Comparison of the Role of Different Levels of Religiousness and Spirituality in Controversial Ethical Issues and Clinical Practice among Brazilian Resident Physicians: Results from the Multicenter SBRAMER Study.

This study compares clinical practice and objections to controversial ethical issues among 836 Brazilian resident physicians according to levels of religiousness/spirituality. Residents with low religiousness/spirituality (s/r) believed less in the influence of spirituality on clinical practice, were less comfortable addressing this issue, tended to listen less carefully and try to change the subject more than other groups. Residents with high spirituality and low religiousness (S/r) inquired more about religious/spiritual issues, while those with high religiousness/spirituality (S/R) were more supportive and reported fewer barriers to addressing these issues. Concerning ethical issues (e.g., physician-assisted suicide, withdrawal of life support, abortion), S/R had more objections than others.

Religiosity and Spirituality of Resident Physicians and Implications for Clinical Practice-the SBRAMER Multicenter Study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the attitudes, knowledge, and experiences of Brazilian resident physicians regarding religiosity/spirituality (R/S), factors associated with addressing this issue, and its influence on clinical practice. METHODS: We report results of the multicenter "Spirituality in Brazilian Medical Residents" (SBRAMER) study involving 7 Brazilian university centers. The Network for Research Spirituality and Health (NERSH) scale (collecting sociodemographic data, opinions about the R/S-health interface, and respondents' R/S characteristics) and the Duke Religion Index were self-administered. Logistic regression models were constructed to determine those factors associated with residents' opinions on spirituality in clinical practice. RESULTS: The sample comprised 879 resident physicians (53.5% of total) from all years of residency with 71.6% from clinical specialties. In general, the residents considered themselves spiritual and religious, despite not regularly attending religious services. Most participants believed R/S had an important influence on patient health (75.2%) and that it was appropriate to discuss these beliefs in clinical encounters with patients (77.1%), although this was not done in routine clinical practice (14.4%). The main barriers to discussing R/S were maintaining professional neutrality (31.4%), concern about offending patients (29.1%), and insufficient time (26.2%). Factors including female gender, clinical specialty (e.g., internal medicine, family medicine, psychiatry) as opposed to surgical specialty (e.g., surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedics), having had formal training on R/S, and higher levels of R/S were associated with greater discussion of and more positive opinions about R/S. CONCLUSION: Brazilian resident physicians held that religious and spiritual beliefs can influence health, and deemed it appropriate for physicians to discuss this issue. However, lack of training was one of the main obstacles to addressing R/S issues in clinical practice. Educators should draw on these data to conduct interventions and produce content on the subject in residency programs.

Influência da frequência semanal do treinamento de força sobre o desempenho funcional em idosas / Influence of the weekly frequency of strength training on functional performance in older women

Introdução: No envelhecimento ocorrem declínios estruturais e funcionais que podem afetar a independência física. O treinamento de força (TF) é capaz de promover melhoras neste quesito, entretanto, poucos experimentos investigaram a influencia da frequência semanal. Objetivo: verificar a influência da frequência semanal do TF sobre o desempenho funcional em idosas. Métodos: 21 mulheres idosas foram divididas em dois grupos que treinavam em uma (G1: n=11) ou duas vezes por semana (G2: n=10). O TF aplicado foi no formato de circuito que consistiu de três passagens com intervalo de 30 segundos entre os exercícios e faixa de repetições entre oito a 10. Resultados: Os resultados demonstraram melhora em relação ao pré-treinamento em todos os testes em ambos os grupos (p<0,05). No entanto, não foram observadas diferenças significativas entre os grupos (p>0,05). Conclusão: O TF é capaz de promover melhoras no desempenho funcional independe da frequência de treinamento.

Introducion: Aging occur declines structural and functional that can to affect physical independence. Objective: Verify the influence of weekly frequency of Strength Training (ST) on functional performance in older women. Methods: 21 older women were divided in two groups that trained in one (G1: n=11) or two times a week (G2: n=10). The ST applied was in format of circuit that consisted of three turns with interval of 30 seconds in between exercises and repetitions between eight and 10. Results: Results showed improvement over pre-training in all tests in both groups (p <0.05). However, no significant differences were observed between groups (p> 0.05). Conclusion: ST is capable of promoting improvements in functional performance regardless of training frequency.

Comparison of the effect of different modalities of physical exercise on functionality and anthropometric measurements in community-dwelling older women.

The present study aims to assess the effect of different modalities of physical exercises ("Functional Gymnastics"-FG, "Resistance Training"-RT and "Pilates combined with Hydrogymnastics"-PCH) on functional capacity and anthropometric measurements of 148 older women (60 years old or more). A comparative observational study was conducted. Functional and anthropometric measurements were assessed at baseline and after 16 weeks. All groups assessed showed significant changes between baseline and post-training. On the comparison of pre and post-training, differences in anthropometric measurements but not in functional test performance were found. The PCH had greater weight loss compared to the FG and RT, reduction in BMI compared to the FG and RT; reduction in waist compared to the FG and RT, and in hip compared to the RT. Although all groups improved, Pilates/Hydrogymnastics combination was more strongly associated with reductions in weight, BMI, waist and hip measurements but not functionality, than other modalities. These results highlight the role of combination physical exercise training in older women.