The COVID-19 pandemic had relevant psychological effects on the Portuguese population, partially related to repetitive and disruptive thoughts about the disease. Successive lockdowns contributed to an additional burden on parents’ family-work-life balance. This study intends to validate the Portuguese version of the Obsession with COVID-19 Scale (OCS; Lee, 2020), drew upon a general sample from diverse country regions (n = 531) and a specific sample of Portuguese parents (n = 109). Confirmatory factor analysis' results ensure the PT-OCS excellent psychometric properties both for the general sample [X2 (1) = 0.446, p = 0.504; CFI = 1.0; GFI = 1.0; RMSEA = 0.0; Standardized RMR = 0.003] and for the parents’ group [X2 (2) = 1.816, p = 0.403; CFI = 1.0; GFI = 0.99; RMSEA = 0.0; Standardized RMR = 0.016; p Bollen-Stine bootstrap = 0.65]. The scale had very good reliability results (0.84 < α / ⍵ < 0.88). As expected, obsession with COVID-19 was highly correlated with COVID-19 anxiety and women had higher PT-OCS scores. Findings suggest the PT-OCS as a reliable and valid measure to evaluate persistent and disruptive thinking about COVID-19, namely in different groups of the Portuguese population, with potentialities for future epidemic events.

No abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the Portuguese government to declare various lockdowns between 2020 and 2022. The first State of Emergency was enforced in March 2020, in which face-to-face classroom teaching was repeatedly interrupted. At that time, families were expected to provide the necessary supplies for digital learning, with some support from the government, municipalities, civil society, and local institutions. Nevertheless, many families already lived under precarious conditions before the pandemic, and so the lockdown measures increased their vulnerability, with a probable impact on student school attendance and conditions enabling academic success. Since Ciganos/Roma are part of this vulnerable population, we intend to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the school pathways of these students, namely in secondary education, where they represent a minority group. The data are derived from a variety of qualitative sources collected during research carried out in the two Metropolitan Areas in Portugal. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the youngsters’ access to classes and their motivation to attend school, and opens the discussion about how because of the government’s universal measures, by failing to consider social diversity, in particular Ciganos/Roma Ciganos/Roma families, this pandemic crisis may disproportionally affect the education of their children and youth. The findings highlight, firstly, that these impacts continue to be rendered invisible and naturalized in the public sphere and, secondly, that the measures and legislation underlying the pandemic effects continue not to include Ciganos in policymaking processes.

Apesar de em Portugal existirem políticas públicas de combate às desigualdades, incluindo as escolares, a origem socioeconômica, o gênero e a pertença étnica dos estudantes  continuam a ter um impacto incontornável nos percursos escolares. Os ciganos são dos mais afetados por essas desigualdades, reveladas pelas ainda salientes taxas de abandono escolar precoce e por retenções e insucesso escolar. Tendo por base os resultados derivados de entrevistas semidiretivas, o objetivo do artigo consiste em compreender os fatores-chave determinantes nas trajetórias de continuidade escolar dos ciganos no ensino médio. Os resultados revelam jovens tendencialmente mais escolarizados que as gerações anteriores, evidenciando-se a importância do contexto familiar, mas também a agencialidade e a resiliência.