Introduction: Quality of Life (QoL) plays a remarkable role in practice and public health policy. However, research on QoL among children and adolescents is still scarce and it seems crucial to develop and validate assessment tools for measuring health-related QoL. Objectives: The current study aims to analyse the psychometric properties and validate the Portuguese version of the Youth Quality of Life Instrument. In addition, the convergent and divergent validities are examined with related constructs. Methods: Participants were 507 adolescents, with ages between 12 and 19 years old (M = 15.74; SD = 1.62), attending middle and high schools. Together with YQOL-R, participants also filled out the Kidscreen-27 and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21). Results: The Portuguese version of YQOL-R showed a four-factor structure (dimensions: Self, Relationships, Environment, General Quality of Life), similar to the original version. This instrument also revealed good internal reliability and adequate temporal stability. YQOL-R showed positive correlations with health-related quality of life and negative associations with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. There were significant gender differences regarding quality of life, with boys reporting higher levels of perceived quality of life than girls. Conclusions: Future studies should be conducted to ensure these findings among clinical samples or physical conditions. Nevertheless, this study contributes to the set of available instruments for the assessment of QoL among children and adolescents, suggesting that the YQOL-R may be a useful tool for research and health practices in community samples.

Background: The progressive increase in the prevalence of anxiety disorders in advanced ages advises the extensive use of screening inventories in this population that, everywhere in the world, has become increasingly numerically significant. Goals: The aim of this study is to present the results of validation and reliability studies of the Portuguese version of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI). Method: After, translation and back-translation of GAI, the Portuguese version was administered to 805 institutionalized elderly. The reliability of the scale was assessed by Cronbach´s alpha coefficient and factorial validity using the extraction method of Principal Components Analysis. The convergent validity study was conducted with the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Negative Affects Schedule while discriminant validity was performed with the Positive Affects Schedule and the Satisfaction With Life Scale. We used confirmatory factor analysis, by means of structural equation modeling, to test the fit of the model with 20 items. We used the area under the ROC curve (AUC) to predict the group of elderly patients with generalized anxiety disorder and the group of healthy elderly. Results: The scale has good internal consistency (a = 0.94), indicators of good convergent and discriminant validity, were all significant. The model showed a good quality of fit to the data (?2/df = 2.805; TLI = 0.959; CFI = 0.964; RMSEA = 0.047). The ROC analysis revealed a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 84.7% in the detection of generalized anxiety disorder with a cutoff score of 13 (AUC = 0.92). Finally, women showed higher scores than men. Conclusions: The GAI has good psychometric and factorial qualities to measure anxiety symptoms in epidemiological surveys and in geriatric institutionalized settings.

Background: Aging is often characterized by cognitive impairment that sometimes exceeds the expected for normal aging. These changes that do not meet the criteria for dementia establish the cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND) that, regardless of etiology, has a high conversion rate to dementia. Aims: To investigate the effect of a Group Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Program (GNRP) in the cognitive, executive, and emotional functioning of institutionalized elderly with CIND. Methods: The sample included 24 elderly individuals, aged between 67 and 92 years. Twelve elderly underwent the GNRP and twelve elderly stayed on a waiting list. The study had a quasi-experimental design and was blind in the re-assessment. The ten interventions took 90 minutes per session, once a week. The pre and post-intervention assessment included the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Frontal Assessment Battery, the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory, and the Loneliness Scale. Results: The ANCOVAs showed a significant effect of the GNRP on the improvement of executive functioning (?2 = 0.26) and feelings of loneliness (?2 = 0.77), both with statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between the baseline and the post-intervention. The comparison deteriorated in the cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms (p < 0.05), suggesting that the GNRP prevents that deterioration, but ANCOVA was significant only for cognitive functioning (?2 = 0.26). Conclusion: The GNRP in institutionalized elderly with CIND offers promising results and shows efficacy in improving executive functioning and feelings of loneliness. Larger and more diverse samples and the study of the generalization and maintenance of long-term results are now needed.

Aims: Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in children, and in adolescents, as in adults. Once its occurrence during childhood and adolescence leads to serious consequences in adulthood, its early detection is an important goal. Self-report instruments have a key role in accessing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in an easily, reliably, and valid way. The aim of the current study is to assess psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of the Portuguese translation of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC). Methods: A school-based sample of 417 adolescents aged 12–18 years (M = 15.20; SD = 1.72) was involved in this study. Translation and Back Translation was made. To study convergent and divergent validity there were used the Portuguese versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS 21), of the Children´s Depression Inventory (CDI), and of the Students´Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) which measure, respectively, negative emotional states (depression, anxiety, and stress), depressive symptoms and global life satisfaction. Results: Factor analysis revealed three factors (mood, interpersonal relationships, and happiness) that explain 54% of the variance. The results show that the scale has an excellent internal consistency (a = 0.90), good temporal stability (r = 0.72) as an adequate convergent and divergent validity. Results showed that depressive symptoms varied in function of age and gender. Conclusions: The results of the present study provide initial adequate validity and reliability of the CES-DC. Nevertheless some limitations to this study, the results suggest that CES-DC can be a useful questionnaire in the assessment of depressive symptoms in Portuguese adolescents.