Background Study older adults’ quality of life is becoming increasingly important in the assessment, quality improvement and allocation of health and social care service. The purpose of this study was to enhance knowledge on the relationship between modifiable (psychological variables) and non-modifiable variables (sociodemographic), and quality of life in elderly, regarding psychological and social variables in Portuguese context. Methods This is a cross-sectional study, including 604 older adults from general community. 63.6% of the sample was composed by female gender with a mean age of 71.6(SD = 4.81). Participants completed the following instruments: Barthel Index to assess functionality; Satisfaction with Social Support Scale to assess social support; The Spiritual and Religious Attitudes in Dealing with Illness to assess spirituality and Short Form Health Survey 36, to assess mental and physical quality of life. Results A path analysis model was performed where the presence of a chronic disease, age and functionality has a direct effect on physical quality of life and spirituality had a direct effect on mental quality of life. Social support mediated the relationship between functionality and mental quality of life, and in turn, functionality mediated the relationship between age and physical quality of life. Conclusions Results reinforce the effect of age and chronic disease as non-modifiable variables as well as functionality, spirituality and satisfaction with social support as modifiable variables, in the quality of life of older people. Social support, health and education programs in the community should be promoted in order to improve quality of life in this population. Strategies to promote functionality and enhance the social support network, especially in the elder with chronic illness, should be a priority.

Background Seventy percent of premature deaths in adults are due to behaviors initiated during adolescence. Therefore, it is essential to promote individual and social behaviors that educate adolescents in the ability to make healthy choices. Accordingly, the main goals of this study were to characterize Lifestyles and Social Skills, as well as identify homogeneous subgroups, in a sample of Portuguese adolescents. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted, including 1008 adolescents attending the 7th to the 9th grades of five middle schools from the Tâmega and Sousa regions of Portugal, and using the My Lifestyle Questionnaire and the Social Skills Inventory. To establish a profile of the participants, a Cluster Analysis (K-means) was performed, and the Jaccard coefficient was used to assess the stability of the solution found. Results From the total sample, 556 adolescents with a mean age of 13.43 years (SD = 1.1) were included in the analysis. The majority of the sample presented a healthy lifestyle (72.26%) and 50.7% of the adolescents had a highly elaborated repertoire of Social Skills. Moreover, three clusters were found. Cluster 1 (n = 92) showed a less elaborate repertoire of Social Skills and was designated as the “Adjusted”. Cluster 2 (n = 115) comprised adolescents with a good repertoire of Social Skills and was named the “Sociable”. Cluster 3 (n = 258) was composed of adolescents with a highly elaborate repertoire of Social Skills and the best Lifestyle indicators and was named the “Healthy”. Conclusions The group of adolescents in the cluster called the “Sociable” needs to be included in health education and Social Skills programs. Nutrition and Monitored Safety behaviors reveal low values and, therefore, present a greater need for awareness, sensitization, and intervention in the school context. For this reason, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle should be part of the academic curriculum and transversal to all academic disciplines.

Background: Study older adults' quality of life is becoming increasingly important in the assessment, quality improvement and allocation of health and social care service. The purpose of this study was to enhance knowledge on the relationship between modifiable (psychological variables) and nonmodifiable variables (sociodemographic), and quality of life in elderly, in order to inform social, health and education policies.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, including 604 older adults from general community. 63.6% of the sample was composed by female gender with a mean age of 71.6(SD=4.81). Participants completed the following instruments: Barthel Index to assess functionality; Satisfaction with Social Support Scale to assess social support; The Spiritual and Religious Attitudes in Dealing with Illness to assess spirituality and Short Form Health Survey 36, to assess mental and physical quality of life. Results: A path analysis model was performed where the presence of a chronic disease, age and functionality has a direct effect on physical quality of life and spirituality had a direct effect on mental quality of life. Social support mediated the relationship between functionality and mental quality of life, and in turn, functionality mediated the relationship between age and physical quality of life. Conclusions: Results reinforce the effect of age and chronic disease as non-modifiable variables as well as functionality, spirituality and satisfaction with social support as modifiable variables, in the quality of life of older people. Social support, health and education programs in the community should be promoted in order to improve quality of life in this population. Strategies to promote functionality and enhance the social support network, especially in the elder with chronic illness, should be a priority.

Background: Seventy percent of premature deaths in adults are due to behaviors initiated during adolescence. Therefore, it is essential to promote individual and social behaviors that educate adolescents in the ability to make healthy choices. Thus, the goals of this study were to characterize the lifestyle and social skills as well as to identify homogeneous subgroups in a sample of Portuguese adolescents. Methods : We conduct a cross-sectional study including 1008 adolescents attending 7 th to 9 th grade of five middle schools from Tâmega and Sousa region, of Portugal. My Lifestyle Questionnaire and the Social Skills Inventory were used. To establish a profile of the participants, a Cluster Analysis (K-means) was performed and the Jaccard coefficient was used to assess the stability of the solution found. Results: From the total sample, 556 adolescents with a mean age of 13.43 years (SD=1.1) were included in the analysis. The majority of the sample presented a good lifestyle (72.26% indicating good LS) and 50.7% of the adolescents had a highly elaborated repertoire of social skills. Moreover, three clusters were found. Cluster 1 (n=92) showed a less elaborate SS repertoire and was named the “Adjusted”. Cluster 2 (n=115) comprised adolescents with a good SS repertoire and was named the “Sociable”. Cluster 3 (n=258) was composed by adolescents with a highly elaborate SS repertoire and the best LS indicators, and was named the “Healthy”. Conclusions : The group of adolescents in cluster called “Sociable” needs to be included in health education and social skills programs. NUT and MS behaviors have low values and, therefore, present a greater need for awareness, sensitization and intervention in the school context. Promoting a healthy lifestyle should be part of the academic curriculum and be transversal to all academic disciplines.

Background: Seventy percent of premature deaths in adults are due to behaviors initiated during adolescence. Therefore, it is essential to promote individual and social behaviors that educate adolescents in the ability to make healthy choices. Accordingly, the main goals of this study were to characterize Lifestyles and Social Skills, as well as identify homogeneous subgroups, in a sample of Portuguese adolescents. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, including 1008 adolescents attending the 7th to the 9th grades of five middle schools from the Tâmega and Sousa regions of Portugal, and using the My Lifestyle Questionnaire and the Social Skills Inventory. To establish a profile of the participants, a Cluster Analysis (K-means) was performed, and the Jaccard coefficient was used to assess the stability of the solution found. Results: From the total sample, 556 adolescents with a mean age of 13.43 years (SD=1.1) were included in the analysis. The majority of the sample presented a healthy lifestyle (72.26%) and 50.7% of the adolescents had a highly elaborated repertoire of Social Skills. Moreover, three clusters were found. Cluster 1 (n=92) showed a less elaborate repertoire of Social Skills and was designated as the “Adjusted”. Cluster 2 (n=115) comprised adolescents with a good repertoire of Social Skills and was named the “Sociable”. Cluster 3 (n=258) was composed of adolescents with a highly elaborate repertoire of Social Skills and the best Lifestyle indicators and was named the “Healthy”. Conclusions: The group of adolescents in the cluster called the “Sociable” needs to be included in health education and Social Skills programs. Nutrition and Monitored Safety behaviors reveal low values and, therefore, present a greater need for awareness, sensitization, and intervention in the school context. For this reason, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle should be part of the academic curriculum and transversal to all academic disciplines.