Psychological health of caregivers of people with dementia is a major public concern. This study sought to determine the relationship between caregiver burden, psychological distress, frailty and functional dependency of a relative with advanced dementia. Persons with dementia and their caregivers (102 dyads) participated in this Portuguese community based cross-sectional study. Data were collected using the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Zarit Burden Interview, the Brief Symptoms Inventory and the Edmonton Frail Scale. Alzheimer's disease was the most common type of dementia among the recipients of care, who showed moderate (42.2%) to severe (52.9%) dementia. Among them 35.3% exhibited moderate and 45.1% severe frailty. Family caregivers reported moderate (76.5%) to severe burden (18.6%). Psychological distress was very high among family caregivers. Results show that people with dementia exhibited moderate (35.3%) or severe frailty (45.1%) and that a severe frailty was found in people with moderate dementia. A one-way ANOVA was conducted between the Global Severity Index and some sociodemographic variables. ANOVA reached p < .01 for employment status of the caregiver, assistance and professional support, and psychiatric history; and p = 0.01 for caregiver age and years of caregiving. Although caregivers reported benefit from the supportive approach offered by the multidisciplinary home care team, high levels of distress and associated burden were found, which might decrease their capacity to care for the person with dementia and their own health and well-being.

This paper examines the healthcare needs of community‐dwelling older people living in Porto, Portugal, diagnosed with moderate or severe dementia, linked to functional dependency, cognitive decline, limitations in the activities of daily life, and frailty levels. A sample of 83 participants was recruited. Data were collected between 2013 and 2017. A sociodemographic questionnaire, the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), the Barthel Index (BI), the Lawton and Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale, and the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) were used. A set of 26 healthcare needs was defined to support the assessment. The Pearson chi‐square or Fisher's exact test (as appropriate) was used to examine the association of the needs (unmet and met) with the levels of dementia and frailty. Participants were diagnosed previously with moderate or severe dementia and benefited from a structured home‐care program. There was a high number rated as “severe dementia,” “fully dependent,” “severely or fully dependent in the activities of daily living (ADL),” and “severe frailty.” There were statistically significant differences among needs identified in people with moderate or severe dementia and moderate or severe frailty. The most prevalent healthcare needs in the sample were food preparation, medication/taking pills, looking after their home, toilet use, sensory problems, communication/interaction, bladder, bowels, eating and drinking, memory, sleeping, and falls prevention. In particular, the study identifies a set of needs that are present simultaneously in both frailty and dementia stages. This study underlines that despite well‐structured home‐care programs for people with dementia, unmet health needs remain. Timely healthcare needs assessment may help professionals to avoid fragmented care and to tailor quality‐integrated interventions, including the emotional and psychological balance of the caregiver.

National education policies are increasingly regulated by international agendas, for example the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (SD). However, in order to put such policies into practice, social actors like teachers and teacher educators must include them in their practices. In this context, this study stems from the following research question: how does initial teacher education (ITE) promote the SD Agendas (2030 and 2063 for Africa)? The approach to this question is carried out through a case study focused on an Angolan teacher education higher education institution, in its graduate course for future secondary school biology teachers. The main aims of this study are (i) to characterize how ITE includes SD and (ii) to suggest ways to improve SD, particularly focusing on students’ future professional needs. Data were gathered from document analysis (the pedagogical curriculum plan of the course; titles and abstracts of final-year future biology teachers’ essays) and an interview with the course director of the biology teaching program of the Angolan institution. Content analysis of the gathered evidence was based on a three-dimensional framework: (a) SD goals (SDG) and the curriculum; (b) teacher education principles; and (c) current Angolan curricular perspectives. Results show that although the Pedagogical curriculum plan and the formative path, from the interviewee’s point of view, do not explicitly integrate SDG and its challenges for biology ITE, the majority of essays analyzed are locally contextualized and in a number of cases articulated with some of the 17 SDG. Suggestions for inclusion of SDG in ITE and for teacher education research are put forward.

This paper presents an ongoing research that deals with the development of a quality framework of reference for Technology Enhanced Learning in Higher Education. We will present the design of the methodology used for building our framework linked to a collection of internal and external references. We will also present criteria derived from this data collection phase. We will set landmarks for discussing what determines quality in Technology Enhanced Learning and what dimensions must be considered to evaluate its quality

Modelling is an inherent process for the construction and use of science concepts that mobilize diverse specific competences. The aims of this work are to put forward a means of evaluating modelling competences that is relevant for physics teaching and science education research and to identify the potentials and constraints in the development of modelling competences. A written test, which embraces a wide range of modelling aspects in mechanics domain, was drawn up and validated, and a theoretically based evaluation methodology was specified. In the validation process, the test was given to 75 subjects distributed across seven levels of physics education. The answers were analysed and later cluster analysis was carried out in order to identify categories of answers among the diverse answers. The results indicate that the test identified and delimitated modelling competences. Some results are in agreement with those obtained through other research into this issue and other results better elucidate certain aspects of modelling. The way in which evaluation methodology can be used in other areas of physics is discussed, such as in research and in teaching. Also discussed is how the constraints and potentials identified in the development of modelling competences can be taken into account in teaching and learning sciences.

This paper examines how the addition of intercultural interventions carried out throughout European credit-bearing exchange programmes can enhance sojourners’ development of intercultural competencies, and it explores how both formal and non-formal pedagogical interventions may be designed and implemented. Such interventions were conducted at a Portuguese university with 31 sojourners throughout one academic year, and their impact was assessed using a mixed methods research design. Sojourners included incoming students of the exchange programmes Campus Europae and Erasmus, as well as highly skilled immigrants. Findings confirm the positive impact of interventions on the development of intercultural competencies and, in turn, their contribution to internationalisation efforts. Implications for further research suggest a need to increase interventions and to develop a systematic approach for fostering intercultural competencies throughout the study abroad cycle.