Social inclusion and behaviour challenges in naturalistic settings require targeted interventions when general support is insufficient. Psychomotor interventions have integrated features suitable for preschool children; however, further research is needed to establish their effectiveness. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and social validity of a selective psychomotor intervention programme on psychomotor and socioemotional skills of preschool children (aged 4-6 years) with autism spectrum disorder (n=4) and neurotypical development (n=17). A sequential mixed-methods pre-post study without a control group investigates the preliminary effects on neuro-psychomotor functions, social skills, and problem behaviours. Data from focus groups and observations were also explored after a 12-session group-based intervention that included expressive and action-oriented bodily experiences. A significant improvement in neuro-psychomotor functions was found (z= -3.921, p<.001, r=.86), despite no considerable differences in the social and behavioural skills reported by parents and teachers. These findings provide an outlook on the psychomotor intervention programme's validity and potential benefits for further study replication.

BACKGROUND:Self-determination has received increasing interest worldwide, both as a key concept in disability policy and as a guiding principle for best practices and lifelong learning. METHOD:The study examined correlations between the Portuguese versions of the Self-Determination Inventory (SDI) and the Self-Determination Scale. A total of 168 participants with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) aged 13-60 years (24.7 ± 12.2) completed both instruments. RESULTS:Moderate and significant correlations were found, providing preliminary criterion evidence for the Portuguese translation of the SDI. The main findings include: (1) participants with IDD reported fewer self-determination actions, (2) women scored higher than men and (3) academic qualifications had a limited influence on self-determination scores. CONCLUSIONS:The SDI PT translation is a valid and reliable tool that supports the operationalisation of the construct within the Portuguese context. This study also contributes to a deeper understanding of how self-determination manifests across diverse populations, offering insights into inclusive practices and future theoretical developments.

Research on psychomotor interventions that support the diverse developmental profiles of preschool children, including those on the autism spectrum (ASD) and their neurotypical peers (ND), in inclusive settings is still limited. This pilot study used a quasi-experimental, pre- and post-test design to evaluate the effects of a psychomotor intervention program on psychomotor functions, social skills and behavioural problems. The intervention group included six children with ASD and 38 ND peers, while the comparison group had seven children with ASD and 35 ND peers. Assessments used the Neuropsychomotor Function Evaluation Battery (NPmot.pt) and the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS-2). The psychomotor intervention program, comprising 12 weekly sessions, was implemented in Portuguese preschool classrooms. After adjusting for age, sex, and baseline scores, the intervention significantly reduced teacher-reported behavioural problems (F (1, 57) = 5.53, p = 0.02), with a medium effect size (eta 2 = 0.09). Improvements in psychomotor functions and social skills were observed over time in intervention and comparison groups, although between-group differences did not reach statistical significance. The program was implemented with high fidelity and with positive participant responsiveness. Practical and research implications are discussed, underscoring the need for longitudinal studies with larger samples, particularly among children with ASD.

BACKGROUND:Promoting self-determination during adolescence is crucial for enhancing academic engagement and social inclusion. This study examined the effects of the Self-Determined Learning Model (SDLMI) on the self-determination of students with and without intellectual disability (ID). METHODS:A randomised parallel-group trial involved 90 adolescents aged 13-17 years (M = 14.05, SD = 1.39), including students with (n = 41, 45.6%) and without ID (n = 49, 54.4%). Participants were randomly allocated to either the experimental (n = 41) group-which received the 12-week SDLMI intervention or the control group (n = 49), which followed standard school activities. Total composite self-determination scores and its components-constructs and essential characteristics were assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Self-Determination Inventory: Student Report (SDI:SR). RESULTS:Linear mixed-effects models were employed as the primary inferential analysis to examine Group × Time interaction effects. Baseline equivalence between groups was confirmed. Linear mixed-effects modelling revealed significant effects for the total composite self-determination score, demonstrating significantly greater improvements in the experimental group compared to the control group. Improvements were particularly evident in components-construct of autonomy (p = 0.001, d = 0.89) and self-realisation (p = 0.05, d = 0.56). Effect sizes indicated small-to-moderate gains, suggesting significant but incremental changes over the intervention period. No statistically significant changes were observed in the control group. CONCLUSIONS:The findings provide robust evidence for the causal efficacy of SDLMI as a viable instructional framework to foster self-determination skills for students with and without ID in mainstream inclusive classrooms.

PURPOSE:To explore the experiences of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and their parents participating in Frame Football, an adapted sport designed for individuals with walking limitations. MATERIALS AND METHODS:A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, involving semi-structured interviews with eight children (aged 9-16 years, GMFCS Levels II-IV) and ten parents. Data was analyzed using the Framework Method, with coding structured around the F-words for Child Development (Function, Family, Fitness, Fun, Friends, and Future). RESULTS:Interpretive analysis revealed three overarching themes: (1) Redefining Ability through Adapted Play-assistive devices were reimagined as enabling tools, supporting motor function and participation; (2) Belonging through Shared Experience-participants described emotional safety and social connection through shared challenges and teamwork; and (3) Claiming Identity as a Football Player-children embraced athletic roles, building confidence and pride through symbolic and embodied participation in the sport. These experiences spanned multiple F-words domains and highlighted the program's social and emotional significance. CONCLUSIONS:Frame Football offers a meaningful, inclusive context in which children with CP can engage physically, connect socially, and develop positive self-identities. These findings underscore the potential of adapted sports to promote participation, reframe perceptions of ability, and support holistic development within pediatric rehabilitation.

This study examined the correlations between adaptive behavior, support needs, quality of life (QOL), and self-determination in adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The sample comprised 80 adults (>18 y, 27 ± 13.8), 40 women and 40 men, with mild and moderate IDD, all institutionalized. Portuguese versions of four instruments were administered: Adaptive Behavior Scale, Supports Intensity Scale, Personal Outcomes Scale, and Self-Determination Inventory. These were administered to better understand how these constructs interact with and influence one another in real-life contexts. The correlations between self-determination and adaptive behavior were weak to moderate, highlighting a more complex and possibly indirect relationship between these two constructs. Self-determination showed negative correlations with support needs, indicating that individuals with more supports need may face more barriers to acting autonomously or making meaningful choices. The findings revealed significant and positive correlations between the core components and essential characteristics of self-determination and various QOL domains. This suggests that individuals who report a higher QOL also tend to demonstrate greater self-determined behavior and are more likely to engage in volitional behavior. Notably, both QOL and support needs emerged as significant and robust predictors of self-determination, underscoring the central role played by contextual and environmental factors in shaping one's capacity to act with agency. These findings underscore the importance of fostering environments that not only reduce unnecessary support dependence, but also actively promote QOL, autonomy, and meaningful participation. Thus, services and policies can more effectively support the realization of self-determination for people with IDD.

BACKGROUND:Self-determination has seen increasing interest in literature worldwide, in terms of its contextualisation, operationalisation and assessment. Developing sound and robust instruments will enable valid assessment both within individual countries and in cross-cultural comparisons. METHODS:The new Self-Determination Inventory (SDI) was translated and adapted into Portuguese, for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and our goal was to analyse the SDI Portuguese Translation's factorial structure. The inventory was administered to 408 participants, between 13 and 73 years old (27 ± 13.6), 246 females and 162 males, with (n = 146) and without IDD (n = 262). Factor structure, measurement invariance and latent difference between persons with and without IDD were analysed. RESULTS:The confirmatory factor analysis supported the SDI Portuguese Translations' psychometric properties. The data fit a unidimensional model, indicating that the 21 items represent the construct better than a three-factor model. The measurement invariance across groups confirms that the latent construct can be measured and the assessment used with both groups. However, participants with IDD experience greater variability in scores and tend to report lower levels of self-determination. CONCLUSIONS:Findings provide support for the use of SDI Portuguese Translation for persons with and without IDD. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

RESUMO: As novas políticas educativas e reabilitativas exigem a pessoa no centro do processo, para a capacitação e cidadania, fundamentada na autodeterminação. A teoria de agência causal assume que as ações-decisões são tomadas pelas pessoas no controlo da própria vida em função dos seus objetivos. Todavia, as pessoas com dificuldades intelectuais e desenvolvimentais (DID) continuam a ser desvalorizadas, vendo-se restringidas nestas decisões. Apesar de preditor da qualidade de vida e do interesse crescente, a autodeterminação é um constructo pouco explorado. A teoria exige instrumentos de avaliação robustos. Este artigo preliminar objetiva analisar a fiabilidade e validade da versão portuguesa do Inventário de Autodeterminação (IADp), aplicado a 52 participantes, entre 13-54 anos (22.37±13.7), 23 do género feminino e 29 do masculino, com e sem DID. Os índices de validade de conteúdo (IVC>.90) confirmam a representatividade dos itens, corroborados por acordos moderados-forte entre peritos (≥.76) e Kappa de Cohen (.49≤k≤1). A consistência interna e estabilidade temporal são excelentes (α≥.91; r≥.90). As correlações são significativas (p<.01) entre-componentes (r≥.39), componentes-características (r≥.56), características (r≥70) e total (r>.71). Os itens parecem organizar-se por três fatores, e infere-se a invariância dos itens entre participantes com e sem DID. O IADp parece ser um instrumento adequado para avaliar a autodeterminação.

RESUMO O reconhecimento da autodeterminação tem vindo a ser evidente também no campo da Dificuldade Intelectual e Desenvolvimental (DID), visto que a pessoa deve assumir-se como agente ativo e decisor na própria vida. A aprendizagem das competências autodeterminadas é fundamental dada a sua transversalidade contextual, não se devendo restringir apenas à adolescência. Em Portugal, as evidências são escassas e baseadas no anterior modelo. Assim sendo, o objetivo deste estudo foi identificar o perfil de autodeterminação, à luz da teoria do agente causal, de adultos com DID, no intuito de analisar as variáveis que o influenciam. A versão portuguesa do Inventário de Autodeterminação foi aplicada a 44 participantes entre os 21-73 anos (40.77±12.07), 20 do género feminino e 24 do masculino. Metade da amostra eram participantes com DID, todos institucionalizados. A consistência interna foi aceitável (α=.65). A análise comparativa pelo diagnóstico, género, idade, habilitações académicas, situação profissional e local de residência apontou a tendência para perfis semelhantes (p>.05). As diferenças encontradas estão associadas a perfis mais autodeterminados de adultos com DID, inferindo-se o maior peso das características envolvimentais do que individuais (diagnóstico). As pessoas com DID reconhecem a autodeterminação como relevante e apresentam as habilidades para a decisão. Recomendações para a investigação e para a prática serão avançadas.

Food supply systems are national critical infrastructures embedded in changing and uncertain environments. Hence, testing and evaluating them in their ability to meet food supply is key to reduce vulnerability to shortages. This paper presents an optimization approach to assess the resilience of nationwide food supply systems using the N-1 contingency criteria, which investigates whether the isolation of one region from the transport network destabilizes the food supply. To this end, we build a multi-regional multi-commodity large-scale model for food flow networks. Then, we implement a constraint optimization problem to find the management of food flows along the supply chain stages that minimize shortage, costs and penalties induced by the disruption for both the isolated and connected system. Lastly, resilience is quantified with established metrics. A numerical case study illustrates the proposed method, revealing which regions are critical to maintain the stability of the national food supply.

Background/Objectives: The relevance of psychomotor skills in children’s growth is being increasingly recognized. The transversal role of psychomotor skills in learning performance is described through a link between cognitive and motor functioning, promoting socio-affective–expressive competencies, but there is a scarcity of evidence from the field. A two-fold goal was defined: to investigate the relationship between psychomotor functions and academic performance and to examine the factors affecting children’s academic performance. Methods: The Portuguese versions of the Neuropsychomotor Functions Assessment Battery for Children (NPmot.pt), Preschool Diagnostic Tasks (PRE), and School Learning Skills Battery (SLSB) were applied to 350 children (85.72 ± 24.23 months) with and without disabilities attending mainstream schools. Results: Pearson correlations and regression analyses were used. NPmot.pt domains showed moderate to strong correlations with PRE domains (0.30 < r < 0.82) and weak ones with SLSB domains (r < 0.30). Psychomotor development is a stronger predictor (p < 0.001) of pre-academic performance outcomes: (βTonus = 0.67, βGross Motor Skills = 1.04, βSpatial Orientation = −1.44, βRhythm = −1.59 and βAuditory Attention = 3.68) than of academic performance above 7 years old (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Results strengthen the importance of psychomotor skills development from an early age, also at school, with implications for an early psychomotor assessment and intervention for children with and without disabilities. Tailor-fit interventions, including strategies to improve psychomotor skills, should be promoted during the school process of all children for a successful learning process.

This article aims to investigate the relationships between teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning and their practices, and the impact that a set of sociodemographic variables has on those conceptions and practices.For this purpose, an online questionnaire, specifically elaborated for the study was applied to 562 teachers from primary to secondary education.Pearson's R correlation coefficient was used to analyse the relationship between teachers' conceptions and practices.The Student's T-test and ANOVA were used to compare the average score of conceptions and practices according to gender, years of service, education, scientific teaching area, and education level.The binary logistic regression was performed to analyse the association between the teachers' conception and practice and the sociodemographic variables.Results show that comprehensive and collaborative conceptions are positively related to inclusive practices and systematic and conventional conceptions are positively related to conservative practices.Women had a higher score than men on comprehensive and collaborative conceptions, inclusive practices and conservative practices.Teachers with more experience had higher systematic and conventional conceptions than those with up to 25 years of service.Those from the scientific area of special education and primary education presented scores of comprehensive and collaborative conceptions, inclusive practices and conservative practices significantly higher than the teachers of the remaining scientific areas.The lower the education level where teachers teach, the higher the score in the dimensions related to conceptions and practices.

Motor Neurological Soft Signs (MNSS) has been increasingly studied in people with schizophrenia spectrum, contributing to the knowledge of psychomotor disorders. However, there is still scarce the availability of valid and reliable instruments for this assessment worldwide, and in Portugal there is none. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the factor structure model of the Portuguese version of the Brief Motor Scale. Method: The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in a sample of 103 participants with schizophrenia, 82 males and 21 females, mean age 44.21 (+11.25). A one-factor model was compared with three two-factor models based on the literature and a previous exploratory factor analysis. Results: The results of this study showed good fit indices and provide evidence to support a two-factor model for the assessment of motor neurological soft signs in persons with schizophrenia. Conclusions: It was proposed a new construct for MNSS assessment consists of 2 domains and 9 items distributed among them.

Objetivo: Mapear a evidência científica relativa às dificuldades dos enfermeiros no cuidar espiritual da pessoa em situação paliativa. Método: Estudo do tipo Scoping Review, com base nas recomendações PRISMA-ScR e do protocolo definido pelo Joanna Briggs Institute. Pesquisa em 4 bases de dados: Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), National Library of Medicine (PUBMED), Cummulative Index to Nursing and Allied Heath Literature (CINAHL) e Web of Science e considerados estudos dos últimos 5 anos. Resultado: Amostra final de 10 estudos. Foram identificadas várias dificuldades dos enfermeiros no cuidar espiritual da pessoa em situação paliativa, dos quais destacamos: falta de formação; falta de tempo; falta de reconhecimento; falta de confiança; evitamento; referenciação tardia; espiritualidade dos enfermeiros pouco desenvolvida; crenças diferentes. Conclusão: Foram identificadas múltiplas dificuldades sentidas pelos enfermeiros no cuidar espiritual, as quais passam quer por défices na formação, quer por défices organizacionais, quer por défices pessoais. Descritores: Cuidados Paliativos; Cuidados de fim de vida; Enfermagem; Espiritualidade; Cuidado Espiritual.

RESUMO Défices na Comunicação Social e Interação Social (CSIS) e nos Padrões Restritos e Repetitivos de Comportamentos, Interesses ou Atividades (PRRCIA) em crianças com Perturbação do Espetro do Autismo (PEA) são frequentemente explicados por problemas nas funções executivas (FE) e empatia. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar associações entre FE e empatia em 75 crianças com PEA (9,67±1,29), previamente separadas em dois grupos de acordo com a frequência de comportamentos típicos da PEA. Usando o Inventário Comportamental de Avaliação das Funções Executivas - Pais e a Escala de Avaliação da Empatia foram encontradas diferentes associações entre FE e empatia em ambos os grupos. No grupo com baixa frequência de comportamentos, as FE têm maior associação com CSIS (Grupo 1) do que os PRRCIA. O grupo com maior frequência de comportamentos e frequência mais homogênea entre os dois domínios (Grupo 2) apresentou associações mais fortes entre FE e PRRCIA e entre FE e empatia cognitiva. Comportamentos típicos do PEA foram melhor explicados pelas FE do que por empatia. A identificação de dificuldades nos processos neurocognitivos implicados nos comportamentos típicos da PEA poderá levar à maior adequação da intervenção numa perspetiva mais abrangente e, consequentemente, melhorar o funcionamento e comportamento adaptativo da criança no seu dia a dia.