Firefighters are considered a high-risk group for the development of PTSD and other stress-related diseases. More than the exposure to potentially traumatic events, personal and occupational characteristics have been pointed out as interfering in the perception of stress, which may lead to the emergence of mental and physical symptoms. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between the main factors that contribute to stress-related diseases in firefighters. A systematic review was conducted in order to identify original articles focusing on risk and protective factors for stress in this population. Personality traits, training, experience in extreme situations and social and organizational support influence the perception of stress and, consequently, the choice of coping strategies, which may protect against or potentiate the stress reactions. The findings of this study allow us to draw a relational model that represents the dynamics among the factors related to stress in firefighters. The development of PTSD and other stress-related diseases depends on a host of pre-trauma and post-trauma factors and, although training is an important protective factor, being prepared to face extreme situations does not mean being immune to traumatic stress.

There is unequivocal evidence supporting the negative consequences of parental drug addiction with multiple risks and/or significant harm for children. However, it is clear that substance abuse is not the only determining factor in the parental behavior of individuals with drug addiction problems. This article addresses the need for comprehensive approaches to guide research and clinical intervention for parents with drug addiction problems. The authors propose a psychodynamic approach that emphasizes how the relationship between specific individual and relational factors can explain the fragile parenting qualities of such parents. First, a general literature review on the impact of parental drug addiction on children is presented, clarifying its multifactorial characteristics and identifying risk and protective factors. Then, the authors discuss the problems associated with a lack of mentalizing abilities (e.g., mentalized affectivity) and its relationships with drug-addicted parents’ parenting dimensions, arguing that even when drug use is restrained/controlled, these problems impair the psychic and relational dynamics underlying the development of parenting, limiting reflective parental functioning and putting the quality of the parent–child relationship at risk. Finally, implications are discussed for clinical intervention based on the development of parenting skills by means of an integrated approach that includes, among other individual and relational factors, working on mentalizing abilities, on the reorganization of personal identity, on drug-addicted parents’ identification with their children and their own caregivers, and on maximizing the presence and effects of protective factors in the parent–child relationship and the broader context.

In Portugal, forest fires are responsible for disasters that tend to be repeated annually, leading to dramatic consequences, such as those that have occurred in 2017, with the destruction of hundreds of houses and the deaths of dozens of people. Firefighters who are exposed to these potentially traumatic events are considered a high-risk group for the development of stress-related disorders. The aim of this study was to monitor the progress of two firefighters with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treated through dynamic psychotherapy (DP) and to assess the feasibility of implementing this intervention within fire departments. A female firefighter and a male firefighter, with similar sociodemographic characteristics and PTSD symptom severity, were selected to verify the treatment applicability for both genders. The symptomatology changes were assessed through a set of instruments (PHQ-15, PCL-5, BSI, DASS, and CALPAS-P) applied every three months over 15 months (including pre-treatment, treatment period, and post-treatment). DP seemed to be an effective treatment for PTSD symptoms, with patients showing a state of increasing improvement even after the end of treatment. The acceptability to firefighters, the treatment adherence, the therapeutic alliance, and the reduction in PTSD symptoms suggest feasibility for implementing this intervention inside the Portuguese fire departments.

This study compares the performance, when identifying negative emotions on facial expression, of male offenders (n = 62) with a high level of psychopathy (n = 25) with other criminals with a low level of psychopathy (n = 37), as well as other “successful psychopaths” (n = 12) and non-criminals with a low level of psychopathy (n = 39) in order to clarify the negative emotional processing of offenders and non-offenders that are either high or low in psychopathy. The participants were assessed on a Go/No-Go paradigm in which subjects had to respond to the facial expressions of fear, sadness, and anger. The psychopathy level was obtained by Factor 1 of Hare’s PCL:SV. Both psychopathic groups, criminal and non-criminal, showed worse performance than their non-psychopathic counterparts on the identification of fear and sadness. An overresponsivity to both anger and fear was common to criminals, psychopaths, and non-psychopaths. These results reinforce the idea that psychopathy is related to a poor ability to identify fear and sadness in facial expressions independently of its manifestation in criminal behavior. In turn, a misidentified response pattern, characterized by an overresponsiveness for fear and anger, is common to both psychopaths and the criminal groups, and it appears to be the characteristic that distinguishes the three groups under study from non-criminal non-psychopath controls.

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Inventory of Father Involvement–Short Form (IFI-SF) with respect to its factor structure, reliability, and preliminary concurrent and discriminant validity (Study 1), and to confirm the factor structure in a different sample (Study 2). In Study 1, 380 men (M = 42.2, SD = 6.8) completed the IFI-SF translated version, and a subgroup of 92 men also completed the Portuguese versions of the Parenting Stress Index–Short Form, the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire–Short Form, and the Paternal Involvement Scale. In Study 2, 220 men (M = 43.1, SD = 6.1) completed the IFI-SF translated version. The results of confirmatory factor analyses (Study 1) found that the Portuguese IFI-SF had a bifactor structure, dissimilar to that of the original version. More specifically, a model depicting a general factor and 9 first-order factors was confirmed, with omega hierarchical coefficients indicating that only an IFI-SF global score should be calculated/interpreted. This structure was confirmed in Study 2. Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities in Study 1 and 2 were .93 and .95 for the global scale, respectively. Moreover, there was preliminary evidence of the scale’s concurrent and discriminant validity. These results indicate that the measure is suitable for use in the Portuguese context with an interpretable global score, and may be a useful tool for research regarding the positive aspects of men’s parental involvement, as such information may also be relevant in cross-cultural studies.