Environmental Health Behaviour Lab – Instituto de Saúde Ambiental

Osvaldo Santos
Head
osantos@medicina.ulisboa.pt

EnviHeB Lab is composed by a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, sociologists, nutritionists, biologists, science communication experts and statisticians. Research is focused on the promotion of human behaviour and habits that enhance health, including adequate chronic disease self-management, and/or that protect sustainable physical, chemical, biological, psychosocial and/or built environments.

Main goals of EnviHeB Lab are: i) To create and systematize evidence about prevalence, determinants and effects of health- and environmental-related behaviors/habits; ii) To identify determinants of behavioral/ habitudinal transition(s) from pathogenic to salutogenic behaviours/ habits, and vice-versa; iii) To develop and assess the impact of environmental contexts on health-related behaviours.

Special focus are given to digital and health care environments. Patient safety, patient-clinician relationship/ communication, and therapeutic adherence are key objects of study in this lab.

The underlaying paradigm of EnviHeB Lab is the Planetary Health, which means that human-animal and human-multilayer-environment interconnections are studied with a focus on sustainable health-promoting environment.

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Behavioural changes made by citizens and companies play a roughly equal role in reducing emissions in the Net‐Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario. Most changes in road transport and energy‐saving in homes would depend on individuals, whereas the private sector has the primary role in reducing energy demand in commercial buildings and pursuing materials efficiency in manufacturing.

Net Zero by 2050 - A roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, May 2021
Internacional Energy Agency

• Municipal Strategies for Health

EnviHeB is involved in the development of Municipal Strategies for Health of Almada, Cascais, Mafra and Odivelas.

Projects

FOODCLIC - Integrated urban food policies | Funded by Horizon Europe

Funded by the Horizon Europe with a budget of €12 million, FOODCLIC aims to build strong science-policy-practice interfaces in order to develop evidence-based and integrated food policies and render planning frameworks food sensitive, creating more progressive and resilient urban food environments which empower citizens (particularly from deprived and vulnerable groups) to access, afford and choose healthier and more sustainable foods.

PARC - European partnership for the assessment of risks from chemicals | Funded by Horizon Europe

PARC aims to develop next-generation chemical risk assessment, incorporating both human health and the environment in a “One Health” approach. It will help support the European Union’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the European Green Deal’s “zero pollution” ambition. Bringing together nearly 200 partners from 28 countries as well as EU agencies, PARC is coordinated by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, with funding over €400 millions from the European Commission’s Horizon Europe research and innovation framework programme and the partnership’s participants.

HBM4EU - European human biomonitoring initiative | Funded by Horizon 2020

PHBM4EU is a joint effort of 30 countries, the European Environment Agency and the European Commission. The initiative is coordinating and advancing human biomonitoring in Europe. HBM4EU is generating evidence of the actual exposure of citizens to chemicals and the possible health effects in order to support policy making. The HBM4EU initiative represents a novel collaboration between scientists and chemical risk assessors and risk managers, including several Commission services, EU agencies and representatives for the national level. The project has built bridges between the research and policy worlds in order to deliver benefits to society in terms of enhanced chemical safety. More information here.

SM-COVID19 - Mental health in times of COVID-19 | Funded by FCT

Promoted by the National Institute of Health in partnership with the ISAMB and the Portuguese Society for Psychiatry and Mental Health, the aim of this serial cross-sectional study is to assess the impact of pandemics on mental health and wellbeing of health professionals and people in quarantine or social distance throughout the evolution of the pandemics. More information here.

REACT-COVID - Survey on the effects of COVID-19 lockdown on diet and physical exercise | Funded by DGS

Promoted by the General-Directorate of Health in partnership with the ISAMB, this cross-sectional study intends to know the physical activity and food choice behaviors during the period of social contention. More information here.

IN-HALE - Indoor expose to heat and adaptation attitudes in the elderly | Funded by FCT

Under construction

OPS - Cascais observatory for health promotion | Funded by Cascais Municipality

Under construction

PANORAMIx - Public heAlth moNitOring pRogram of a wAste Management Incineration | Funded by Valorsul

Under construction

Heróis da fruta®

Under construction

ACTIFOeiras - Physical activity barometer | Funded by Oeiras Municipality

Under construction

INDEPT - Nutritional counselling as adjuvant in the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder | Funded by FCT

Under construction

Team members

Pedro Candeias

Miodraga Petkovska

Mónica Fialho

Publications

2021

Santos O, Virgolino A, Carneiro AV, Matos MG (2021). Health behavior and planetary health. A multi-level environmental health approach. European Psychologist 26(3): 212-218.

Uhl M, Santos RR, Costa J, Santos O, Virgolino A, Evans D, Murray C, Mulcahy M, Ubong D, Sepai O, Vicente JL, Leitner M, Benda-Kahri S, Zanini-Freitag D (2021). Chemical Exposure: European Citizens’ Perspectives, Trust, and Concerns on Human Biomonitoring Initiatives, Information Needs, and Scientific Results. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 18(4): 1532.

Santos O, Stefanovska-Petkovska M, Virgolino A, Miranda AC, Costa J, Fernandes E, Cardoso S, Carneiro AV (2021). Functional Health Literacy: Psychometric Properties of the Newest Vital Sign for Portuguese Adolescents (NVS-PTeen). Nutrients 13: 790.

Candeias P, Alarcão V, Stefanovska-Petkovska M, Santos O, Virgolino A, Pintassilgo S, Pascoal P, Costa AS, Machado FL (2021). Reducing Sexual and Reproductive Health Inequities Between Natives and Migrants: A Delphi Consensus for Sustainable Cross-Cultural Healthcare Pathways. Front. Public Health 13 May 2021.

2020

Santos O, Alarcão V, Feteira-Santos R, Fernandes J, Virgolino V, Sena C, Vieira CP, Gregório MJ, Nogueira P, Costa A (2020). Impact of different front-of-pack nutrition labels on online food choices. Appetite. Available online: 11 August 2020, 104795

2019

Santos O, Virgolino A, Santos RR, Costa J, Rodrigues A, Vaz-Carneiro A (2019). Environmental Health: An overview on the Evolution of the Concept and its Definitions. In: Nriagu J (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Environmental Health. 2nd edition. Elsevier, 2019, vol. 2, pp. 466–474.

Costa J, Santos RR, Virgolino A, Reis MF (2019). Solid waste incinerators: Health impacts. In: Nriagu J (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Environmental Health. 2nd edition. Elsevier, 2019, vol. 5, pp. 771–784.