Teresa Forte’s research while affiliated with University of Coimbra and other places

Despite the critical role of clinicians in facilitating access to healthcare by transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people, their insight and practice-based knowledge have been underresearched. Also, they may complement TGD people's experiences by giving an insider perspective. This exploratory qualitative study, conducted online in a sample of 25 clinicians who work with TGD people (n = 11 clinical sexologists), explores how clinicians working with TGD people in Portugal perceive healthcare provision to TGD people, using a summative content analysis. Results showed that clinicians perceive their role to be all-encompassing, ranging from helping to cope with individual and interpersonal issues, and to cope with other health services. Participants highlighted the increase of TGD people’s visibility, awareness, and scientific knowledge, albeit more is needed as evidenced by several challenges derived from clinicians (e.g., lack of national guidelines, lack of training for standardized care, and lack of professional skills) and from the TGD clients (e.g., unrealistic expectations and lack of compliance). The proposed solutions include increasing the investment in specialized training and human resources, raising awareness within the healthcare system, and increasing interdisciplinary specialized care. Clinicians specialized in clinical sexology highlighted changes in scientific knowledge, more available evidence, and a need for socio-political changes and awareness raising. This study reveals that healthcare providers are self-critical but also reflect upon the difficulties of navigating between organizational, human, and personal constraints, claiming that to provide better healthcare there, policymakers must take concerted measures that can have a social impact.

The depletion of health professionals’ morale and motivation in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic sparked an interest in understanding what drives workers to choose and remain motivated in the health sector. This study contributes to a better understanding of this phenomenon by specifically analyzing the sociodemographic underpinnings of health professionals’ public service motivation (PSM) in Portugal. The rationale is to analyze whether PSM varies among health professionals according to gender, age, education, and managerial position in an unexplored area (health) and context (Portugal). A shorter version of the PSM scale was applied to health professionals (doctors and nurses) (n = 413). The results suggest that there are differences regarding gender and age, specifically with female and older participants presenting higher levels of PSM. The same is true for those who hold a managerial position. Our results align with patterns found in studies conducted within other cultural contexts. Most importantly, however, by exploring higher and lower PSM levels according to different sociodemographics, we provide relevant clues for future qualitative studies and formulate practical measures to tackle these issues, thereby strengthening evidence-based policy formulation.

Introduction Transgender people’s health and healthcare have become one of the most important challenges in healthcare settings and policy making. The perspectives of transgender consumers are important to inform policymaking and the development of measures to diminish barriers to accessing and maintaining health care. However, the perspective of healthcare providers, namely clinicians, is less known and is important to take a comprehensive and collaborative stance to deliver the best healthcare. Objective To highlight the perspective of sexual medicine practitioners/sexologists involved in transgender healthcare on the challenges faced in providing transgender healthcare. Methods Following an initiative by the Portuguese Society for Clinical Sexology, we used a participatory research design involving experienced sexual medicine clinicians/sexologists and activists for transgender care to develop a study to collect sexologists' perceptions of the challenges they faced when providing health care to transgender people. After IRB approval, we used a cross-sectional qualitative design and disseminated an online survey among professional associations (e.g., the Portuguese Society of Andrology, Sexual Medicine and Reproduction). A total of 25 complete answers were collected from clinicians who act in transgender healthcare and whose professional background included: Clinical Psychology, Pediatric Psychiatry, Psychiatry, Endocrinology, Urology, Gynecology and Anesthesiology. Participants were, on average, 46 years old (SD = 12.38), had an average of 13 years (SD = 11.25) experience in Sexual Medicine/Clinical sexology and 11 years on average (SD = 10.38) of experience with transgender healthcare. Sociodemographic data was collected between January and June 2023, and four open questions were presented. The current study will report preliminary content analysis concerning the open question: “Which challenges have you encountered in your experience as a health professional acting clinically with transgender people?”. Results The preliminary content analysis revealed 6 main categories, each representing distinct and interrelated subcategories aggregating different codes. The main categories were: 1. Formal Institutional Challenges (e.g., lack of formal education concerning transgender care, lack of specific guidelines for primary care; long waiting lists); 2. Informal Institutional Challenges (e.g., lack of updated knowledge from other clinicians not directly involved in transgender care; non-responsiveness from colleagues, translating policies and international guidelines into practices); 3. Social Challenges (e.g., family stigma; social discrimination); 4. Patient’s Challenges (e.g., lack of compliance; hostility or negative expectations towards health professionals); 5. Personal limits (e.g., perseverative thinking about the timing and patients’ internalisation of information about surgery risks; feelings of strangeness towards non-binary bodies); 6. Clinical Challenges (e.g., presence of emotional disorders/psychopathology; establishing differential diagnosis). Conclusions The current preliminary and provisional results highlight that clinical sexologists involved in transgender healthcare face different challenges regarding their role. The interrelated themes and subthemes reveal that clinical sexologists acting in transgender care have a critical stance towards policy making, service management and the quality of professional education provided to clinicians. Stigmatisation by their colleagues towards transgender people is a focus of concern. Still, they also feel they experience patients’ hostility and clinical and ethical challenges when trying to provide the best standards of care with a lack of resources. Disclosure No.

Background: Behaviorally informed interventions, such as nudging, encourage actions intended to promote longer and healthier lives. Holding significant potential for influencing health policies and healthcare practices, these interventions are partaking of a shift in governance and public health policymaking. However, a substantial knowledge gap remains regarding the feasibility and appropriateness of implementing policies that draw on nudge. Methods: Ae survey on nudge’s acceptability) was adapted to the Portuguese context to access attitudes towards 16 nudge measures. The research focused on evaluating attitudes among political science and public administration BSc and MSc students from nine Portuguese universities, and analyzing the relationship between these attitudes, sociodemographic characteristics, and sociopolitical attitudes. The data analysis involved the application of descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The participants exhibited a moderate-to-high level of approval for various nudge measures, particularly those related to nutrition and public education/awareness raising. The study identified a nuanced relationship between the level of intrusiveness of nudges and their public approval, indicating that interventions preserving the architecture of choice gathered higher acceptance compared to more intrusive approaches. Notably, approval was associated with a high level of trust in social groups and a low propensity for risk-taking and alcohol consumption. Conclusions: This study not only sheds light on the types of nudge measures that are likely to be more acceptable for promoting healthy behaviors, but also establishes a crucial link between behavioral interventions and healthcare policies. Understanding the nuanced factors influencing the public acceptance of nudges contributes to the discourse on the implementation of behaviorally informed health policies and emphasizes the importance of tailoring interventions to align with public values and preferences.

The certification of origin and quality of rural provenance foods paves routes of protection and promotion of the products and the territories. While the importance of certification at socioeconomic, policy, and consumption levels has been addressed in previous research, the views of other key stakeholders-the producers-remain somehow underexplored. The present study contributes to this topic by analyzing data from a survey of producers (n=104) working with urban specialty shops located in three Portuguese cities. The sample was examined considering the differences between those who produce certified food products (n=74) and those who do not (n=30). Chi-square tests were used to compare the socio-demographic features, type of products produced and selling venues. Independent samples T-tests were applied to compare the differences between producers' motivations, perceived challenges, and impacts of the production. Findings indicate that producers of certified products have distinct motivations, and value different aspects of their productions, namely to contribute to sustainable and healthier production and consumption and to the preservation of local and traditional ways of producing. They also perceive more positive economic impacts on rural places of provenance and tend to value more the Portuguese food products' image.

The present study explores the design and implementation of public policies focusing on ageing by Portuguese local governments, considering the lack of a centralized national strategy for active and healthy ageing to guide and be customized at a local level. To take stock of what is being accomplished at the city council level, we first collected and analyzed the available local strategies and further explored the process of elaboration and implementation through semi-structured interviews in four case studies. Findings suggest that only a small percentage of local governments have a strategic plan for (active and healthy) ageing. The first was launched in 2008, but most have been in place for only a few years, indicating that local governments are growing more aware of their relevance and necessity. The qualitative data supports the vital importance of this policy instrument; however, lacking centralized guidelines, the process of elaboration and implementation is idiosyncratic and prone to strategic shortcomings. Common to all is the agreement with the role of the strategy in meeting older people’s needs and expectations, currently attuned with ageing located in the community with the least disruption possible. These results provide some cues to what may be a conceptual and operational framework of healthy ageing policies to apply at the local level, privileging more flexible, fair, and adjusted approaches to the needs of older individuals in different territories.

Get access Share icon Skip to Main Content Taylor and Francis Online homepage Log in | Register Search in: Journal of Food Products Marketing Latest Articles 0 Views 0 CrossRef citations to date 2 Altmetric Research Article Consuming Rural Territories through Food – A Segmentation Analysis Based on the Food Choices of Urban Specialty Stores’ Customers Elisabete FigueiredoORCID Icon,Teresa ForteORCID Icon,Celeste EusébioORCID Icon,Alexandre SilvaORCID Icon &Mónica TruningerORCID Icon Published online: 24 Nov 2022 Download citation https://doi.org/10.1080/10454446.2022.2150831 CrossMark LogoCrossMark ABSTRACT The increasing interest of consumers in rural provenance food products is known to meet concerns regarding authenticity, health, safety, and sustainability and to be based on knowledge and familiarity. Based on the results of a survey to 1553 customers of 24 urban specialty shops, located in three Portuguese cities, this study aims at identifying different segments of consumers of rural provenance foods according to the criteria they value when acquiring and consuming those products. From a hierarchical cluster analysis based on shopping preferences, three clusters were identified: The Influenced, choosing the products mainly by recommendation; The Provenance Seekers, privileging provenance and related qualities; and The All-embracers, considering a multiplicity of criteria when shopping. These clusters differ in terms of socio-demographic profiles, products bought, consumption behavior, familiarity with rural areas, and images of food products and territories of provenance. Results show the mutual influence of these dimensions on food preferences.

O presente livro apresenta um conjunto de resultados obtidos no âmbito do projeto STRINGS. Importa referir que alguns dos resultados aqui divulgados foram já objeto de análise e discussão em conferências internacionais e nacionais sobre temáticas relacionadas com as várias dimensões estudadas no projeto. É igualmente importante referir que alguns dos resultados aqui apresentados foram também já apresentados em artigos científicos publicados em revistas internacionais e em capítulos de livros. Assim, esta obra pretende essencialmente divulgar aqueles resultados em língua Portuguesa, não apenas junto das entidades, agentes e indivíduos que colaboraram de perto com o projeto STRINGS, mas também junto de investigadores, professores e estudantes interessados por estas temáticas, agentes de desenvolvimento rural e do público nacional em geral. Para além disso, tendo em conta que uma parte relevante do material empírico recolhido no âmbito do projeto foi obtido durante alguns períodos de fortes constrangimentos às atividades de comercialização e consumo de produtos alimentares, devido às medidas restritivas de combate à Covid-19 (e.g. confinamentos mais ou menos prolongados e subsequentes limitações de horários do comércio alimentar, assim como o fecho de lojas em alguns períodos), o presente livro constitui-se, em certa medida, como um documento com alguma importância histórica. Isto porque retrata, até certo ponto, a forma como produtores, distribuidores, retalhistas e consumidores foram impelidos a reconfigurar algumas das suas práticas para enfrentar os efeitos socioeconómicos decorrentes da pandemia. Atendendo aos objetivos do projeto e às dimensões analisadas no âmbito do mesmo, anteriormente elencados, este volume estrutura-se em sete partes que integram treze capítulos. A primeira parte, constituída pelo presente capítulo, enquadra a relevância da temática geral do projeto STRINGS no contexto nacional, assim como apresenta os seus objetivos e os procedimentos metodológicos adotados, refletindo sobre a relevância do estudo dos percursos e papeis dos produtos agroalimentares de proveniência rural a partir das lojas urbanas especializadas na sua comercialização. A segunda parte integra três capítulos que analisam e refletem sobre a importância do comércio dos produtos agroalimentares de proveniência rural nas cidades, apresentando uma proposta de tipologia das lojas urbanas especializadas (Capítulo 2), a sua evolução e ligações com os territórios rurais com base numa análise espacial (Capítulo 3) e a caracterização dos proprietários daquelas lojas, em termos das suas motivações, mas também dos desafios que enfrentam e das suas representações, quer do papel que estas lojas podem desempenhar na valorização daqueles produtos, quer no desenvolvimento agrícola e rural do país. A terceira parte deste volume é dedicada à apresentação e discussão das estratégias de promoção e marketing utilizadas pelas lojas relativamente aos produtos agroalimentares de proveniência rural. Partindo da análise dos materiais promocionais criados e/ ou utilizados pelas lojas, procura-se assim, no Capítulo 5, discutir a forma como é realizada a promoção dos próprios produtos e dos seus territórios de origem, sem esquecer a das próprias lojas e dos seus clientes (Capítulo 6). Nesta terceira parte, com base nos dados obtidos a partir das 31 entrevistas semiestruturadas conduzidas junto dos proprietários e/ ou gerentes das lojas especializadas, analisam-se as suas montras como veículos privilegiados de divulgação e promoção de territórios e produtos. Os Capítulos 8 e 9 constituem a quarta parte desta obra, versando sobre a dimensão do consumo dos produtos agroalimentares de proveniência rural. Num primeiro momento, e a partir dos resultados obtidos junto de uma amostra de 1553 clientes das lojas analisadas, discutem-se as motivações, preferências e práticas dos consumidores deste tipo de produtos, analisando igualmente as inter-relações das mesmas com as ligações aos territórios rurais e as representações sobre os mesmos. Num segundo momento, debate-se o modo como o consumo dos produtos agroalimentares de proveniência rural contribui para a atratividade turística dos territórios de origem, determinando a sua procura. A quinta parte debruça-se sobre a produção e a distribuição dos produtos agroalimentares aqui analisados, caracterizando os seus produtores e distribuidores, as suas motivações, desafios e perceções (Capítulo 10), com base nos resultados obtidos a partir do inquérito por questionário, dirigido respetivamente a 104 produtores e 40 distribuidores. Também neste capítulo se procura procura traçar muito brevemente os percursos dos produtos entre os campos e as cidades, ou seja, desde os locais de produção até aos locais de comercialização e consumo. As representações sobre os produtos, os territórios de origem e a atividade agrícola são objeto de análise e debate na quarta parte deste livro e no Capítulo 11, a partir dos resultados obtidos junto de consumidores, produtores, distribuidores e, com menor ênfase, de retalhistas dos produtos agroalimentares rurais. Neste Capítulo discutem-se concretamente as diferenças entre os vários agentes e atores, o seu conteúdo e a forma como podem moldar diferentes motivações, práticas e imagens. Finalmente, a sétima e última parte é dedicada à sistematização e integração dos principais resultados discutidos nos capítulos anteriores, sendo igualmente apresentadas algumas linhas orientadoras que poderão informar políticas públicas destinadas à valorização dos produtos agroalimentares nacionais, assim como aos processos de produção e comercialização dos mesmos. Concretamente discute-se, no último capítulo desta obra (Capítulo 12) o papel que estes produtos têm no desenvolvimento agrícola e rural em Portugal, assim como na promoção de novas ou renovadas relações entre os campos e as cidades. Os coordenadores esperam que os capítulos reunidos neste volume possam fornecer uma visão oportuna e sustentada sobre estes aspetos em Portugal, numa época em que crescentemente se têm discutido questões a eles relacionadas, como a soberania e segurança alimentar, a produção nacional e os circuitos curtos de abastecimento alimentar, assim como a sustentabilidade agrícola e das comunidades rurais. Esperamos, assim, que o livro que agora editamos possa fornecer um contributo relevante para estes debates.

In recent years, there has been a growing differentiative trend of food markets towards a logic of quality, presenting new opportunities for consumers, retailers and producers of rural provenance food products. Although these evolving food practices are still hybrid, combining dominant agro-industrial and productivist logics, alternative food networks and shorter supply chains are increasingly valued and promoted, both by consumers, retailers and producers and by European and national policies. Despite these dynamics involve a wide range of stakeholders, including decision-makers, distributors, retailers, consumers and producers, not all have received the same attention within scientific literature. Producers’ perspectives and representations have been somewhat overlooked by research. This presentation intends to contribute to fill this gap, by analyzing the data collected through a survey directed to 104 producers that supply 9 specialty food shops located in Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto. These shops were selected as case studies from a wider range of urban specialty shops and they provided a list of all the rural provenance food producers working with them. Specifically, this study analyses the products produced, the characteristics of the producers and farms, while also exploring their motivations to produce those types of products, as well as the values attached to the products and the perceived impacts on rural on rural territories. More than half of the producers surveyed are full time farmers, mainly producing wine, olive oil and vegetables. The majority of the agricultural holdings and enterprises is small or medium-sized, both in terms of the cultivated area and of the number of employees. The majority of the producers surveyed are from the North and Centre regions of Portugal. Empirical evidence shows that the motivations to produce rural traditional provenance food products range from the desire to preserve them, through stimulating their production, to the contribution to more sustainable and healthier food habits and to foster rural economies development. These motivations are aligned with the relevance attributed to different aspects of food production. In fact, the respect of local culture and local and family ways of food production and preparation, together with the respect for the environment are amongst the most valued aspects. The perceived impacts of rural provenance foods’ production are threefold: on the production itself, on the demand and consumption and on a multilayered development of rural communities of origin. Albeit associated with positive images of the food products and their territories of origin, Portuguese agriculture is mainly represented by the surveyed producers as an underdeveloped and problematic activity. Nevertheless, the national and/or local character of the food products produced are most valued aspects of their promotion.

Consumers’ interest in rural provenance foodstuffs has increase during the last few decades, followed by a growing number of urban specialty shops selling these products. Despite their increase in urban contexts, and their role in fostering both the consumers’ interest and linkages with rural producers, their analysis is a recent topic. However, these shops may have a significant contribution in changing the landscape of rural provenance food offer, carrying a multi-level impact on its consumption, production and rural areas attractiveness and development. These shops act as showcases for the products, producers and territories of origin features and identities, as well as supporters for small to medium scale agricultural productions. Through this, urban food specialty shops also contribute to create and/or transform social representations and values regarding those products, producers, agriculture and territories of provenance. Little is yet known about how relevant stakeholders of the rural provenance foods’ supply chains perceive and represent these products, ways of production and territories of origin. Being representations generally important predictors of the respective attitudes and behaviours regarding a given object, we aim at exploring and comparing how the main actors within the rural provenance foods’ supply chains – the consumers, distributors and producers – represent Portuguese agriculture, rural territories and food products. Data was collected through three distinct surveys: a first one directed to the customers of 24 specialty shops located in three Portuguese cities (Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto) (N= 1553); a second focusing on 104 producers of 9 selected urban specialty shops and a third one targeting the distributors of those 9 shops. Among other dimensions, the three different surveys included a set of questions regarding the collection of respondents’ free evocations on Portuguese rural territories and rural provenance food products, as well as – for producers and distributors – on Portuguese agriculture. Results show interesting differences amongst the three categories of respondents regarding the elements evoked to characterize the mentioned dimensions. Both regarding rural territories and foodstuffs, consumers present more personal, emotional-driven and clearly positive representations related both to context and symbolic elements. Producers and distributors tend to emphasise more specific products and territories (frequently associated with their production). Notwithstanding, quality emerges as a common denominator regarding rural provenance foods. Portuguese agriculture is represented in a less positive light for (mainly) producers and distributors, frequently characterized as underdeveloped and problematic.