Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion in Gay and Heterosexual Men: How They Relate to Childhood Memories,Shame, and Depressive Symptoms

This study explores differences between men who are gay (n = 53) and men who are heterosexual (n = 52) regarding memories of shame events and of warmth and safeness experiences with parents during childhood and adolescence, self-compassion, psychological flexibility, internal shame, and depression. Also, it aims to explore whether psychological flexibility and self-compassion play a role in the association between these memories and internal shame and depressive symptoms. Results confirmed the mediating role of psychological flexibility and self-compassion. These findings suggest the appropriateness of promoting acceptance and self-compassion towards difficult memories in a therapeutic setting with men who are gay experiencing shame and depressive symptoms.     

Family contact in foster care in Portugal. The views of children in foster care and other key actors

This is a pilot study on the sensitive issue of how children and young people experience family contact in foster care, and the views of key adults in their lives on the same issue. There is a special focus on the children's experiences, opinions, and feelings. The study is a response to the relative scarcity of literature on family contact based on the experiences of children and adults in caring roles. This is a qualitative and exploratory study, with a sample of 10 children and young people in care in the district of Porto, aiming to identify key issues and areas for further examination. The results allow us to conclude that the possibility of maintaining contact is positively evaluated. However, perspectives on the relationships involved, and on the reactions to and difficulties associated with visits, revealed considerable disagreement among the actors. A possible set of implications drawn from the findings pointed out to the importance of developing a monitored cooperation that improves communication processes in order to take into account the children's and young people's views in the decision‐making process; and to develop more attentive and open working relationships with parents throughout the foster care placement.     

The triangle <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-club problem

Graph models have long been used in social network analysis and other social and natural sciences to render the analysis of complex systems easier. In applied studies, to understand the behaviour of social networks and the interactions that command that behaviour, it is often necessary to identify sets of elements which form cohesive groups, i.e., groups of actors that are strongly interrelated. The clique concept is a suitable representation for groups of actors that are all directly related pair-wise. However, many social relationships are established not only face-to-face but also through intermediaries, and the clique concept misses all the latter. To deal with these cases, it is necessary to adopt approaches that relax the clique concept. In this paper we introduce a new clique relaxation—the triangle k-club—and its associated maximization problem—the maximum triangle k-club problem. We propose integer programming formulations for the problem, stated in different variable spaces, and derive valid inequalities to strengthen their linear programming relaxations. Computational results on randomly generated and real-world graphs, with \(k=2\) and \(k=3\), are reported.     

Preliminary Findings on Men's Sexual Self-Schema and Sexual Offending: Differences Between Subtypes of Offenders

Available literature suggests that sexual self-schemas (i.e., cognitive generalizations about sexual aspects of oneself) influence sexual behavior. Nonetheless, there is a lack of research regarding their role in sexual offending. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the men's sexual self-schema dimensions (passionate-loving, powerful-aggressive, and open-minded-liberal) and different types of sexual-offending behavior. A total of 50 rapists, 65 child molesters (21 pedophilic, 44 nonpedophilic), and 51 nonsexual offenders answered the Men's Sexual Self-Schema Scale, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Socially Desirable Response Set Measure (SDRS-5). Data were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression, controlling for age, school education, psychological distress, and social desirability. Results showed that rapists as well as nonsexual offenders were more likely to hold the powerful-aggressive sexual self-view compared to pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters. Overall, findings seem to be consistent with both a sociocultural component of aggression and the general cognitive profile of offenders. If further research corroborates these preliminary findings, sexual self-concept may be integrated into a comprehensive multifactorial approach of offending behavior.     

Professional judgements and decisions on placement in foster care and reunification in Portugal

This study aims to analyse professional judgements and decisions made in the Portuguese child care system in face of a case vignette of child maltreatment. Using the approach proposed by Benbenishty et al. [(2015). Decision making in child protection: An international comparative study on maltreatment substantiation, risk assessment and interventions recommendations, and the role of professionals’ child welfare attitudes. Child Abuse & Neglect, 49, 63–75. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.03.015], we assessed the decisions of professionals, such as to place the child in foster care or reunify her with her family, on the basis of a series of judgements (e.g. substantiation of alleged abuse and neglect, risk assessments) that are influenced by the characteristics of the case, the decision-making context, and mother's and child's wishes. We conclude that there are different approaches to the case based on different professionals' attitudes that can be classified in two groups: one more pro-removal and the other anti-removal. These groups presented different risk assessments and intervention recommendations, and their decisions where significantly influenced by the mother's and child's wishes. Furthermore, we have done comparisons with studies made in other countries, concluding that the country context can be an important factor that leads to different outcomes. Implications for both practice and research are presented.     

Smoking Risks in Spain: Part III—Determinants of Smoking Behavior

Using original survey data from Spain, this paper assesses the determinants of smoking behavior. This study examines the effect on smoking of the most diverse set of risk measures ever considered: lung cancer, relative lung cancer risks, lung disease, heart disease, relative heart disease risks, lost life expectancy to smokers, and various risk measures for passive smoking. Smoking measures include cigarette smoking, the number of cigarettes smoked, and pipe and cigar smoking. Primary smoking risks have a more consistent negative effect on smoking than perceived passive smoking risks.     

Perceptions of the Neighborhood Environment Associated With Walking at Recommended Intensity and Volume Levels in Recreational Senior Walkers

This study examined the relationship of perceived neighborhood environment factors with recommended volume and intensity of walking in recreational senior walkers. A sample of 85 seniors used an accelerometer and completed the ALPHA questionnaire. Binomial logistic regressions were conducted to detect associations. Perceptions about traffic safety (odds ratio [OR] = 4.395; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.024; 18.866) and pleasant environment (OR = 8.718; 95% CI = 1.803; 42.149) were positively related with the achievement of 10,000 steps per day, in older women. The perception of nearby parks was positively associated with the compliance with peak 30-minutes cadence above 100, in older men (OR = 14.353; CI 95% = 1.321; 15.591). No more significant associations were found between perceptions of the neighborhood environment and walking at recommended intensity and volume levels. These results indicated that community initiatives that encourage traffic safety, pleasant environment, and parks may be a promising direction to promote walking at recommended volume and intensity in senior walkers.     

A computerized system to monitor resilience indicators in organizations

The concepts developed by resilience engineering allow the understanding and monitoring the functioning of organizations and, particularly, to map the role of human activities, in success or in failure, enabling a better comprehension about how people make decisions in unexpected situations. The capture of information about human activities in the various organization levels gives managers a deeper real-time understanding of what is influencing the people performance, providing awareness of the factors that influence positively or negatively the organizational goals initially projected. The monitoring is important because the correct functioning of complex systems depends on the knowledge that people have to perform their activities and how the system environment provides tools that actually support the human performance. Therefore, organizations should look forward through precursors in operating signals to identify possible problems or solutions in the structure of tasks and activities, safety, quality, schedule, rework, and maintenance. We apply the concepts of resilience engineering to understand the organization by the analysis of cognitive tasks and activities. The aim is the development of a computerized system to monitor human activities to produce indicators to access system resilience. The validation of the approach was made in a real organization and the results show the successful applicability of the system. Based on findings obtained after the experiment of the system in a real organization, and managers and workers opinions, it was possible to show that the use of system provided an anticipated (real-time) perception about how activities are effectively being performed, allowing managers and workers to make decisions more consistent with daily problems, and also to anticipate solutions to cope with unexpected situations.     

Analysis of working conditions focusing on biological risk: firefighters in Campo Grande, MS, Brazil

Firefighters are exposed to a wide range of risks, among them, biological risk. The objective was to analyze working conditions of firefighters in the city of Campo Grande, MS, Brazil, focusing on risk conditions of exposure to biological material. Three hundred and seven (307) firefighters were interviewed for data collection and observed for ergonomic job analysis (AET). Results: 63.5% of the firefighters suffered some kind of job related accident with blood or body fluids. Statistically significant association was found between having suffered accidents at work and incomplete use of personal protective equipment (PPE). About AET regarding the biological risks, 57.1% of all patients had blood or secretions, which corresponds in average to 16.0% of the total work time, based on a working day of 24 h. Besides biological risks, other stressing factors were identified: emergency and complexity of decision, high responsibility regarding patients and environment, and conflicts. Health promotion and accident prevention actions must be emphasized as measures to minimize these risks.     

Factors Influencing Voluntary Disclosure in the Annual Reports of Portuguese Foundations

The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of Portuguese Foundation’s characteristics on their annual report disclosure practices. Data were collected from 142 Foundations in Portugal, which represents 50.9% of the Portuguese foundational sector. Supported by a Structural Equation Model (SEM), this study evaluates cause–effect relationship between Voluntary Disclosure, Board Structure, Organizations’ Characteristics and the existence of Auditing. Findings reveal that Organizations’ Characteristics influence the forms of Auditing, and on its turn, Auditing has a positive indirect impact on Voluntary Disclosure. Contrary to expectations, Board Structure does not affect Voluntary Disclosure. This paper fills a void in the literature by examining the impact of Foundations’ characteristics on their voluntary disclosure of financial and non-financial information.