The concepts of spirituality and religiousness has not been investigated so far in patients after stroke.

The aim of this study is to explore whether self-reports in two questionnaires measuring the personal experience of spirituality and religiousness can influence quality of life and estimations of rehabilitation in male older adult patients and their wives when compared with control dyads.

Fifteen male stroke patients and their wives participated one year after their hospitalization for stroke. The mean age of the patients and their wives was 75.58 years (SD = 7.50, range 61-90), level of education 15.47 years (SD = 3.82). In addition to that, fifteen married couples with similar demographics, were also measured. Depressive symptoms of the participants were assessed with the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. Family dyads consisting of an older adult and one family member, in all cases the wife, also responded to the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale, the Systems of Belief Inventory (SBI-15R), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). A 5-point Likert scale question was also administered examining the opinion of rehabilitation achieved.

indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the levels of spirituality, religiousness and quality of life in both partners, with the stroke patient dyad showing lower scores, but positive stronger correlations.

Although spirituality, religiousness and quality of life are lower in the stroke patient dyad, they show significantly statistical positive correlations in older adults suffering from stroke as well as their wives.

According to numerous studies, the origins of most endogenous mental diseases, in particular, autism, lie in early childhood. This concept is based on the classical theories of diathesis.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the phenomenology of mental disorders in children with an assessment of the prognostic significance of symptoms that preceded the development of the disease for future mental health.

The clinical material was collected during the survey of a child population. Selected for prospective observation was 40 children (1-3 years old) from the high-risk group for schizophrenia with functional disorders of the endogenous spectrum. All patients were examined by clinical methods and pathopsychological, neurophysiological. Psychometric scales PANSS, CARS were used. The results were mathematically evaluated using the Statistica 7 program.

The clinical picture of the mental state of young children, in children with autistic disorders in 1,5-3 years, was determined by a specific complex of disorders, which were reduced to a general deficit, especially in the emotional sphere, vegetative dysregulation, most often, the sleep-Wake rhythm. Motor skills, as a rule, did not lag significantly behind the age standards. The onset of actual autistic disorders was noted older than 1 year of life. Сhildren received medication and corrective therapy. The detailed clinical picture of violations developed gradually. Dynamics of psychopathological picture in (80,0%) children was regressive.

The study shows the importance of preventive measures in people related to ASD, sparing individual approach in education and therapy.

Substance use affects it’s user and also risks the health of the caregivers.

Identify persons at risk of developing substance use disorder, assess the burden borne by the caregivers and development of psychiatric illness.

Clinical assessment based on DSM-V criteria was performed for SUD diagnosis. Data was recorded using Substance use risk profile scale (SURPs) on the patient and the caregivers were evaluated using M.I.N.I. International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I) and caregiver’s strain index (CSI).

81 participants-96% were male, mean age 32.4 years, 53.1% married, 72.8% employed and 52% lived in joint family system). The substance use ascertained were alcohol 24.7%, benzodiazepines 21%, cannabis 34.6%, opioid 30.9% and others 4.8%. 50% had substance use lasting 2-9 years. 50.6% reported starting as a recreation and the perpetuating factor for 49.4%. was emotional distress. 44% quit due to family pressure. On SURP, 85.2% demonstrated anxiety sensitivity, 96.3% were hopeful, 66% sensation seeking and 77% were impulsive. Caregiver mean age was 37.8 years, with two-third being parents and spouses. The burden reported was sleep disturbance 59.3%, inconvenience (61.7%) physical strain 46.9%, confining 50.6%, family adjustment 76.5%, plan changes 65.4%, emotional adjustment 88.9%, behavioral adjustment 74.1%, financial strain 80.2%, work adjustment 46.9%, 71.6% felt overwhelmed and 67.9% were upset about the changes from former self. Major depressive disorder was identified in 51.9% of the caregivers.

SURP identified personality features linked with risk of developing substance use disorder. The study also provided evidence for significant burden on caregivers and an increased likelihood to develop a psychiatric disorder.

Emotion regulation is a key world to understand many human behaviors. Preschool children can exhibite disturbing behaviors that could interfeer with their integration, development and learning abilities. One way to understand these behaviors is their “immature” emotional regulation process. Helping children acquiring this ability can help to solve these disturbances’, which can lead to mental health problems.

To experiment with a new acceptance and committment therapy protocol in preschool children

It is a qualitative interventional study that relies on issues to enable the recognition and regulation of emotions. a protocol was implemented which consists of activities and techniques useful to help children recognize, regulate and accept their emotions, with the support of the educator.

All six selected children accepted to undergo the therapy till the end of the eight sessions. at fisrt, they were enable to recognise some emtions. it was the most difficult for them to recognise body expression of emotion. they had also difficulties find the different worlds to express them and to enact them.Throw different activities, we tried to help children visualize their emotions, imagine them under different faces and play with them. Children were introduced to mindfulness and emotional regulation technics. After One month of the intervention, children were still able to recognize emotions and to propose technics to regulate them. their score on the CBCL were below 70 one month after the intervention.

Even at an early age of 4 years, ACT seems to be possible and helpful for children.

In the United Kingdom, the move from trainee to consultant psychiatrist can be both exciting and daunting. Trainee psychiatrists have access to support and weekly supervision that is not available to consultants. Having an organised meeting for new consultants could help bridge this gap with peer-led support.

Improving support and guidance to new consultants Networking with peers Promoting wellbeing, good clinical practice and career development

We identified a group of 85 consultants in their first five years of practice. Meetings were held online using videoconference. Senior leaders presented at each meeting, with a group discussion at the end. We surveyed attendees using an online platform.

We had excellent attendance rates from the group, with 30 to 45 consultants attending each webinar. Over 60% of attendees had been a consultant for less than a year. For 90%, this was their first experience of a new consultant forum. Attendees gave excellent feedback (Table). Being able to meet consultants from different specialties, hearing career stories from senior leaders and how they have managed the COVID-19 pandemic were cited as benefits.

The forum was popular and the feedback was excellent. Using an online format worked well and made it easier to organise and plan sessions. There is potential to implement similar fora for other senior psychiatrists across Europe.

Nowadays the cyberspace penetrates all the spheres of our lives: work, leisure and learning activity. However, uncontrolled presence in the virtual reality can form Internet-addictive behavior. Young people seem to be in increased risk of Internet-related problems.

The research aim is to study the motivational shpere of the students with different level of Internet dependency.

The research methods are: Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS), Internet Perception Inventory, Learning Motivation Diagnostics Inventory, Test of Motivation of Success or Fear of the Failure. The sample consists of 37 students of the medical university in the age from 21 to 24 years. According to the results of the CIAS 3 groups have been marked out: Group 1 - with the highest level of Internet-related problems, Group 2 – the risk group of forming the Internet addiction, Group 3 – students who have not demonstrated proneness to Internet-addictive behavior.

The motivational sphere of the students with a low risk of Internet addiction seem to be more differenciated comparing with the one of the rest students. The motives of creative self-realization; communicative, social and learning motives have been demostrated. However, we have not found a significant differance between the groups in motivation for success. The motives of professional self-realization are equally important for all the research participants.

The obtained data can be implemented when designing Internet addiction prevention programs. We assume that including the motivational component into such programs can make them more effective.

No significant relationships.

The derogation and violence associated with describing others as less than human is documented in a wide range of research (e.g., Bandura, 1992; Optow, 1990). However, this research has only explored one side of the social comparisons that humanity can evoke. Integrating dehumanization research and that of social comparison, which suggests the different effects of upward and downward targets, we explore social comparison which lowers human nature and therefore raises the target (Suls et al., 2002; Suls et al., 2018).

While dehumanization places others below humanity, we explore hyper-humanization which places humanity below other comparison classes. When humanity is characterized as a low social comparison class, this should lead people to reintegrate transgressors, evoke forgiveness and reduce revenge motives.

To test this hypothesis 577 participants viewed a vignette about a social transgression and completed the benevolence and avoidance subscales of the TRIM (McCullough et al., 2006). We manipulated dehumanization and hyper-humanization using a conversational prompt which asked participants to elaborate on descriptions of the social transgressor. In the dehumanization condition the target was described as “barely human”, and in the hyper-humanization condition the target was described as “only human”.

Using a mixed-model ANOVA, results indicate that in the rehumanization condition benevolence increased (F=5.30, p<.01) and avoidance decreased (F=4.75, p<.01) relative to dehumanization and controls.

While lower groups below humanity may facilitate genocide and other social ills, other forms of social comparison with humanity may act to restore relationships and facilitate forgiveness.

Going abroad for employment is one of the common social problems which have been faced by the young males of developing countries. This included both highly qualified individuals as well as the labor class.

To determine the difference in the presence of depressive symptoms among pregnant women with husbands living abroad and those with husbands living with them in Azad Jammu and Kashmir

The sample population comprised of pregnant women reporting for ante natal checkup at Amna hospital Rawalakot. Cases constituted the pregnant women with husbands living abroad while controls were the pregnant women with husbands living with them.PHQ-9 was used to record the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Age, gestation, parity, rural or urban origin, education, level of family income, daily contact hours on telephone or what’s app, previous pregnancy loss or complications, number of years abroad and visits to home per year were associated with depressive symptoms.

Mean age of the study participants was 29.73±5.395 years. 66 (66%) had significant depression in the case group while 14 (14%) had in the control group (p-value<0.001). Education and rural background had significant difference among the case and control group. Less number of visits per year of husband was strongly linked with presence of depressive symptoms among the cases.

This study showed a high frequency of depressive symptoms among pregnant women with husbands abroad as compared to those with husbands living with them. Special attention should be paid to the women whose husband had lesser number of visits to the country

Acute marital psychosis is an acute psychotic episode occurring in a particular context which is marriage. In fact, marriage represents an event with a very important emotional load especially in the Arab-Muslim culture. This event can, in some people, induce a relapse of certain psychiatric disorders, particularly psychotic ones. We propose in this work to report two clinical observations concerning two brothers who both presented, a few years apart, an acute nuptial psychosis with two different evolutions.

Studing the characteristics of nuptial psychotic episode in a one family and the different evolution of each one.

Reporting two clinical cases of two brothers who represented both acute psychotic episode in a nuptial context with different evolution.

The two patients are brothers with common psychiatric background which is their mother treated for chronic psychotic disorder. They were hospitalized in our psychiatric service for acute psychotic episode occuring in a nuptial context with chronic evolution for the first one and a partial recovery for the second one.

Marriage represents an event with a very important emotional load especially in the Arab-Muslim culture. In thiscontext, acute psychotic episode can occur with different evolution for patients predisposed. Studing socio-cultral circumstances related to psychotic episode can help mental health professional to improve the quality of health care service.

Several evidence recognizes Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) as a promising biomarker in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, including Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), considering the involvement of epigenetic regulation in BDNF altered expression.

This study aims to investigate, in a sample of OCD patients, the epigenetic modulation in terms of levels of methylation and hydroxymethylation on the BDNF gene exon I promoter.

Fifty OCD patients, recruited from Psychiatry Unit 2, Sacco University Hospital in Milan and fifty healthy controls, comparable by age and gender. Saliva samples were collected by oral swab and epigenetic analysis were performed at the University of Teramo. Statistical analyses were performed with t test with Bonferroni correction.

Data analysis showed a significant decrease in 5-methyl cytosine levels (5mC) (mean OCD: 1.221%; mean CTRL: 1.784%; p < 0.001) and a significant increase in 5-Hydroxy-methyl cytosine levels (5hmC) (mean OCD: 1.018%; mean CTRL: 0.527% p< 0.0001) in BDNF gene exon I promoter of OCD patients compared to controls. Regarding 5mC of site 3 and 5hmC of site 1 and 2 of the exon I promoter CpG islands, no statistical significance was found.

Present results showed significant differences in epigenetic modulation of BDNF gene, which might not be univocally interpreted. They could represent an intrinsic OCD characteristic or the effect of antidepressant drugs, assumed by all recruited patients. Further studies, comparing OCD subjects in treatment vs drug-free, are necessary to define BDNF epigenetic modulation role and its possible use as biomarker in the characterization of OCD.

No significant relationships.

When depression is comorbid with tuberculosis, it will lead to decreased quality of life, lack of adherence to anti-Tb drugs, progression to MDRTB and will end in death with mortality from the disease.

We aimed to study the association of Tuberculosis and depressive disorders in children aged 7-18 years compared to non-tuberculosis diseases and their correlation. We hypothesized that depression will be significantly more common in patients with tuberculosis than in non-TB patients, who served as a control.

A prospective observational case-type study for a period of 2 years, 2018-2020. The patients included in the study are patients diagnosed and treated in the Child Pneumology Department of the Pneumoftiziology Hospital “Sfantul Spiridon” Galati and in the TB Dispensaries in Galati County divided into the study group consisting of patients diagnosed with Tuberculosis and the control group of patients without a diagnosis of Tuberculosis or other previous chronic disease. For the diagnosis of depression in the case of the two groups, we used the CDI questionnaire (Depression Inventory for children).

Out of 100 children with TB, 68% had depression compared to the control group, which showed that only 9% had depression.

Depression can affect all parts of a child’s life, including behavior, appetite, energy levels, sleep patterns, relationships, and academic performance. We observe a wide range of symptoms in the group of children with tuberculosis compared to the control group.

Neural stem/progenitor cells derived from olfactory neuroepithelium (hereafter OE-NS/PCs) are emerging as a viable proxy and a valuable tool for translational studies on severe mental illnesses (SMI). In this respect, the use of OE-NS/PCs as a surrogate cellular model of schizophrenia (SZ) has enabled insights into cell signaling and cell cycle dynamics in this disease.

We explored whether mitochondrial dysfunction, which has been already associated with SZ, may have a role in the altered proliferation pattern previously observed in OE-NS/PCs of SZ patients.

OE-NS/PCs were collected from 20 patients and 20 healthy controls (Hcs) by nasal brushing, cultured in proper medium and expanded. Fresh OE-NS/PCs at passage 3 of both groups underwent BrdU proliferation assays or were frozen for later use. Mitochondrial ATP production was measured in both fresh and thawed OE-NS/PCs by using the ATPlite Luminescence Assay kit.

Fresh OE-NS/PCs of patients grew at a higher rate than those of HCs (M-W U=0; p<0.001), whereas the proliferation of thawed OE-NS/PCs of both groups exhibited an opposed pattern (at passage 6, p=0.002). Mitochondrial ATP production was significantly lower in OE-NS/PCs of patients than in those of HCs (M-W U=0; p=0.02), regardless of freeze-thaw conditions (M-W U=6; p=0.77).

Mitochondrial ATP production is negatively affected in OE-NS/PCs of SZ patients as compared to those of HCs. This evidence does not differ in fresh OE-NS/PCs and OE-NS/PCs undergoing freeze-thaw cycles, which instead perturb the proliferation pattern of SZ OE-NS/PCs.

Storytelling could be considered as one of the ecological way to study the pragmatic function of speech in schizophrenia. It demands the ability to create narrative (text) that would be appropriate to particular context. Neuropsychological basis of text-context relation impairment in schizophrenia needs clarification.

To study neuropsychological correlates of pragmatic text-context impairment revealed during storytelling in patients with schizophrenia.

Participants were 14 inpatients with schizophrenia and 18 students without mental disorders. Neuropsychological functioning was measured in both groups according to Luria’s method. Pragmatics assessed by storytelling on images which simultaneously depicts some narrative that should be correctly decoded and after expressed to investigator. The images were taken from Luria’s neuropsychological album and Bidstrup’s drawings.

Stories of patients with schizophrenia were different from control stories in two ways. Some patients produced stories which predominantly characterized by incompleteness that don’t give an opportunity to understand their narratives as connected whole because of its lacunarity. In other cases, stories predominantly characterized by distortion of the storyline which became not realistic and don’t match with the original picture. Incompleteness errors primarily correlates with neuropsychological dysfunction of left frontal lobe (p<0,001). Distortion errors also mainly correlates with dysfunction of frontal lobes (p<0,01), but qualitative analysis reveals right hemisphere involvement.

Impairment of the pragmatic function of speech during storytelling in schizophrenia could manifest itself in at least two different ways. Preliminary results show that it could be connected with different neuropsychological mechanisms and worth considered with left-right frontal lobes opposition.

The reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-013-00772

Although OCD is believed to have a chronic course, little research has been conducted on this, and there are discrepant findings. Studies over the last years have found that a significant proportion of patients with OCD shows symptomatic remission over long term, however there are significant variations in sampling, clinical characteristics, follow-up, and outcome assessments.

The present prospective study aims to examine rates of OCD remission after 20 years of follow up and to explore demographic and clinical predictors of remission.

The study sample consists of adult patients with a principal OCD diagnosis and Y-BOCS total score ≥16, who have been referred to the Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin (Italy). OCD symptoms were assessed every 5 years over the 20-year follow-up period. Course data were examined using standard survival analysis methods; Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate relative hazards for predictors of remission.

There were 360 participants in the study. At year 20, the 28.7 % of the total sample showed OCD remission. Predictor of remission were female gender, lower Y-BOCS mean scores at study entry, longer duration of illness and comorbidity with major depressive disorder. No specific predictors of full remission were found. Lower Y-BOCS mean scores and comorbid bipolar disorder predicted partial remission.

This study suggests that a significant proportion of patients with OCD shows remission. Future studies are needed to clearly identify predictors of remission.

No significant relationships.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been associated with the development mental and behavioural symptoms and psychiatric disorders. This association is stronger in severe cases of the disease and in those needing inpatient treatment, particularly in intensive care units (ICU).

To determine the incidence of psychiatric disorders in a Portuguese hospital-based sample of patients with COVID-19. To describe relevant demographic and clinical data.

We reviewed all COVID-19 inpatients assessed by liaison psychiatry at our hospital between April and September 2020. Patients admitted due to a psychiatric disorder were excluded from the analysis. We reviewed medical records and retrieved relevant clinical data. ICD-10 was used to classify diagnoses.

We identified 36 cases with a mean age of 62.64 years-old (SD 19.23). The most common disorder was delirium, which occurred in 41.7% of our sample (15 patients), followed by adjustment disorder (22.2%, n=8), and depressive episode (16.7%, n=8). Most patients had no personal (61.1%, n=22) nor family (75%, n=27) history of a psychiatric disorder. Mean length of admission was 36.89 days (SD 28.91). Seventeen cases (47.22%) had at least one risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease and 14 (38.89%) were admitted at some point to the ICU.

In our sample, delirium was the main cause for mental or behavioural symptoms in COVID-19 patients. However, we observed a wide array of presentations in our center. A larger sample would allow to better characterize this often-overlooked symptoms and identify risk factors to psychiatric syndromes.

No significant relationships.

Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) is a rare disorder associated with significant morbidity such as hearing loss that can lead to many psychiatric disorders.

Describe the psychiatric symptoms associated to NF2.

We report the case of a patient admitted to the locked unit of the psychiatric ward for agitation and persecutory delusion and diagnosed with NF2. The data was collected from the patient’s medical file. A review of the literature was performed by selecting articles from PubMed using ‘Psychosis acoustic neuromas’ and ‘Psychosis neurofibromatosis 2’ as key words.

This is the case of a 21-year-old patient who was admitted for behavioral disorders. Our patient had a medical history of a one-sided deafness treated with a hearing prosthesis. He was also followed irregularly by a free-lance psychiatrist. The start of trouble dated back to 3 years marked by behavioral disorders such as fugue, agitation, irritability and sleep disorder. The symptoms worsen in the last 3 months with appearance of hostility and delusion of persecution towards his mother. The patient declines to eat the food that his mother cooked for him and threatened her with a knife. The clinical overview includes delirium, clastic agitation strikes, emotional lability, cerebral ataxia and conjunctival hyperemia. Brain scanner showed an association of bilateral acoustic neuromas, cavernous and intraventricular meningioma. These clinical and radiological signs met the diagnosis for NF2 according to the consensus conference of the National Institute of Health in Bethesda (USA 1988).

The psychiatric symptoms reported in acoustic neuroma patients are usually described as transient.

We present the case of a 19-year-old female patient treated in our hospital due to an outburst of persistent vomiting. The patient had a diagnosis of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS), a year before the diagnosis the patient had been labeled as a somatizer and admitted into the department of psychiatry. Given her psychiatric record and the fact that CVS is a rare diagnosis we were consulted on arrival.

CVS is an infrequent disorder of unknown etiology which shares similarities with migraine headaches. It is characterized by episodes of vomiting followed by periods of remission without active symptomatology with no organic pathology to account for the symptoms. Epistemic injustice (EI) is defined by Miranda Fricker as “a damage done to someone in their capacity as a knower”. She defined two forms of EI: testimonial and hermeneutical injustice.

A case report is presented alongside a review of the relevant literature regarding CVS and epistemic injustice.

On arrival at the emergency department she tried explaining her condition, but her testimony was disregarded on the basis of her psychiatric record. It was only after the on-call psychiatrist explained the condition when she received the appropriate abortive treatment, after which she was admitted to the internal medicine department where she was followed by the liaison psychiatrist.

CVS is a disabling disease still unknown to most clinicians in spite of the increasing quality evidence about its identification and treatment. The case highlight how cases of newly identified disease can suffer from testimonial and hermeneutical injustice.

The uncertainty of contemporary social contexts fosters suspiciousness and anaclitic anxieties. In the context of interpersonal relationships this manifests in cognitive distortions and magical thinking, specially in the vulnerable populations.

To study the ability of understanding social causality and its relation to magical thinking and ambiguity intolerance in schizophrenia and controls.

Participants were 40 inpatients with paranoid schizophrenia and 40 controls. Understanding of social causality was measured by corresponding SCORS-S scale for Thematic Apperception Test, Magical thinking was measured by SPQ-74 and intolerance to ambiguity by the New Tolerance-Intolerance to ambiguity questionnaires.

The understanding of social causality was less developed in schizophrenia group (mean values 2.28 and 3.28, p<.001). They manifest omissions of psychological aspects, logical faults and inconsistencies in depicting social relationships. Magical thinking was higher in clinical group (4.32 and 2.33, p<0.001). Two measures were significantly (p<0.05) correlated in both groups. Regression analysis indicates that 37.7% of variance of dependent variable ‘understanding of social causality’ (R2=0,377) was predicted by ‘magical thinking’ (-0,398, p<0,001) and ‘tolerance to ambiguity’ (0,412, p<0,001). The overal level of tolerance of ambiguity was higher in control group (52.2 and 61.0, p<0.002).

Tolerance of ambiguity, being more characteristic for normal population, underlies the understanding of social causality. In contrast, the intolerance to interpersonal ambiguity is related to increment of anxiety, failures in cognitive elaboration of interpersonal relationships and leads to superstition and illogical beliefs. This relationship has a heuristic value for understanding what is happening to vulnerable individuals in the context of current COVID pandemic.

The active development of psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) has been taking place in Russia within latest two decades. In this regard, analysis of the accumulated experience and problems’ identification in the PSR field is relevant.

Conducting a sociological study in the Volga Federal District (VFD) to work out measures for further PSR system development.

Sociological, statistical, original semi-structured questionnaire on PSR application, including 26 questions.

63 institutions providing psychiatric care in 14 large regions of the VFD participated in the study. Achievements in the field of PSR include: introduction of new forms of rehabilitation care, modern psychosocial interventions; development of the volunteer sector and others. A number of systemic problems were also identified: more pronounced decrease in the availability of psychiatrists in VFD compared to the Russian Federation (RF) as a whole (in the VFD 0.76 psychiatrists per 10 thousand population in 2017 and 0.74 per 10 thousand population in 2018; in RF: 0.83 psychiatrists per 10 thousand population in 2017, 0.82 per 10 thousand in 2018); insufficient provision with psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, which varies considerably in different territories (up to 10 times); insufficient use of non-profit organizations’ (NPOs) potential; lack of a unified system for assessing PSR effectiveness.

Measures for development of PSR were proposed: improving staffing levels and qualifications of employees, introducing psychosocial interventions with proven effectiveness; dissemination of successful experience of NPOs, development of methodological tools for assessing effectiveness of PSR, its standardization and others.

A cross-cultural qualitative study about older portuguese and mexican adults and sexual well-being.

Sexual well-being (SWB) refers to the subjective emotional and cognitive evaluation of the quality of the individual's sexuality, it plays a relevant role in quality of life and health promotion on old age and has cross-cultural implications. The aim of this study is to analyse comparatively the perspectives of older adults on their SWB in Portugal and Mexico.

Data were collected from 86 Portuguese and 80 Mexican community-dwelling participants aged 65 years and older, using a semi-structured interview protocol. Older adults were inquired about their perceptions on what contributes to their sexual well-being. Socio-demographic data were also enquired. Content analysis was used to identify key themes.

Outcomes indicated eight themes: eroticism, supportive relationship, positive self-concept, health and self-care, romance, active life, tenderness and care, and no pain and no pregnancy restrictions, for both samples. Eroticism was the most frequent theme reported by Portuguese participants (31.4%) and health and self-care were the most frequent theme reported by Mexican participants (26.5%).

The empirical results of this study indicated that SWB is strongly influenced by socio-cultural and psychosocial values. This cross-cultural comparison between Portugal and Mexico contributes to understand this concept in old age with different perspectives and place a scenario for future culture-adapted interventions and comprehensive policies.

No significant relationships.