Silva, Joana Ribeiro da

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Silva

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Joana Ribeiro da

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Joana Ribeiro da Silva

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Concluiu o(a) Doutoramento em Doutoramento em Psicologia Clínica em 2011 pelo(a) Universidade do Minho e Licenciatura em Psicologia, área de pré-especialização em Psicologia Clínica em 2005 pelo(a) Universidade do Minho. É Professora Auxiliar na Universidade Portucalense Infante Dom Henrique, Departamento de Psicologia e Educação.

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0000-0003-1372-561X
011A-FC28-0157
36612283800

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CINTESIS.UPT - Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias e Serviços de Saúde
Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias e Serviços de Saúde (CINTESIS.UPT), former I2P, is an R&D unit devoted to the study of cognition and behaviour in context. With an interdisciplinary focus, namely on Education, Translational and Applied Psychology

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Author: Silva, Joana Ribeiro daAuthor: Vagos, PaulaLanguage: engItem Type: Publication

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • PublicationRestricted Access
    Online Externalizing Metaphor Therapy for Mild-to-Moderate Anxiety
    2022-05-05 - Tavares, Lúcia; McGuinty, Everett; Silva, Joana Ribeiro da; Vagos, Paula
    Anxiety has become more prevalent in recent years, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, although it remains largely unrecognized and untreated. Thus, there is a need for effective, short, and accessible forms of intervention. Externalizing Metaphor Therapy (EMT) is a post-modern brief treatment for mild to moderate anxiety. Its efficacy is herein analyzed by examining the process and outcomes of a four session online individual therapy with 4 young adults. Qualitative and quantitative data on individual change provides preliminary support for the efficacy of EMT at post-treatment and follow-up. Additionally, EMT therapist’s descriptions and participants’ perspectives on the process of change suggests putative mediators of EMT in the transformation process. Future randomized controlled trials using wider samples are needed to confirm these provisional results.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    A qualitative study of social anxiety and impairment amid the COVID-19 pandemic for adolescents and young adults in Portugal and the US
    2022-11-24 - Coyle, Samantha; Masia, Carrie; Martin, Grace; Wimmer, Jessica; Kalvera, Avi; Jeyanayagam, Britney; Lekas, Helen-Maria; Ganho-Ávila, Ana; Lima, Luiza; Xavier, Ana; Vagos, Paula; Silva, Joana Ribeiro da
    This qualitative investigation explored the social and academic experiences of socially anxious adolescents and young adults in Portugal and the US as they lived through the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 10 Portuguese adolescents (mean age = 16.9 years; 50% female) and 7 young adults in the US (mean age = 19.67 years; 71% female; racially/ethnically diverse). Participants completed a semi-structured interview evaluating how the pandemic and social restrictions impacted social anxiety symptoms and associated functional impairment in social and academic domains. Thematic analysis was used to categorize responses across developmental stages and countries. Findings show consistent patterns across cultures, with symptoms of SAD extending to virtual contexts. Participants reported avoidance behaviors that were reinforced by social distancing mandates and declines in academic engagement during remote learning. Anticipatory anxiety about the return to normal social routines was also evident. Schools should be aware of the impact of social confinement on socially anxious students as they return to in person school schedules and social demands.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    The role of mother’s prenatal compassion and psychological flexibility in postpartum mother-to-infant bonding [comunicação oral]
    2023-07 - Mateus, Vera; Veloso, Bruna; Xavier, Ana; Palmeira, Lara; Vagos, Paula; Silva, Joana Ribeiro da
    The transition to motherhood encloses several challenges that can hinder women’s psychological well-being and impact mother-baby bonding. Therefore, it is important to investigate which maternal characteristics promote their bond to the infant, especially those that can be modified through targeted interventions. This work aims to examine whether mother’s prenatal compassion and psychological flexibility have an impact on mother-infant bond in the postpartum period. Participants are 298 pregnant women between 22 and 30 weeks of gestation and with a mean age of 32 years old (SD = 4.43). Women completed the Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes and the Compassion Action and Engagement Scales during pregnancy, whereas mother-infant bonding was measured at 3-months postpartum via the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire. Data collection of the postpartum assessment is ongoing. We expect that higher levels of mother’s prenatal compassion and psychological flexibility will predict better quality of mother-baby bonding. The study findings can inform future studies in designing and testing specific parental interventions to foster a positive and secure mother-infant bond in the postpartum period.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Can psychological flexibility discriminate mothers' attachment styles? A study during pregnancy [comunicação oral]
    2023-07 - Moreira, Susana; Sousa, Mariana; Veloso, Bruna; Palmeira, Lara; Xavier, Ana; Vagos, Paula; Silva, Joana Ribeiro da
    Psychological flexibility (PF) has been associated with greater well-being, less psychopathology and better parent’s and child’s adjustment (Fonseca et al., 2020; Monteiro et al., 2019). [...]
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    PublicationRestricted Access
    Mother–infant bonding in the first nine months postpartum: the role of mother’s attachment style and psychological flexibility
    2023-07-31 - Mateus, Vera; Araújo, Vânia; Xavier, Ana; Vagos, Paula; Palmeira, Lara; Silva, Joana Ribeiro da
    Introduction Mother’s bond to the infant in the postpartum period plays an important role in the subsequent mother–infant relationship and the infant’s socio-emotional functioning. Several maternal characteristics, such as attachment style and psychological flexibility, may contribute to the quality of mother–infant bonding, though literature examining these variables is still scarce. The present study aimed to examine the impact of mother’s attachment on mother–infant bonding in the first month postpartum and the mediating role of psychological flexibility on that association. Methods Participants were 226 mothers of an infant up to 9 months old, who reported on their own attachment style (in terms of anxiety, comfort with proximity, trust in others), psychological flexibility (in terms of openness to experience, behavioural awareness, valued action) and mother–infant bonding. Results Results showed that mother’s attachment anxiety predicted a bond with the infant directly and indirectly via mother’s psychological flexibility, specifically through behavioural awareness and valued action. Trust in others had an impact on mother–infant bonding through behavioural awareness, whereas comfort with proximity influenced mother–infant bond indirectly, via valued action. Finally, mothers’ civil status, schooling and number of children were relevant to better understand the variance of our mediating and dependent variables. Discussion Our findings highlight the importance of mother’s attachment and psychological flexibility in promoting the quality of mother–infant bonding, which can inform future intervention programmes targeting modifiable factors, such as psychological flexibility, to promote early positive parent–infant relationships, particularly for single, first-time mothers, with higher levels of education.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    The longitudinal impact of psychological flexibility and compassion on mother-baby bonding: Care4mmmies study protocol [comunicação oral]
    2023-03-30 - Mateus, Vera; Palmeira, Lara; Xavier, Ana; Silva, Joana Ribeiro da; Vagos, Paula
    Becoming a mother is a life-changing event that is often experienced in a positive way, but may also encompass great vulnerability and uncertainty, with the potential to hinder the mother’s well-being and foster disorganization, particularly for women with attachment difficulties dealing with a difficult infant. Risk factors to the quality of mother-infant emotional bonding are well documented, whereas research into the mothers’ protective and modifiable factors is scarcer. Psychological flexibility and compassion are adaptive emotional regulation strategies that have been linked to the wellbeing and mental health in diverse populations. The current work intends to present the Care4mommies project, which aims to examine whether prenatal maternal compassion (towards others and the self) and psychological flexibility play a protective role in the development of postpartum mother-infant bonding over time and whether this effect remains relevant regardless of mothers’ attachment style and infant temperament. Participants will be pregnant women to be assessed between 22 and 30 weeks of gestation (T0) and when the infant is three (T1) and nine months old (T2). Participants will respond to an online survey that includes sociodemographic information and questionnaires about their compassion and psychological flexibility to be completed at all three assessments. In addition, mothers’ own attachment style will be reported during pregnancy, and infant temperament and mother-infant bonding questionnaires will be administered at T1 and T2. Recruitment will take place through social media advertising, colleagues and acquaintances of the research team members, and family health units attending pregnant women. Data will be analysed using a structural equation modelling approach. Overall, we expect that higher levels of mother’s compassion and psychological flexibility will predict higher quality of mother-infant bonding. In addition, we expect that the impact of less adaptive maternal attachment styles and infant difficult temperament on mother-infant bonding will be moderated by mother’s compassion and/or psychological flexibility. Finally, we expect mother-infant bonding at T2 to be predicted by mothers’ attachment style, compassion and psychological flexibility, infant temperament, and mother-infant bonding previously assessed. The study findings will clarify whether mothers’ compassion and psychological flexibility may be protective for mother-infant bonding, which can inform future studies in designing and testing specific parental interventions to promote a secure mother-infant bond in the postpartum period.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Care4Mommies in action: Study protocol for promoting maternal psychological adjustment in the perinatal period [comunicação oral: poster]
    2025-05-28 - Palmeira, Lara; Xavier, Ana; Conde, Ana; Silva, Joana Ribeiro da; Vagos, Paula
    Becoming a mother is a life-changing event that requires mothers’ emotional regulation skills, namely self-compassion, to facilitate this transition. Compassion-based interventions (CBIs) may be useful, but their application to promote maternal wellbeing and mother-baby bonding has been scarcely considered. The current work aims to explore the acceptability, feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a CBI applied during pregnancy on the well-being and quality of mother-baby bonding at postpartum. To do so, two interlinked studies will be conducted. Study 1 will use a mixed-method design to investigate the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. Nurses practicing in prenatal services and pregnant women will be asked, via focus group, on their anticipated acceptability of the CBI so that it can be tailored to the context and the individual’s needs. Then, those pregnant women will be offered the CBI as asked for pre- and post-intervention quantitative data on self-compassion related constructs, maternal-fetal attachment, and mental health; they will also be asked for their qualitative appraisal of procedure of the intervention. This will inform necessary adjustment to the CBI. Study 2 will then use a pilot cluster randomized trial to investigate the efficacy of the CBI. Mothers enrolled in group birth preparation courses (i.e., TAU) will be randomly enrolled to the CBI plus TAU or the CBI alone and assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention prepartum, and 3-months follow at postpartum. They will be asked for quantitative data on the same constructs assessed in Study 1, except for maternal-fetal attachment that will be replaced with mother-baby bonding at follow-up. This work will allow for the development and initial efficacy evaluation of a tailored intervention that may contribute to mother’s well-being and their ability to cope with becoming a mother and bonding with their baby, which in turn may facilitate the child’s later emotional, social and cognitive development.