Carolina Saraiva de Macedo Lisboa

The Mini Mental State Examination : review of cutoff points adjusted for schooling in a large Southern Brazilian sample

The increase in life expectancy can influence the prevalence of dementias in the population. Instruments that evaluate cognitive functions such as the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) are necessary for the investigation of dementia. The supposition that patient score on the MMSE can be influenced by academic level points to the need for establishing cut-off values that take into account educational level. The aim of this study was to review MMSE cut-off values adjusted for schooling in a large southern Brazilian sample. Method Demographic data and MMSE scores of 968 subjects, of which 162 were dementia patients and 806 healthy participants, were analyzed. The sample was grouped according to education. The cut-off values were established by ROC Curve analysis. Results The total sample mean age was 70.6±7.3 years, and the mean years of education was 7.2±5.3. The cut-off score of 23 points (sensitivity=86%, specificity=83%) was observed as the optimal level to detect dementia on the MMSE instrument for the overall sample. Regarding level of schooling, the cut-off values were: 21 for the illiterate group (sensitivity=93%, specificity=82%), 22 for the low education group (sensitivity=87%, specificity=82%), 23 for the middle education group (sensitivity=86%, specificity=87%) and 24 for the high education group (sensitivity=81%, specificity=87%). Conclusions The cut-off values revealed by this analysis, and adjusted for level of schooling, can improve the clinical evaluation of cognitive deficits.

Construção e validação de conteúdo de uma escala de percepção, por professores, dos comportamentos agressivos de crianças na escola

The process of construction and content´s validation of the Teachers Perception Scale of School Children Aggressive Behavior is described. The agressive behavior direction (toward teachers, peers, or in general) is considered. Twenty-eight items were built based on literature, and evaluated by 40 judges, who indicated the adequacy of each item. The final version presents 41 items, 22 items about aggressive behavior, 15 items about positive, four new items suggested. The scale may be used for scientific research purpose, to evaluate the perception of elementary school teachers about school children aggressive behaviors. Other validation procedures are suggested.

Perfil dos Bolsistas de Produtividade em Pesquisa do CNPQ em Psicologia

Este estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar el perfil de los becarios de productividad en investigacion del CNPq del area de psicologia segun los datos declarados en la Plataforma Lattes. El numero de articulos, libros y capitulos de libro, asi como orientaciones de iniciacion cientifica, maestria, doctorado y pos doctorado de 297 investigadores becarios del area fueron recolectados en el transcurso de la ultima semana de abril de 2011. Tambien fueron recolectados datos acerca de las instituciones a las cuales los becarios estan vinculados. Fueron realizados analisis estadisticos descriptivos (relevamiento de frecuencias, promedios y desviacion estandar) para caracterizacion de la productividad de la muestra, e inferenciales (Ji-cuadrado y ANOVA) para comparar los becarios de cada categoria en relacion al numero de publicaciones y de orientaciones y de datos demograficos e institucionales. Los resultados muestran que hubo predominio del sexo femenino (63%) y de la beca tipo 2 (58,6%) entre los becarios. La mayoria de los becarios estan vinculados actualmente a instituciones publicas (79,1%). La Region Sudeste presento el mayor numero de becarios (53,6%), seguida de la Region Sur (18,5%). Investigadores con becas de categorias mas altas (1A y 1B) presentaron promedios significativamente mayores en relacion a la produccion de articulos, libros y capitulos de libro asi como al numero de orientaciones concluidas. Las implicaciones y las limitaciones del estudio son discutidas.

Psicologia positiva no Brasil: uma revisão sistemática da literatura

Positive Psychology is a theoretical paradigm that is expanding in Brazil. The Positive Psychology proposal is tostudy the psychological fundamentals of well-being and happiness, as well as the strengths and human virtues. To discuss about scientific production on this field in Brazil, this article aimed to present a systematic review of national scientific literature about Positive Psychology considering the period of its initial publications until 2012. The descriptor “Positive Psychology” was used and the review was conducted in databases of national publications SciELO, BVS and BDTD. Little and nonlinear scientific publications increase was found in this area. Few Brazilian studies have proposed to study positive psychology with scientific rigor, what allows to conclude that Brazilian research’s production in this area is still limited. Considering the theoretical constructs, well-being was the focus of the majority of studies and seven different survey instruments used to evaluate different constructs of positive psychology were also identified. Studies that assessed the effectiveness of interventions in Positive Psychology were found, suggesting an approach and application in clinical, health and school psychology areas.

Aggression and Pro-Sociability: Risk and Protective Dynamics in Popularity and Bullying Processes

Estudios anteriores han identificado caracteristicas psicologicas positivas que pueden moderar la relacion entre la agresion y los procesos de desarrollo. En esta investigacion se evaluo si la prosociabilidad modera la asociacion entre agresion y victimizacion, y agresion y popularidad. Una muestra de conveniencia de 253 ninos brasileros de nivel socioeconomico bajo (M de edad = 11,82, DE = 1,41) participaron en el estudio. El analisis de ecuaciones estructurales mostro que la interaccion entre la agresividad y la pro-sociabilidad no protege a los ninos de sufrir bullying y tampoco modifica la asociacion entre agresion y popularidad. La agresion parece haber sido un predictor del bullying y la pro-sociabilidad, de la popularidad. Esos hallazgos difieren de los resultados de estudios anteriores que muestran una asociacion entre agresion y comportamientos positivos, como pro-sociabilidad. Mas investigaciones son necesarias que permitan destacar las diferencias culturales y contextuales, comparando estos resultados con los de otras muestras latinoamericanas.

Agressão entre pares no espaço virtual: definições, impactos e desafios do cyberbullying

The present paper aims to present a literature review on empirical and theoretical studies about cyberbullying process. Although there are few studies about this theme and there is almost no empirical evidence found in Latin America, cyberbullying has been defined as a specific phenomenon, unique and without violence antecedents. Cyberbullying is directly related to bullying but it can happen any time and does not necessarily take place in a natural environment. Researches have shown that cyberbullying victims are more vulnerable to commit suicide than other youth, as well as to develop social and emotional problems that can lead to school dropout and poor academic achievement. Besides all, studies also evidenced that youth involved in this phenomenon are at risk for substance use and abuse as well as to present depression and anxiety symptoms when compared to those youth that do not experienced this kind of violence. The update discussion about cyberbullying is important especially focusing on prevention and intervention programs involving family (parents), school and public police makers.O presente artigo visa apresentar uma revisao da literatura sobre publicacoes teoricas e empiricas relacionadas ao processo de cyberbullying. Embora existam poucos estudos sobre o tema e haja carencia de evidencias empiricas na America Latina, o cyberbullying tem sido concebido enquanto uma categoria especifica, unica e sem precedentes de violencia, podendo ser mais abrangente que o fenomeno bullying por ocorrer a qualquer momento e sem um espaco circunscrito e delimitado fisicamente. Os estudos mostram que vitimas de cyberbullying podem estar mais propensas a tentarem suicidio, bem como mais vulneraveis ao desenvolvimento de problemas sociais e emocionais, como a evasao escolar e desempenho academico prejudicado. Alem disso, as pesquisas mostram que os envolvidos neste fenomeno apresentam risco aumentado para abuso de substâncias psicoativas e desenvolvimento de sintomas de ansiedade e depressao quando comparados aqueles que nao vivenciaram essa forma de agressao entre pares. Assim, aponta-se a importância de um debate atual sobre os aspectos relacionados a prevencao e intervencao em relacao ao cyberbullying, envolvendo a familia, a escola e tambem os responsaveis pelo desenvolvimento e execucao de politicas publicas.

Understanding the cyberbullying phenomenon

The subtype of violence behavior named as bullying is a serious problem recurrent in schools nowadays, bringing negative short, medium and long term consequences to development process. Considered as a public health issue, this and other forms of peer aggression are attracting media, parents, teachers and scientists attention as well as attention from responsible for public policies. Therefore, in a digital world, the new information and communication technologies allow a new kind of bullying to take

A Brazilian Portuguese survey of school climate: Evidence of validity and reliability

This study presents evidence of the validity and reliability of scores for the newly developed Brazilian Portuguese version of the Delaware School Climate Survey–Student (Brazilian DSCS-S). The sample consisted of 378 students, grades 5 through 9, attending four private and three public schools in southern Brazil. Confirmatory factor analyses supported both a bifactor model and a six-factor model, but support was stronger for the latter. Most scores across factors correlated significantly with students’ self-reported cognitive-behavioral and emotional engagement in school. As discussed, the Brazilian DSCS-S provides schools with a useful tool for conducting needs assessments and evaluating programs in Brazilian schools.

Perceptions of engagement and school climate: Differences between once-retained and multiple-retained students in Brazil

ABSTRACT Differences in self-reported perceptions of cognitive-behavioral and emotional engagement between students who were continuously promoted, retained once, or retained multiple times were examined in this study of 199 students, grades 5–9, in Brazil. Retained students reported significantly less cognitive-behavioral engagement than their promoted peers. Students retained multiple times, but not those retained only once, reported less emotional engagement. Group differences also were found in two of six areas of school climate: fairness and clarity of rules, and school safety. Findings suggest the need for interventions that target school engagement and school climate to reduce the use of retention.

Psychological Interventions for Transgender Persons: A Scoping Review

ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate psychological interventions for transgender persons, aiming to highlight their goals, theoretical background and methods. A scoping review was conducted in four databases, ranging from 1980 to 2015. Selection led to a final sample of 36 articles. The goals of psychological interventions are unclearly described in many studies. Different background theories were identified and in some studies, these were not clearly explained and presented no epistemological considerations. The publishing of more empirical studies, with an affirmative standpoint toward gender identity and stricter scientific rigor, is needed to support and strengthen interventions.