Search

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis, among so many social, economic and health problems, also brought new opportunities. The potential of telemedicine to improve health outcomes had already been recognised in the last decades, but the pandemic crisis has accelerated the digital revolution. In 2020, a rapid increase in the use of remote consultations occurred due to the need to reduce attendance and overcrowding in outpatient clinics. However, the benefit of their use extends beyond the pandemic crisis, as an important tool to improve both the efficiency and capacity of future healthcare systems. This article reviews the literature regarding telemedicine and teleconsultation standards and recommendations, collects opinions of Portuguese experts in respiratory medicine and provides guidance in teleconsultation practices for Pulmonologists., (Copyright © 2022 Sociedade Portuguesa de Pneumologia. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

The study aims to understand the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study adopts the PRISMA approach to screening the selection of journal articles and review papers according to the research aims and the inclusion criteria. The journal articles and review papers were extracted and stored in Microsoft Excel and Google Scholar, Academic. Microsoft, Semantic Scholar, Elsevier, and Emerald Insight databases searched relevant documents using formulated keywords. A statistical technique was applied using the M.S. Excel analysis tool (PivotTable and an independent t-Test) to analyze data and determine the differences between teachers and students. The review revealed the evidence that the majority of the studies were primarily focused on the individual developing countries and results from other developing countries were not considered. In addition, the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic were inadequate skills and training, inadequate Internet/Infrastructure, lack of supporting resources and lack of online student engagement and feedback. Finally, the independent t-test reveals there is no statistically significant difference in challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both teachers and students encounter similar challenges. The systematic review raised concerns that higher learning needs to effectively implement long term strategies and support teachers and students in getting into online teaching and learning.

In the last two years, a growing number of studies have focused on the promotion of students' mental health to address the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, less studies have been conducted on sustaining teachers' mental health which has been affected by the sudden changes in online teaching and the difficulties in keeping and building relationship with students. Even before the pandemic, teaching has long been recognised as one of the most challenging occupations characterized by high levels of stress. Although the research highlighted the key role of mental health promotion among teachers, there is still a lack of programs enhancing teachers' wellbeing. This study examined the impact of the PROMEHS program, a school-based curriculum, on teachers' mental health. A total of 687 teachers participated in the study. Applying a pre- and post-training study design with experimental and waiting list groups, teachers were evaluated in social and emotional learning, resilience, and self-efficacy. The results showed that there was a significant improvement in all competences of the teachers in the experimental group compared to those in the waiting list group. The paper discusses the implications of the findings with recommendations for further studies in the area.

School-home communication is a growing research field in social sciences, particularly in education sciences and communication studies. While previous studies have paid much attention to the importance of school-home interaction in supporting primary academic socialisation and progress of elementary school pupils, the role of teacher-parent communication and collaboration in influencing the development of children's and adolescents' digital skills remains an under-researched area. This paper employed thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with education experts in six European countries, providing an insight into their opinions and views on the problems in communication between homes and schools. The analysis identified main problems in and obstacles to school-home collaboration on children's digital skills development, and the changes the COVID-19 pandemic brought along in this field of education. The paper provides five policy recommendations for enhancing school-home collaboration on digital skills development.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic placed unprecedented pressure on societies and healthcare systems around the world. Over the last years, measures imposed in almost all countries dealing with the pandemic sent the entire world into an extensive crisis and thus into a deep global recession. Since the outbreak began, many European countries have faced three/four waves of pandemic. Portugal has mainly dealt with three waves (March/April'2020; October/November'2020; January/February'2021), the third being the deadliest one. The purpose of this article is to provide evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 on health-related quality of life (HRQol) and well-being (W-B) of Portuguese citizens. It aims to (i) characterize these outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic; (ii) compare them to pre-COVID-19 Portuguese population; and (iii) identify the social determinants that may affect these outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: This study used data from a survey that collected data on HRQoL, W-B, satisfaction with life, economic and labour impacts, access to healthcare, mental and physical health, amongst others. The survey was implemented by telephone to a representative random sample of 1,255 respondents from the general adult Portuguese population, stratified by sex, age group and region. Data was collected during the end of the second national lockdown. For comparison purposes, we have also used two other representative databases from the general Portuguese population: (i) data from before the pandemic (n = 1,006); and (ii) data from a survey conducted during the first lockdown, (n = 904)., Results: Looking at health and access to healthcare, 4% of citizens had their surgeries postponed or cancelled because of COVID-19, more than a quarter had medical appointments or complementary exams postponed or cancelled, with 7% over 65 years old with surgeries cancelled or postponed and 32% medical appointments. COVID-19 pandemic also impacted negatively on the HRQoL of citizens, especially in the first lockdown. Half of the respondents reported feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge, about 45% of citizens felt sad or depressed. Sleeping problems were reported for almost 39% of citizens, and loneliness is reported by 29% of citizens. For about 70-85% of citizens, these feelings were more so than before the pandemic. Citizens with fair/strong economic stability were the most economically affected by the pandemic., Conclusions: We provided evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on health and W-B of Portuguese citizens. Their health was worse than before the pandemic and the access to healthcare was highly affected., (© 2023. International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL).)

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on education, he transformation of didactics and technological methods was necessary to promote students' self-learning and motivation, alongside teachers' tutoring, guiding students' academic journey. This paper aims to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on digitalization accounting in higher education and explores the students' perception of the adapted hybrid model. The study follows a qualitative approach and rely on the final-year students of the accounting and management degree of Accounting and Business of Porto Polytechnic School. Data were collected through a questionnaire from students who experienced both distance and face-to-face education and completed the course of Management Simulation. The study highlights the digitalization of accounting teaching and the pandemic's effect on the future of digital accounting education. In sum, the hybrid model meets the needs of this practical course and can be a model to be applied in the future.

In this article, the authors analyze the current situation in Portugal, in terms of the relationship between basic education and higher education, focusing on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in these processes. Moreover, this piece also addresses the quality of student preparation in basic education for a positive and successful experience in higher education.

This paper examines preservice teachers' perspectives on assessment feedback developed in a teacher education course during the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As initially negotiated with students, feedback was learner-centred and involved a formative intervention approach applied iteratively by the teacher educator over the course of one semester. Although such feedback was initially face-to-face, it had to be given exclusively online following the unexpected closure of the university. Analysis of student teachers' perspectives, which were collected through an online questionnaire completed after their final assessment, reveals both positive and critical aspects regarding the feedback provided by the teacher educator. While reaffirming the significance of feedback as a crucial element for learning in online teacher education contexts, the findings also show that the clarity, affective bonding and multimodal meaning-making involved in face-to-face interaction are particularly challenging when the communication of feedback is digitally mediated. The implications and limitations of such findings are discussed.

In this paper, we consider a compartmental model to fit the real data of confirmed active cases with COVID-19 in Portugal, from March 2, 2020 until September 10, 2021 in the Primary Care Cluster in Aveiro region, ACES BV, reported to the Public Health Unit. The model includes a deterministic component based on ordinary differential equations and a stochastic component based on bootstrap methods in regression. The main goal of this work is to take into account the variability underlying the data set and analyse the estimation accuracy of the model using a residual bootstrapped approach in order to compute confidence intervals for the prediction of COVID-19 confirmed active cases. All numerical simulations are performed in R environment (R version. 4.0.5). The proposed algorithm can be used, after a suitable adaptation, in other communicable diseases and outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study is to understand how Portuguese restaurants' solvency was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, considering the factors that influence it. Financial information was collected for the years 2019 and 2020 in the SABI database to elaborate a quantitative methodology; a descriptive analysis was used and Pearson's correlation coefficient, a Paired t-test, a one-way ANOVA test, and a multiple linear regression were used to test the formulated hypotheses. The findings confirm that solvency is affected by several determinants, such as financial autonomy, indebtedness, financial leverage, asset turnover, return on equity, and long-term bank debt. Solvency is influenced positively by financial autonomy and financial leverage. In contrast, solvency is negatively influenced by indebtedness, asset turnover, and long-term bank debt. Additionally, this paper represents the first study, in the restaurant sector in Portugal, which analyses the importance of solvency and its determinants, by facing a normal year with a crisis year. The paper is innovative in terms of knowledge about restaurant solvency behavior in periods of financial crisis and also because the COVID-19 pandemic has added an additional variable to restaurant solvency: short-term bank debt. In terms of theoretical implications, this study provides further insights about the factors influencing solvency in restaurant businesses during periods of a financial crisis. The main practical contributions are linked to improving the leadership skills of restaurant owners and managers to deal with periods of crisis in general, thus improving the solvency of their businesses and decreasing the risks associated with bankruptcy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infectious disease epidemics are challenging for medical and public health practitioners. They require prompt treatment, but it is challenging to recognize and define epidemics in real time. Knowing the prediction of an infectious disease epidemic can evaluate and prevent the disease's impact. Mathematical models of epidemics that work in real time are important tools for preventing disease, and data-driven deep learning enables practical algorithms for identifying parameters in mathematical models. In this paper, the SIR model was reduced to a logistic differential equation involving a constant parameter and a time-dependent function. The time-dependent function leads to constant, rational, and birational models. These models use several constant parameters from the available data to predict the time and number of people reported to be infected with the COVID-19 Omicron variant. Two out of these three models, rational and birational, provide accurate predictions for countries that practice strict mitigation measures, but fail to provide accurate predictions for countries that practice partial mitigation measures. Therefore, we introduce a time-series model based on neural networks to predict the time and number of people reported to be infected with the COVID-19 Omicron variant in a given country that practices both partial and strict mitigation measures. A logistics-informed neural network algorithm was also introduced. This algorithm takes as input the daily and cumulative number of people who are reported to be infected with the COVID-19 Omicron variant in the given country. The algorithm helps determine the analytical solution involving several constant parameters for each model from the available data. The accuracy of these models is demonstrated using error metrics on Omicron variant data for Portugal, Italy, and China. Our findings demonstrate that the constant model could not accurately predict the daily or cumulative infections of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in the observed country because of the long series of existing data of the epidemics. However, the rational and birational models accurately predicted cumulative infections in countries adopting strict mitigation measures, but they fell short in predicting the daily infections. Furthermore, both models performed poorly in countries with partial mitigation measures. Notably, the time-series model stood out for its versatility, effectively predicting both daily and cumulative infections in countries irrespective of the stringency of their mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2020, Portugal had high levels of unmet health care needs. Primary Care was reported as the main source of unmet needs., Objectives: To describe face-to-face and remote access to GPs in Portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic. To discover patient experiences and attitudes to access to care. To identify determinants of access to care., Methods: A survey of a random sample of 4,286 adults registered in a group of Family Practices was conducted in 2021. Paper questionnaires were sent by post to patients who had no e-mail address registered with the practice. Patients with an e-mail address were sent a link to an online questionnaire. Outcomes were reported waiting times for face-to-face and remote contacts with GPs, dichotomized to ascertain compliance with standards. Associations between participant characteristics and outcome variables were tested using logistic regression., Results: Waiting times for face-to-face consultations with GPs during the pandemic often exceeded the maximum waiting times (MWT) set by the National Health Service. Remote contacts were mostly conducted within acceptable standards. Waiting times for speaking with the GP over the phone were rated as 'poor' by 40% and 27% reported requests for these calls as unmet. The odds of getting care over MWT increased for participants who reported poorer digital skills. Participants were less likely to get non-urgent consultations over MWT if they found it easy to use the online patient portal to book appointments (odds ratio 0.24; 99% confidence intervals 0.09-0.61), request prescriptions (0.18; 0.04-0.74) or insert personal data (0.18; 0.04-0.95)., Conclusion: Patient reported access to GPs during the pandemic was uneven in Portugal. Obtaining non-urgent consultations and remote contacts over MWT affected mainly those patients with poor digital skills. Telephone access to GPs received the worse ratings. Access through traditional pathways must remain available, to prevent the widening of inequities., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Granja et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The need to control the sanitary situation during the COVID-19 pandemic has led governments to implement several restrictions with substantial social and economic impacts. We explored people's trade-offs in terms of their income, life restrictions, education, and poverty in the society, compared to their willingness to avoid deaths. We applied a web-based discrete choice experiment to elicit preferences of the Portuguese citizens for these attributes and computed the marginal rate of substitution in terms of avoided deaths. We recorded 2,191 responses that faced the possibility of having 250 COVID-19 related deaths per day as the worst possible outcome from the choice levels presented. Estimates suggested that individuals would be willing to sacrifice 30% instead of 10% of their income to avoid approximately 47 deaths per day during the first six months of 2021. For the same period, they would also accept 30% of the students' population to become educationally impaired, instead of 10%, to avoid approximately 25 deaths; a strict lockdown, instead of mild life restrictions, to avoid approximately 24 deaths; and 45% of the population to be in risk of poverty, instead of 25%, to avoid approximately 101 deaths. Our paper shows that avoiding deaths was strongly preferred to the remaining societal impacts; and that being a female, as well as working on site, led individuals to be more averse to such health hazards. Furthermore, we show how a DCE can be used to assess the societal support to decision-making during times of crisis., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Filipe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought increased attention to the existing gender asymmetries in academia, which have been extensively studied in the literature. Using the analytical lens of "gendered academic citizenship", this paper takes a micropolitical perspective to examine how the pandemic has impacted the dynamics of academic work, specifically focusing on the often-overlooked aspect of everyday interactions in the work environment. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of survey data collected from 1750 lecturers and researchers in Portuguese higher education and research institutions, the study uncovers that women, especially those who are younger, single, have specific caregiving responsibilities, and are in the early stages of their careers, were more vulnerable to experiencing "everyday" microaggressions such as silencing, exclusion, belittlement, being ignored, lack of validation, and invisibility compared to men during the pandemic. These findings suggest that, while the marginalization of women in academia is a longstanding issue, the virtual work model has created a platform for the expression of subtle forms of disempowerment and discrimination against women. These dynamics are perpetuated within the micropolitics of organizations, shaping subjective feelings of belonging and circulating differential levels of recognition within academic institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Geopolitica(s): Revista de Estudios Sobre Espacio y Poder is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses the broad topic of what older people think about nursing homes in Portugal. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and considering the tragic events taking place in nursing homes, the challenge of reimagining the sector involves not only improving procedures and models of care, making sure they meet what citizens consider adequate, but also rehabilitating the image people have about nursing homes and rebuilding trust. Current and future decisions about how one meets LTC needs is influenced by the extent to which individuals see the alternatives as adequate. The paper presents evidence collected from a qualitative study run just before the COVID-19 pandemic began, with a sample of 45 community-dwelling individuals aged 60 plus, in Portugal. Opinions and views about nursing homes were collected and the results point to enduring negative aspects that are considered at odds with what constitutes adequate care. The paper discusses in length what those aspects are and concludes that future reforms of the nursing homes sector in Portugal need to consider what current and future users think and feel about that specific type of service. Debates in Portugal tend to be more focused on discussions about expanding the sector and less on aspects of quality of care. Views and opinions of interviewed participants, however, suggest that people may be more worried about quality of care.

Chronic pain affects almost 38% of the Portuguese adult population, with high costs for both patients and society. Those who suffer with chronic pain frequently complain of feeling misunderstood and of lack of support. These complaints are the main reason why support telephone lines for chronic pain were created in some countries. However, there is no scientific data supporting their creation or evaluating their performance. This paper presents a qualitative study protocol to assess patients and healthcare professionals' perspectives on the creation of a telephone support line for chronic pain. It constitutes the first step to attain the main goal of developing and implementing a functioning support line for chronic pain in Portugal. The methodology to assess patients and healthcare professionals' perspectives and needs is presented. In order to gather information as close to reality as possible, focus groups interviews were chosen as data sources. Given the present context of the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings will take place online, using a digital platform. All interviews will be transcribed verbatim, coded and synthesised into categories and main themes. Thematic analysis will be conducted using NVivo® V12 software, employing an iterative and reflexive approach. Finally, comparative and relational analysis will be performed in order to identify topics where patients and professionals converge or greatly diverge. The findings will be useful for grounding the creation of a telephone support line for chronic pain patients. Results dissemination will be important for policy-makers to develop a new perspective towards chronic pain services available., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Copyright of Revista Ibero-Americana de Estudos em Educação is the property of Jose Luis Bizelli, editor of Revista Ibero-Americana de Estudos em Educacao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Digital de Derecho Administrativo is the property of Universidad Externado de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on the tourism sector. Economies with a large weight of external tourism were especially affected, as was the case with the Azores region. This paper aims to analyse the level of this crisis and the resilience of tourism recreation companies specializing in canyoning in the Azores region, and whether these reactions led to more sustainable business models. The adopted methodology considered the analysis of recent statistical data on tourism and the available information on COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts. In parallel, questionnaires were applied to all tourism recreation companies in Portugal, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with all the canyoning providers in the Azores region. Results show that all companies survived the crisis, and some have made significant changes to their business models. Furthermore, some degree of success was observed in how services adapted to new demand characteristics, given the small size of most of these businesses and the specialization of their products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic had a great potential to affect the mental health of individuals. Meta-analyses indicate a rise in these problems in these periods among general populations, patients and health professionals, even with substantial heterogeneous results. This paper examines mental health impacts specifically during the first wave of COVID-19. An online survey was conducted with a Portuguese convenience sample (N = 1.062) comprising questions about substance use, perceived stress, post-traumatic stress disorder and self-damage behaviors. The results concerning substance use show an extensive use of medication to sleep or calm down, especially among women and older respondents, a small percentage of alcohol consumers with a high pattern of use and less frequent cannabis consumption, even with a quarter of users who began only in the COVID-19 period. The rates of perceived stress and PTSD were higher compared with international prevalence estimations during the pandemic conditions. Both correlated measures were worse for women and young people. Another problematic issue was the rate of suicidal ideation, with a relevant proportion of starters during this period. These data reinforce the need to promote access to mental health services.

aime Correia de Sousa41Centre for Health Evaluation & Research/Infosaude (CEFAR/IS), National Association of Pharmacies (ANF), Lisbon, Portugal; 2Medical Department, AstraZeneca, Barcarena, Portugal; 3MEDIDA – Medicina, Educação, Investigação, Desenvolvimento e Avaliação, Porto, Portugal; 4Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), PT Government Associate Laboratory, School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; 5Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; 6CUF Allergy Unit, Porto Hospital and Institute, Porto, PortugalCorrespondence: Mariana Romão, Centre for Health Evaluation & Research/Infosaude (CEFAR/IS), National Association of Pharmacies (ANF), Rua Marechal Saldanha 1, Lisboa, 1249-069, Portugal, Email [email protected] Purpose: Oral corticosteroids (OCS) are frequently used in asthma management but have an important risk-profile. The aim of the study is to characterize and compare the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, treatment regimen and asthma control between OCS users and non-users among the population of asthma patients (≥ 18 years) at GINA step 3 and above treated with a fixed combination of an inhaled corticosteroid and a long-acting beta-agonist (ICS/LABA). Methods: Cross-sectional study in Portuguese community pharmacies. Data was collected via paper-based interview delivered at the pharmacy (sociodemographic characteristics and asthma treatment regimen, namely ICS/LABA and OCS utilization), followed by a telephonic interview collecting smoking history, comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), history of exacerbations and asthma-related healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) in the previous 12 months, as well as asthma control using the Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT®). Results: A total of 347 patients recruited in 98 pharmacies were included in the analysis. Of those, 328 had completed both questionnaires. A quarter of the individuals reported OCS use in the previous 12 months (OCS users), either as add-on therapy (6%) or exacerbation treatment (19%). Patients were mostly females (72%), with an average age of 59.5 years (SD=15.4). OCS users were significantly older and reported more frequently having conjunctivitis (25.9% vs 15.0%), osteoporosis (25.9% vs 13.4%), arthritis (14.6% vs 6.9%), and gastrointestinal disease (16.1% vs 8.1%). OCS users also reported greater urgent HCRU: unscheduled consultations (33.3% vs 9.3%) and emergency department (ED) visits (32.1% vs 12.1%). Both groups presented poor disease control (85.2% of OCS users vs 72.9% of non-OCS users). Conclusion: These results highlight the burden of OCS therapy to asthma patients and the need to improve asthma management, by adopting OCS sparing strategies in this subgroup of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Profesorado: Revista de Currículum y Formación del Profesorado is the property of Profesorado: Revista de Curriculum y Formacion del Profesorado and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has important links with population mobility. Social interaction is a known determinant of human-to-human transmission of infectious diseases and, in turn, population mobility as a proxy of interaction is of paramount importance to analyze COVID-19 diffusion. Using mobility data from Google's Community Reports, this paper captures the association between changes in mobility patterns through time and the corresponding COVID-19 incidence at a multi-scalar approach applied to mainland Portugal. Results demonstrate a strong relationship between mobility data and COVID-19 incidence, suggesting that more mobility is associated with more COVID-19 cases. Methodological procedures can be summarized in a multiple linear regression with a time moving window. Model validation demonstrate good forecast accuracy, particularly when we consider the cumulative number of cases. Based on this premise, it is possible to estimate and predict future evolution of the number of COVID-19 cases using near real-time information of population mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heavy economic, social, and psychological toll of pandemic lockdowns around the world and their disproportionate effect on women are widely acknowledged, but different socioeconomic backgrounds and contexts may influence the degree to which stay-at-home measures impact their lives. Additionally, knowing that violence against women tends to increase during times of crisis, we are testing if the additional burden of victimization represents an added load to the perceived social impacts of the lockdown. Using 2021 survey data from a random sample of 1541 Portuguese women, the paper explores, through logistic regression models, the social impact of the lockdown on the lives of women, its socioeconomic determinants, and the role played by violence against women during the pandemic. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown did not equally affect all facets of women's social lives, and women with higher education status and that experienced income reductions due to the measures taken to control the pandemic are more prone to experience a more severe negative impact of the lockdown on the various facets of their lives. Additionally, having been a victim during the pandemic partially mediates the effect of education and income reduction on the social outcomes of the lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 pandemic forced, at the final rounds of 2019-2020 season, in many different sport leagues worldwide, teams to play without an audience. Therefore, the present paper aims to compare the home advantage score in the last ten rounds in 2019-2020 season with the first 24 rounds in same season using Pollard's (1986) and Matos et al.'s (2020) methods. In addition, comparisons across different seasons (2016-2017; 2017-2018; 2018-2019 and 2019-2020) using the same methods were also analyzed. Results showed no differences ( p > 0.05) between first 24 rounds and the last 10 in 2019-2020 season as well as in the 3 previous seasons. With Pollard's method, no differences ( p > 0.05) were also found among those four seasons on global (all 34 rounds) home advantage. However, a significance difference between 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 ( p < 0.05) was founded using Matos et al.'s (2020) method, which is an indicator of the importance of using complementary methods when analyzing the same realities. Overall, despite what might be expectable from recent findings, the lack of an audience in the last 10 rounds of Portuguese Football League 2019-2020 season, due to COVID-19 pandemic, did not affect home advantage. Therefore, future studies could try to analyze other different variables in Portuguese Football League, such as referees' behaviors, rules changing (e.g., the possibility of making five substitutions, instead of three), crowd dimension and density as well as include variables about odds as forecasts in football being played without crowds.

Copyright of Comunicação e Sociedade is the property of Universidade do Minho, Centro de Estudos de Comunicacao e Sociedade and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) is a great contribution to medical studies since the application of forecasting concepts allows for the analysis of future diseases propagation. In this context, this paper presents a study of the new coronavirus SARS-COV-2 with a focus on verifying the virus propagation associated with mitigation procedures and massive vaccination campaigns. There were two proposed methodologies in making predictions 28 days ahead for the number of new cases, deaths, and ICU patients of five European countries: Portugal, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany. A case study of the results of massive immunization in Israel was also considered. The data input of cases, deaths, and daily ICU patients was normalized to reduce discrepant numbers due to the countries’ size and the cumulative vaccination values by the percentage of population immunized (with at least one dose of the vaccine). As a comparative criterion, the calculation of the mean absolute error (MAE) of all predictions presents the best methodology, targeting other possibilities of use for the method proposed. The best architecture achieved a general MAE for the 1-to-28-day ahead forecast, which is lower than 30 cases, 0.6 deaths, and 2.5 ICU patients per million people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores to what extent product and marketing channel diversification contributed to the economic success of small-scale agricultural producers involved in short food supply chains after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was conducted between April and July 2020 in four countries of the European Union–Estonia, Hungary, Portugal and Romania,–resulting in a relatively large sample of farmers (N = 421). The analysis was built on a semi-nonparametric approach. Approximately 19 percent of small-scale producers were able to increase sales during the first wave of the pandemic, although country-level variation was significant. Fruits and vegetables were by far the most popular products. The importance of specific channels varied across countries, but farm gate sales were among the most important marketing channels both before and during the first wave. The importance of channels that were based on digital resources and home delivery increased. Our evidence indicates that diversification was a strategy that paid off, both in terms of marketing channels and different product categories. However, the impact appears to be nonlinear; the initial advantage generated by diversification rapidly tapered off, either temporarily (in the case of products), or permanently (in the case of marketing channels). Later research may clarify whether these findings are generalizable in other socio-economic contexts, as well as in a non-COVID situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comunicação e Sociedade is the property of Universidade do Minho, Centro de Estudos de Comunicacao e Sociedade and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Prescrição e Fisiologia do Exercício is the property of Instituto Brasileiro de Pesquisa e Ensino em Fisiologia do Exercicio and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we analyse the situation of the Portuguese Economy referring to the Covid- 19. We start by contextualizing in the problematic "Bubble - Miracle" as described by Tomé, 2018. We then analyse the current situation in a Macroeconomic way, according to eight specific questions, and then we specify regarding four sectors, namely tourism, education, the public sector, and the industrial sector. We conclude that the Covid-19 is the ultimate and unexpected test to the Portuguese economy, and that it will contribute to solving the "Bubble vs. Miracle" question. Rather curiously, we believe that the Covid-19 will accelerate the change to the "Miracle" society, because solving the crisis will require changes that will direct the society towards the "Miracle" paradigm and will distance Portugal from the old and "Bubble" one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to characterize the main themes of COVID-19-related posts delivered by WeChat official accounts targeting Portuguese news and explore their subscribers' information needs and preferences. Furthermore, the current study set out to evaluate the influence of the coronavirus situation in Portugal on the number of posts, view frequency and total engagement on the WeChat platform. Following the selection of COVID-19-related posts published in 2021 by four official accounts targeting Portuguese news, Chi-square tests were conducted to quantitively describe the differences between the four developmental stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. Negative binomial regression was employed to establish an association between categorical variables and count data. Regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between COVID-19 infection cases in Portugal and the metrics of selected posts. A total of 3292 COVID-19-related posts remained. The posts regarding the latest epidemic situation in Portugal, COVID-19 vaccination and the economic news were more prevalent. However, the predominant posts were not consistent with followers' information demands, and the most in-demand information did not generate more engagement. In addition, thematic categories were found to be significantly associated with view frequency and total engagement. Furthermore, a significant difference in thematic categories was identified among the four developmental stages, which in turn was related to the overall engagement of posts. The COVID-19 official case counts in Portugal are predictive of post frequency, view frequency and total engagement. The results of this study support the view that social media provided diverse information sources for the Chinese community during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is evidently clear from the findings that communicators have to leverage the characteristics of social media not only for delivering real-time news but also to gratify public information needs and attract more followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comunicação Pública is the property of Escola Superior de Comunicacao Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Viral respiratory infections may precipitate type 1 diabetes (T1D). A possible association between the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19, and the incidence of T1D is being determined. This study was carried out using Portuguese registries, aiming at examining temporal trends between COVID-19 and T1D. Methods: Hospital data, comparing the incidence before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, from children and young adults diagnosed with new-onset T1D, was acquired beginning in 2017 and until the end of 2022. Data was obtained from nine different Portuguese hospital units. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020, was assessed comparing the annual numbers of new-onset T1D cases. The annual median levels of glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting C-peptide at T1D diagnosis were compared. The annual number of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) episodes among new T1D cases was also assessed at two centers. Results: In total, data from 574 newly diagnosed T1D patients was analyzed, including 530 (92.3%) children. The mean ages for child and adult patients were 9.1 (SD 4.4) and 32.8 (SD 13.6) years, respectively. 57.8% (331/573) were male, one patient had unknown sex. The overall median (25–75 percentiles) levels of glucose, HbA1c and fasting C-peptide at diagnosis were 454 mg/dL (356–568), 11.8% (10.1–13.4) and 0.50 µg/L (0.30–0.79), respectively. DKA at T1D diagnosis was present in 48.4% (76/157). For eight centers with complete 2018 to 2021 data (all calendar months), no overall significant increase in T1D cases was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. 90 cases in 2018, 90 cases in 2019, 112 in 2020 and 100 in 2021 (P for trend = 0.36). Two of the centers, Faro (CHUA) and Dona Estefânia (CHULC) hospitals, did however see an increase in T1D from 2019 to 2020. No significant changes in glucose (P = 0.32), HbA1c (P = 0.68), fasting C-peptide (P = 0.20) or DKA frequency (P = 0.68) at the time of T1D diagnosis were observed over the entire study period. Conclusion: The T1D incidence did not increase significantly, when comparing the years before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, nor did key metabolic parameters or number of DKA episodes change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Notas Económicas: Revista da Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra is the property of Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: This study aims to conduct a pertinent assessment of the concept of business competitiveness and how Portugal can progress in that field, for the sake of becoming a more sustainable and wealth-creator economy. Design/methodology/approach: The research was elaborated with 65 in-depth interviews with expert persons from the Portuguese business ecosystem, who were asked to reflect on the state of the economy and competitiveness of the country. Findings: There is much room for improvement in almost all areas of activity, in particular by promoting an innovative, value-adding and exporting private sector and a lighter and more efficient public sector. The conclusions point to modernisation of the Portuguese economy as a way of making it more competitive in a highly competitive and demanding global scenario. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the first time that a reflection with experts of the local Portuguese economy has been carried out, especially after a difficult period of COVID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental involvement (PI) has particular relevance on children's academic adjustment and on children's general quality of life (QoL). QoL can be influenced by parental stress, specifically the stress suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the differences during the pandemic period (before, after and with no lockdown), comparing these constructs with parental educational level to provide predictors of their children's quality of life. Data collection was performed with a non-probability convenience sampling procedure. It was composed of 129 parents, mainly women (71.8%), with children aged between 6 and 12 years. The family's sociodemographic characteristics were assessed, as well as the PI, parental stress, and children's QoL. The comparison between the three times revealed an increase in the children's QoL, but no differences were found in PI. Based on the parental educational level, as defined by academic qualifications and split into superior and non-superior levels, it is possible conclude that engagement in school activities and parents' meetings increased in the parents with superior education levels and decreased in the parents with lower education levels. This study concluded that despite this difficult and uncertain pandemic period, these parents were able to maintain important aspects of their children's lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 1990s until the pre-COVID-19 outbreak, commercial nightlife has become central to the urban branding, and tourism marketing strategies of many European cities. However, the night-time leisure industry has stalled in Europe as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented lock-down and physical distancing measures imposed by several national governments. This short paper aims to picture the uncertain scenario that the nightlife industry of Europe, and Portugal, might have to face in post-pandemic times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The vast majority of people have experienced the problem of back pain at least once in their lives for a variety of reasons. It is well known that regular physical activity at a moderate level has a number of health benefits regardless of age or gender with positive effects on the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory or nervous systems improving fitness levels. During the pandemic, Poland experienced one of the longest periods of school lockdown in Europe. In Portugal, this period was considerably shorter. The aim of this study was to determine the level of physical activity and back pain as well as relationship between physical activity and back pain in a group of Polish and Portuguese students in the following year the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study was conducted via the Internet among students from Poland and Portugal (398 respondents − 229 from Poland and 169 from Portugal) in October 2022. In the pilot study, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and The Oswestry Disability Index and Neck Disability Index questionnaires were used to assess the level of back pain. Results: There are no statistically significant differences in the level of physical activity and pain complaints of respondents from the two countries. At least half of the students do not report any pain complaints (median in some groups being 0). In the Portuguese men, there is a correlation between the level of physical activity and the Neck Disability Index score (p = 0.0304). Conclusions: The following year, after the pandemic COVID-19 was declared, the prevalence of back pain among students in Poland and Portugal is still significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccine hesitancy tends to exhibit geographical patterns and is often associated with social deprivation and migrant status. We aimed to estimate COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in a high-vaccination-acceptance country, Portugal, and determine its association with sociodemographic risk factors. We used the Registry of National Health System Users to determine the eligible population and the Vaccination Registry to determine individuals without COVID-19 vaccine doses. Individuals older than five with no COVID-19 vaccine dose administered by 31 March 2022 were considered hesitant. We calculated hesitancy rates by municipality, gender, and age group for all municipalities in mainland Portugal. We used the spatial statistical scan method to identify spatial clusters and the Besag, Yorke, and Mollié (BYM) model to estimate the effect of age, gender, social deprivation, and migrant proportion across all mainland municipalities. The eligible population was 9,852,283, with 1,212,565 (12%) COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant individuals. We found high-hesitancy spatial clusters in the Lisbon metropolitan area and the country's southwest. Our model showed that municipalities with higher proportions of migrants are associated with an increased relative risk (RR) of vaccine hesitancy (RR = 8.0; CI 95% 4.6; 14.0). Social deprivation and gender were not associated with vaccine hesitancy rates. We found COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has a heterogeneous distribution across Portugal and has a strong association with the proportion of migrants per municipality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Motricidade is the property of Silabas Didaticas LDA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract:Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide issued lockdown and social-distancing measures, which triggers psychological distress and may increase the occurrence of domestic violence (DV). We examined the role of the LGBT+ status in the relationship between risk factors of DV and its occurrence during the pandemic. Methods: In this cross-sectional study (n = 5,148), an online self-report questionnaire was administered to a non-probabilistic sample of participants living in Belgium, Germany, and Portugal between March and June 2020. Participants were sampled through national media, social media, and snowballing procedures. Results: LGBT+ persons reported significantly higher levels of perceived stress, more acute stress symptoms, and more illegal drug use during the first weeks of the lockdown compared to non-LGBT+ persons. DV in LGBT+ persons was not more prevalent than in the non-LGBT under COVID-19 lockdown measures. No significant evidence was found indicating that identifying as LGBT+ itself increases the risk of DV exposure. Conclusion: LGBT+ persons were more at risk of DV compared to non-LGBT+ persons prior to but not during COVID-19 lockdown measures. The increased risk for DV can be linked to socio-demographic characteristics, levels of stress, and illegal drug use which are more prevalent in LGBT+ persons than in non-LGBT+ persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the application of discrete choice and machine learning models, the primary objective of this study is to assess the impact of NGA networks coverage on reducing the risk of contagion during the first wave of COVID-19 across 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal, while controlling for other domains under the tutelage of the local public administration. Benchmark estimations reveal that, while holding everything else constant, each spatial unit is 2.4 p.p. more likely to become a high-risk municipality with additional 10 000 cabled houses with NGA networks. In a multinomial discrete choice model setting, the technical novelty of this study lies in providing graphical visualization and economic interpretation of coefficients and average marginal effects as a function of the number of classes used to define the dependent variable, while ensuring the satisfaction of the IIA assumption. The positive and significant coefficients of NGA indicate that additional coverage of NGA networks increases the likelihood of municipalities becoming high-risk for increasing number of spatial units not belonging to the low-risk efficiency frontier. The significant, negative, and decreasing average marginal effects of NGA suggest that the ability to remain a low-risk municipality diminishes with increasing NGA networks coverage as the number of municipalities belonging to the low-risk efficiency frontier decreases. The analysis also confirms that the effect of NGA networks coverage on COVID-19 is statistically significant in the indirect channel. This impact persists due to the mediation of population density, which is directly influenced by NGA networks coverage. All these findings can be explained by the fact that benefits related to productive activities do not outweigh costs associated with leisure time. Hence, this research emphasizes the need for a normative discussion on the intended purpose of digital technologies built on top of NGA networks to ensure a level playing field in the post-pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During Stent for Life Initiative in Portugal lifetime, positive changes in ST elevation myocardial infarction treatment were observed, by the increase of Primary Angioplasty numbers and improvements in patients' behaviour towards myocardial infarction, with an increase in those who called 112 and the lower proportion attending non primary percutaneous coronary intervention centres. Despite public awareness campaigns and system educational programmes, patient and system delay did not change significantly over this period. The aim of this study was to address the public awareness campaign effectiveness on peoples' behaviour facing STEMI, and how Covid-19 has affected STEMI treatment. Methods: Data from 1381 STEMI patients were collected during a one-month period each year, from 2011 to 2016, and during one and a half month, matching first lockdown in Portugal 2020. Four groups were constituted: Group A (2011); Group B (2012&2013); Group C (2015&2016) and group D (2020). Results: The proportion of patients who called 112, increased significantly (35.2% Group A; 38.7% Group B; 44.0% Group C and 49.6% Group D, p = 0.005); significant reduction was observed in the proportion of patients who attended healthcare centres without PPCI (54.5% group A; 47.6% Group B; 43.2% Group C and 40.9% Group D, p = 0.016), but there were no differences on groups comparison. Total ischemic time, measured from symptoms onset to reperfusion increased progressively from group A [250.0 (178.0–430.0)] to D [296.0 (201.0–457.5.8)] p = 0.012, with statistically significant difference between group C and D (p = 0.034). Conclusions: During the term of SFL initiative in Portugal, patients resorted less to primary health centres and called more to 112. These results can be attributed the public awareness campaign. Nevertheless, patient and system delays did not significantly change over this period, mainly in late years of SFL, probably for low efficacy of campaigns and in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]