Introduction: Inhalers are recommended for asthma prophylactic and crisis therapy. In order to have a good deposition of drugs at pulmonary tissue, the correct use of the devices is necessary.Objective: To verify the inhaler use technique with pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs) with spacers and dry-powder inhalers (DPIs) in a pediatric sample (ages between 1 and 17 years old).Material and Methods: Descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study. Application of a checklist that included the steps of the correct inhaler use technique, which was performed under physician observation, and other questions related to the use of the devices. Results:We observed a total of 83 inhaler use techniques: 46 pMDIs with spacers and 37 DPIs. About 54% of pMDIs with spacers users and 27% of DPIs users performed the inhaler use technique correctly, p=0.012. The most frequent mistakes in pMDIs with spacers users were: 50% didn't waste the first puff, 17.4% didn't shake the device prior to use and 28.3% didn't wait between inhalations. The mistakes observed in DPIs users were: 43.2% didn't perform a forced expiration before inhaler use, 13.5% didn't start with a forced inspiration, 24.3% didn't pause at the end of inspiration, 32.4% didn't exhale slowly and 35.1% didn´t wait between inhalations. Conclusion:Multiple mistakes were observed even in the users who had been followed up for several years. The most frequent mistakes occurred in DPIs users. Thus, the inhaler use technique must always be observed by the physician in all appointments, especially in users of DPIs in which the correct use depends on their autonomy.

Introduction: Sexual education plays an important role in the prevention of risk-taking sexual behaviors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the importance attributed to sexual education by adolescents, correlating it with the assessment they make of their attitudes and with their knowledge towards sexuality. Methods: This observational study included adolescents who attended elementary or high school in the central region of Portugal. A characterization of sociodemographic and sexual data was made and the Adolescent Students’ Attitudes Scale towards Sexuality (E3AS) was applied. Results: We included 394 adolescents with a mean age of 14.9 ± 1.4 years. The majority (89.3%) attributed importance to sexual education. Adolescents that gave more importance to sexual education were the ones that ranked higher the information they learned about sexuality (r = 0.236), had less unprotected sex due to lack of information (r = -0.363) or because they were under the effect of alcohol and/or drugs (r = -0.365) and had a superior classification in F2 (r = 0.380), F5 (r = 0.402) and in the total scale (r = 0.531). Discussion and conclusion: Adolescents that attributed greater importance to sexual education were the ones that ranked higher the information they possessed about sexuality. After initiating sexual activity, a greater importance attributed to sexual education seems to have a protective effect on risk-taking sexual behaviors.