que têm sentido menos impactos do turismo na economia local. O objetivo é estudar o seu potencial turístico e formas de originar novos produtos e experiências nas áreas mais remotas das ilhas, especialmente através do Turismo de Natureza e do Turismo Rural (lato sensu).

RESULTADOS:

Os principais resultados a atingir são os seguintes:

Definição do perfil típico dos turistas que procuram experiências em áreas rurais;
Revelação do potencial turístico de zonas rurais periféricas específicas dos Açores;
Identificação de um modelo de empowerment para agricultores e pescadores que facilite a exploração do turismo através das suas atividades profissionais principais (ex.: agroturismo e pesca-turismo);
Caracterização dos princípios de marketing digital para promoção do turismo rural em áreas periféricas dos Açores;
Caracterização das necessidades de formação turística de líderes e empreendedores locais em pequenas comunidades periféricas dos Açores.

Principal Investigators: Daniel Rijo & Paula Vagos
Period: 2019 - 2022
Funding: FCT (C490806999-00082130; I&D FCT/COMPETE 2020 de 2017)

Adolescence is a critical period for acquiring adaptive emotion regulation strategies and difficulties is this acquisition have been associated with a wide range of mental health problems. The evolutionary perspective proposes the existence of three emotion regulation systems, aimed at survival and thrive: threat system, related with defense/protection; drive system, associated with acquisition of resources/pursuit of pleasure; and soothing system, linked to attachment/safeness. A recent trend in research establishes heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) as important biomarkers of emotional (dys)regulation and there is now evidence that they can grasp the activation of those different emotional regulations systems. When these systems are unbalanced, individuals are prone to develop different forms of psychopathology.

The main goal of this research project is to explore specific patterns of HR/HRV when each specific emotion regulation system is triggered, and to compare those patterns among samples of normative, behaviorally disordered and socially anxious youth. Additionally, an intervention study will test if a compassion based therapy is able to improve emotion regulation (assessed via self-report and psychophysiological measures), in a sample of severely behaviorally disordered youth. Three main studies will be carried out. The first includes the development and validation of audio scripts aimed to trigger each emotion regulation system. These scripts will be validated using expert and youth samples. One scenario for each system will be selected to be used as stimuli for following studies. The second study will test for HR/HRV patterns associated with the activation of different emotion regulation systems, contrasting three youth samples: with no psychiatric disorders, with internalizing problems (i.e., social anxiety disorder), and with externalizing problems (i.e., conduct disorder); gender will be taken as a covariate in these comparisons. The third study will apply a RCT design for testing the impact of a compassion-based psychotherapeutic intervention in promoting emotion regulation in youth with severe behavioral problems (i.e., male young offenders). Follow-up assessments will inform about change maintenance over time.

Findings from these concerted studies will add to knowledge on the relevance of HR/HRV as psychophysiological markers of emotion regulation in both disturbed and non-disturbed youth. They will add to the state-of-the-art research because HR/HRV will be linked to the triggering of different emotion regulation systems. Contrasting different clinical groups will also shed light on the different psychophysiological vulnerabilities underlying diverse manifestations of psychiatric disorders in adolescents. Finally, outcomes from the RCT study will help to establish compassion focused therapy as an appropriate treatment modality in a group of severely disturbed male youth.

Principal Investigators: Paula Vagos & Daniel Rijo
Period: 2019 - 2021
Funding: EPIS

O comportamento agressivo, nas suas diferentes formas (i.e., verbal, física ou relacional), tem sido definido como um comportamento que visa causar dano ou dor nos outros. Trata-se de um comportamento cada vez praticado entre adolescentes, contribuindo para o seu desajustamento psicossocial e, consequentemente, para climas escolares hostis. Tais comportamentos, quando não devidamente identificados e intervencionados nas fases mais precoces do seu desenvolvimento, podem culminar em trajetórias de vida antissociais. Nos últimos anos, tem-se verificado que a intervenção para a prevenção e/ou diminuição destes comportamentos em meio escolar não tem sido suficientemente eficaz, talvez por não ser fundamentada em modelos teórico-práticos empiricamente validados e/ou por ser restrita aos adolescentes agressores, descurando o papel da vítima e do observador, nomeadamente o professor.

Este projeto visa desenvolver, implementar e avaliar uma abordagem holística (i.e., incluindo vários intervenientes, nomeadamente agressores, vítimas e observadores) à intervenção no comportamento agressivo em escolas sinalizadas pelo Programa Territórios Educativos de Intervenção Prioritária (TEIP) da região Norte do país. Esta abordagem incluirá dois programas de intervenção em grupo, um para alunos e outro para professores. A eficácia desta abordagem será testada de forma individual (i.e., intervenção apenas com alunos ou apenas com professores) e combinada (i.e., intervenção com alunos e seus professores). Serão estudados os efeitos diferenciais intervenções ao longo de três momentos (i.e., pré- e pós-intervenção e follow-up a três meses), entre si e em relação a um grupo de controlo de alunos com comportamento agressivo. Espera-se que, ao longo do tempo, os grupos alvo de intervenção, sobretudo os de intervenção combinada (i.e., alunos e professores), manifestem uma redução dos padrões interpessoais agressivos e um aumento de padrões interpessoais prossociais e/ou assertivos, comparativamente com os do grupo de controlo (que não serão alvo de intervenção).

RD&H

Relationships, Development & Health

Principal Investigator: Rita Berger
Period: 2020 - 2023
Funding: ERASMUS+ programme, Key Action 2, Strategic Partnership

Project n° 2020-1-ES01-KA203-083282

https://www.work-life-flow.eu/

WLF aims at fostering a positive Work-Life-Flow (WLF) in post-Corona legacy arising from remote working and social distancing. WLF refers to the dynamic equilibrium between an individual’s professional and social roles to replace rigid work-life balance approaches.
Because of the COVID pandemic, work and life is changing very quickly and becoming focused on remote work and home office. This will change not only the practices and boundaries of work and employment, but also transform the boundaries and practices of collective and personal social life.
Mastering an adaptive healthy flow between the domains of work, family and leisure is a challenging key competence to maintain an effective work performance while increasing social, physical and mental health. For working parents and informal careers, a positive WLF is even more challenging. Such cross-disciplinary or non-cognitive skills are underdeveloped across the EU’s education systems but expected to grow in importance, even faster due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Therefore, a competency-based approach to WLF, as addressed in this project, is key to foster resilience and individual well-being within the current and future European workforce. People who are equipped with the necessary competences will apply personal, social, and organizational resources to optimize their individual and sustainable WLFs.
The objectives of WLF are offer three main outcomes of new knowledge on WLF: to develop and test a) an innovative concept and web-based self-assessment tool for a WLF linked to EFQM model and b) innovative blended, virtual/distance training materials. Furthermore, c) an integrated solution that includes the assessment tool and the training to tackle the skills gap on WLF-related competences future and current business professionals for a positive WLF to reduce negative health- and performance-related outcomes.

Principal Investigator: Raquel Pires
Period: 2019 - 2025
Funding: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia [CEECIND/02463/2017]

The adoption literature has been focused on children’s development and mental health, their capacity to recover from adversity, and the processes explaining their adjustment. Despite the undeniable value of this body of research, less attention has been paid to the psychological and parenting functioning of adoptive parents. These parents face specific developmental challenges that make them vulnerable to depression, anxiety, stress, and difficulties in being emphatic, sensitive, confident, and efficient in managing children´s behavior. According to several Portuguese and international studies, these issues may greatly impact on parent-child relationships and children’s development. However, the characteristics and processes that explain the psychological and parental functioning of adoptive parents have been poorly studied. Also, the psychological interventions available to these parents in the post-adoption period are scarce, mostly with no theoretical background or solid evidence of efficacy.

Mindful parenting interventions have been effective in promoting the quality of psychological and parenting functioning within a range of adverse contexts. Focusing attention on the present moment, with an attitude of non-judgmental acceptance, parents could achieve greater sensitivity to the child’s cue, acceptance of the self and the child, compassion for both, and self-regulation, thus promoting their mental health, the quality of parent-child relationships and children’s healthy development. Preliminary studies on adoptive parenthood suggest that this may be a promising approach to understand and intervene in the post-adoption period.

Therefore, our research project aims to: 1) characterize the psychological and parenting functioning of Portuguese adoptive parents, 2) explore individual, relational, and contextual factors that could explain their difficulties, and 3) investigate the acceptability, feasibility, efficacy, and therapeutic mechanisms of a mindful parenting post-adoption intervention.

In addition to provide a better understanding about poorly studied topics, the ultimate goal of this project is to address the real needs of the target population and contribute to the mission and sustainability of the Portuguese Child Protection System (law 143/2015). We intend to do that through the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge that can support and guide effective and potentially cost-effective post-adoption psychological interventions.

Open: https://saude.fpce.uc.pt/projeto_c21.html

Principal Investigator: Ana Rita Martins
Period: 2017 - ...
Funding: FCT Individual Doctoral Fellowship (SFRH/BD/122665/2016)

The current recognition of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) as a public crime, the high incidence rates and the proven adverse impact on victim’s health, especially during life cycle periods of greater vulnerability such as pregnancy, make research and intervention with pregnant victims a priority. Despite the social and legal advances in the implementation of immediate judicial, social and emotional support for the victims, there are no specific psychological models explaining the impact of IPV on adaptation to pregnancy, or validated intervention programs that help victims develop intrapersonal skills to promote their own protection. As such, this project has two main goals: (1) to test predictive models of the impact of different factors on the (in)adaptation of the women victims of IPV during motherhood transition; and (2) to develop, implement and evaluate the impact of a structured group intervention program based on Evolutionary Psychology’ models.

This intervention program aims to promote protective behaviors and emotional regulation strategies that allow victims to: obtain information about the IPV cycle, physical/psychological consequences during pregnancy and protective services/supports available; develop intrapersonal strategies that promote their own protection at short and long time, eliminating and preventing violence interactions, and decreasing the threat/defense internal system associated; promote the activation of the affiliation system, developing maternal competences of adequate care and safe bonding; change representations of dysfunctional mentalities and social roles, promoting problem solving skills, decision making processes and affection regulation during pregnancy. The program impact will be measured through a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). The main expected contributions are highlighted in three major levels: (1) Theoretical-scientific conception; (2) Implications for prevention and clinical practice; and (3) Legal, economic and social relevance.

Principal Investigator: Daniela Ventura Fernandes
Period: 2018 - 2022
Funding: FCT Individual Doctoral Fellowship (SFRH/BD/132588/2017)

Although the period after childbirth may be perceived by many parents and mothers as a gratifying and satisfying time, it is also a challenging period, often leading parents, especially mothers, to experience high levels of parenting stress. Parenting stress has been associated with several negative consequences for mother-infant relationship and for child’s development and parenting. Previous research suggested that even mothers who do not experience high levels of parenting stress often find it difficult to adjust to the parental role.

Thus, the development of psychological interventions that help mothers to adjust to the postpartum period while developing positive parenting skills is needed. In this context, mindful and compassionate parenting interventions may have an important role in helping mothers regulate their parenting stress, as well as promote more positive and secure relationships with their infants. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the first waves, has made it difficult the development of face-to-face and group interventions, which has led to a greater investment in e-health interventions for mental health promotion (e-mental health), particularly useful in a pandemic context, given its accessibility and flexibility.

The Mindful Moment – a mindful and compassionate parenting program, web-based and self-guided – appeared in this context with the aim of providing to mothers with moderate/high levels of parenting stress, in the postpartum period, a psychological intervention that, in other way (i.e., in person and in a group), it would not be accessible given the pandemic-related restrictions.

The Mindful Moment is constituted by six modules, and it is focused on the parental relationship and on the promotion of protective psychological resources (mindfulness and self-compassion).

NAAP

Neuropsychological Assessment and Ageing Processes

Principal Investigator: José Leitão
Period: 2016 - 2018
Funding: BIAL Foundation Fellowship Programme (PT/FB/BL-2014-234)

Inhibition prevents irrelevant information from intruding on ongoing goal-directed processes and is essential for successful completion of many daily tasks. Normal aging allegedly induces a loss of its efficiency. However, four factors crucial for an appropriately disentangled and fine-grained account of this effect tend to be neglected: (1) the degree of executive control required to deploy the inhibitory process; (2) the degree of match between the individual’s morning/evening optimal-functioning type (Chronotype, CT) and the time of day (ToD) when the task is executed, yielding the so-called “synchrony effect”; (3) the interaction (1) x (2), i.e. that between the degree of executive control required by the task and the synchrony effect; (4) in association with designs that consider any of the previous factors, the use of measurement techniques suitable for probing the relation between performance parameters (reaction time (RTs), correct/incorrect responses) and the brain processes underlying the observed variance in those parameters (e.g. Event Related Brain Potentials (ERPs), functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging).

Studies conducted by members of our team [2] have already explored the moderating impact of (1) on age-related inhibition changes. Controlled inhibition was shown to be hindered by aging, while automatic inhibition, when probed by means of negative priming (NP), seems impervious to this effect. This line of research poses the question of determining whether the effect of aging upon controlled inhibition is direct or mediated. A strong candidate for such a mediating factor is (2), i.e., an increased age-associated sensitivity of frontal processes, such as executive control, to the synchrony effect. In spite of this, studies of aging effects upon inhibition that appropriately include (2) in their design are rare. Another question raised by this previous research from our team pertains to the use of NP (a residual after effect of previous inhibition of task-irrelevant information) as a means to probe automatic inhibition: As an after effect, NP may reflect features of the original inhibitory event, which may itself have been automatic or controlled, and, in this latter case, could result in augmented NP when the required executive control is more effortful (e.g. when performed by older participants under CT/ToD asynchrony). Tackling these questions would require a design appropriately incorporating (3). Aging studies designed to investigate this higher level interaction, (3), or that incorporate (4), are, to the best of our knowledge, inexistent. We have therefore designed a study of aging effects tailored to probe (3), comparing the mediating effect of CT/ToD (as)synchrony upon age-related differences in negative priming (NP) resulting from automatic or controlled inhibition.

All participants will perform two ERP eliciting tasks, one probing NP resulting from automatic inhibition (a yes/no word-picture matching task, containing yes-yes trial-sequences featuring the subdominant meaning of an ambiguous word followed by its

dominant meaning, previously inhibited), the other probing NP resulting from controlled inhibition (a spatial stroop task, in which the left/right location of an arrow has to be ignored and its pointing direction determines which hand-held switch should be pressed, featuring trials that require the previously inhibited right/left switch press to be effected). Young and older participants will be selected in order to obtain an identical number of morning and evening chronotypes (30 of each chronotype in each age group, for a total of 120 participants). Each age/chronotype subgroup will be split in two 15-participants conditions by randomly assigning a time of participation that either matches or mismatches the participants’ chronotype.

This design will probe the overall hypothesis that aging impacts frontal inhibition-control processes differently from non-frontal inhibitory circuitry. Specifically, we hypothesize that (I) the impact of aging upon controlled inhibition mostly reflects increased sensitivity of executive control to circadian rhythms, in particular to the synchrony effect; (II) the impact of aging upon the functional integrity of non-frontal inhibitory circuitry, as reflected in automatic inhibition, results in intrinsic and irretrievable changes in this circuitry, and therefore should not show modulations resulting from the synchrony effect.

Both performance (RTs and proportion of correct responses) and ERP data will be analyzed. With respect to the latter, N200 and P300 components are expected to reflect NP modulations, respectively indexing conflict detection and conflict resolution caused by residual inhibition in NP trials. The use of dense array electroencephalography (64 electrodes), will further allow us to explore the brain locations associated with the detected ERP effects. To this end we will use the sLORETA source localization algorithm.

https://www.bial.com/pt/fundacao_bial.11/apoios.18/edicoes_anteriores.74/apoios_2014.a490.html

Principal Investigator: Luís Pires
Period: 2011 - 2017
Funding: FCT Individual Doctoral Fellowship (SFRH/BD/70011/2010)

Introduction

Executive Functions (EF) are a set of “higher-level” cognitive functions that allow quick shifts of mindset, necessary to adapt our behaviour to a wide range of life situations. There are several EF, each often involving several subsidiary processes. This EF system supports planning, coordinating, sequencing, and monitoring of other cognitive operations. Deficits in EF are usually found in the elderly population, playing a key role as mediators of age-related changes in non-executive functions (nEF), such as memory and language. These deficits in EF are apparently selective rather than generalized: EF relying on the recruitment of automatic processes are less affected by ageing than processes relying on higher levels of cognitive control. In order to examine the nature of EF and the ageing impact upon these functions, we conducted a series of studies at two levels of analysis: the structural level and the processing level. At the structural level, we addressed the problem of the existence of a unitary EF, and the alternative to this view, that different EF do interact systematically, but without relying on a central EF “regulator” of some sort. At the processing level, we analysed the processing steps involved in the recruitment and implementation of cognitive control in a conflict task.

Methods

EF structure and age-related changes: We used a neuropsychological assessment battery comprising nine tests that theoretically assess EF, nEF pertaining to verbal abilities (VA), and processing speed (PS). We collected data from ninety young adults and used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the internal structure of the battery. We also studied the relation between EF, VA and PS. To study possible age-related changes in EF and nEF, we administered a neuropsychological battery to twenty young adults and twenty older adults. A review of the current literature on EF and ageing, with an emphasis on neuropsychological assessment, guided the selection of the nine tests. EF processing and age-related changes: We conducted four experiments using a spatial Stroop task, (i) three of them scrutinizing the nature of the control processes deployed to resolve response-conflict, and one (ii) contrasting the implementation of the conflict-resolving control setup in younger and older adults. The spatial Stroop task employed in all studies was designed after a review of the numerous paradigms and methods used in inhibitory control studies. In this review, we focused on studies that used the high temporal resolution of the event-related potential (ERP) technique to identify the time-course of different processes involved in the implementation of inhibitory control. We found that some paradigms, like the Stroop paradigm, are more appropriate to study control processes than others (e.g., the Go-Nogo). These cognitive control paradigms could be expected to mostly recruit controlled processes, but in fact the latter co-occur and interact with automatic processes. In order to analyse this interplay, we studied cognitive control in two different, yet closely related, manifestations in a spatial Stroop task: the interference effect and the congruency sequence effects. In our task, participants responded to the left/right direction of an arrow, while ignoring its left/right position in a computer screen. The arrow’s direction and position could be congruent (C) or incongruent (IC). (i) To study the processing underpinnings of cognitive control, we conducted a set of three experiments, designed to contrast two theoretical views pertaining to the nature of those processes, the Prediction of Response-Outcome (PRO) theory and the Conflict Monitoring Theory (CMT). In Experiment 1, we collected data from thirty seven young adults to analyse the effect of the trial n-1 congruency type on an nth C trial. In Experiment 2, we collected data from thirty two young adults to analyse the effect of the trial n-1 congruency type on an nth position-only trial (PO; participants must respond to the left/right position of a circle). In Experiment 3, we collected data from thirty six young adults to analyse the effect of the trial n-1 congruency type on an nth IC trial. (ii) To investigate age-related modulations of the interplay between the controlled and automatic processes involved in cognitive control processing, performance in the spatial Stroop task was contrasted in younger and older adults. The interference effect in IC trials as well as the effect of trial n-1 congruency type on a nth C trial were analysed. The young and older adults participants in this study were the same that participated in the ageing study, mentioned in the EF Structure and age-related changes section.

Results

EF structure and age-related changes: We found that a three-correlated-factor model (EF, VA and PS) was the most suitable for our data. EF and PS were related but separable functions, whereas the EF and VA factors were unrelated. Concerning the cognitive ageing study we found that older adults’ performance was inferior to young adults’ performance in only twelve of the twenty six neuropsychological measures analysed. These age-related deficits are mainly explained by cognitive slowing and/or by inhibition deficits. There were no age-related deficits in the other fourteen measures that included both EF and nEF. EF processing and age-related changes: Our results showed that PRO can better predict our participants’ performance than CMT. According to PRO, cognitive control is recruited in the presence of conflict, when multiple responses are available. The action plans yielding responses with an unacceptable cost (e.g., high error probability) are suppressed, leaving only the most appropriate action plan available. This enables the selection of the appropriate response, leading to conflict resolution. Concerning age-related modulations, our results revealed a generalized slowing that interacted with conflict resolution, yielding a larger interference effect for older adults. Despite this generalized slowing, the accuracy rates were similar in young and older adults, suggesting that with ageing, the implementation of cognitive control to resolve conflict becomes slower, but remains effective. Concerning the congruency sequence effects, older adults were slower than young adults in all conditions. However, we did not find any differences between the age groups in respect to the pattern found for the congruency sequence effects.

Conclusions

Taken together, our results support the diverse nature of EF. At the structural level, some EF tasks rely more on nEF and PS than others. Also, for an adequate performance in EF tasks designed to single-out one specific EF, multiple EF are in fact recruited. EF tasks less reliant on PS or on inhibition seem to be less affected by ageing. At the processing level, top-down processes are recruited in the presence of conflict for the computation and valuation of the multiple expected outcomes. Then, automatic processes, including both inhibition and enhancement processes, seem to play a key role in the cognitive control implementation. These automatic processes, as manifest in congruency sequence effects, are minimally affected by ageing. As for the controlled processes that are responsible for the implementation of control, it remains as an open question to what extent their age-related decline does not merely reflect a generalized reduction in PS.

Principal Investigator: Maria João Seabra-Santos
Period: 2017 - 2020
Funding: ERASMUS + Programme (2017-1-IE01-KA201-025691)

Experiences during the first three years of life have been shown to have a lasting effect on a child’s development, and eventual life outcomes. In light of this the need for high quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) is widely recognised. Countries across Europe are facing complex, multifaceted problems that are negatively affecting its children. Challenges of immigration and integration are common. One in four children under the age of six in Europe is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and may need specific measures to support their educational needs. Prevention and early intervention practices and approaches have been proven to be effective in addressing these challenges, particularly when they are focused on the earliest years of life.

Our project aims to share best practice in the areas of prevention and early intervention (PEI) in disadvantaged populations, evidence informed practice, practitioner training in PEI approaches, and the importance of early childhood care and education (ECEC) as a preventative tool. The objective of this learning exchange is to allow partner organisations to develop and reinforce networks, increase their capacity to work at a transnational level, share and confront ideas, practices and methods in ECEC and PEI.

This project has four partners: International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI), is a Dutch non-profit organisation with a worldwide brief, and a focus on European and developing countries. It promotes the well being of children growing up in difficult circumstances, and works to improve the policies and practices which affect these children by assisting in the development of local capacity. The University of Coimbra in Portugal has over 700 years of experience in education, training and research, and today has over 24,000 students. Its Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences are involved in research in the fields of parental and family education, early childhood education, and socio-educational interventions with children and families. UiT – the Arctic University of Norway, is the third largest in Norway and the northernmost university of the world. RKBU North (Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare) is involved in research and education of professionals within child welfare and mental health in Norway, and develops research-based practices for services that are working directly with children and youth.
The final partner is the Northside Partnership hosted Prevention and Early Intervention Network (PEIN) in Ireland. It is a network of evidence-based practice, advocacy and research organisations across the Republic of Ireland that share a commitment to improving outcomes for children, young people, and their communities.

The project involves a series of learning exchange visits to each of the partner countries. Activities during the exchanges will include: visit to the host organisation with presentation on their work; two site visits to local programmes/ projects; two expert inputs/ presentations from mixture of academic/ policy / practitioner; project meeting. There will also be two larger open learning events with local and national stakeholders. There will be a mixture of research, policy and practice in the learning exchanges, bringing together experts in all of these three fields.

The methodology we will use in this project will be participatory and experiential, involving open discussion and dialogue and involving visits to services and programmes, as well as inputs from practitioners, applied researchers, and those involved in policy formation. In the belief that strong interpersonal relationships form the basis for successful strategic partnerships and effective collaborative working, there will be space given to networking and information sharing, at all meetings and events.

At the end of this project participants will have developed a better understanding of the situation in different countries in terms of ECEC and PEI practice, as well as the similarities and differences in the context, challenges and responses that exist in each country, and within the different organisations and programmes. Participants will also come away with an understanding of how education and child services systems operate in different countries, and with some new ideas that may be usefully put into practice in their home countries. It is expected that the partnerships developed through this project outlive the lifespan of the current project, and will lead to future and perhaps more ambitious strategic partnerships, job shadowing arrangements, research collaborations and practitioner exchanges. It is also expected that this project will have a long term and sustained positive impact on the wider fields of PEI and ECEC in partner countries.

CBB

Cognition, Brain and Behavior

Principal Investigator: Jorge Almeida
Period: 2018 - ...
Funding: ERC Starting Grant 2018 – 802553 ContentMAP

Our ability to recognize an object amongst many others is one of the most important features of the human mind. However, object recognition requires tremendous computational effort, as we need to solve a complex and recursive environment with ease and proficiency. This challenging feat is dependent on the implementation of an effective organization of knowledge in the brain. In ContentMAP I will put forth a novel understanding of how object knowledge is organized in the brain, by proposing that this knowledge is topographically laid out in the cortical surface according to object-related dimensions that code for different types of representational content – I will call this contentotopic mapping. To study this fine-grain topography, I will use a combination of fMRI, behavioral, and neuromodulation approaches. I will first obtain patterns of neural and cognitive similarity between objects, and from these extract object-related dimensions using a dimensionality reduction technique. I will then parametrically manipulate these dimensions with an innovative use of a visual field mapping technique, and test how functional selectivity changes across the cortical surface according to an object’s score on a target dimension. Moreover, I will test the tuning function of these contentotopic maps. Finally, to mirror the complexity of implementing a high-dimensional manifold onto a 2D cortical sheet, I will aggregate the topographies for the different dimensions into a composite map, and develop an encoding model to predict neural signatures for each object. To sum up, ContentMAP will have a dramatic impact in the cognitive sciences by describing how the stuff of concepts is represented in the brain, and providing a complete description of how fine-grain representations and functional selectivity within high-level complex processes are topographically implemented.

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Projects

CBPC

RD&H

NAAP

CBB