Luciana Sotero

University of Coimbra | UC · Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences

This longitudinal study explored the impact of COVID-19 on individuals in romantic relationships. The sample spans three waves: first confinement (n = 52), deconfinement (n = 49), and second confinement (n = 26). The study tested sociodemographic factors, psychological adjustment (anxiety, depression, stress, well-being), COVID-19 threat perception...

QUALIS is a research project that studies ‘the other side of courts’ by looking at the working conditions of judicial professions in Portugal and their impacts on the profession, health, family and personal life. The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the results obtained, based mainly on the interviews and the online questionna...

Family and community resilience in the contexts of natural disasters and climate change have earned a place of prominence in the research field. This article provides a descriptive review of the literature published between 1997 and 2023 examining family and community resilience in the context of wildfires, climate change, and sustainability. Ninet...

Objectives Advancements in medicine and science have enabled more and more people to live longer with a chronic medical condition, namely cancer. Nevertheless, the palliative care (PC) approach continues to be introduced and incorporated later in the lives of patients and families dealing with such conditions. Thus, the need for individuals to care...

The pandemic may have led to an increase in stress, anxiety and depression, especially in people with previous chronic diseases (CD) because one's perception of COVID-19 could be very important for mental health. We aimed to conduct a comparative study of people with and without CD in order to analyse the influence of the disease in predicting stre...

The dominant paradigm today is that the child’s best interests require the involvement of both parents. Consequently, joint parental responsibility continues in most cases even after separation or divorce, and family courts are increasingly called upon to make difficult decisions over children’s health. This article is based on exploratory qualitat...

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about social changes that have impacted the functioning and dynamics of couples in a romantic relationship, arising from the overwhelming amount of added stress they have endured. Specifically, the divorce rate in Portugal has increased after lockdown, which underscores the adverse consequences of COVID-19 on coupl...

Following the global outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, individuals report psychological distress associated with the “new normal”—social distancing, financial hardships, and increased responsibilities while working from home. Given the interpersonal nature of stress and coping responses between romantic partners, based on the systemic transac�tio...

p>Background: Covid-19 has brought socioeconomic and health-related changes worldwide and unique challenges with no time for adjustment. Family caregivers of dependent patients were one of the hardest hit groups. Methods: This paper draws attention to how family caregivers navigate throughout this pandemic amid its daily changes, stressing new ob...

p>Background: Covid-19 has brought socioeconomic and health-related changes worldwide and unique challenges with no time for adjustment. Family caregivers of dependent patients were one of the hardest hit groups. Methods: This paper draws attention to how family caregivers navigate throughout this pandemic amid its daily changes, stressing new ob...

This retrospective observational study aimed to examine the expanded therapeutic alliance in relation to drop out versus retention in systemic family therapy. Forty cases randomly selected from archived records at a university center for family therapy were identified as either dropouts (n = 13) or completers (n = 27). Videotapes of all first sessi...

Objective The growing prevalence and impact of cancer on the family system calls for a palliative care approach with the family as the unit of care. This study aimed at providing an overview of the intervention programs that have been developed to offer support to the family caregivers of oncologic patients receiving palliative care. Method Sixtee...

Following the global outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, individuals report psychological distress associated with the “new normal”—social distancing, financial hardships, and increased responsibilities while working from home. Given the interpersonal nature of stress and coping responses between romantic partners, based on the systemic transaction...

Introduction: Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the most common chronic pediatric conditions worldwide, raising multiple challenges on the family, particularly, on mothers, who assume most of the care that the child needs. Nevertheless, despite the demands associated with the care of the child, the literature has been showing that parents also have the...

The present study seeks to review and integrate evidence from the empirical literature on family dynamics during the emerging adulthood years. Fifty studies were analyzed, resulting in the following research findings: (a) Emerging adulthood is a period of change in family relationships; (b) family systems anchor both individual and family developme...

Resumo O suicídio é a última das causas externas de morte (CE) (que incluem homicídios e acidentes) a apresentar concentração de casos (80%) em países de baixa e média renda. Há literatura consolidada identificando a violência estrutural como determinante para as CE, mas pouca quanto ao suicídio. O objetivo deste artigo é definir novo marco teórico...

The growing use of social networking sites places them among the most popular online activities. In particular, Facebook is gaining increasing numbers of users. For some individuals, such activity can develop into addictive online behaviour. The main objective of this study was to assess the influence of sociodemographic (e.g., gender, age), indivi...

Based on the six key components of addiction, the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) is a widely used instrument to assess Facebook addiction. This study aimed to conduct a psychometric validation in a Portuguese sample of emerging adults (ages 18 to 29 years). The construct validity analyses confirmed the one-factor solution and a statisticall...

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of alliance dimensions and involuntary versus voluntary referral status on the therapy outcomes in family therapy. The first and fourth sessions of 29 therapeutic processes with involuntary and voluntary families seen in family brief therapy were rated with the System for Observing Family Therapy...

p>The current study aims to describe the relationships between emerging adults and their families and how these evolve over emerging adult years. Through a systematic review of the literature, we extracted data from 38 empirical studies, which met the following inclusion criteria: published since 2000, included emerging adults and/or their relative...

p>The current study aims to describe the relationships between emerging adults and their families and how these evolve over emerging adult years. Through a systematic review of the literature, we extracted data from 38 empirical studies, which met the following inclusion criteria: published since 2000, included emerging adults and/or their relative...

p>The current study aims to describe the relationships between emerging adults and their families and how these evolve over emerging adult years. Through a systematic review of the literature, we extracted data from 38 empirical studies, which met the following inclusion criteria: published since 2000, included emerging adults and/or their relative...

This chapter focuses on the therapeutic process with families that come to therapy unwillingly. More specifically, it aims to highlight the clinical practice and provide intervention clues that may help to promote the engagement and collaboration of families that feel forced to be in therapy. The chapter begins with a critical reflection about the...

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of alliance dimensions and involuntary versus voluntary referral status on the therapy outcomes in family therapy. The first and fourth sessions of 29 therapeutic processes with involuntary and voluntary families seen in family brief therapy were rated with the System for Observing Family Therapy...

In chapter 13, the affiliation of the co-author Luciana Sotero, along with Ana Paula Relvas was incompletely published in the original version of the book.

This study aimed to compare therapists’ observable behaviors to promote alliances with involuntary and voluntary clients during brief family therapy. The therapists’ contributions to fostering alliances were rated in sessions 1 and 4 using videotapes of 29 families who were observed in brief therapy. Using the System for Observing Family Therapy Al...

This case study compares the narratives of a pathological gambler and his spouse concerning family, marital and individual matters. It does so through identifying each of the key players’ narratives individually (analysis of self-report questionnaires) and interactively (couples therapy sessions analysis). The results show that the gambler has a ra...

This study aimed to compare involuntary and voluntary clients in the establishment of the therapeutic alliance in the context of family therapy. The system for observing family therapy alliances was used to rate the alliance in sessions 1 and 4 from videotapes of 40 families seen in brief family therapy. This instrument has four alliance dimensions...

Desenvolvido por Friedlander, Escudero e Heatherington (2006), o Sistema de Observação da Aliança em Terapia Familiar – auto-resposta (SOFTA-s) é um questionário composto por 16 itens que avaliam a força da aliança terapêutica no contexto da terapia familiar, permitindo recolher a perspetiva de clientes e terapeutas. Os estudos de adaptação e valid...

Res_por:A Escala de Objetivos Atingidos e a versao Portuguesa da Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS; Kiresuk & Sherman, 1968) e pode ser utilizada na investigacao ou na pratica clinica como um metodo de avaliacao dos resultados obtidos na terapia familiar, num programa de intervencao ou noutro tipo de servico de apoio orientado para a familia. Esta versa...

O presente artigo de revisão da literatura centra-se na temática dos clientes involuntários. Analisaram-se criticamente os trabalhos de autores que: (1) propõem a sua caracterização, designadamente no que respeita ao posicionamento do cliente na situação de ajuda, concluindo-se pela complexidade da sua identificação; (2) conceptualizam o papel dos...

The involuntary clients issue is the core of this literature review article. Critical analysis was carried out over the work of authors who: (1) propose their characterization, namely in what concerns the client's positioning in a help situation, leading to a notion of complexity in its identification; (2) conceptualize the role of mental health te...