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Browsing EM - Artigos Científicos by Field of Science and Technology (FOS) "Ciências Sociais::Sociologia"
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- Automedicação : algumas reflexões sociológicasPublication . Lopes, Noémia MendesCom base num projecto de investigação em curso, apresentam-se neste artigo algumas reflexões sociológicas sobre a automedicação, que representam um primeiro patamar de aproximação analítica a este fenómeno e à sua constituição em objecto sociológico. Numa primeira linha de reflexão, equacionam-se as estratégias profissionais de poder que se desenvolvem em torno da automedicação, procurando dar visibilidade às transmutações sociais de que a mesma vem sendo objecto. Numa segunda linha de reflexão, e a partir de alguns dados empíricos já analisados, o fenómeno é enunciado como uma expressão da apropriação leiga dos saberes profissionais, em que se revelam diferentes modalidades de apropriação e de percepção social do risco, com desiguais configurações em diferentes grupos sociais. Numa última linha de reflexão, equaciona-se um conjunto de contributos teóricos para a interpretação das pistas analíticas encontradas.
- Data protection in sociological health research : a critical narrative about the challenges of a new regulatory landscapePublication . Raposo, Hélder; Melo, Sara; Egreja, CatarinaThe recent implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) establishes a set of formal requirements that reinforce personal data protection, namely, those concerning the collection, treatment, and dissemination of data on research participants. With the application of this new legal provision at the European level, new types of restrictions are emerging, whose nature and reach intensify the tension between demands for privacy and scientific freedom in research. In this article, we take as a reference an ongoing research taking place in Portugal, in the field of Sociology of Health, concerning the consumption of medicines by professionals exposed to high-performance pressure. Our main objective is to identify and analyse the implications of regulatory challenges faced in the research process and how the researchers managed and overcame them. We present a critical narrative that sheds light on the nature of the choices taken while also assessing the practical implications for the operationalisation of the research. We conclude by noting that, despite the benefits that may flow from the application of GDPR, the new requirements regarding the protection of personal data may override the ethical principles of scientific research and strengthen regulatory restrictions on conducting research. In the research concerned, the significant practical implications were indirect access to participants, a more time-consuming process in terms of participant adherence and a temporal discrepancy between the different stages of recruitment.
- «I heard about some pills» : the online as a sharing space and source of information about performance consumption among studentsPublication . Egreja, Catarina; Elias, Rúben; Lopes, NoémiaDeparting from a broader sociological study, this article presents exploratory research seeking to analyse practices of online information exchange on the consumption of medicines and food supplements among students, mainly to improve cognitive performance. It aims to show that the Internet is a relevant space which should be considered when analysing where lay people, specifically students, get information about medicines. The empirical field was limited to online open discussion forums, websites, and blogs registered in Portugal, and the collected information was subjected to a qualitative content analysis. The research took place between January 2021 and February 2022, and the analysed threads date back to March 2015. The results show that young people use these platforms to ask questions related to the consumption of medicines and supplements for cognitive performance. While sharing experiences is central to the validation of practices and behaviours, key elements in this discussion also include the construction of a shared social identity, the possibility of anonymity, and the attribution of credibility to the sources of information.
- Medication literacy and its social contextualityPublication . Lopes, Noémia; Rodrigues, Carla; Pegado, ElsaThis article aims to contribute to the discussion about medication literacy, by focussing on the social contextuality of the information mobilised in the use of medicines. We aim to explore the social construction processes of medication literacy, as an essential dimension for a more layperson-centred approach in the promotion of literacy in this field. This approach is justified by the growing social and cultural dissemination of medication use, the diversification of its uses beyond health and illness, and the increasing degree of lay autonomy in managing its use. The article is organised in two main sections. In the first section, we review the social history of medication literacy, including a discussion of the social contextuality of literacy phenomena. In the second section, the analysis of social contextuality is operationalised with a focus on information, covering: (i) ways of relating to institutional information and sources of information about medication; (ii) contexts of sociability in which information is shared and validated. This analysis is empirically supported by selected results from two research projects, conducted in Portugal, on the consumption of medicines and dietary supplements for performance purposes – that is, for the management and/or improvement of cognitive, bodily or relational performance.
- Medication use for the management of professional performance : between invisibility and social normalisationPublication . Lopes, Noémia; Tavares, David; Pegado, Elsa; Raposo, Hélder; Rodrigues, CarlaThis article aims to explore pharmaceuticalisation processes in professional work contexts. The approach focuses on identifying patterns of medicine and dietary supplement use for managing work performance, and on discussing the relationship between these consumption practices and work-related pressure factors. This analysis adapts the notions of ‘normalisation’ to understand the extent of cultural acceptability of these practices, and the notion of ‘differentiated normalisation’ to capture the tension between the trend towards normalisation of such consumption and its partial social (in)visibility within work settings. Empirical support for this analysis is based on a sociological study conducted in Portugal on professions under high performance pressures. The study involved three professional groups – nurses, journalists and police officers. A mixed methods approach was used, including focus groups, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Overall, the results show a trend towards the use of medicines and supplements for performance management, which reveals itself as a cultural response to work-related social pressures. Such consumption coexists with irregular patterns of either occasional or long-term use, as well as heterogeneous processes of ‘normalisation’ and ‘hidden’ consumption. Conclusions point to a social interconnection between the intensification of work pressures and the pharmaceuticalisation of work performance.
- Medicines and medication literacy : social practices and use of informationPublication . Lopes, Noémia; Pegado, Elsa; Egreja, Catarina; Rodrigues, Carla; Fernandes, Ana IsabelThis article discusses results from a sociological study on (i) the sources and use of information on medicines and/or supplements and (ii) the self-assessment of how informed participants were about the last medicine or supplement they purchased. It seeks to demonstrate the plurality of information sources (expert and lay) that individuals call upon—with which they build up their medication literacy—and their perception of the information they have. While these social components of literacy are scarcely visible in available studies, the need to produce knowledge on them is a requisite for a more laypeople-centred approach in public policies seeking to promote medication literacy. A questionnaire was applied in-person (n = 1107) in urban pharmacies in Lisbon and Porto (Portugal). Results show expert information (medical and pharmaceutical) as the dominant reference, followed by lay sources (family/friends/colleagues), while digital sources were less valued than interpersonal ones. This interpersonal dimension was a relevant factor in the building of trust in information. The self-assessment of the information on medication was higher in functional literacy and lower in comprehensive literacy. Studies on medication literacy are particularly relevant in the current context of the expansion and diversification of medicines’ use and of individuals’ growing autonomy in their consumption habits.
- Nurses under pressure : the demands of professional performance and their management through the use of medicationPublication . Raposo, Hélder; Egreja, Catarina; Lopes, NoémiaThis article discusses the relationship between the demands on nurses’ professional performance and adherence to the use of medicines and supplements for their management. This approach allows us to analyze the transformations of nursing work and how nurses use various natural and pharmaceutical resources to cope with the pressures they face in their professional activities. To understand the interconnection between the transformations in nursing work and what we refer to here as the process of pharmaceuticalisation of work contexts, we use the results of a sociological mixed methods study on the use of medicines and food supplements for managing professional performance. The results show some of the main pressure factors in nursing work and how the increase in professional pressure substantially affects performance-related medicine use, as these become more frequent when nurses perceive their work as more intense, demanding, and exposed to risks.
- Polícias, trabalho e consumos de performancePublication . Gonçalves, Carlos Manuel; Tavares, David; Lopes, Noémia; Elias, RúbenO equacionamento das relações entre natureza do trabalho e os consumos de performance (medicamentos, suplementos alimentares e outros produtos naturais) para a melhoria do desempenho físico, intelectual e social do grupo profissional dos polícias, que integram a Polícia de Segurança Pública, é o objeto central do presente artigo. O recurso a tal tipo de consumos é um fenómeno social com relativa disseminação cultural no âmbito dos processos de farmacologização. O presente estudo baseou-se numa metodologia mista que incluiu análise documental, entrevistas semidiretivas, grupos focais e inquérito por questionário. Conclui-se que os fatores de pressão social integrantes da natureza e condições do trabalho policial configuram um contexto laboral, diverso em tarefas, permeado pelo risco e pelo julgamento público e institucional, em que os consumos de performance são relevantes no desempenho profissional.
- Transformações do trabalho em contextos de pressão para o desempenho profissionalPublication . Tavares, David; Lopes, Noémia; Gonçalves, Carlos ManuelO presente artigo consubstancia-se numa reflexão teórica sobre as transformações na natureza e nos tempos de trabalho em contextos de elevada pressão para o desempenho, tendo por base três grupos profissionais: jornalistas, enfermeiros e polícias. Salientam-se as tendências para o aumento das competências tecnológicas e digitais, do controlo sobre o trabalho sob a forma de tecnovigilância, do escrutínio sobre a atividade dos profissionais, e do caráter totalizante do trabalho, em termos temporais e espaciais, o que gera uma sobreposição entre os domínios profissional e pessoal/familiar.