ABSTRACT
In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are faced with the need to develop intercultural health education strategies from the perspective of health promotion, as a collective empowerment tool to confront the pandemic and for protection and comprehensive health care for indigenous peoples. This chapter describes the alternative educational and pedagogical strategies for conducting a collaborative training course with indigenous empowerment through gathering the knowledge of traditional medicine in communities and creating viable and consensual alternatives for addressing their health problems and solutions. In 2020-2021, a training course in mental health was conducted exclusively to mitigate the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on indigenous populations in the Brazilian Amazon. It was possible to rethink pedagogical practices, technological tools, the student's culture, the curriculum, and the social environment. This sensitivity demonstrates respect for different cultures, ethnicities, and languages, highlighting intercultural dialogue. The completion of the course evidenced the construction of unpublished knowledge about COVID-19 in promoting self-care and autonomy of indigenous people for decision-making based on healthy choices, which protect life in indigenous villages in the Amazon. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Problem-based learning enables nursing students to acquire and develop the competencies necessary for professional nursing. The world pandemic COVID-19 impacted nursing education by including a transition to online and digital platforms. The SWOT analysis was used as an instrument to identify strengths and weaknesses during the period referred, for strategic management of the curriculum course Nursing Decision-Making Process (NDMP). The aim of the study was to identify the positive and negative aspects of the online problem-based learning experience with the NDMP course of the Undergraduate Nursing Program, at the Nursing School of Lisbon. It is a qualitative and exploratory study, with data collected through documental analysis of the two final evaluations of the course: the answers to the open-ended question of the individual questionnaire, and the students’ tutorial groups evaluation. The qualitative data analysis was performed according to Bardin through the webQDA software®. The study included 567 students, rom the 2020 and 2021 academic years. The results were: for the strength, the orientation and personalization teaching strategies developed during the tutorial orientation;for weaknesses, the insufficient time available for the development of the learning process;for the opportunities, the absence of travelling time home to school, enhanced learning;for the threats, the focus was on work overload which resulted from semesters adjustments. The qualitative research methodology with interpretation and comprehension for what is `said´ by the students, allowed us to identify the positive and negative aspects of online problem-based learning and delineate strategies for the future. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Purpose Severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19, which was first reported in humans in 2019, in Wuhan, China. This RNA virus has highly efficient transmission. Sporadic cases of infection in pets have been described. Human to animal transmission seems to occur, however, the epidemiologic role of pets remains unclear. This study aimed to screen dogs and cats from the North and Centre regions of Portugal for the exposure to SARS-CoV-2, during the peak of SARS-CoV-2 human infection in Portugal, which occurred between October 2020 and March 2021. Methods & Materials A cross-sectional study was conducted in dogs and cats presented to veterinary medical centres from Portugal between October 2020 and March 2021, that required blood sampling as part of their diagnostic plan. Only surplus sera or plasma samples were used in this research. Sera or plasma were tested for the presence of specific antibodies anti-SARS-CoV-2 using a commercial ELISA adapted for multi-species detection (ID Screen SARS-CoV-2Double Antigen Multispecies®, IDVet). Laboratory results were expressed in S/P values and samples with an S/P% ≥ 60% were classified as positive. Results A total of 107 animals were sampled (dogs n=60;cats n=47). The canine population was composed by 25 purebred and 35 crossbreed dogs, with ages ranging from 5 months to 15 years of age. Cats were mainly of the domestic short-hair breed (n=45), with ages ranging between 6 months and 9 years old. The estimated rate of exposure was of 5.0% (95% CI: 1.71-13.7%) in dogs (n=3) and 2.13% (95% CI: 1.18-14.26%) in cats (n=1). A doubtful result (50≥S/P%<60%) was obtained in 6.7% (95% CI: 2.6-15.9%) of dogs (n=4) and in 4.26% (95% CI: 2.6-15.9%) of cats (n=3). Conclusion To our best knowledge, this is the first serosurvey conducted in pets in Portugal. An exposure to the agent has been evidenced in dogs and in cats. Further studies must clarify the impact of the exposure in animal health and the role of the pets in spreading the virus.