RESUMO
The main subject of the current study is to look into the limitations found in individuals diagnosed with cancer, considered a public health problem, especially in developing countries where the impact of this disease is expected to account for 80% of 20 million new cases estimated worldwide by 2025. For some patients undergoing treatment, continuing to be professionally active is challenging especially considering that work fosters a purpose in life, a sense of contribution, distraction, and self-esteem, which aids in physical, cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal recovery. Within this context, the aim is to describe the limitations found in individuals with cancer, who have maintained their work activities in private service during radiotherapy treatment, through a descriptive study and a quantitative approach. The final sample of 51 participants was defined by non-probability convenience sampling, based on information from all patients admitted in that period, with a research protocol approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The assessment using the Brazilian version of the Work Role Functioning Questionnaire showed higher average work functioning indexes for social demand, with an average score of 94.33 (11.47). In turn, the worst indexes were registered in physical demand. No significant differences were observed between groups of treatment protocols in terms of WRFQ-Br scores. The work functioning assessment of workers diagnosed with cancer in radiotherapy using the WRFQ-Br showed higher scores for social demands and lower for physical demands. The preserved social performance may be linked to individual work functioning within the family, at work and, consequently, within society, given that the study included patients who maintained their work activities during the proposed treatment period, highlighting the social role of work for patients with cancer.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Excessive salt intake has been directly associated with cardiovascular diseases, especially hypertension, and non-cardiovascular diseases. Despite the current recommendations, salt intake remains high, indicating the need to develop theory-based interventions aimed at reducing this intake. AIM: The purpose of this study was to test the impact of a theory-based intervention - the SALdável Program - to promote the use of less than 4 g of salt/day during cooking. METHODS: This was a two-arm parallel-group randomized study. A total of 92 hypertensive women were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. The intervention was aimed at motivating participants to reduce salt addition by increasing self-efficacy and counteracting the negative influence of habit. Primary outcomes were the behavioral question of salt addition and total salt addition, secondary outcomes were overall salt intake, provided by 24-hour urinary sodium excretion, and psychosocial variables (intention, self-efficacy, and habit). RESULTS: At three-month follow-up, the intervention group improved significantly more than the control group regarding salt addition measures (p-values between 0.05 and 0.001) and psychosocial variables (all p-values ⩽0.001). The reduction in 24-hour urinary sodium excretion was not significant. CONCLUSION: The findings showed that this theory-based intervention was effective to motivate and change the behavior of hypertensive women regarding daily salt use in cooking meals. This was accomplished by means of improvements in intention and self-efficacy and reduction of the habit of using more than 4 g of salt/day during cooking.