Several studies report the incidence of traumatic experiences in community and clinical samples, and substantial research demonstrates the impact of traumatic events on mental health and suicidal behavior, but this area remains unexplored in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLC). Thus, this study aims to (1) describe traumatic experiences, mental health levels and suicidal behavior among individuals from Portugal, Brazil and African Countries with Portuguese as an Official Language (ACPOL); (2) assess correlations between traumatic experiences and mental health and suicidal behavior; and (3) assess the impact of exposure to a traumatic event on mental health and suicidal behavior. The measurement instruments included a sociodemographic questionnaire, Brief Trauma Questionnaire, Brief Symptoms Inventory-18, and the Portuguese version of the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised. ACPOL participants reported greater impact of war, Portuguese participants reported greater impact of disasters, and Brazilian participants reported greater impact of psychological and sexual abuse, assault, and death of a family member. Brazilian participants showed the worst levels of mental health and suicidal thoughts. Strong correlations were found between traumatic experiences and mental health levels and suicidal behavior. Traumatic experiences contributed to the explanation of mental health levels and probability of committing suicide.

Research on positive factors underlies strategies for promoting mental health and preventing suicidal behaviors. Objectives: To assess the importance of social support, self-esteem, and resilience in protecting against adverse mental health outcomes and suicidal behavior in different Portuguese Language Countries. Method and Results: We collected an online sample of 1006 citizens from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLC), mean age of 41.76 years. Instruments assessed psychological symptoms, suicidal behaviors, social support, self-esteem, and resilience. We found statistically significant differences between CPLC countries, and positive factors were found to be inversely correlated with adverse mental health and suicidal behavior. Conclusions: Positive factors protect mental health and prevent suicidal behaviors. Self-esteem was particularly important, likely due to its intrinsic nature which has an overall influence on other psychological assets. Cultural differences should be taken in account when planning preventive and protective programs that should be specific to cultural needs.

The university environment can be a place of oppression and cause psychological distress in students, given an educational model that focuses more on the reproduction of content, pressure for academic performance, excessive competition between students, lack of emotional support, prejudice and discrimination. The article analyzes, through an integrative review, articles indexed in scientific databases: Online Scientific Electronic Library – SciELO, Electronic Psychology Journal Portal (PePSIC), Virtual Health Library – BVS and Capes Periodicals, including scientific articles, published in Portuguese, with priority given to publications within the last ten years and made available in full, with the use of descriptors such as “academic environment”, combined with one of the following words: “psychological distress”, “university environment”, “academic environment”, “oppression”, “mental health” and “oppressive dynamics”, “interventions for the promotion of mental health”. Eighteen articles were analyzed in light of the following questions: “What are the current educational models and their possible contribution to the maintenance of oppression in higher education institutions?”; “What types of violence exist in the relational dynamics between teachers and students resulting from the academic environment?” and presented some type of possible intervention to promote mental health in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The urgency of inclusive policies, emotional support and structural changes to combat structural violence and promote a more welcoming and healthier environment is highlighted, proposing strategies that value diversity, encourage collaborative pedagogical practices and prioritize collective well-being as part of academic development.

ESTUDO I: A relação entre atividade física e bem-estar psicológico em praticantes e não praticantes de exercício RESUMO A prática regular de atividade física é fundamental sendo os seus benefícios cada vez mais reconhecidos, quer a nível fisiológico, quer psicológico. O principal objetivo da presente investigação foi avaliar a relação entre atividade física e bem-estar psicológico nos níveis de satisfação com a vida, autoestima e vitalidade em praticantes e não praticantes de atividade de física. Participaram nesta investigação sujeitos (n = 167 masculino 43,8%, n = 214 feminino 56,2%), com idades compreendidas entre os 13 e os 82 anos, sendo a categoria 18 < 40 n= 288 75,6 % a que apresenta mais sujeitos. O nível de atividade física foi determinado com recurso ao International Physical Activity Questionnaire, sendo que todos os sujeitos preencheram as versões portuguesas da Subjective Vitality Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem. Os resultados revelaram uma relação estatisticamente significativas (p <.05) entre o dispêndio total de calorías por semana e os indicadores do bem-estar: autoestima, satisfação com a vida e vitalidade. Todavia, quando comparados entre si, os indivíduos categorizados como “inativos” e “minimamente ativos” não se diferenciaram significativamente ao nível dos indicadores de bem-estar, tendo estas diferenças apenas se verificado comparativamente aos indivíduos categorizados como “ativos”. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que a prática de atividade física possibilita uma melhoria nos indicadores de bem-estar psicológico (satisfação com a vida, autoestima e vitalidade). Todavia, estes benefícios só são significativos em níveis de atividade física adequados.

Mental health is now considered indispensable for well-being and general health. Self-esteem, in turn, is an important indicator of mental health. Knowing the self-esteem of people with Mental Illness thus becomes an important part of the process of help and recovery, promoting the implementation of appropriate therapeutic measures. This study aims to determine the impact of the INcluir workshops on participants’ self-esteem, an experimental study composed of adult participants of both genders. Two groups were created: the control group composed of participants who did not attend the artistic workshops and the experimental group who attended the workshops. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was used to measure the levels of self-esteem. Considering the results obtained, the artistic workshops produced improvements in the participants’ self-esteem.

The psychological well-being is an odd variable in the domain of health literacy by the importance that it assumes for the mental health of the subjects in the present day as literature reviewed in health evidence. The theoretical complexity of the well-being associated with the concrete demands of psychological evaluation with gains for health and quality of life led to the proposal of an evaluative format with multidimensional and quantitative characteristics in the specificity of the construct evaluated by the EBEPS.

Within this pandemic associated with Covid-19, psychological health occupies a prominent place as a result of a situation of forced isolation. Mental health, it is ever so pressing to know and preserve, particularly in the young adult. These changes affect more vulnerable population groups among them students. Students express and reflect their psychological health needs, their beliefs, competences and abilities, functionalities, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and their risks and dangers within the framework of global public health. Assertiveness is conceived as a bilateral behaviour that emphasizes the importance of considering the desires, thoughts and feelings of both the sender and the recipient of the assertive message, predictive of academic success. Cooperation is conceived as the ability to jointly operationalize knowledge, attitudes and skills with a view to achieving a common purpose. OBJECTIVE to present the results of the application of the Global Assertiveness Assessment Scale (EAGA) and the findings levels of the Global Cooperation Assessment Scale (EAGA), applied in the pandemic period in higher education. SAMPLE The study used a non-probabilistic sample for convenience of 101 Portuguese higher education students. INSTRUMENTS Global Assertiveness Assessment Scale (EAGA) and Global Cooperation Assessment Scale (EAGC), Likert. ADMINISTRATION Online administered survey SOCIODEMOGRAFIC PROFILE Most of the participants are females (88%). The average age is 21.25 years old (± 3,86 years) with the youngest and oldest student respectively 19 and 27 years old. The majority of students (50%) live with their families, 26% with their friends, 13.5% other choose, and the lowest percentage of students lives in a residence/rented room (10.6%). Most of respondents are single (98%). The median travel time from the student's address to the university is 20 minutes (inter-quartile range: 40 minutes). Additionally, it appears that in students who travel daily distances in each route greater than 30 km, 72% do so in public transport, the rest being by their own vehicle. Approximate distance, in Km, of the route (one way) that the student takes daily from his address to the educational institution during the class period: 54% [0;5[ km. Sociodemographic variables were also used, which seemed promising in contextualizing, interpreting, and discussing the results. The value of the sample mean obtained at EAGA=31 (± 5.53), thus revealing a high assertive competence who attend higher education and EAGC=35 (± 6.5), thus revealing a high cooperation. We argue that signaling and monitoring of less favorable cases detected is pertinent. The impact of SARSCoV-2 on global public health has been profound. The monitoring of the student population using these scales is an element of greater value because, besides its easy applicability and low cost, it allows for the evaluation of health in this population group. New multicentric studies, seeking to assess the geographic role (inside and outside borders) in assessing the levels of assertiveness and cooperation of students from higher education, well-being, soft skills and their relationship with peers, studying how we can reduce the global burden of diseases and preventing consequences of the next pandemic.

The present study explored the associations between perceived benefits of physical activity, social support provided by the best friend, vigorous-intensity physical activity, and global self-worth in male and female adolescents. In total, 462 adolescents (female = 259), aged between 12-18 years (M = 16.16, SD = 1.60) from different middle and secondary schools participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling analysis were performed to evaluate the proposed associations. Self-reported instruments were used to collect both vigorous-intensity physical activity and psychosocial variables under analysis. The hypothesized model provided acceptable fit to the data in all samples under analysis. Significant associations were found between variables, namely: Perceived benefits displayed a significant association with social support provided by the best friend; social support provided by the best friend was significantly associated with vigorous-intensity physical activity; and, vigorous-intensity physical activity displayed a significant association with global self-worth. The indirect regression paths showed the mediation role of social support provided by the best friend and vigorous-intensity physical activity in the interaction between perceived benefits and global self-worth. These associations were displayed in both male and female adolescents. Perceived benefits of physical activity, social support provided by the best friend and vigorous-intensity physical activity appears to be important antecedents of global self-worth in male and female adolescents. It seems that the social support provided by the best friend and vigorous-intensity physical activity play a mediation role in the association between perceived benefits of physical activity and global self-worth

This study explored the associations between physical activity (PA) anxiety levels, and the perception of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (BPN), during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown. Thus, 1,404 participants (977 women, 426 men, and one respondent preferred not to answer) ranging from 18 to 89 years old (36.4 ± 11.7 year-old) completed a questionnaire in the period between 1st and 15th April 2020. The survey included sociodemographic data and the following validated instruments: the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Basic Need General Satisfaction Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to examine variation in anxiety levels and BPN satisfaction according to PA category (low, moderate, and high). Spearman’s Rho correlations coefficients were used to determine the association between anxiety levels and psychological needs. Individuals presenting a higher level of PA revealed lower levels of anxiety-state (H = 20.14; p < 0.01). Differences between elements from different levels of PA were found for the autonomy (H = 23.52; p < 0.001), competence (H = 18.89; p < 0.001), and relatedness (H = 24.42; p < 0.001) psychological needs, suggesting that those who feel their BPN as more satisfied have higher levels of PA. The study found statistically significant correlations between anxiety-state and the satisfaction of the needs for autonomy (p = 0.01; r = −0.46), competence (p = 0.01; r = −0.40), and relatedness (p = 0.01; r = −0.21). These findings support the importance that PA has in the anxiety levels during social isolation, emphasizing the importance of multidisciplinary teams in an individual-based approach.

According to the International Council of Nurses, nurses are a key factor in the health responses to these populations, especially in the area of mental health. Therefore, this study aims to study the vulnerability and protective factors in mental health of asylum seeking children living in a refugee camp. The study of these factors is essential for the construction of specific mental health promotion programs that can be implemented by specialist nurses. Methodology: A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study carried out in the Refugee Camp of Kara Tepe, Island of Lesbos, Greece. Results: From the analysis of the data collected, the following factors of vulnerability in mental health in children seeking asylum emerged: Traumatic Experiences; Difficulty of Expression Emotions; Loss of Identity References; Feelings of Abandonment and Loneliness; Current Life Conditions in Refugee Camps; Lack of Prospects for the Future. As protective factors in mental health the following categories emerge: Hope and Resilience; Formal and Non-Formal Education; Safety and Security Environment.