The aim of this study was to give an in-depth consideration of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients' subjective view of the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on their lives. A systematic review in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and PsychInfo databases yielded 3306 articles, of which 387 were duplicates, 263 remained after screening abstract and title; of them, 4 were excluded (editorial or due to lacking of full text) remaining a total of 259 for full text reading. Among these, eight studies met the inclusion criteria and were finally included. The meta-ethnography approach synthesized an understanding of the studies, which focused on constructing interpretations and developed a 'line-of-argument' synthesis. The psychosocial support of PR contributes to the patients' strength and desire for participation and the health education leads to illness-perception learning. Both psychosocial support and health education develop patients' empowerment, while PR promotes opportunities to health transitions. The empowerment experienced by the patients in taking advantage of these opportunities leads to positive impacts over time. If they do not exploit these occasions, negative impacts arise in their life, which make the treatment assistance or follow-up more difficult. The COPD patients' feedback revealed that PR promotes a better 'way of life', well-being and important behavioural changes towards health promotion.

BackgroundReligious coping (RC) is defined as the use of behavioral and cognitive techniques in stressful life events in a multidimensional construct with positive and negative effects on outcomes, while religiosity is considered a use of individual beliefs, values, practices, and rituals related to faith. There is no evidence for the effects of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in RC and religiosity in patients with COPD. The aims of this study were 1) to compare RC and religiosity in patients with COPD following PR and 2) to investigate associations between changes in RC, religiosity and exercise capacity, quality of life (QoL), anxiety, depression, and dyspnea.MethodsSeventy-four patients were enrolled in this study including 38 patients in the PR group and 36 patients in the control group. PR protocol was composed of a 12-week (three sessions per week, 60 min per day) outpatient comprehensive program, and the control group was composed of patients in a waiting list for admission to PR program. RC, religiosity, exercise capacity, QoL, anxiety, depression, and dyspnea were measured before and after the study protocol.ResultsPositive religious coping and organizational religious activities increased (p=0.01; p<0.001, respectively), while negative religious coping decreased (p=0.03) after 12 weeks in the PR group (p<0.001). Significant associations were observed between changes in RC, organizational religiosity with exercise capacity, and QoL following PR. No differences were found in the control group.ConclusionPR improves RC and organizational religiosity in patients with COPD, and these improvements are related to increases in exercise capacity and QoL.

Este artigo objetivou descrever e analisar a rede de apoio social de pacientes com diagnóstico de esquizofrenia de um Centro de Atenção Psicossocial II (CAPS II) do Distrito Federal, Brasil, por meio da Análise de Redes Sociais (ARS). Observou-se que a maioria consegue retribuir o apoio recebido, especialmente para os membros da família. Estender essa reciprocidade poderia ser uma proposta a ser desenvolvida, a fim de fortalecer as relações para além do âmbito familiar e incentivar melhorias na rede de apoio social. Uma cultura participativa em todos os contextos, nos quais se encontram inseridos os portadores de esquizofrenia, pode contribuir, sobremaneira, para o aumento da autonomia e da autoestima dos mesmos. Verifica-se que é viável, por meio deste estudo, reconhecer as limitações dos pacientes em questão, assim como identificar suas potencialidades.

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