FACTORES ESTRESANTES Y ESTRATEGIAS DE COPING UTILIZADAS POR LOS ENFERMEROS QUE ACTÚAN EN ONCOLOGÍA FATORES ESTRESSANTES E ESTRATÉGIAS DE COPING DOS ENFERMEIROS ATUANTES EM ONCOLOGIA

A pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, teve como núcleo de interesse investigativo as representações e as significações que um grupo de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde (ACSs) possui acerca das vulnerabilidades para o sofrimento no trabalho a que estão expostos, assim como as próprias manifestações deste sofrimento ao desempenharem suas ações relativas ao Programa de Saúde da Família (PSF).A entrevista semi-estruturada com um grupo de ACSs, explorou o significado de ser ACS e a percepção da organização do trabalho; a análise foi embasada no referencial teórico-metodológico da hermenêutica e nas teorias relacionadas à psicodinâmica do trabalho. Os achados mostram a existência de uma importante vulnerabilidade ao sofrimento, gerada principalmente pela ideação idealizada da própria prática e pela escassa perspectiva de rearranjo dos ingredientes constitutivos da organização do trabalho, já que este profissional depende de fatores alheios ao seu espectro de alcance, que inclui as limitações do modelo assistencial proposto pelo PSF.

Objective: to investigate the use of religious/spiritual coping among people with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study of 101 patients undergoing intravenous chemotherapy in an oncology outpatients center in a public hospital in Minas Gerais, made in the first semester of 2011. For data collection, an interview was held, using a questionnaire for characterizing the sample and the Brief Spiritual/Religious Coping Scale.Results: all subjects made use of religious/spiritual coping (mean=3.67; sd=0.37); the younger individuals, those with no religion and those who consider spiritual support unimportant tend to use coping negatively; individuals who would like to receive spiritual support and who participate in support groups for cancer patients, on the other hand, use coping positively. Conclusions: the study reinforces that religious/spiritual coping is an important strategy for coping with cancer, and contributes to an understanding of the same as a useful tool for spiritual care.

Objectives:to evaluate the evidence from the literature regarding the effects of cupping therapy on chronic back pain in adults, the most used outcomes to evaluate this condition, the protocol used to apply the intervention and to investigate the effectiveness of cupping therapy on the intensity of chronic back pain. Method:systematic review and meta-analysis carried out by two independent researchers in national and international databases. Reference lists of systematic reviews were also explored. The quality of evidence was assessed according to the Jadad scale. Results:611 studies were identified, of which 16 were included in the qualitative analysis and 10 in the quantitative analysis. Cupping therapy has shown positive results on chronic back pain. There is no standardization in the treatment protocol. The main assessed outcomes were pain intensity, physical incapacity, quality of life and nociceptive threshold before the mechanical stimulus. There was a significant reduction in the pain intensity score through the use of cupping therapy (p = 0.001). Conclusion:cupping therapy is a promising method for the treatment of chronic back pain in adults. There is the need to establish standardized application protocols for this intervention.

An inverted U-shape function between cortisol levels and memory performance has been reported in studies on both young animals and humans. Yet little is known about this relationship in normal aging or in older subjects with cognitive impairment. This issue is particularly significant since increased levels of cortisol have been reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present study examined the association between cortisol levels and visual memory performance in healthy subjects as well as in individuals presenting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD. Salivary cortisol was measured in 40 healthy elderly subjects, 31 individuals with amnestic MCI, and 40 subjects with mild probable AD. Memory performance was evaluated using the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery. Higher cortisol levels were associated with better memory performance in healthy elderly (p=0.005), while higher cortisol levels were correlated with poorer memory performance in MCI subjects (p=0.011). No correlation between cortisol and memory was found in the AD group (p > 0.05). These results suggest that the relationship between cortisol levels and memory performance in the aging process could vary according to the presence or absence of cognitive impairment.