Dear readers,

This third issue of the Psicologia: Teoria e Prática journal, and the last to be published in 2022, presents original theoretical and empirical papers relevant to psychology and other allied fields. Nevertheless, our work does not stop because we do continuous publication, so that we are already working to conclude and publish the approved manuscripts of the first issue of 2023.

This issue starts with an invited commentary on quantitative analysis in psychology authored by Hudson Golino, Alexander P. Christensen, and Luis Eduardo Garrido, researchers affiliated with universities in the United States and the Dominican Republic. This issue contains a total of 16 articles, with nine belonging to the regular section and the other seven belonging to a special section, written by colleagues from different universities and institutions in Brazil (in the states of Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Norte, and the Federal District in Brasília), Cuba, Spain, Colombia, and Ecuador (this special section will be presented afterward). This multiplicity of affiliations contributes to one of the main goals of our journal, namely, to represent the diversity of thoughts and approaches in the field of psychology.

Of the nine regular articles in the journal, two of them refer to practices in the public system. One reports the positive effects of caregivers’ training on the development of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder treated at the Rehabilitation Center of the Association of Parents and Friends of the Disabled of Mato Grosso do Sul (Centro de Reabilitação da Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais de Mato Grosso do Sul [CER/Apae]) in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in Brazil, authored by Camila Graciella S. Gomes, Jhuan Fagner Souza, Cíntia H. Nishikawa, Paulo Henrique M. Andrade, Elenne Talma, and Débora D. Jardim, affiliated with the Minas Gerais Faculty of Medical Sciences (Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais), in the state of Minas Gerais; the CER/Apae, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul; and the National Institute of Science and Technology on Behavior, Cognition, and Teaching (Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia sobre Comportamento, Cognição e Ensino). The second article describes an evaluation of home visits by professionals from the Unified Social Assistance System (Sistema Único de Assistência Social [Suas), which is considered one of the main action tools in this field, authored by Girlane Péres, Carmen O. O. Moré, and Cibele C. L. da Motta, authors affiliated with the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina [UFSC]).

Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has cooled down to some extent in Brazil, its negative consequences are still being felt and, unfortunately, will likely remain in the foreseeable future. Two articles address the emotional impacts and strategies for dealing with the pandemic. The first of them, by Laura R. Dalcin, João Leite Ferreira Neto, and Marcelo dos S. Guzella, authors from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais [PUC Minas]) and the University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo [USP]), deals with the psychological suffering resulting from social distancing and is based on a convenience sample of 566 adults from different regions of the country. Among the numerous results, it was found that younger participants felt lonelier, more depressed, stressed, and anxious and had more significant difficulties sleeping; and those with lower incomes felt more depressed and anxious and were more afraid to lose their jobs. The second article describes an inventive initiative to help healthcare workers cope with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, namely: the development of a psychoeducational booklet for hospital practice. The booklet was based on a systematic review of the literature and a survey answered by 141 health professionals from different health units in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Argentina. According to judges’ analysis, the booklet showed good correlation coefficients for content and clarity of language. The authors of this article are Andressa M. B. da Silva, Murilo F. de Araujo, Juanita H. Pinzón, Jodi Dee H. F. do Amaral, Letícia L. Dellazzana-Zanon, Cristiane de A. Lins, Maria Fernanda M. B. de Freitas, Elisa D. T. Mendes, Eliana Cristina C. Vicentini, and Sônia Regina F. Enumo from the University of Sorocaba (Universidade de Sorocaba [Uniso]), the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas [PUC-Campinas]), the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul [PUCRS]), and the Federal University of Uberlândia (Universidade Federal de Uberlândia [UFU]).

Two papers deal with instruments in the field of psychology: the first describes the validity of the Pfister color pyramids test based on the relationships with external variables for the use of colors by pairs of children aged from six to 11 years - authored by Ticiane R. da Silva, Thays M. de Lima, and Lucila M. Cardoso, from the State University of Ceará (Universidade Estadual do Ceará [UECE]). Moreover, the second is a systematic literature review (starting with the identification of 564 articles) on instruments for measuring courtesy stigma, authored by Daniel Augusto C. Maldonado, Thaís S. Pereira, Leonardo F. Martins, and Telmo M. Ronzani from the Juiz de Fora Federal University (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora [UFJF]) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro [PUC-Rio]). The main results found can be summarized as follows: positive correlations between courtesy stigma and depression, anxiety, burden, burnout, and awareness of public disparagement and stigma; and there were negative correlations with quality of life, social support, self-esteem, quality of care, and social desirability.

A paper in the field of social psychology and population’s health describes the profile of 561 university students from across Brazil regarding their religious practices. In the study, Alberto M. Martins and Adriano Roberto A. do Nascimento, from the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul [UFMS]) and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais [UFMG]), highlight the importance of religiosity in the daily life of this population, particularly among young females, who believe they practice more and have a greater repertoire of beliefs than their male peers. The edition also includes a study on the challenging theme of sexual violence. The article analyzes the degree of risk (dangerousness) and personality characteristics of sex offenders according to a sample of 69 adults serving sentences for sexual crimes. Áquila A. G. R. Zilki and Ana Cristina Resende, from the Community University of Chapecó Region (Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás [PUC Goiás]), respectively, demonstrated that, in this sample, the greater the dangerousness, the higher the use of intellectualization as a defense mechanism. Also, among the participants convicted of victimizing adolescents and adults, there was a greater degree of dangerousness than among those convicted of victimizing children.

Finally, this issue features an article with implications regarding human development, particularly in the context of the parent-child relationship. Through numerous correlational analyses, the study proves that the value attribution of positive and negative emotions of 33 mothers helped to explain their behavior towards the emotional expression of their children. Nilton C. dos Anjos Filho, Patrícia Alvarenga, and Carmem Beatriz Neufeld, who coordinated this study, are from the Federal University of Bahia (Universidade Federal da Bahia [UFBA]) and USP.

As mentioned above, this issue also presents a special section in the field of social psychology, more specifically dedicated to work and organizational psychology, whose central and transversal theme is “work and health”. The intense and dizzying global transformations, driven by the confluence of economic, ecological, geopolitical, cultural, ideological, and technological vectors, have repercussions on how people think, feel, and face their living and working conditions. This changing context, which has become quite marked in the third millennium, presents renewed challenges for research on work and workers.

This special section represents the contribution of a group of researchers from several states in Brazil and abroad, members of the “Work and Health” working group (WG) of the National Association for Research and Graduate Studies in Psychology (Anpepp). It is entitled “Work and Health in the Face of Contemporary Metamorphoses”. The WG began in 2008 and, since then, has participated in all biennial editions of the Scientific Research and Exchange Symposium of this entity, also with an active role, through different publications and participation of its members in academic and scientific events. The guidelines and investigations have been guided by the effects of productive restructuring, fundamentally about the impacts of information and communication technologies, new “arrangements” for producing goods and services, and a new regulatory apparatus for labor relations. Intensification, precariousness, emptying, and reconception or reconfiguration of work are themes that have emerged as the target of this group’s attention since its formation.

The production presented in the special section includes seven articles that, both in theoretical and empirical terms, cover the context and quality of life at work, career paths, and the role of psychologists in their professional practice. The impacts of the pandemic experienced since February 2020 are also present in two articles.

In the first of the articles in this series, Jorge Tarcísio da R. Falcão and Izabel Hazin, from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte [UFRN]), reflect on the precariousness of work in the performance of psychology as a profession. Their approach differs from conventional approaches on the subject, which consider this process a symptom and effect of the deterioration of the external conditions of organizational work. In turn, they focus on a relatively unexplored dimension: the precariousness of the “profession” determined by the dynamics of its “conditions of exercise”, taking into account the relationship between the individual professional and the profession as a collective in Brazilian psychology.

Then, Rodrigo P. Monteiro, José Newton G. de Araújo, and João César de Freitas, from the PUC Minas, Cristina M. Hashizume, from the Paraíba State University (Universidade Estadual da Paraíba [UEPB]) and the Methodist University of São Paulo (Universidade Metodista de São Paulo [Umesp]), Júlia Gonçalves, from the Meridional College (Faculdade Meridional [Imed]), and Suzana da Rosa Tolfo, from the UFSC, present an empirical study on the work of psychologists in Brazilian prisons as an “incarcerated activity”, subject to the institutional regulation of a prison system based on the logic of repression and punishment, an orientation towards action that, many times, comes into tension with the ethics of the psychologist’s professional practice.

The third article summarizes an empirical study conducted in a public organization in Brazil, developed by Mario César Ferreira, Letícia A. Santos, and Tatiane Paschoal from the University of Brasília (Universidade de Brasília [UnB]). In the text, the authors analyze the representations of well-being and malaise at work and their implications for occupational health and safety, organizational performance, and the sustainable management of quality of life at work.

Then, Elka L. Hostensky, from UFSC, Josep Maria Blanch from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), in Spain, and the University of San Buenaventura (USB), in Colombia, Paola Ochoa, from the Higher Polytechnic School of the Coast in Ecuador (Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral Espol), and Vera Regina Roesler, from the Human Development Perspectives, discuss the design and results of an empirical study whose objective was to analyze the relationship that Brazilian justice workers establish between the evaluation of their working conditions and the subjectivity of their own professional experience, understood as a set of meanings attributed to this work.

In their contribution, Damián V. Santiago, Katherine S. C. Pell, and Silvia Miriam P. del Río, from the University of Havana, in Cuba, bring an empirical study conducted in the Cuban capital on the impact of working conditions caused by physical isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing the quality of sleep, daily activities, and the stress experienced by workers and their families.

In turn, Camila C. Torres, from the Iesb University Center (Centro Universitário Iesb), Carolina S. P. D. P. Calmon, from the State Secretary of Justice and Citizenship of the Federal District (and master student at the UnB), and Elka L. Hostensky, from UFSC, present a study on what happens in the context of workers’ perceptions and experiences, when the so-called telework occupies the space-time of the household, in the context of COVID-19 lockdowns, highlighting what this experience entails as favorable and unfavorable factors concerning the quality of working life.

In conclusion, Maiky D. Pérez and Gabriela C. Lorenzo, from the University of Havana, investigate the development of career paths, starting from questions formulated about people’s motivations to work in an organizational context. It also contemplates the contributing role of psychology in the contemporary scenario of work and the necessary lessons.

This set of articles highlights the pertinence and relevance of studying the structural and subjective factors that affect the effective performance of human beings in different work contexts and, in this sense, highlights the search for scenarios that promote occupational health, the quality of life at work, and the healthy organization of productive activity.

Thus, we conclude this editorial with the hope and belief that the quality and diversity of these articles will contribute to the dissemination of theoretical and practical studies carried out in Brazil and other countries, with important implications in the context of the current psychology.

Sincerely,