Browsing by Author "Leal, Anna Kosmider"
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- Asthma prevalence in adolescent students from a Portuguese primary and secondary schoolPublication . Flores, Pedro Miguel; Teixeira, José Eduardo; Leal, Anna Kosmider; Branquinho, Luís; Fonseca, Rui Brito; Silva-Santos, Sandra; Batista, Amanda; Encarnação, Samuel; Monteiro, A.M.; Ribeiro, Joana; Forte, PedroAsthma is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide, with a considerable increase, especially in children. It is considered the main cause of childhood morbidity, school absenteeism, and limitations in sports practice. The causes are multifactorial, and their prevalence varies from region to region, thus verifying a great disparity in the estimates of the prevalence of asthma. In this sense, the objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of asthma, its control, as well as the frequency of associated symptoms, in adolescents who attended the 3rd cycle of basic education and secondary education in schools in the municipalities of Paços de Ferreira, Paredes, and Penafiel. The sample consisted of 1222 (587 males and 635 females) (p = 0.17) aged between 12 and 17 years. The instruments used to diagnose asthma-associated symptoms were the standard questionnaire of the “International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood—ISAAC” and to check whether asthma was controlled, the “Test for Asthma Control” questionnaire was used. The results reveal a high prevalence of adolescents with asthma (8.9%) with a significant percentage that did not have the disease under control (38%). There was also a considerable percentage of adolescents who, despite not having asthma, have many symptoms associated with the disease. These results may be associated with environmental factors.
- The necessity of a reduced version of the psychomotor battery to screen for learning difficulties in preschool childrenPublication . Flores, Pedro Miguel; Teixeira, José Eduardo; Leal, Anna Kosmider; Ribeiro, Joana; Monteiro, A.M.; Fonseca, Rui Brito; Branquinho, Luís; Ferraz, Ricardo; Forte, PedroPsychomotor development is important for effective learning. Therefore, psychomotor observation is essential beginning in preschool education; however, observational instruments require practice, experience and time-consuming procedures. Psychomotor Battery (PBM) is useful to observe children’s psychomotor profile but needs 30 to 40 min per child to be applied. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to justify the need of a reduced version of the PBM to enable more frequent psychomotor observations at this level of education. A total of 70 preschool students with typical development were observed over 4 months in a school context, among which 31 were males and 39 were females (4- and 5-year-old). PBM is composed by seven psychomotor factors (PMF) distributed across three neuropsychological functional units. The total average of points for psychomotor observations was obtained using multiple linear regression (MLR) with a Stepwise method. For associations, Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was used. The results of this study showed that it is possible to reduce the average time of psychomotor observation by 43.7% (13 min and 31 s), maintaining a very strong association with the total average of points obtained. This reduction in observation time may contribute to the increase in psychomotor observations of preschool children using PMB.