There is a growing recognition that positive psychological functioning (which includes constructs such as optimism and hope) influences health. However, the understanding of these underlying mechanisms in relation to health is limited. Therefore, this review sought to identify what the scientific literature says about the influence of optimism and hope on chronic disease treatment. A search was conducted in the PsycINFO, Scopus, Pubmed, and Web of Science databases using the indexing terms optimism, hope, chronic diseases, randomized controlled trial, and treatment between 1998 and 2015. In the articles, we identified the most studied diseases in context, the assessment instruments used, the participant characteristics investigated, the results found, and the publication dates. From our analysis of the articles that met our inclusion criteria, it appears that the study of these constructs is recent and there is evidence that individuals with greater optimism and hope seek to engage in healthier behaviors, regardless of their clinical status, and that this contributes to chronic disease treatment. More research is needed so that targeted interventions can be carried out effectively in chronic disease treatment.

<p>Positive Psychology focuses on human virtues and strengths, in opposition to traditional Psychology, which, until the end of 90´s, considered mainly issues regarding healing and damage repair. The aim of this study is to present the profile of Brazilian studies in Positive Psychology through a systematic literature review. It was found that studies in Positive Psychology in Brazil are still in their inception and gradually gaining recognition. However, despite a growing interest in this field of study, the Brazilian literature on this theme is still lacking in breadth and depth, especially regarding clinical interventions following the framework of Positive Psychology.</p>

Purpose: The aim of this work is to verify the efficacy of direct and indirect vocal interventions in preventing voice disorders, with specific and combined strategies, by a systematic review of the literature.Research strategies: Articles published from January, 1980 to April, 2013 were searched in the electronic databases MEDLINE (accessed through PubMed), PubMed, LILACS, SciELO, Scopus and Web of Science. Selection criteria: All the articles that presented randomized controlled studies with some type of vocal intervention with teachers as their primary aim were included. Articles that presented subjects with larynx and voice alterations were excluded. Results: As a result of the initial search, 677 studies were identified, five of which followed the inclusion criteria. Four more articles, found in the references of the studies selected for reading of the full text, were included. Conclusion:The combined intervention (direct and indirect) presented a significant improvement in vocal quality parameters and self-assessment, even in a short period of time. In other studies, which focused on the comparison between combined and specific interventions (direct or indirect), no differences were observed, although improvements in some of the assessed vocal parameters were described. A limitation of this review is the restriction of the methodological design of the studies, including only randomized clinical trials. The combined vocal intervention presented more significant results than the specific intervention. apresentou melhora significativa em parâmetros da qualidade vocal e na autoavaliação da voz, mesmo em curto período de tempo. Em outros estudos, cujo foco era a comparação entre a intervenção combinada e intervenções isoladas (direta ou indireta), não foram observadas diferenças significativas, apesar de serem descritas melhoras em alguns dos parâ-metros vocais avaliados. Como limitação desta revisão, pode-se incluir a restrição quanto ao desenho metodológico dos estudos, incluindo apenas ensaios clínicos randomizados. A intervenção vocal combinada apresenta resultados mais expressivos do que a intervenção isolada.

Introduction  In Brazil, estimates show that 14.7% of the adult population smokes, and changes in smell and taste arising from tobacco consumption are largely present in this population, which is an aggravating factor to these dysfunctions. Objectives  The objective of this study is to systematically review the findings in the literature about the influence of smoking on smell and taste. Data Synthesis  Our research covered articles published from January 1980 to August 2014 in the following databases: MEDLINE (accessed through PubMed), LILACS, Cochrane Library, and SciELO. We conducted separate lines of research: one concerning smell and the other, taste. We analyzed all the articles that presented randomized controlled studies involving the relation between smoking and smell and taste. Articles that presented unclear methodologies and those whose main results did not target the smell or taste of the subjects were excluded. Titles and abstracts of the articles identified by the research strategy were evaluated by researchers. We included four studies, two of which were exclusively about smell: the first noted the relation between the perception of puff strength and nicotine content; the second did not find any differences in the thresholds and discriminative capacity between smokers and nonsmokers. One article considered only taste and supports the relation between smoking and flavor, another considered both sensory modalities and observes positive results toward the relation immediately after smoking cessation. Conclusion  Three of the four studies presented positive results for the researched variables.

RESUMODiante da necessidade de expandir as informações fornecidas no Sistema de Avaliação de Testes Psicológicos (SATEPSI) sobre os instrumentos de avaliação psicológica infantil, objetivou-se indicar os testes psicológicos para uso em crianças e adolescentes até os 18 anos de idade aprovados pelo Conselho Federal de Psicologia. Considerou-se a faixa etária indicada para uso, construto avaliado e idade das amostras de normatização dos instrumentos. ABSTRACT -Analysis of psychological manuals approved by SATEPSI for assessment of children and adolescents in BrazilFaced with the need to expand the information provided in the Psychological Testing Assessment System (SATEPSI) on the instruments of child psychological evaluation, this study aimed to indicate the psychological tests for use in children and adolescents up to 18 years of age approved by the Federal Council of Psychology. The age range recommended for use, the rated construct and the age of standardization samples of the instruments were considered. We analyzed 158 tests on the list of favorable SATEPSI instruments, through the search for manuals, contact with the authors, publishing or publishing validation studies of instruments. Of the 158 tests, 11.39% were directed exclusively to the evaluation of children, the most prevalent constructs were intelligence, personality and social skills. The greatest need is observed in the age group of zero to five years old. Only 2.53% only assessed adolescents, and in general these instruments were related to learning, self-concept and career guidance. The results also showed that many manuals do not specify to which age group the test is indicated, or have discrepancy between the age of indication and age of the participants of the search study evidence of validity. The most recent manuals provide more detailed information and more related studies, which shows the positive impact of SATEPSI effort to qualify the instruments available. Keywords: psychological assessment; psychological testing; children; adolescents; psychometrics. RESUMEN -Análisis de los manuales psicológicos aprobados por el SATEPSI para la evaluación de niños y adolescentes en BrasilFrente a la necesidad de ampliar los datos ofrecidos en el "Psychological Testing System Assessment" (SATEPSI) sobre los instrumentos de evaluación psicológica de niños, esto estudio tuvo como objetivo indicar las pruebas psicológicas para uso en niños y adolescentes hasta 18 años, aprobadas por el Consejo Federal de Psicología. Para tanto, se consideró el rango de edad recomendado para su uso, el constructo investigado y la edad de las muestras de normas de los instrumentos. Se han analizado 158 pruebas presentes en la lista de instrumentos favorables del SATEPSI, a través de la búsqueda por manuales, del contacto con los autores, de editoras de la publicación o de los estudios de validez de los instrumentos. De las 158 pruebas, 11,39% fueron dirigidas exclusivamente a la evaluación de los niños, y los constructos más prevalentes fueron la inteligencia, la personal...

Purpose:To conduct a systematic review of literature production related to risk factors for proper oral language development in children.Methods:We used the terms "child language," "risk factors," and "randomized controlled trial" in MEDLINE (accessed via PubMed), Lilacs, SciELO, and The Cochrane Library from January 1980 to February 2014. Randomized controlled trials involving the study of some risk factors related to child language were included. Works with individuals who were not from the age group 0–12 years and presented no reliable definition of risk factors were excluded. The research findings were classified according to their theme and categorized methodological aspects.Results:We observed the lack of a standardized list of risk factors for language available for health professionals. The main risk factor mentioned was family dynamics, followed by interaction with parents, immediate social environment, and encouragement given to the child in the first years of life. It was also observed that organic hazards such as brain injury, persistent otitis media, and cardiac surgery, besides the type of food and parental counseling, may be related to language disorders.Conclusion:More randomized controlled trials involving the evaluation of risk factors for child language and the creation of further studies involving children above 6 years of age and males are needed.

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There is no consensus in the literature as to neuropsychological functioning, the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and the definitions of the OCS dimensions. We conducted a cross-sectional study investigating the relationship between executive function and OCS severity in the various dimensions, according to the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale criteria. We evaluated 28 patients with OCS, using eight neuropsychological instruments to evaluate executive function. We found that OCS severity in the contamination/cleaning dimension correlates negatively with executive function, inhibitory control and attentional control. Severity in the hoarding dimension correlated positively with cognitive flexibility, visual processing and logical reasoning, whereas it correlated negatively with the capacity to develop efficient complex problem-solving strategies. There was also a positive correlation between severity in the symmetry/ordering dimension and attentional control. Our findings suggest that the profile of executive function in OCD is defined by the severity of the various OCS dimensions.