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The nature of intimacy and self-identity changed profoundly over the past century. The disruption between sex and procreation enabled the emergence of new forms of relationships and contributed towards the legitimacy of a sexuality focused on pleasure, as a mean of self-realization and an expression of intimacy. Despite the evidence that most individuals now approach close relations with expectations of mutual emotional support and romantic love, intimate relationships remain highly gendered, particularly in societies where traditional roles of men and women persist in the growing diversity of sexual relationships. To address this topic, an empirical research was conducted in the Greater Lisbon area using a mixed methods approach. First, a quantitative study, with 323 primary healthcare users, intended to explain how gender influences self-constructions of sexuality and intimacy. Then, a qualitative study, with a subsample of 10 heterosexual men and 15 heterosexual women, employed in-depth interviews to explore how individuals construct their etiquette of sexual behavior. Building upon Gagnon and Simon's scripting theory and Giddens' transformations of intimacy, along with feminist criticisms concerning male dominance in hetero-relationships, we have reached an explanatory typology that focuses on Portuguese specificity in terms of the subjective experience of sexuality and intimate relationships. Sexuality and intimacy are complex and multifaceted phenomena that are affected by sexual and non-sexual factors, both in and out of the bedroom. Key findings reveal a coexistence of highly gendered sexual scripts with increasingly more egalitarian sexual roles, namely among the youngest and the most educated generations in Portuguese society.

Copyright © 2021 Candeias, Alarcão, Stefanovska-Petkovska, Santos, Virgolino, Pintassilgo, Pascoal, Costa and Machado. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. ; The increasing number of international migrants (ranging from 153 million in 1990 to ~272 million in 2019) brought to attention the wide variation of national contexts concerning the policy measures to protect migrants' rights and ensuring their equal access to basic and essential services, namely in health. Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) is a key component to the overall health and quality of life and is impacted by power inequities inherent to society's institutions, environment, economics, and culture. In Portugal, guidelines for intervention in SRH are insufficient, a gap that is more pronounced with migrant populations due to the absence of culturally sensitive indicators to assess and monitor SRH. The aim of this work was 2-fold: to identify good practices in the SRH field, with a particular focus, whenever possible, on migrant populations, and to identify relevant and inclusive indicators to monitor SRH in Portugal. A Delphi panel (via online survey) with 66 experts (researchers, teachers, and health professionals) and 16 stakeholders (non-governmental organizations, civil society, and governmental organizations) was implemented in two rounds. Panelists were asked to state their level of agreement (5-point Likert-type scale) regarding four different SRH areas: Sexual Health, Reproductive Health, Social-Structural Factors, and Good Practices. Items were based on literature review and a World Café with 15 experts and stakeholders. ...

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. ; Cape Verdean governments have intensified the investment on the National Reproductive Health Program, aiming to provide universal and qualified services, especially to the youngest people. Nevertheless, data suggest that some health challenges remain in this group (e.g., high rates of early/unplanned pregnancies, illegal abortions, sexual risk behaviors). In this paper, we present a protocol of a community-based social prescribing and digital intervention to promote wellbeing and quality of life across the life course of young Cape Verdeans, with a specific focus on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) related behaviors. The intervention program, to be developed in three years, will follow an Intervention Mapping approach, namely regarding needs assessment and study's protocol. The program's implementation and evaluation will occur simultaneously. The main expected result is the development of a sustainable training program implemented in coproduction with Cape Verdeans from Mindelo (in São Vicente island), with replicable potential in other Cape Verdean regions. The intervention will contribute to SRH-related literacy through the digital health literacy materials and to quality of life across the young's life course. ; This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), grant number UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The increasing number of international migrants (ranging from 153 million in 1990 to ~272 million in 2019) brought to attention the wide variation of national contexts concerning the policy measures to protect migrants' rights and ensuring their equal access to basic and essential services, namely in health. Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) is a key component to the overall health and quality of life and is impacted by power inequities inherent to society's institutions, environment, economics, and culture. In Portugal, guidelines for intervention in SRH are insufficient, a gap that is more pronounced with migrant populations due to the absence of culturally sensitive indicators to assess and monitor SRH. The aim of this work was 2-fold: to identify good practices in the SRH field, with a particular focus, whenever possible, on migrant populations, and to identify relevant and inclusive indicators to monitor SRH in Portugal. A Delphi panel (via online survey) with 66 experts (researchers, teachers, and health professionals) and 16 stakeholders (non-governmental organizations, civil society, and governmental organizations) was implemented in two rounds. Panelists were asked to state their level of agreement (5-point Likert-type scale) regarding four different SRH areas: Sexual Health, Reproductive Health, Social-Structural Factors, and Good Practices. Items were based on literature review and a World Café with 15 experts and stakeholders. Participation rate was 68% and response rate was 97% on the first round. From the initial list of 142 items, a total of 118 (83%) items were approved by consensus. Findings may provide extended opportunities for the healthcare system to engage in better informed decisions and more inclusive and integrative strategies regarding SRH, contributing to build political measures toward sexual and reproductive justice.

Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, grant number UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020. Funding Information: This research was funded by Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia, grant number UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. ; Environmental health is at the intersection between health and the environment. However, it still has a recent (and narrow) history as a scientific area, mainly addressing human biomonitoring and toxicological issues. Only recently additional environmental 'layers', other than the traditional chemical, biological and physical environmental determinants, have been considered. This broader perspective of environmental health also encompasses digital, psychosocial, political, socioeconomic and cultural determinants, all of them relevant when considering human health from a planetary health paradigm. This reflects the progressive adoption of a systemic perspective regarding the impact of gains for human health and well-being towards a sustainable environment. It also implies a multi-method and participatory approach to understand the intertwined relationship between environmental changes and human health. In this paper, the broader approach to environmental health is discussed in order to 'set the stage' for introducing the Institute of Environmental Health (ISAMB) of the Lisbon School of Medicine, Portugal. Each of the research groups and labs that compose ISAMB are presented, as well as their main lines of research. Present and planned contributions of ISAMB to advance knowledge on environmental health and for promoting human health gains in an environmentally sustainable way are also discussed. ; publishersversion ; published

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ; Environmental health is at the intersection between health and the environment. However, it still has a recent (and narrow) history as a scientific area, mainly addressing human biomonitoring and toxicological issues. Only recently additional environmental 'layers', other than the traditional chemical, biological and physical environmental determinants, have been considered. This broader perspective of environmental health also encompasses digital, psychosocial, political, socioeconomic and cultural determinants, all of them relevant when considering human health from a planetary health paradigm. This reflects the progressive adoption of a systemic perspective regarding the impact of gains for human health and well-being towards a sustainable environment. It also implies a multi-method and participatory approach to understand the intertwined relationship between environmental changes and human health. In this paper, the broader approach to environmental health is discussed in order to 'set the stage' for introducing the Institute of Environmental Health (ISAMB) of the Lisbon School of Medicine, Portugal. Each of the research groups and labs that compose ISAMB are presented, as well as their main lines of research. Present and planned contributions of ISAMB to advance knowledge on environmental health and for promoting human health gains in an environmentally sustainable way are also discussed. ; This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, grant number UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion