Loading...
37 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 37
- Undergraduate Social Education Student’s Perspectives about the ProfessionPublication . Ribeiro, Esperança Jales; Felizardo, Sara; Martins, Emília; Fernandes, Rosina; Amante, Maria João; Cordeiro, LeandraHigher education institutions, responsible for training social educators, should ensure the construction of a profile marked by their technical versatility and whose socio-educational intervention is directed at all people, regardless of their situations in life. Reflection on the construction of this profile is fundamental given the difficulties of identity that the profession faces. In this context, we sought to develop a study which would allow us to identify how the students of a degree course in Social Education characterise this professional, in order to reflect on the contribution of training provided by the institution concerned and, if necessary, make the adjustments arising from the results. This is a qualitative, exploratory study, using an unstructured questionnaire applied to a convenience sample of 140 Portuguese students of the three years of a degree course in Social Education. Its emerging categorical content analysis was performed using the NVivo software, version 11. The main results point to a broad vision of the profession and are not limited to the work geared to specific populations or issues, valuing the relevance of the professional in the field of non-assistance socio-educational intervention. The main area of overlap between training objectives and students’ perceptions about practice allows the impact of training to be positively assessed, despite possible curricular adjustments resulting from further analysis, including the need to reinforce community intervention, undervalued by students, even though it plays a key role for social educators.
- Parental Adjustment to Disability, Stress Indicators and the Influence of Social SupportPublication . Felizardo, Sara; Jales Ribeiro, Esperança; Amante, Maria JoãoResearch into families of children and young people with disability maintain that parents or caregivers seem to experience higher levels of global stress than parents of children without disabilities, thereby presenting a high risk of developing disorders in their health and quality of life. The aim of this study is to understand the differences in parental stress and social support among groups of parents whose children have different disabilities in the context of parental adjustment to disability. Considering that adjustment is related to the effectiveness with which the family uses its resources and the support of their social network, we intend to analyse the differences of stress and social support among groups of parents of children with different problems and to clarify the relationships between the variables under study in order to adapt family intervention strategies. For this purpose a comparative, descriptive-correlational study was undertaken. The convenience sample included 152 parents of children with different disabilities (82 with intellectual disability, 37 with motor problems and 33 with autism) supported by schools and institutions in Viseu. The instruments used were: a Portuguese version of the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1995), the Social Support Questionnaire – short version (Pinheiro & Ferreira, 2001) and a Parental Questionnaire (demographic and family data). Data were collected in schools and institutions that support people with disabilities, located in the Municipality of Viseu (Portugal). The results revealed significant differences between groups of parents in the partial results of parental stress, specifically in the Hyperactivity/Distract (DI), Acceptability (AC) and Adaptability (AD), dimensions of the Child Domain subscale (CD stress) and the Role Restriction (RO), dimension of Parent Domain subscale (PD stress). With regard to social support dimensions, we found significant differences between parents in the extent and availability of the social support network (SSQN).
- Café memória: uma pausa com atividades em grupo e palestras com especialistas para cuidadores de pessoas com demência.Publication . Araújo, Lia; Amante, Maria João; Sousa, Isabel; Alvarez, Catarina; Fonseca, SusanaObjetivos: o presente estudo procura apresentar evidência sobre a preferência dos cuidadores familiares de pessoas com demência que participam no Café Memória acerca da estrutura e funcionamento das sessões. Material y métodos: 68 cuidadores familiares de pessoas com demência de 9 Cafés memória de Portugal participaram neste estudo. São sobretudo mulheres (69.1%), casadas (69.1%), com média de 63.8 anos (DP 12.9), conjugues da pessoa com demência (55.9%), que vivem com o seu familiar com demência (76.7%). A informação, recolhida por um questionário com questões sobre a importância atribuída a cada parte da sessão, atividades e palestras preferidas e sugestões de melhoria, foi analisada com recurso à análise qualitativa e quantitativa e respetivos softwares. Resultados: tanto as palestras como as atividades em grupo são consideradas como muito importantes pela maioria dos cuidadores (71.6% e 60%), sendo o acolhimento realizado à chegado outros dos momentos destacados (65.2%). As atividades referidas como mais importantes foram os jogos de estímulação, as atividades de expressão (artísticas e musicais), histórias de vida, leitura, atividades físicas e passeios. Já nas palestras, foram referidos, por vários participantes, os temas sobre aspetos gerais da demência, como lidar e interagir com as pessoas com demência, sobrecarga dos cuidadores, questões jurídicas, assistência social, cuidados de saúde, nutrição, atividade física e fisioterapia, bem como a participação de cuidadores que partilharam a sua experiência pessoal ao nível das sugestões de melhoria, as questões do espaço e da divulgação foram as mais apontadas. Conclusiones: Conhecer a importância atribuída pelos cuidadores às diferentes atividades em que participaram e as suas sugestões práticas para próximas sessões demonstrou ser uma estratégia importante para a adequação da intervenção às suas verdadeiras necessidades e capacidades.
- Potentialities of Memory Cafés supporting people with dementia and their caregiversPublication . Araújo, Lia; Amante, Maria João; Alvarez, Catarina; Sousa, IsabelAlzheimer/Memory Cafés recently emerged in several European countries and in North America as an initiative that involves people with dementia, their family/friend car- ers, and all others interested in dementia, focused in sociali- zation with an educational component. The sessions occur monthly and include a presentation on a different topic alternately with a stimulation/recreation activity, as well as refreshments, in a very informal and café-like atmosphere. The present study gathers evidence from eleven Cafés groups developed across Portugal in order to present the impact of this type of intervention in supporting people with dementia and their family members/carers. During the last three years of program implementation, 177 persons with dementia and 737 family members/carers, as well as 142 persons with memory problems and 272 persons interested on this topic have participated on the 226 Cafés sessions that were developed. Qualitative data was collected with a subgroup of family members (N= 50) regarding their opin- ion on the main benefits of attending sessions to themselves and their relatives with dementia. Main key themes from the analysis, such as dementia-friendly environments, where family can be together with their relatives, other caregivers and persons with dementia socializing in the community, and the potential of Cafés for reducing the stigma, obtain- ing information and discussing the disease openly with other persons (e.g., family, carers, professionals, volunteers) are presented and discussed as important potentialities of this type of support available to people with dementia and their carers.
- Importância das Competências de Mediação de Conflitos na Intervenção Socioeducativa com Pessoas IdosasPublication . Fonseca, Susana; Amante, Maria João; Araújo, Lia; Xavier, PaulaObjetivos: Los cambios sociales de las últimas décadas han intensificado los retos a los que se enfrentan los trabajadores sociales, especialmente en el ámbito de las relaciones interpersonales, requiriendo el uso de habilidades, entre las que destaca la mediación de conflictos. Estas acciones son aún más urgentes y desafiantes en la intervención con personas mayores. Los objetivos de este estudio son identificar las percepciones de los alumnos de Educación Social sobre la mediación de conflictos en sus contextos de prácticas, haciendo hincapié en los que trabajan con personas mayores. Material y métodos: Estudio exploratorio mediante un cuestionario diseñado a tal efecto, con preguntas de caracterización personal y de la intervención, sobre la importancia de la mediación y sobre el uso de la mediación de conflictos en el contexto de las prácticas. Han participado 28 alumnas, de un instituto politécnico del centro de Portugal, con una edad media de 25,1 años. La mayoría de los contextos de prácticas de los encuestados son institucionales y la intervención se dirige principalmente a personas mayores. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo (SPSS 27) y un análisis cualitativo (Nvivo 20) de los datos. Resultados: El análisis, en cuanto a la percepción sobre la importancia de utilizar la mediación de conflictos, revela que se atribuye mucha importancia (M=4,7; contextos personas mayores M=4,6), a su(s) contexto(s) de intervención (M=4,6; contextos personas mayores M=4,4) y con los destinatarios de su intervención (M=4,6; contextos personas mayores M=4,4). Las principales razones son promover una mejor interacción y potenciar la gestión/resolución de conflictos. En cuanto al uso de habilidades de mediación de conflictos en sus prácticas, los encuestados informaron de que utilizaban la mediación con frecuencia (M=2,9; contextos de personas mayores M=2,8), utilizando mayoritariamente los roles de facilitador de la comunicación y legitimador y la escucha activa y empática. Conclusiones: Estos resultados refuerzan el reconocimiento de la importancia de la mediación en la intervención socioeducativa y de los conocimientos y habilidades de mediación que los Educadores Sociales deben adquirir y poner en práctica en el desempeño de sus funciones. En lo que respecta específicamente a la mediación de los conflictos con las personas mayores, cabe señalar que ésta tendrá un papel determinante en la promoción de formas saludables de vivir la longevidad, considerando el impacto de su uso en el fortalecimiento y/o mantenimiento de los vínculos sociales y humanos, indispensables para el bienestar emocional de las personas mayores.
- Children at risk, attachment and institutionalization: contributions to the socio-educational interventionPublication . Costa, Ana; Felizardo, Sara; Sargento, José; Amante, Maria João; Jales Ribeiro, EsperançaIntroduction: Institutionalized children exposed to early adverse experiences are a particularly vulnerable group with a high risk of developing health problems. Objectives: i) to know the representations of attachment in institutionalized children; ii) to understand if there are differences of attachment, according to some sociodemographic variables; iii) outline socio-educational intervention strategies in the children’s life’s contexts. Methods: This is an exploratory and cross-sectional study, using for this purpose, a non-probabilistic and convenience sample composed of 82 institutionalized children, aged between 8 and 17 years old. The gathering instruments were the Sociodemographic Questionnaire and the Inventory Attachment for Children and Adolescents. Results: The results show that most children have secure attachment representations, followed by the avoidant attachment representations. We also found signiicant differences in the results of attachment, according to the gender (in avoidant attachment and ambivalent attachment) and in the institutionalization time (in the ambivalent attachment). Conclusions: The results show promising lines of research, being our purpose to outline socio-educational intervention strategies for children in their pathways of life by promoting protective factors, especially the establishment of secure relationships, thus promoting better quality of life and well-being.
- Student’s Perceptions of the Community Impact of Social Education Degree InternshipPublication . Jales Ribeiro, Esperança; Martins, Emília; Amante, Maria João; Felizardo, Sara; Fernandes, Rosina; Araújo, LiaEvaluating the impact of an intervention is a very important stage in social educators’ practice, since it allows them to improve the quality of socio-educational projects. The aim of this study is to rethink the internship of the social education degree through students’ perceptions about the impact of their projects in the community. This is a qualitative and exploratory study using documental analysis of 50 internship final reports of a social education degree from a Portuguese polytechnic higher education institution and whose emerging categorical content analysis was performed with NVivo software. The analysis revealed four distinct indicators linked to the project (accomplished objectives, evaluation of activities, sustainability and innovation), the target group (participation, motivation and benefits), the institution (satisfaction of collaborators, improved dynamic, routines and space enhancements), and the students (relational, reflexive and planning skills; satisfaction). It also revealed instruments, feedback, observation, document analysis and case reports as means of verification. The use of indicators related to the project’s objectives, the changes perceived from the benefits in the target-group and in the institution, and the interveners’ level of satisfaction should be noted as positive. Given the inconsistency in the use of formal assessment instruments, the results show the need to strengthen students’ mobilisation of project assessment skills in order to improve the quality of undergraduate education.
- Intervenção em pessoas com demência e cuidadores: Café Memória um espaço privilegiado de relaçãoPublication . Amante, Maria João; Alvarez, Catarina; Araújo, Lia; Sousa, IsabelIntrodução: o Café Memória assume-se como uma estratégia inovadora em vários países da Europa e nos USA. Trata-se de um encontro com periodicidade mensal, realizado em ambiente informal e comunitário, destinado a pessoas com problemas de memória ou demência, aos seus familiares e cuidadores e outras pessoas interessadas nesta problemática.Objetivo: o presente estudo procura apresentar evidências sobre este tipo de abordagem.Métodos: foram recolhidos dados de caracterização dos participantes em 12 Cafés Memória de Portugal e, em apenas num dos Cafés do projeto, das mais-valias emergentes da participação nestas sessões.Resultados: ao longo dos últimos 3 anos, foram desenvolvidas 268 sessões que contaram com 322 voluntários, 566 convidados e 1500 participantes, tendo estes últimos avaliado as sessões que frequentaram muito positivamente. As categorias que emergiram da análise de conteúdo da informação recolhida com participantes e voluntários (n = 30) apontam para valorização das relações interpessoais (86.7%); seguem-se os benefícios ao nível do bem-estar (76.7%) e das aprendizagens (56.7%).Conclusões: os resultados apontam para a importância das relações e contactos sociais, ainda pouco valorizadas nas intervenções não-farmacológicas com estes doentes e cuidadores.
- Segurança e proteção de crianças e jovens em âmbito escolar e comunitário: um estudo em cinco concelhos do centro de PortugalPublication . Campos, Edgar Correia; Xavier, Paula; Amante, Maria João; Fonseca, SusanaA segurança e proteção de crianças e jovens são valores transversais aos vários artigos da Convenção sobre os Direitos da Criança (1989). Defender a infância e a juventude, promovendo o desenvolvimento integral, é um dever cívico, institucional e político, que deve incluir dimensões como a educação, a saúde e a cidadania (Gersão & Sacur, 2021). A sociedade está longe de um pleno cumprimento dos direitos das crianças e jovens e urge continuar a trabalhar com esse propósito (Gonçalves, 2018). Com o objetivo de aferir o cumprimento dos direitos das crianças e jovens em Portugal e de implementar ações concretas nesse âmbito, a Comissão Nacional de Promoção dos Direitos e Proteção de Crianças e Jovens (CNPDPCJ) criou o Projeto ADÉLIA (CNPDPCJ, s.d.). Na fase do diagnóstico do Projeto, foram disseminados questionários junto de crianças, jovens, entidades e famílias. Do questionário implementado junto de jovens de 5 concelhos da região centro de Portugal, resultaram os dados alvo de análise no presente trabalho.
- Abriendo las puertas de las instituciones de educación superior: aprendizaje experiencial en el curso de Educación SocialPublication . Araújo, Lia; Fonseca, Susana; Amante, Maria JoãoIn an increasingly aging world, the effort to prepare future professionals for work with older persons starts to be a concern of higher education institutions. This article comments on the importance of experiential learning for preparing Social Education students to intervene with older people and presents an activity piloted at a Polytechnic University of Portugal. About 40 older persons from nursing homes came to a class in order to experiment the games developed during previous classes by the students. In order to understand the benefits of experimenting the games with older persons for the students, 37 students have answered a questionnaire about the importance of this learning activity. Findings on their assessment showed that the experience was generally positive, with all students rating as very important/important for their learning. Through open-ended questions the most mentioned benefits of the activity were the opportunity to social interact, to have contact with older persons, to develop in practice something theoretically conceived in the classroom, and to stimulate older persons. Through closed-ended questions the level of accordance with the pedagogical aims of the activity were very high, with 32 (86.5%) totally agreeing that it served to interact with older persons and 24 (64.9%) agreeing that the activity made them to realize if they like this area of intervention. The authors describe the impact this kind of activity may have on the knowledge about older persons, skills for motivating a group activity and also students’ beliefs, attitudes, and values related to working with older adults.