Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy for Anxiety Reduction in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.

: Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) is a clinical approach aimed at building valuable human-animal relationships with both preventive and therapeutic goals. It is provided by a healthcare professional and involves animals (meeting certain criteria) as an integral part of the treatment process. This type of therapy has been shown to have multiple benefits in several areas, such as reducing anxiety in a variety of different groups of people.

Psychometric Properties of Post-Critical Belief Scale and Centrality of Religiosity Scale: Portuguese Versions.

The primary objective of this research is to confirm the four-dimensional structure of the Post-Critical Belief Scale (PCBS) and the five-dimensional structure of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS), specifically for the Portuguese population. Additionally, the study aims to investigate the relationship between these religious scales. The research employed both exploratory factorial analysis with a polychoric matrix (suitable for ordinal data) and confirmatory factorial analysis with maximum likelihood estimation.

Relapse rates after treatment in Therapeutic Communities: A systematic review.

Therapeutic Communities (TC) are residential settings that provide psychosocial rehabilitation for substance-using individuals. In general, TCs have been proven effective, although a large part of the evidence is from studies with methodological shortcomings. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of TCs in terms of relapse rates.

Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Young Adults and Adults: A Systematic Literature Review.

Background: Investigations have shown the different impacts that ACEs have on an individual's adult life, on both physical and mental health, but they have not yet shown the issue of the influence of ACEs on adults and young adults. Objective/Participants and Setting: This systematic review, performed according to the PRISMA norms and guidelines, intended to understand the most frequent outcomes of adverse childhood experiences in the life of young adults and adults.

Methods: Studies were identified through multiple literature search databases at EBSCOhost, Web of Science, and PubMed April 2023, and a total of 279 studies, published between 1999 and 2002, were excluded, 256 because of multiple factors: being duplicates, showing statistical analysis with correlations only, being systematic reviews or case studies, comprising individuals under the age of 18, and not meeting the intended theme; ultimately, we selected for the review a total of 23 studies.

The Role of Career Adaptability and Academic Engagement in College Student's Life Satisfaction.

Career adaptability and academic engagement are important processes in higher education. However, the relationship between these processes and their potential role in students' life satisfaction still needs to be addressed. The present study aims to explore the role of career adaptability and academic engagement on higher education students' life satisfaction.

Portuguese Caregivers of Persons With Alzheimer's Disease in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of the Grieving Process.

This study addresses the experiences of informal caregivers caring for elderly family members with Alzheimer's disease (AD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study includes a sample of eight informal caregivers who were evaluated through a semi-structured interview six months after the death of a loved one they cared for. A thematic content analysis was applied to the interviews and yielded two higher-order domains: (1) Experiencing the AD and the death of a family member and (2) The grieving process during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Systematic Review on Intervention Treatment in Pathological Gambling.

Over the last century, there has been a growing interest in researching pathological gambling, particularly in industrialized nations. Historically, gambling was widely perceived as morally questionable, condemned by religious groups. However, contemporary concerns have shifted towards the health repercussions of gambling disorders and broader societal impacts like increased crime and money laundering.

Measurement Invariance of the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale and Quality of Relationships Inventory (Friend).

The aim of this study is to measure the invariance of the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (MJS) and of the Quality of Relationships Inventory (Friend) (QRI-F) across gender, age, education, and being in a romantic relationship in a Portuguese sample (N = 662). A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the fit of different potential factor structures. The results pointed out that both MJS and QRI-F were most suitable if represented by three first-order factors correlated between them.

Pro-Environmental Behavior and Climate Change Anxiety, Perception, Hope, and Despair According to Political Orientation.

The main objective of this paper is to assess pro-environmental behavior, climate change anxiety, perception, hope, and despair in different political orientations. Our specific aims included to assess the validity of all the instruments used; to assess whether the factor structure of the scales were valid across political orientations; to evaluate their reliability; to assess differences concerning age, gender, and political orientation; to learn the variables that explain pro-environmental behavior; and to evaluate the moderating role of climate change perception, despair, and hope in the relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs), multi-group CFAs (to calculate measurement invariance), multiple linear regressions, and moderations were performed.

Effectiveness of the third wave cognitive behavior therapy for peripartum depression treatment-A systematic review.

Introduction: To investigate the effectiveness of third-wave cognitive behavior therapies in the treatment of peripartum depression.

Method: A systematic review of the effectiveness of psychological interventions in treating peripartum depression focus on the Third Wave has been conducted. The electronic databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Clinical Trials were searched, using a combination of different search terms.

Is the link between the Dark Tetrad and the acceptance of sexual violence mediated by sexual machismo?

Previous studies have established relationships between the Dark Tetrad traits and sexual violence and its acceptance through myths about this type of violence. Sexual violence is positively associated with machismo, with sexist beliefs having been found to be linked with the Dark Tetrad and with the acceptance of sexual violence. Using a community sample comprising 362 adults between the ages of 18 and 70 (M = 35.

Callous and Unemotional Traits as Precursors to the Development of Female Psychopathy.

Objective: Conduct a systematic review concerning the literature that reflects whether the callous and unemotional traits present in childhood and/or adolescence are precursors in the development of female psychopathy in adulthood.

Materials And Methods: A systematic review involved consulting three databases-EBSCO, the Web of Science, and PubMed-for peer-reviewed and quantitative studies within the period 2000-2023. Nine articles with quality of three and above were included.

Dark Personality Traits and Online Behaviors: Portuguese Versions of Cyberstalking, Online Harassment, Flaming and Trolling Scales.

The main objective of this study is to assess moderation effects of online behaviors between personality traits and addiction to Internet. To this end, four instruments were validated for Portuguese version through confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis (Study 1) Multiple regression analysis was applied to examine the personality predictors of specific online behaviors while controlling for gender and age; and moderation effects were assessed (Study 2). Results showed good psychometric properties for the four validated scales.

Social-Emotional Skills, Career Adaptability, and Agentic School Engagement of First-Year High School Students.

The transition to the first year of high school constitutes a critical moment because it corresponds to the implementation of a career choice, which can impact students' satisfaction and psychosocial adjustment. The career construction model of adaptation holds potential to explain how students adapt to high school, by suggesting linkages among adaptive readiness, resources, responses, and results. However, research applying the career construction model to school transitions, combining social-emotional, career, and academic variables is still needed.

Criminal reactions to drug-using offenders: A systematic review of the effect of treatment and/or punishment on reduction of drug use and/or criminal recidivism.

The association between substance use and crime is very common, but complex. Several countries have found strategies to face drug abuse and criminality that may exist associated to it, seeking to reduce overcrowded prisons and to promote the reductions of criminal recidivism and/or substance use. Through the guidelines of PRISMA, a systematic review was conducted with the aim to explore the different criminal reactions to individuals who use substances and are involved in the criminal justice system, namely the role of treatment and/or punishment in the reduction of crime recidivism and/or drug (ab)use.

Implications of Socio-Cultural Pressure for a Thin Body Image on Avoidance of Social Interaction and on Corrective, Compensatory or Compulsive Shopping Behaviour.

This paper aims to discuss the implications of body talk and socio-cultural pressure for the internalisation of a thin body image in purchase decisions, shopping habits and other outcomes of body dissatisfaction, in particular the proneness to avoid human/social interaction in retail contexts and proneness to engage in corrective, compensatory or compulsive shopping behaviour. This paper conducted an online questionnaire that measured the following constructs: body mass index; Socio-cultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale-4 (SATAQ-4), Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2), Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale (ACSS), Compulsive Buying Follow-up Scale (CBFS), proneness to avoid social interaction in retail contexts, and the intention to purchase a list of products and services as a compensation for body dissatisfaction. A structural equations model supported the hypotheses proposing the influence of BAS-2 and SATAQ-4 (the internalisation of thin/athletic body and the social comparison induced by family, peers and media) upon the outcomes of social-interaction avoidance, ACSS and CBFS.

Community intervention programs for sex offenders: A systematic review.

Sexual violence is a phenomenon that negatively impacts the victims' physical and psychological health and well-being. Sex offenders tend not to take responsibility for their actions, have difficulties in emotion regulation and impulse control, paraphilias or other disorders, so they are a difficult group to treat. In addition, the available psychological treatment programs tend to have inconsistent and, sometimes, undesirable results.

Factors Associated with Sexually Transmitted Infections among Users of Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing Centers in Portugal.

Users of publicly funded voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing Centers (VCT C) in the Portuguese National Service have been found to have higher rates of HIV risk behavior than the general population, but data concerning the relationship between socio-demographic, behavioral, and cognitive variables, and Sexually Transmitted Infections (ST Is) in this specific population are limited. This study tests the impact of socio-demographic, behavioral and cognitive variables on ST Is in a sample of 168 users of VCT C. A cross-sectional study using structured questionnaires was conducted.

Effectiveness of psychological interventions in the treatment of perinatal depression: A systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Background: Perinatal depression is a high prevalent mental health problem with serious consequences. Evidence about effective psychological interventions in treating perinatal depression has been increasing, but it lacks a comprehensive synthesis of findings.

Methods: A systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses concerning the effectiveness of psychological interventions in treating perinatal depression (depression during pregnancy and the first 12 months postpartum) in adult women was conducted.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro: Can a Risk Profile Be Identified?

Background: Significant exposure to critical incidents characteristic of military police work has a potentially traumatic effect and multiple consequences for the mental health of these professionals, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This study aims to investigate the occurrence of PTSD in this occupational group and its correlations with socio-demographic and occupational variables.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of Rio de Janeiro's Military Police officers ( = 3.