Percorrer por autor "Oliveira, Joana"
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- Assessing fear of cancer recurrence among adolescents and young adults: the portuguese validation and psychometric assessment of the “Fear of Cancer Recurrence 7” scalePublication . Neves, Maria Carolina; Sales, Célia; Oliveira, Joana; Bártolo, Ana; Prins, Judith; Monteiro, SaraIntroduction: Adolescents and young adults with cancer experience high levels of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR), negatively impacting their lives. However, no measure has been validated worldwide to assess FCR levels among these young people. This study aims to validate the FCR7, a scale that measures FCR, for the Portuguese population of adolescents and young adults. Methods: Ninety-two participants were recruited online. They were primarily women (83.7%) with a mean age of 26.01 years at recruitment and 19.38 years at cancer diagnosis, with a variety of cancer diagnoses and previous treatments. Most participants were no longer under active treatment (75%), and approximately 75.1 months had passed since their diagnosis. Fear of cancer recurrence, anxiety and depression levels, and quality of life were as-sessed.Results: The results showed that FCR7 has good model fit and reliability. Concurrent and divergent validity were also confirmed, with FCR being posi-tively related to anxiety and negatively associated with quality of life. A cut-off score was found, discriminating between clinical and non-clinical levels of FCR. Almost 70% of the participants experienced clinical levels of FCR. We conclude that FCR7 is a valid unidimensional scale to assess FCR levels among Portuguese adolescents and young adults. Conclusion: More research should be conducted to validate FCR measures to be used among adolescents and young adults across the globe. The existence of a valid and brief measure to assess FCR among this population in Portugal is an asset for national health professionals and researchers.
- Exploring immersive multimodal virtual reality training, affective states, and ecological validity in healthy firefighters: quasi-experimental studyPublication . Oliveira, Joana; Dias, Joana Aires; Correia, Rita; Pinheiro, Raquel; Reis, Vitor; Sousa, Daniela; Agostinho, Daniel; Simões, Marco; Castelo-Branco, MiguelBackground: Firefighters face stressful life-threatening events requiring fast decision-making. To better prepare for those situations, training is paramount, but errors in real-life training can be harmful. Virtual reality (VR) simulations provide the desired realism while enabling practice in a secure and controlled environment. Firefighters’ affective states are also crucial as they are a higher-risk group. Objective: To assess the impact on affective states of 2 simulated immersive experiences in a sample of healthy firefighters (before, during, and after the simulation), we pursued a multivariate approach comprising cognitive performance, situational awareness, depression, anxiety, stress, number of previous adverse events experienced, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity, and emotions. The efficacy and ecological validity of an innovative VR haptic system were also tested, exploring its impact on performance. Methods: In collaboration with the Portuguese National Fire Service School, we exposed 22 healthy firefighters to 2 immersive scenarios using the FLAIM Trainer VR system (neutral and arousing scenarios) while recording physiological data in a quasi-experimental study. Baseline cognitive performance, depression, anxiety, stress, number of adverse events, and severity of PTSD symptoms were evaluated. Positive and negative affective states were measured before, between, and after each scenario. Situational awareness, sense of presence, ecological validity, engagement, and negative effects resulting from VR immersion were tested. Results: Baseline positive affect score was high (mean 32.4, SD 7.2) and increased after the VR tasks (partial η2=0.52; Greenhouse-Geisser F1.82,32.78=19.73; P<.001). Contrarily, mean negative affect score remained low (range 11.0-11.9) throughout the study (partial η2=0.02; Greenhouse-Geisser F2.13,38.4=0.39; P=.69). Participants’ feedback on the VR sense of presence was also positive, reporting a high sense of physical space (mean score 3.9, SD 0.8), ecological validity (mean score 3.8, SD 0.6), and engagement (mean score 3.8, SD 0.6). Engagement was related to the number of previously experienced adverse events (r=0.49; P=.02) and positive affect (after the last VR task; r=0.55; P=.02). Conversely, participants reported few negative effects (mean score 1.7, SD 0.6). The negative effects correlated positively with negative affect (after the last VR task; r=0.53; P=.03); and avoidance (r=0.73; P<.001), a PTSD symptom, controlling for relevant baseline variables. Performance related to situational awareness was positive (mean 46.4, SD 34.5), although no relation was found to metacognitively perceived situational awareness (r=–0.12; P=.59). Conclusions: We show that VR is an effective alternative to in-person training as it was considered ecologically valid and engaging while promoting positive emotions, with few negative repercussions. This corroborates the use of VR to test firefighters’ performance and situational awareness. Further research is needed to ascertain that firefighters with PTSD symptomatology are not negatively affected by VR. This study favors the use of VR training and provides new insights on its emotional and cognitive impact on the trainee.
- Fear of cancer recurrence, distress, and quality of life in adolescent and young adult cancer survivorsPublication . Oliveira, Joana; Neves, Maria Carolina; Bártolo, Ana; Sales, Célia; Monteiro, SaraAdolescents and young adult cancer survivors often experience high levels of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR), which significantly impacts their emotional well-being and quality of life. The lack of studies on this target population in Portugal leads to a gap of knowledge that informs the development of interventions and solutions aimed at AYA cancer survivors. This study aimed to analyze the moderating effect of FCR on the relationship between emotional distress and quality of life in AYA surviving cancer. This is a cross-sectional study including 96 participants between the ages of 15 and 25 at the time of diagnosis. Sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial characteristics were collected through a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, the FCR7 scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core-30 (EORTC QLQ-C30). We analyzed correlations between FCR and clinical, sociodemographic factors and tested the direct and indirect relationships between FCR, distress, and quality of life. The results indicated that high levels of FCR were associated with lower emotional functioning, and gender was the only sociodemographic variable significantly associated with FCR. Although anxiety was found to influence emotional functioning in AYAs, FCR did not moderate the relationship between anxiety and emotional functioning. This study allows us to gain more knowledge about the psychological impact of the disease on this population.