Research objectives
The main objective of our
research center is the promotion and development of the scientific
research in health, illness and human development. The last few
years have witnessed numerous proposals to reorient scientific
investigations in the area of health and illness. Actually, many
of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developed
countries are recognized as having major social and behavioral
determinants. This is the main reason for the development of new
scientific disciplines in the 1970’s: Health Psychology
and Medical Sociology. Due to the multifactor nature of health
and disease processes, it is recognized today that research in
this area must create an environment to promote interdisciplinary
research and training (Pellmar & Leon, 2000). So, the research
that we intend to develop in our Center has an interdisciplinary
trend with a focus on the human sciences.
Strategy
This research center possesses
the conditions to create an environment that can stimulate the
collaboration between investigators working together on complex
problems and facilitate the interpretation of clinical and non-clinical
science findings through exchanges between investigators with
more training in clinical methods and investigators with training
in conceptual development. For example, the National Heart, Lung
and Blood Institute Task Force on Behavioral Research in Cardiovascular,
Lung, Blood Health and Disease concluded in 1998 that collaborations
between behavioral and medical researchers would provide a better
understanding of disease (cit. in Pellmar & Leon, 2000). A
few physicians, professors in a Master’s program in clinical
health psychology at Independent University, can collaborate on
some of our projects. We have medical specialists in cardiovascular,
neurological, and immunological diseases and cancer
Research projects in
course:
THE SUBJECTIVE MEANINGS THAT
MIDLIFE WORKING WOMEN ATTRIBUTE TO THEIR CAREERS AND OTHER LIFE-ROLES
AND THE IMPLICATIONS TO THEIR WELL-BEING AND HEALTH, WORK-SATISFACTION
AND QUALITY OF LIFE
JOAQUIM REIS
LEONOR ALMEIDA
SUBJECTIVE MEANINGS, COPING
PROCESSES, EMOTIONAL REACTIONS AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN WOMEN WITH
BREAST CANCER
LUZIA TRAVADO
JOAQUIM REIS
(CONCLUDED IN SEPTEMBER 2002: MASTER DEGREE)
CORRELATIONS BETWEEN MEASURES
OF MELATONIN AND MEASURES OF DAILY ACTIVITIES AND SLEEP PATTERNS
CARLOS JESUS
JOAQUIM REIS
DEMOCRACY AND THE POLITICS
OF HEALTH: THE STATE ADMINISTRATION OF HEALTH AND THE CHANGING
FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN POLITICAL LEGITIMACY
CARLOS JACQUES
