Maria Celeste Rocha Simoes
@fmh.utl.pt/pt/contactos/docentes/item
Departamento de Educação, Ciências Sociais e Humanidades, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa
Faculdade de Motricidade Humana
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Anabela Caetano Santos, Celeste Simões, Cátia Branquinho, and Patrícia Arriaga
Elsevier BV
Elisabetta Conte, Valeria Cavioni, Veronica Ornaghi, Alessia Agliati, Sabina Gandellini, Margarida Frade Santos, Anabela Caetano Santos, Celeste Simões, and Ilaria Grazzani
MDPI AG
There is compelling evidence that early school intervention programs enhance children’s development of life skills, with a positive knock-on effect on their behaviors and academic outcomes. To date, most universal interventions have displayed gains in children’s social-emotional competencies with a limited reduction in problem behaviors. This may depend on programs’ curricula focused to a greater extent on preschoolers’ social-emotional competencies rather than problem behaviors. Promoting Mental Health at Schools (PROMEHS) is a European, school-based, universal mental health program explicitly focused on both promoting students’ mental health and preventing negative conduct by adopting a whole-school approach. In this study, we set out to evaluate the effectiveness of the program for Italian and Portuguese preschoolers. We recruited 784 children (age range = 4–5 years), assigning them to either an experimental group (six months’ participation in the PROMEHS program under the guidance of their teachers, who had received ad hoc training) or a waiting list group (no intervention). We found that PROMEHS improved preschoolers’ social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies, prosocial behavior, and academic outcomes. The more practical activities were carried out at school, the more children’s SEL competencies increased, and the more their internalizing and externalizing behaviors decreased. Furthermore, marginalized and disadvantaged children were those who benefited most from the program, displaying both greater improvements in SEL and more marked decreases in internalizing problems compared to the rest of the sample.
Dilan Aksoy, Celeste Simões, and Céline Favre
MDPI AG
Despite the serious emotional and social consequences of adolescents’ exposure to intimate-partner violence (IPV) and the high prevalence of this exposure, few analyses have focused on person-centered models or considered psychological IPV. Studies that address exposure to violence tend to focus on physical IPV. Therefore, in this study, we examine (across two waves) the trajectories of resilience among adolescents who have witnessed psychological IPV by conducting a latent transition analysis and predicting class membership through socio-demographic and individual-level protective factors. Using a sample of 879 (T1, fall 2020) and 770 (T2, spring 2022) adolescent Swiss students with mean ages of 11.74 (SD = 0.64) and 13.77 (SD = 0.53), we identified four distinct time-invariant resilience classes: comorbid-frustrated, internalizing-frustrated, comorbid-satisfied, and resilient. The classes characterized by some level of psychopathological symptoms and basic psychological-needs frustration were the most stable over time. Furthermore, we found the four typical resilience trajectories: recovery, chronic, delayed, and improving. Gender, socioeconomic background, and protective factors showed a significant prediction of class membership in wave 1, highlighting the importance of increasing sensitivity to psychological-IPV exposure on the one hand, and reinforcing the relevance of prevention in schools regarding the promotion of protective factors on the other.
Anabela Caetano Santos, Celeste Simões, Márcia H.S. Melo, Margarida F. Santos, Iara Freitas, Cátia Branquinho, Carmel Cefai, and Patrícia Arriaga
Elsevier BV
Valeria Cavioni, , Ilaria Grazzani, Veronica Ornaghi, Alessia Agliati, Sabina Gandellinia, Carmel Cefai, Liberato Camilleri, Paul Bartolo, Sanja Tatalović Vorkapić,et al.
Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health, University of Malta
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. Keywords: PROMEHS, teachers’ mental health, social and emotional learning, resilience, self-efficacy
Cristiana Furtado Firmino, Luís Manuel Mota Sousa, Lídia Moutinho, Olga Valentim, Fátima Mendes Marques, and Celeste Simões
Universidad de Alicante Servicio de Publicaciones
Christopher J. Anthony, Pui-Wa Lei, Stephen N. Elliott, James C. DiPerna, Carmel Cefai, Paul A. Bartolo, Liberato Camilleri, Mollie O’Riordan, Ilaria Grazzani, Valeria Cavioni,et al.
Hogrefe Publishing Group
Abstract. Although children use social and emotional learning skills (SEL) across the world, the expression of these skills may vary across cultures and developmental levels. Such variability complicates the process of assessing SEL competencies with consequences for understanding differences in SEL skills and developing interventions. To address these challenges, the current study examined the measurement invariance of translated versions of a brief, multi-informant (Teacher, Parent, Student) measure of SEL skills developed in the US with data from six European countries (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, and Romania; n = 10,602; 8,520; 6,611, for the SSIS SEL b – Teacher, Parent, and Student versions, respectively). In addition to cross-country invariance testing, we conducted measurement invariance testing across ages (Primary and Secondary students) for the Teacher and Student forms of the measure. Results revealed a high degree of measurement invariance across countries (Scalar for the Teacher form and Partial Scalar for the Parent and Student form) and developmental levels (Scalar for the Teacher form and Partial Scalar for the Student form), supporting the use of translated versions of the SSIS SEL b for international research across these countries and developmental levels. Implications are discussed for assessment and promoting children’s SEL competencies globally.
Eunice Freitas, Celeste Simões, Ana Mineiro, Pedro J. Rosa, and Anabela C. Santos
Wiley
Anabela Caetano Santos, Patrícia Arriaga, João R. Daniel, Carmel Cefai, Márcia H. S. Melo, Agoritsa Psyllou, Jin-Jy Shieh, Nicola Schutte, Crispiniano Furtado, Celso H. David,et al.
Informa UK Limited
Anabela C. Santos, Celeste Simões, João R. Daniel, and Patrícia Arriaga
Informa UK Limited
Eunice Freitas and Celeste Simões
University of Minho
A resiliência é um conceito dinâmico e interativo que se refere à capacidade de o indivíduo se ajustar e recuperar perante vários tipos de adversidades ou dificuldades mais ou menos prolongadas no tempo. Implementar programas preventivos e promotores de resiliência revela-se, assim, fundamental na infância e na adolescência, principalmente em crianças vulneráveis. O presente estudo procurou explorar a perceção de 37 crianças e adolescentes surdos, com idades compreendidas entre os 3 e os 15 anos, e respetivos pais e professores acerca do impacto da adaptação e implementação do Currículo Europeu para a Resiliência (RESCUR). Neste estudo qualitativo foram realizados grupos focais com as crianças e adolescentes e entrevistas com os pais e professores. Os dados foram sujeitos a análise temática. Os resultados revelam melhorias significativas ao nível do bem-estar individual e social e da aquisição de competências relacionais, comunicacionais e académicas. Estes resultados demonstram a importância de promover a resiliência e aprendizagens específicas, adaptadas ao contexto da surdez, que possibilitem a estas crianças e adolescentes uma aprendizagem integral.
Margarida Frade dos Santos, Celeste Simões, Anabela Caetano Santos, Paula Lebre, and Ilaria Grazzani
MDPI AG
COVID-19 changed and challenged education, with schools obliged to adapt to online settings. This study aims to evaluate the impact of a mental health curriculum implemented at schools, considering the implementation settings: online, onsite, and mixed (online and onsite). From kindergarten to high school, 933 students were evaluated by teachers regarding their social and emotional learning, strengths and difficulties, and academic outcomesin two measuring times: pre- and post-test. A qualitative analysis of teachers’ adaptations to the online implementation was also conducted. Results revealed a positive impact with both mixed and onsite implementation. However, the mixed format demonstrated significant positive changes between the pre—and post-test, namely in relationship skills, responsible decision-making, internalized problems, and academic achievement. The mixed format with few online activities appears to have a more positive impact on students. Nevertheless, implementing social and emotional skills (SES) activities exclusively online seems to positively affect some SES domains more than onsite and mixed formats. Teachers used synchronous (e.g., digital platforms) and asynchronous (e.g., extra resources) adaptations for the implementation. This study shows that implementing mental health programs at schools, in this case, PROMEHS, is beneficial for students, even amidst the pandemic, and regardless of the implementation settings.
Adriana Frazão, Sofia Santos, Ana Rodrigues, Teresa Brandão, Celeste Simões, and Paula Lebre
MDPI AG
Psychomotor intervention has been used to promote development by the enhancement of psychomotor and socio-emotional competence. However, studies with high-quality evidence, describing psychomotor-intervention processes and outcomes are scarce. Therefore, we aimed to generate expert consensus regarding psychomotor-intervention guidelines to support psychomotor therapists through the design and implementation of interventions for preschool (3–6 years old) children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A formal consensus process was carried out, using modified nominal group (phase I) and Delphi survey (phase II) techniques. We recruited 39 Portuguese experts in psychomotor intervention with preschool children with ASD in phase I. Experts participated in at least one of the five online meetings, discussing themes (e.g., objectives, methods, strategies) concerning psychomotor intervention with preschool children with ASD. A deductive thematic analysis from phase I resulted in 111 statements composing round 1 of the Delphi survey. Thirty-five experts completed round 1, and 23 round 2. The experts reached a consensus (agreement > 75%) on 88 statements, grouped under 16 sections, (e.g., intervention source, general setting, intended facilitation-style), reflecting generic psychomotor-intervention guidelines. Consensus guidelines may be used to support transparent and standard psychomotor interventions, although further studies should be undertaken to determine their efficacy.
Carmel Cefai, Liberato Camilleri, Paul Bartolo, Ilaria Grazzani, Valeria Cavioni, Elisabetta Conte, Veronica Ornaghi, Alessia Agliati, Sabina Gandellini, Sanja Tatalovic Vorkapic,et al.
Frontiers Media SA
As children and young people today face ever increasing social, emotional and mental health challenges, schools, as one of the primary systems in children’s lives, are called to broaden their agenda and help to address these challenges. This paper discusses the evaluation of a school-based, universal mental health promotion programme developed recently for the European context. The programme provides a universal curriculum from early years to high school, aiming to promote social and emotional learning and resilience and prevent social, emotional, and behavioural problems in children and adolescents. A total of 7,789 students (and their teachers and parents) from kindergarten to high school across 6 countries in Europe were recruited from 434 classrooms in 124 schools, making use of cluster sampling. A quasi-experimental longitudinal design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme on students’ outcomes by comparing the groups’ outcomes within times (pre-test vs. post-test) and between groups (experimental vs. control group). A total of 779 classroom teachers completed pre-and-post scales measuring students’ social and emotional learning, mental health and academic achievement. Results indicate that the experimental group had significantly larger increase in social and emotional competence and prosocial behaviour, and a decrease in mental health issues (externalising and internalising problems). No significant impact was found for academic outcomes. The findings are discussed in view of the limitations of the study and areas for further research.
Christopher J. Anthony, Stephen N. Elliott, Michayla Yost, Pui-Wa Lei, James C. DiPerna, Carmel Cefai, Liberato Camilleri, Paul A. Bartolo, Ilaria Grazzani, Veronica Ornaghi,et al.
Frontiers Media SA
The SSIS SEL Brief Scales (SSIS SELb) are multi-informant (teacher, parent, and student) measures that were developed to efficiently assess the SEL competencies of school-age youth in the United States. Recently, the SSIS SELb was translated into multiple languages for use in a multi-site study across six European countries (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, and Romania). The purpose of the current study was to examine concurrent and predictive evidence for the SEL Composite scores from the translated versions of the SSIS SELb Scales. Results indicated that SSIS SELb Composite scores demonstrated expected positive concurrent and predictive relationships with scores from the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and negative relationships with scores from the problem behavior scales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Although there were a few exceptions, these patterns generally were consistent across informants (parents, teachers, and students) and samples providing initial validity evidence for the Composite score from the translated versions of the SSIS SELb Scales. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
Baiba Martinsone, Ieva Stokenberga, Ilze Damberga, Inga Supe, Celeste Simões, Paula Lebre, Lúcia Canha, Margarida Santos, Anabela Caetano Santos, Ana Marta Fonseca,et al.
Frontiers Media SA
ObjectivesThe consequences of long-lasting restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic have become a topical question in the latest research. The present study aims to analyze longitudinal changes in adolescents’ social emotional skills, resilience, and behavioral problems. Moreover, the study addresses the impact of adolescents’ social emotional learning on changes in their resilience and behavioral problems over the course of seven months of the pandemic.MethodsThe Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2) measuring points were in October 2020 and May 2021, characterized by high mortality rates and strict restrictions in Europe. For all three countries combined, 512 questionnaires were answered by both adolescents (aged 11-13 and 14-16 years) and their parents. The SSIS-SEL and SDQ student self-report and parent forms were used to evaluate adolescents’ social emotional skills and behavioral problems. The CD-RISC-10 scale was administered to adolescents to measure their self-reported resilience. Several multilevel models were fitted to investigate the changes in adolescents’ social emotional skills, resilience, and behavioral problems, controlling for age and gender. Correlation analysis was carried out to investigate how changes in the adolescents’ social emotional skills were associated with changes in their resilience and mental health adjustment.ResultsComparing T1 and T2 evaluations, adolescents claim they have more behavioral problems, have less social emotional skills, and are less prosocial than perceived by their parents, and this result applies across all countries and age groups. Both informants agree that COVID-19 had a negative impact, reporting an increment in the mean internalizing and externalizing difficulties scores and reductions in social emotional skills, prosocial behavior, and resilience scores. However, these changes are not very conspicuous, and most of them are not significant. Correlation analysis shows that changes in adolescents’ social emotional skills are negatively and significantly related to changes in internalized and externalized problems and positively and significantly related to changes in prosocial behavior and resilience. This implies that adolescents who experienced larger development in social emotional learning also experienced more increase in resilience and prosocial behavior and a decrease in difficulties.ConclusionDue to its longitudinal design, sample size, and multi-informant approach, this study adds to a deeper understanding of the pandemic’s consequences on adolescents’ mental health.
Carmel Cefai, Valeria Cavioni, Paul Bartolo, and Celeste Simoes
Springer International Publishing
Eunice Freitas, Celeste Simões, Anabela C. Santos, and Ana Mineiro
Wiley
Resilience is a dynamic, multidimensional complex concept that implies risk and protective factors, adaptation, and success. Communication and language are often identified as barriers in deaf children's development. However, research linking deafness in childhood and resilience is scarce. The present comprehensive literature review aims to verify which are the predominant risk factors for this group, which protective factors may be identified and if significant differences have been found between deaf and hearing children regarding resilience. A systematic search, performed in seven databases, identified 11 articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2019 that met the criteria. Deaf children experience exposure to risk through obstacles in communication, language, and information failure. Consequently, differences between hearing and deaf children are related to more difficulties in emotion regulation and interpersonal relationships. Principal protective factors are a supportive family, school staff, and peers. Practical implications and recommendations for future research are provided.
Celeste Simões, Anabela C. Santos, Paula Lebre, João R. Daniel, Cátia Branquinho, Tânia Gaspar, and Margarida G. de Matos
SAGE Publications
Resilience is an individual’s ability to adapt successfully to and persevere during and after significant challenges. Resilience programmes based on a socioemotional learning approach have been associated with an increase in protextive factors (e.g., prosocial competencies), improvements in physical and mental health, and a decrease in internalised and externalised symptoms. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of the RESCUR curriculum implemented in Portuguese schools on students’ academic, behavioural, and socioemotional outcomes, based on child and teacher reports. Participants included 1,084 children (53.2% male) aged 3-15 ( M = 7.24, SD = 2.31). A quasi-experimental study compared outcomes for an experimental intervention group (AIG) with a waiting list control group (WG). The results showed the RESCUR programme decreased mental health difficulties while increasing both prosocial behaviours and well-being. In addition, academic performance increased for those in preschool after implementation. Both teachers and children consistently reported positive behavioural changes in resilience-related competencies after implementing RESCUR. Our findings contribute to the recent research on the potential of RESCUR to address key socioemotional competencies and improve relevant protextive factors. Study limitations and future recommendations are addressed.
Anabela Caetano Santos, Patrícia Arriaga, and Celeste Simões
Wiley
Anabela Caetano Santos, Patrícia Arriaga, and Celeste Simões
Elsevier BV
Anabela C. Santos, Celeste Simões, Carmel Cefai, Eunice Freitas, and Patrícia Arriaga
Elsevier BV
Renata Miljević-Riđički, Celeste Simões, and Birgitta Kimber
Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar
Culture and context are important for children's development, affecting, inter alia, resilience. The main aim of our research was to find out if resilience among schoolaged children aged 10-12 differs between three countries – Croatia, Sweden and Portugal. The participants were 750 pupils from Croatian, Swedish and Portuguese schools, 54.5% boys and 45.5% girls. The instrument used was the Child and Youth Resilience Measure-28 (CYRM-28). Descriptive statistics were computed, and one-way between- -groups ANOVAs were performed. The CYRM total score, as well as the item scores, were high. Both differences and similarities between the three countries were found. Sweden and Portugal share the highest number of non-significant comparisons, followed by Croatia and Sweden. Croatia and Portugal have the least between-pair similarities. The results are discussed in the context of countries' needs for education for resilience and application of the resilience curriculum (RESCUR).
Ana Morais, Sofia Santos, Paula Lebre, and Celeste Simões
SAGE Publications
Aging involves changes in psychomotor performance. Few studies are focused on psychomotor skills among older people due, in part, to the inexistence of valid instruments in the field. The purpose of this article is to analyze the factor structure model of the Portuguese version of Exámen Géronto-Psychomoteur. The confirmatory factor analysis was completed in a sample of 497 older persons, aged between 60 and 99 years, with and without dementia (74.4% female; M = 78.0; standard deviation = 8.6). A baseline one-factor model was compared against 2 three-factor models (first and second order) that were developed based on the previous exploratory factor analysis. Fit indices for the one-factor model were slightly higher when compared with other models; however, the second-order model seems to be more representative of human behavior. The results of this study provide evidence to support a three-factor model: cognition, motor function, and physical aspects.
Teresa Santos, Margarida Gaspar de Matos, Celeste Simões, Isabel Leal, and Maria do Céu Machado
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Abstract Background Research on living with a chronic disease (CD) in adolescence is increasing. However, studies on the relevance of psychosocial factors are still needed. The present review, focuses on the impact of living with a CD in adolescence on on quality of life (QoL), health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and psychosocial factors. Methods A literature review of articles identified through PubMed, PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES (these last two ones comprise the Ebsco Host platform) and original peer-reviewed research papers, published between 2010 and 2015, with no restrictions regarding the format/source of interventions, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or types of comparisons were included. Results Eighteen papers met the inclusion criteria and contradictory results were found: the majority showed a significantly higher risk of impairment on QoL/HRQoL and psychosocial factors, whereas others reported a significantly lower risk of impairment (highlighting possible protective factors), or no significant differences. Heterogeneity in the assessment procedures and substantial difficulties in considering adolescence as a single and independent age group, were also noted. Conclusion The higher risk of impairment and the heterogeneity observed between cohorts, reinforce the need to work towards consensual procedures, which allow for more accurate comparisons among studies. Additionally, it conveys the challenge to find more effective interventions. Furthermore, it is highly suggested to routinely assess HRQoL/psychosocial factors within an individualized framework, to considerer adolescents as a single/independent group, to emphasize potential protective factors, and, to increase youth’s participation in their own adaptation process and in health promotion in general. These are possible future directions that could enable multidisciplinary responses to improve HRQoL and psychosocial care in adolescents with a CD.