Bioethics
The Graduate Program in Bioethics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR) is part of the path that has been taken for decades in which the university institutionalized its concern regarding the issue of bioethics. This pursuit is mainly represented with the foundation of the Bioethics Center, the constitution of the Research Ethics Committee (CEP), and the Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals (CEUA). Currently, bioethics is presented in the form of classes as a part of several undergraduate courses and the institution’s different schools, thus consolidating an important teaching and research platform in this innovative interdisciplinary knowledge area.
Goals
This program aims to carry out studies and research in bioethics which are attentive to the area’s fundamental characteristics such as a comprehensive view of reality; interdisciplinarity; critical reading of sociocultural reality; respect for moral, cultural, religious diversity; and a broad contextualization of the subjects covered. It is intended that the graduates—from a broad multidisciplinary view—can contribute to the full exercise of citizenship and deal with the topics covered in a broad anthropological, biological, philosophical, theological, and legal foundation in an interdisciplinary, critical, and contextualized view. It also aims to train humanization agents for social relationships and emphasize health relations, which promote comprehensive care for people and contribute to the training of professionals in their specific areas and teamwork in an interdisciplinary, critical, and contextualized view. The Master’s in Bioethics course lasts for 24 months, and a participating student must fulfill a minimum of 40 credits. The program is organized in the following manner: classes and seminars (27 credits); thesis development (10 credits); and complementary activities (3 credits).
History
The Graduate Program in Bioethics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR) is part of a path that has been taken for decades in which the university institutionalized its concern with the issue of bioethics. This pursuit is mainly represented with the formation of the Bioethics Center, the constitution of the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) and the Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals (CEUA). Currently, bioethics is presented in the form of classes in several undergraduate courses and different schools, thus consolidating a vital teaching and research platform in this innovative interdisciplinary area of knowledge. This approach improves discussions on contemporary ethical conflicts, contributes to the development of institutional and public policies, and subsidizes training for independent professionals, critics, and supporters.
The Bioethics Center
The Bioethics Center integrates activities aimed at covering ethics in teaching and research. PUCPR has an active Bioethics Center that, since 2001, organizes courses and events and promotes research. The Bioethics Center is part of the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) that evaluates research involving humans at PUCPR. The Bioethics Center also supports the Ethics Commission on the Use of Animals (CEUA), which, since 2006, has the function of promoting ethical animal use in teaching and evaluating research projects that use animals. Since 2008, the PUCPR Bioethics Center has partnered with other higher education institutions (HEIs) in Curitiba and was linked to the Brazilian Society of Bioethics (SBB/PR). Thus, two Bioethics Congresses were promoted—one in 2009 and another in 2011—the annals of which are available in the Annals of the Bioethics Meeting of Paraná. In 2012, the Bioethics Conference Cycle took place in a joint action of the eight HEIs of the Center for Bioethics Studies of Curitiba (NEB/Curitiba).
Clinical Bioethics, Humanization and Palliative Care
Description: The area of bioethics, humanization and palliative care concentration is dedicated to the study of bioethical issues involved in professional training and care practice at different levels, spaces and organizations, in the individual and collective spheres. In the current context of biotechnological advances that enable, for example, increased longevity of the population, as well as the prolongation of the dying process, it is necessary for clinical decision-making, in addition to technical competence, the development of human and relational competence in health care practices – usually called the humanization of care. This ethical care requires continuous dialogue between the actors involved in the care process, the sharing of moral obligation and should be based on values that guarantee the dignity and quality of life from its beginning until its completion. In the case of serious chronic diseases, when the possibilities of cure are exhausted, emphasis should be placed on life that can still be lived, understanding death as a natural event and understanding that suffering and pain are not only in the biological plane, but also in the psychosocial and spiritual level – in line with the philosophy of palliative care.
Social and Environmental Bioethics.
Description: The area of concentration “Social and Environmental Bioethics” investigates and analyzes ethical conflicts established in a collective and planetary dimension of problems involving human and non-human life, considering the interests of this and the next generations. The area understands that the problem of serious health, social and environmental problems that affect the dignity of life in the various regions of the planet requires training of human resources with high quality in bioethics. These bioethicists need to be competently and critically integrated into an ethical-scientific paradigm that is based on interdisciplinarity, the valorization of moral pluralism, the overcoming of deterministic and reductionist views and a commitment to the defense of human rights. This area of concentration enables, therefore, the formation of bioethics researchers and teachers specially prepared to identify, analyze and propose ethical alternatives for concrete conflicts involving the socio-environmental dimension of planetary life, based on a critical assimilation of their own realities.
Bases and interdisciplinary practices of social and environmental bioethics.
Description: The research line “Bases and interdisciplinary practices of social and environmental bioethics” brings together and integrates disciplines, studies and research on the relationship between health and dignity of life in all its manifestations, ethically evaluating the impact of scientific development on society in a global perspective. In an integral perspective, this line seeks to identify educational, political and welfare processes that promote citizenship and a responsible relationship between human beings and society and the environment at a local, regional and global scale. It is the focus of study of this line the individual and collective responsibility to be developed in a global democratic society, with emphasis on the promotion of human rights, environmental protection and animal welfare. Studies: a) the fundamental principles of Bioethics and Human Rights pointing to the need for healthy public policies, intersectoral articulation of public agencies and mobilization of the population in national and international spheres, b) the bases of biotechnological development, its application, its consequences and its effect on the current global environments and diversity, as well as for future generations; c) the social reality in the family and urban space, in search of social and environmental sustainability and identification of inclusion/exclusion processes; d) innovative and interdisciplinary aspects in the defense of vulnerable populations.
- The professors’ booths are equipped with appropriate furniture, a telephone, and a computer connected with the Internet via cable and wireless. They offer professors a software infrastructure that enables data storage and processing from the developed research as well as the thesis guidelines.
- Properly equipped boardroom.
- Meeting room for the Program of Postgraduation in Bioethics (PPGB) professors’ use.
- A secretary’s room that houses documentation services, writing materials, and computer equipment. Alternatively, it is attended by a full-time secretariat and a full-time secretary provides service.
- Classrooms for the PPGB classes and study groups. All of the classrooms are equipped with computers and multimedia projectors and are connected to the Internet via cable and wireless.
- Defense room of dissertations and theses.
- In addition to these resources, the PPGB also shares other environments with undergraduate courses such as those listed below:
- Two projection rooms with Internet access, state-of-the-art multimedia resources, television and video, a booth with sound system, projection screen, among other support materials.
- Five computer labs equipped with up-to-date computers, laser printers, and Internet access.
- Four amphitheaters that can be used to promote academic events such as congresses, lectures, and videoconferences.
- Lab 1 (31 computers)
- Lab 2 (31 computers)
- Lab 3 (31 computers)
- Lab 4 (16 Computers)
- Lab 5 (31 computers)
- Printers (Two printers to serve students at times when labs are free.)
PUCPR has a policy that encourages the internationalization of teaching and research activities, focusing on the quality and construction of increasingly broad academic networks. Financial support is part of this policy so that each professor can annually participate in an international event as long as the participation is relevant, such as the approval of scientific work. Through the Internationalization Board, we aim to encourage and support the program to establish permanent agreements with institutions. Thus, the PPGB seeks to establish and continually supply specific activities to these following agreements:
UPCM AGREEMENT (Universidade Pontifícia Comillas De Madrid): Madrid, Spain. Partnership Tutor: Prof. Dr. Mario Antônio Sanches. Agreement Summary: The agreement has already been signed by both institutions (2012). It started with Prof. Dr. Sanches while he was engaged in a postdoctoral internship at the UPCM Chair in Bioethics in 2011 with a Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) scholarship. There is a joint production, as well as a plan to send students for internships at UPCM. Moreover, there is the professors’ participation as visitors at PUCPR. This agreement is mainly due to two major research projects involving researchers from both institutions; one is related to family planning and the other to end-of-life-care.
PUCPR AND UNESCO AGREEMENT IN BIOETHICS. In 2014, PUCPR and UNESCO signed an agreement with Prof. Dr. Susana Vidal from UNESCO Regional Science Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO-Montevideo). This agreement represents a new stage in the PUCPR’s commitment to UNESCO in promoting the study and research of bioethics. The UNESCO General Conference at its 33rd meeting in 2005 approved the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. This declaration consists of a series of principles on bioethics which were agreed upon by 191 UNESCO Member States. This set of principles constitutes a common global platform through which bioethics can be introduced and promoted in each Member State. In turn, UNESCO must promote, disseminate, and deepen these principles for practical reasons. Thus, The UNESCO Bioethics Studies Base Program aims to present the bioethical principles of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights to university students. Notably, the first agreement achievement between PUCPR and UNESCO is translating this UNESCO Bioethics Studies Base Program into Portuguese. This Portuguese language version will be made available by UNESCO to all interested parties. At PUCPR, this agreement was proposed by the Graduate Program in Bioethics, of the School of Life Sciences, with support from the School of Medicine and the School of Education and Humanities.
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF MOZAMBIQUE AGREEMENT
The agreement tutor: Prof. Dr. Anor Sganzerla. Activity: International Doctorate at PUCPR and UCM. It is a doctorate with four areas (philosophy, theology, human rights, and bioethics) between PUCPR and UCM to strengthen PUCPR’s mission as an institution that is attentive and committed to the needs of research time. In this way, it promotes the social insertion and internationalization of PUCPR’s graduate programs. In addition to the tutor, there are four other professors involved as advisors and co-supervisors of the doctoral dissertations.
INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE FILOSOFIA DE DILI (ISFT) – EAST TIMOR AGREEMENT. The agreement tutor: Prof. Dr. Mário Antônio Sanches. Agreement: Special international cooperation agreement involving PUCPR, CNBB, and ISFT in East Timor. The agreement was signed by the presidents of both institutions in 2014. It began with a request presented to the Conference of Bishops of Timor, which asked for support for the teaching of philosophy, bioethics, theology, and the Portuguese Language. PUCPR has been sending visiting professors to Timor for certain periods (on average, eight weeks). In this way, since 2014, several teaching and research missions to Timor have been organized, with 12 professors, all doctors, and professors from the following three PUCPR graduate programs: bioethics, philosophy, and theology. The Agreement aims to welcome students from East Timor at PUCPR for their postgraduate studies.
The UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE AGREEMENT. The agreement coordinator: Prof. Dr. Carla Corradi Perini. Agreement: It is a partnership of research and teaching activities, under the coordination of Prof. Dr. José María Galán González-Serna of the University of Seville. Here are the activities that have been carried out since 2018: a) PUCPR professors visit Seville to participate in a research project on palliative care; b) a postgraduate course in palliative care carried out at PUCPR by professors from the University of Seville.
RED UNIVERSITARIA PARA LA INTEGRACIÓN REGIONAL EN SALUD (RED UNIRSalud) AGREEMENT. Agreement tutor: Prof. Dr. Thiago da Cunha. RED UNIRSalud includes three Argentine universities: Universidad Nacional de Jose C Paz (UNPAZ), Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche (UNAJ), and Universidad Nacional de Alvellaneda (UNDAV). It also includes the two following Brazilian universities: University of Brasília (UnB) and PUCPR. RED UNIRSalud’s objective is to develop critical health thinking in South America through cooperative university actions. Since 2018, the PPGB, together with UnB’s PPGBioethics, has developed, with the support of Unesco’s RedBioethics, an international technical cooperation program to create a distance course for students and professors from the three universities in Argentina.
INDIANA UNIVERSITY SOUTH BEND (EUA)m AGREEMENT
The partnership was established in 2019 by the coordination of Mary Rute Esperandio through the International Project’s implementation approved by the John Templeton Foundation, “THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGIOUS COGNITION” (ID 61302). The project focuses on the cognitive psychology of religion in Brazil research. Cognitive psychology of religion is an interdisciplinary area that supports several research types of spirituality and health. The general coordination of the project is conducted by Kevin Ladd of the Department of Psychology at Indiana University South Bend. Mary Esperandio coordinates the Brazil project and collaborates with Wellington Zangari from the University of São Paulo.
BASES AND INTERDISCIPLINARY PRACTICES OF CLINICAL BIOETHICS, HUMANIZATION AND PALLIATIVE CARE
The research line “Bases and interdisciplinary practices of clinical bioethics, humanization and palliative care” studies bioethical issues related to health care practices in the collective and individual spheres, which emerge both from technoscientific development and from the interrelations that are established between professional-patient-family. The research of the line is based on an integral view of the individual with regard to care practices in the most varied situations, where this is required, either in long-term institutions, outpatient clinics, hospitals, homecare and other instances. The focus of the study is on the issues specific to clinical bioethics with regard to the forms and quality of health care, the process of dying and the bioethical conflicts that derive from such situations, especially in the context of palliative care, the national policy of humanization and the development of morality and professional identity in the health field.
BIOETHICS AND PALLIATIVE CARE
With the intensity of biotechnological resources that make possible, for example, an increase in populational longevity and the prolongation of the dying process, there is a need for a new healthcare approach. In the case of patients and their families who face problems related to life-threatening diseases, emphasis should be placed on the quality of life that can still be lived, understanding death as a natural event, and that suffering and pain are not only on the biological level but also on the psychosocial and spiritual level—this is the philosophy of palliative care. Given the theoretical and practical complexity of palliative care, there is still much to be explored and debated. Thus, this project focuses on the issues involved in the care and monitoring of those who face life-threatening diseases, the process of dying, and the ethical conflicts that derive from the palliative care context.
Keywords: Clinical bioethics. Palliative care. Quality of life.
Research Area: BIOETHICS, HUMANIZATION, AND PALLIATIVE CARE
Coordination: PROF. DR. MARY RUTE GOMES ESPERANDIO
BIOETHICS AND EDUCATION
The theoretical dialogue between bioethics and education is essential in the research and interdisciplinary analysis of formative processes, teaching/learning methodologies, policies, and educational culture. The education contribution in this research area reflects educational processes (formal and informal) in the areas of knowledge that involve the ethical and bioethical formation of subjects. The school institution is a space of the citizen, and the ethical formation and its educational practices reveal the forms of resistance/incorporation of scientific knowledge, power relations, and public policies. Thus, the objectives are:
- Analyze how scientific advances in several areas have impacted education and the organization/reorganization of knowledge.
- Examine how the education policies focused on citizenship, cultural diversity, multiculturalism, social and school inclusion, humanization, ethics, and others have been formulated and executed in the educational spaces.
- Evaluate how the formal and informal teaching and learning processes in the health area consider the cultural elements, social context, and social practices of the subjects involved.
- Consider the formation of humanization and ethics in university formation in the health area and investigate bioethics’ formation in different educational institutions.
Research Area: Bioethics, Science, and Society
Coordination: Prof. Dr. Valquiria Elita Renk
Keywords: Education. Bioethics. Interdisciplinarity. Educational Policies.
CLINICAL BIOETHICS PROJECT: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS
Description: Therapeutic innovations have grown at an accelerated pace in recent decades and require health professionals to have a continuous process of ethical, social and political evaluation. This research project, therefore, with a focus on clinical bioethics, deals with: a) the elements that need to be part of the deliberation for decision-making in clinical contexts; b) methodologies for the analysis of ethical conflicts that arise in the face of health care; c) incorporation of social, cultural and political elements in the analysis of conflicts involving interpersonal relationships in health; d) proposals for the adequacy of health care structures to promote ethical deliberation among the parties involved in the therapeutic process; e) bioethical analysis of health innovations in the clinical context; f) training of health professionals with social responsibility.
Keywords: Clinical bioethics. Ethical conflicts. Deliberation. Interpersonal relationships in health. Innovation.
Coordinator: Prof. Dr. José Eduardo Siqueira
Professors: Prof. Dr. Alberto Paulo Neto, Prof.ª Dr. Carla Coradi Perini, Prof. Dr. Mário Antônio Sanches and Prof. Dr. Thiago Rocha da Cunha
CLINICAL BIOETHICS AND THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION
The new possibilities of therapeutic intervention—surgical, chemical, imaging, and others—that have been greatly expanding in the last decades. They demand a continuous process of ethical, social, and political evaluation from interventions conducted by health professionals. Therefore, this research project, which is focused on clinical bioethics, deals with the following:
- Elements that need to be deliberated for decision-making in therapeutic intervention contexts.
- Methodologies to analyze ethical conflicts that arise in the face of therapeutic intervention possibilities.
- Incorporation of social, cultural, and political elements in the analysis of conflicts involving therapeutic intervention.
- Proposals for the adequacy of health care structures to promote ethical deliberation among the parties involved in the therapeutic process.
Keywords: Clinical bioethics. Therapeutic intervention. Ethical conflicts. Deliberation.
Research Area: BIOETHICS, HUMANIZATION, AND PALLIATIVE CARE
Coordination: PROF. DR. JOSE EDUARDO DE SIQUEIRA
ENVIRONMENTAL BIOETHICS AND ANIMAL WELFARE
The technological, economic, and cultural advance of human beings has distanced them from nature. Although this survival strategy has provided a specific animal species with infinitely better possibilities, the result has not been beneficial in all segments, thus resulting in moral dilemmas. Accordingly, the resumption of ethical values that guide human conduct in the search to reestablish a harmonious coexistence with nature and broaden the horizons of ethical discourse beyond the human sphere is fundamental. This is so that all species in the present and future generations have the right to enjoy an environment in order to protect life and the entire biosphere. By researching ethics and environmental bioethics, an effort to overcome anthropocentrism, leading to the understanding of right and wrong, is sought in every citizen. It must be considered that the environmental conduct practiced until then, the culturally traditional practices, the excess of information, and the attempts to raise awareness have not been enough. This has created a need to re-educate, which is a significant role attributed to environmental education. The great change pointed out by Hans Jonas today is that man, with the new power of the modern technique, which is no longer understood only as an instrument but as a movement and an autonomous power, has become capable of modifying the essence of the whole realm of life. In this way, environmental bioethics resurfaces in the scientific scenario, searching for a new look at man’s relationship with nature’s vulnerability. In order to achieve these results, we intend to carry out studies on the environmental perception of different parts of society and their perception as co-authors of urgent and necessary changes in the search for the ethical foundation that permeates this relationship. The inclusion of extra-human life in the world of ethics, rather than proposing a “naturalization” of ethics or even the end of speciesism, presents the challenge of overcoming the strong dualism present in Western culture—whether concerning man with nature, man with God, or man himself. The search for this unity and a harmonious reconstruction will require new type coexistence from humans. As a part and fruit of nature, the human’s relationship must be one of living with the biosphere and not wanting to subject it to human domination and constraint with the help of techno-scientific power. There should be a reflection and a search regarding the consensual and fair solutions that apply the bioethics method to the emerging issues of urban ecology, urban plagues, pollution, urban parks, and the water crisis. Thus, there should be the subsidizing and proposing of methodologies of action and evaluation that aim to stimulate changes in conduct and direct students and different professionals to mobilize in favor of the resumption of environmental values.
Keywords: Environmental bioethics. Environmental education. Sustainability.
Research Area: Bioethics, Science, and Society
Coordination: Prof. Dr. Marta Luciane Fischer
ETHICS, SCIENCE, AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
Concentration Area: BIOETHICS
Research Area: BIOETHICS, SCIENCE, AND SOCIETY
Type of Project: RESEARCH
Project Situation: IN PROGRESS
Start Date: 03/01/2017
Status Date: 03/01/2017
Description: This project discusses the basis of ethics and science, and confronts the speed, extent, and abundance of scientific and technological possibilities that are mainly in the field of biotechnologies. These new possibilities require an open dialogue beyond local borders as well as particular sciences to perceive science’s true meaning in society. Although the benefits of science are present in every day of our lives and the advances in technology are necessary for our survival, it is essential to question how the knowledge produced can help humanity’s well-being without unjustifiable exclusions or ecological imbalances. The expectations around the advances of biotechnologies are many and mainly concern the improved quality of life, the relief of pain, and in overcoming human limitations through improved human genetics. These possibilities have substantial social, ethical, anthropological, and environmental implications which impact human reproduction, parenting planning, concepts of freedom, and autonomy, which increase the responsibility of action.
Keyword: Ethics. Science. Bioethics. Biotechnology.
Research Area: Bioethics, Science, and Society
Coordination: PROF. DR. ANOR SGANZERLA
FAMILY AND PARENTING PLANNING
This project is an unfolding of the Development and Validation of an Instrument to Assess the “Parenting Planning” project. It has been approved with a productivity grant from the Araucaria Foundation with the intent that this study will apply the parenting planning instrument in the context of bioethics validated in this previous project. Its general objective is the mapping of the presence or absence of a parenting project in people who have already had children and their relationship with some factors, such as their vision of sexuality, family models, social issues, and religion. Methodology: This study’s field research will be conducted by applying the Research Group instrument in different contexts. Result: having a mapping of parental planning in the studied locations to think about new policies and actions in this area.
Research Areas: Bioethics, science, and society.
Coordination: Prof. Dr. Mario Antonio Sanches
Keywords: Bioethics. Family. Family planning. Parenting.
GLOBAL BIOETHICS, DIVERSITY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Considering the interdisciplinary relationship between the humanities and life sciences as one of the foundations of bioethics, this project intends to contribute to this field of study to improve the understanding of ethical conflicts identified in today’s process of planetary human relations in social, economic, political, religious, cultural, and health spheres. To this end, from a critical perspective and considering the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, we study contexts, practices, and situations that expose people to the most significant of vulnerabilities.
Keywords: Bioethics. Health. Human rights. Public policies. Diversities.
Research Area: Bioethics, Science, and Society
Coordination: PROF. DR. THIAGO ROCHA DA CUNHA
HUMANIZATION AND COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE
Concentration Area: BIOETHICS
Research Area: BIOETHICS, HUMANIZATION, AND PALLIATIVE CARE
Project: RESEARCH
Project Situation: IN PROGRESS
Start Date: 03/03/2013
Status Date: 03/03/2013
Description: In the current health care context, it is necessary to develop human and relational competence in health care practices—in other words, what we call the humanization of care. The healthcare sector must consider the construction of solidary exchanges committed to producing health and citizenship bonds, looking at each subject in its integrality and as the subject of a collective process whose dignity must always be preserved. The respect and preservation of their dignity shall pass through their right and guarantee access to the democratic use of benefits resulting from scientific and technological development available. This should be conducted according to their needs, while considering the biological, psychosocial, and spiritual dimensions. In this sense, this project aims to discuss humanization in the several aspects of the health-disease process, and to study the intersubjective variables that permeate health professionals’ attitudes, actions, and decision-making.
Keywords: Health care humanization. Integrality in health. Spiritual assistance.
Research Area: BIOETHICS, HUMANIZATION, AND PALLIATIVE CARE
Coordination: PROF. DR. CARLA CORRADI PERINI
INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES PROJECT ON FAMILIES AND VULNERABILITIES
Description: This project aims to add to the national effort to understand and analyze the conditions of families in vulnerable regions, aiming to support public policies in favor of strengthening family ties. Objective: To analyze, from the verification of family dynamics in vulnerable areas of Brazil, the different dimensions of vulnerabilities that affect families in the communities studied. Methodology: research can be understood as exploratory and analytical with a quantitative and qualitative approach. The research will be carried out based on literature review and data collection that are produced and disseminated by research bodies, institutes and official bodies. A field research is also planned, which will be carried out by conducting semi-structured interviews in different locations and in different States of Brazil. Expected results: Considering the project as a whole, one can identify some possible results, such as: a) Comparative analysis on family dynamics in different vulnerable regions; b) Mapping of family dynamics in relation to its phases in the various vulnerable regions; c) Characterization of the various family vulnerabilities in
search of the construction of a family vulnerability index; (d) analysis of the impact of public policies on vulnerable families; e) Identification of good care practices with an impact on strengthening the family bond.
Key Words: Family; Vulnerability; Bioethics; Health; public policies.
Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Mario Antonio Sanches
Professors: Prof. Dr. Anor Sganzerla; Prof.ª Dr. Caroline Filla Rosaneli; Prof. Dr. Thiago Rocha da Cunha.
OWNERSHIP, LIFE, AND HEALTH: THE HUMAN BEING AND THE DEVELOPING SOCIOECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
This project develops a critical analysis of traditional notions of ownership over the human body, the right to life, and health protection from safeguarding humans in their dignity. To this extent, it carries out reflections on the socioeconomic environment in constant development, under the perspective of the consequences that are already evident in human health and several traditional legal categories. It also demonstrates the legal parameters that guide biomedical and biotechnological innovations, both in terms of research and the various therapeutic measures involving human beings—either directly or indirectly.
Research Area: Fundamentals of Bioethics
Coordination: Prof. Dr. Jussara Maria Leal Meirelles
Keywords: Human being. Rights. Bioethics. Ownership. Health. Economy.
Faculty
Alberto Paulo Neto
Prof. Dr. Neto is a philosophy graduate from the State University of Londrina (2006). He holds a Master’s in Philosophy degree from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (2009), and a Ph.D. from the University of São Paulo (2015). He has experience in philosophy, with an emphasis on ethics and political philosophy, mainly acting on the following themes and authors: Theories of Democracy, Theories of Justice, Bioethics, Republicanism and Political Liberalism, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Immanuel Kant; Jürgen Habermas, Ronald Dworkin, and Philip Pettit. He is the leader of the Research Group: Justice and Fundamental Rights (CNPq / PUCPR Campus Londrina). Since August, 2019, he has been a collaborating professor in the Graduate Program in Bioethics at PUCPR.
Anor Sganzerla
Prof. Dr. Sganzeria holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UFSCar; a Master’s in Philosophy degree from PUC-SP; a postgraduate degree in History, Society and Culture at PUC-SP; also, he graduated in Philosophy from PUCPR and in Theology from ITESP. Currently, he researches the following two projects: Bioethics and Technoscience and Environmental Bioethics. His undergraduate area of study is philosophy and his Ph.D. area of study is philosophy/ethics.
Carla Corradi Perini
Prof. Dr. Perini has a Ph.D. in Health Sciences from PUCPR. She also holds a Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences degree from the Federal University of Paraná. She graduated with a degree in Nutrition from the Federal University of Paraná. She is a professor of the Undergraduate Course in Nutrition, the Graduate Program in Bioethics at PUCPR, and the Multiprofessional Residency Program in Elderly Health-Santa Casa de Curitiba/PUCPR. Her current research projects are the following: Expanded Clinic; Humanization of Care; and Humanization of Care in the Training of Health Professionals. Her undergraduate area of study is nutrition and her Ph.D. area of study is health sciences.
Caroline Filla Rosaneli
Prof. Dr. Rosanelli has a Ph.D. in Health Science from PUCPR. She has a Master’s in Food and Nutrition degree through UNICAMP and a postgraduate degee in Collective Health by Asbran. She graduated in Nutrition at UFSC; she is currently a professor at the Post-Graduate Program in Bioethics at PUCPR, as well as the postgraduate and undergraduate programs in Nutrition at the same institution. Her current research areas are collective health and food security; furthermore, her ongoing projects are lifestyle, health, and work; bioethics and health in childhood and adolescence; obesity and the family; and food and nutritional safety in vulnerable populations. Her undergraduate area of study is in nutrition and her Ph.D. area of study is health sciences.
José Eduardo de Siqueira
Prof. Dr. de Siqueira holds a Ph.D. in Medicine from the State University of Londrina; a Master of Bioethics degree from the University of Chile (PAHO Program); and a Medical Degree from PUCPR. He is a medicine course coordinator from PUCPR/ Campus Londrina; an advisor member of the Unesco Bioethics Network for Latin America and the Caribbean; a board member of the International Association of Bioethics; and a Bioethics Fundamentals Professor of the Bioethics Master's Program at PUCPR. His graduation area of study is medicine and his Ph.D. area of study is medicine.
Jussara Maria Leal de Meirelles
Dr. Meirelles has a degree in Law, Master, and Ph.D. in Law of Social Relations from Federal University of Paraná, and post-doctorate studies in the Centre for Biomedical Law at the University of Coimbra. She is currently a Professor of Civil Rights Law, Professor of the Graduate Programs in Law (Master and Ph.D.), and in Bioethics (Master) at PUCPR. She is a retired federal prosecutor. With an emphasis on Civil Rights Law, she acts mainly on the themes of Biolaw and Social Development, Juridical Aspects of Assisted Human Reproduction, Medical Error and Civil Responsibility, Patient’s Dignity, Cellular Therapy, Embryonic Human Life, Environment and Mental Health, among others.
Mário Antonio Sanches
Dr. Sanches is a Professor at PUCPR. He has post-doctorate studies in Bioethics at the Comillas Pontifical University Chair of Bioethics, in Madrid, with a scholarship from CAPES / Fundacão Carolina. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology from EST/IEPG in São Leopoldo, RS. His Ph.D. thesis in the Bioethics field is a result of research, supported by CAPES, in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He has a Master in Social Anthropology from UFPR, extended studies in Bioethics, and a Philosophy degree. He is a Professor in the Graduate Programs in Theology and Bioethics at PUCPR, a member of SBB/PR and of the Bioethics Committee of Little Prince Hospital. Visiting Professor in the Superior Institute of Philosophy and Theology D. Jaime G. Goulart, Dilo, East Timor. His research themes are Bioethics and Human Reproduction, with an emphasis on parenthood, family planning, and sexuality.
Marta Luciane Fischer
Prof. Dr. Fischer holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s in Zoology degree from UFPR. Her research is based on medical interest animals, emphasizing behavior, ecology, and biology of the brown spider genus Loxosceles. Her post-doctorate in Chemistry at UFPR involves the search of alternatives to solve urban ecology problems with invasive species of medical interest. She graduated in Biological Sciences at PUCPR and Visual Arts at FAP. She is a founding member of the NGO IPG (Guaraqueçaba Research Institute), where she worked with Environmental Perception and Environmental Education. She is currently a professor of biological sciences and psychology at PUCPR, where she manages the Zoology and Ethology classes. She is the editor-in-chief of the Journal Studies of Biology: Environment and Diversity and Coordinator of Animal Use for the PUCPR Ethics Committee. She is the leader of the Ethology Research Group of CNPq - PUCPR. She works with animal behavior, ethics in animal use, animal welfare, environmental bioethics, and environmental education. Her graduation area of study is biology and her Ph.D. area of study is zoology.
Mary Rute Gomes Esperandio
Prof. Dr. Esperandio is part of the Graduate Program in Theology and Bioethics at PUCPR. She has a Psychology of Religion post-doctorate degree from Indiana University South Bend, United States. She graduated with a Pedagogy degree from Northwest Regional University of the State of Rio Grande do Sul. She graduated in Psychology from the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos. She holds a master's and doctorate degree in Theology from the Superior School of Theology. She develops research on the subjects of spirituality and health, contemporary subjectivity and religiosity, religious/spiritual coping, and counseling. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society for Intercultural Pastoral Care and Counseling (SIPCC) (2007) and the International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR) (2011). She is a member of the psychology and religion workgroup of the National Association for Research and Post-Graduation in Psychology (APEPP). She has a Psychology of Religion webpage: http://psicologiadareligiao.wordpress.com/. Her undergraduate area of study is theology and her Ph.D. studies are in human sciences.
Renato Soleiman Franco
Dr. Franco has a degree in Medicine from Mogi das Cruzes University / SP (2004), a medical residency at PUCRS, and a title of specialist in Psychiatry from the Brazilian Association of Psychiatry. He finished a Master in Health Technology at PUCPR, with a focus on the study of technologies to support the learning process in the field of health and medical competencies. He was a fellow of the Science Without Borders Program from CAPES, with a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Medicine, at University of Porto, Portugal. He is a Professor at PUCPR’s School of Medicine and Associate Professor of the Graduate Program in Bioethics. He acts mainly in the areas of medical education, Bioethics, professionalism, evaluation, competencies, general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, and communitarian psychiatry.
Sergio Surugi de Siqueira
Dr. Siqueira obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Physiology from Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, in 2006. He was a Visiting researcher at Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University in 2018. He is currently Associate Professor at the Graduate Program in Bioethics, in the School of Life Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná. He is a biochemical pharmacist, having obtained his degree from Federal University Paraná in 1984. He is a titular reporting member of the National Commission of Ethics in Research (CONEP) / National Health Conseil / Health Ministry, Brazil.
Thiago Rocha da Cunha
Prof. Dr. da Cunha is in the Bioethics Graduate Program as well as the one for Biological Sciences at PUCPR. He has a Ph.D. and Master’s in Bioethics degree with a concentration in Public Health from the Graduate Program in Bioethics of the School of Health Sciences of the University of Brasilia (PPGBioética/FS/UnB). He is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Latin American and Caribbean Network on Bioethics of UNESCO (Redbioethics). He is the Second Treasurer of the Brazilian Society of Bioethics (SBB). He is a researcher associated with the Center for Studies on Bioethics and Health Diplomacy-Nethis (FIOCRUZ/UnB). He holds a postgraduate degree in Bioethics from the Unesco Chair in Bioethics (UnB/DF). He holds a Bachelor in Biomedicine degree from the University Center of Votuporanga (Unifev/SP). Between 2012 and 2015, he was the assistant editor of the Bioethics Journal, a scientific publication edited by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM). Between 2013 and 2015, he was a full member of the Ethics Commission on Animal Use at the Hospital das Forças Armadas de Brasília (CEUA-HFA). Between 2011 and 2012, he was the vice coordinator of the Ethics Committee on Research on Humans at the School of Sciences of the University of Brasilia (CEP/FS-UnB) and a Brazilian Society of Bioethics board member representing the Regional Federal District (SBB/DF). He focuses on global bioethics, global health, human rights, and ethics in research. His undergraduate area of study is biomedicine and his Ph.D. focus is on bioethics with a concentration in public health.
Valquíria Elita Renk
Prof. Dr. Renk is a graduate program professor in bioethics, social sciences, and tourism at PUCPR. She holds a Doctorate in Education from UFPR; a Master’s in Education degree from PUCPR; a postgraduate course in Human Geography from UNICENTRO-PR; and a postgraduate degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology from PUCPR. She is a member of the Brazilian Society of Bioethics-Paraná Section, and the coordinator of the Scientific Committee. She is a member of the Brazilian Society of Educational History; the leader of the Universo do Turismo Research Group of CNPQ-PUCPR; and the editor-in-chief of the Caderno de Estudos e Pesquisas em Turismo. She is a member of the Brazilian Bioethics Professors Network. Her undergraduate area of study is geography and her Ph.D. area of study is education.
Waldir Souza
Prof. Dr. Souza holds Ph.D. in Theology at PUC-Rio, with a dissertation in Moral Theology and Bioethics. He has a Master’s in Systematic Theology/Anthropology degree at Faculdade Jesuíta (FAJE) Belo Horizonte. He has a postgraduate degree in Bioethics at PUCPR. He graduated in Theology at FAJE and Philosophy at PUCPR. He is a professor with the theology graduate program and the theology undergraduate program. He is a member of the Ethics and Research Committee on Animal Use (CEUAs) at PUCPR. His current research projects involve bioethics, science, and spirituality; theology and bioethics and their interconnections with social issues; and ethics in biotechnologies. He conducts his work with multiple perspectives. His undergraduate area of study is philosophy and theology and his Ph.D. area of study is theology.
Courses
Bioethics and Beginning of Life
The study of ethical issues related to the beginning of life from the historical debate about Western theories, passing through the contribution of modern biology to address pertinent themes to the current moment: embryo dignity, abortion, contraceptive methods and assisted reproduction.
Bibliography:
1.CIPRIANI, Giovanni. O Embrião Humano: na fecundação o marco da vida. São Paulo: Paulinas, 2007.
2.CORREA, Juan de Dios Vial; SGRECCIA, Elio. Identidade e Estatuto do Embrião Humano. Bauru: Edusc / Belém: CCFCAB, 2007.
3.MATORRAS, R.; HERNÁNDEZ, J.; MOLERO, M. D. (dirs). Tratado de reproducción humana para enfermería. Buenos Aires / Madrid: Médica Panamericana / Sociedad Española de Fertilidad, 2008.
4.NERI, D. Questões filosóficas na pesquisa e uso de células-tronco: uma perspectiva européia In: GARRAFA, V. e PESSINI, L. Bioética: Poder e Injustiça. São Paulo: Loyola, 2003, p. 163-170.
5.NUÑEZ DE CASTRO, Ignacio. De la dignidad Del embrión: reflexiones en torno a la vida humana naciente. Madrid: Comillas, 2008.
6.PEGORARO. O. A. Uma justificativa ética para a clonagem humana: Olinto A Pegoraro. In: GARRAFA, V. e PESSINI, L. Bioética: Poder e Injustiça. São Paulo: Loyola, 2003, p. 179-186.
7.SANCHES, M. A. Reprodução assistida e bioética – Metaparentalidade. São Paulo: Ave Maria, 2013.
8.SANCHES, M. A; VIEIRA, J. O; MELO, E. A. A Dignidade do Embrião Humano. São Paulo: Ave Maria, 2012. Atividade 1 – fazer resenha de um dos textos abaixo:
9.SANCHES, M.A. (org). Bioética e Planejamento Familiar. São Paulo: Ave Maria, 2014. 10.SERRÃO, Daniel. O estatuto moral do embrião: a posição do Conselho Europeu. In: GARRAFA, V. e PESSINI, L. Bioética: Poder e Injustiça. São Paulo: Loyola, 2003, p.147-156. 11.SGRECCIA, Elio. Manual de Bioética I: fundamentos e ética biomédica. São Paulo: Loyola, 1996.
Bioethics and Scientific Integrity
This course aims to introduce and update graduate students on topics involving Bioethics emphasizing its importance within the scope of the scientific integrity of research conducted on animals and humans. Subjects from history, concepts, characteristics, and bioethical schools to its application in scientific research will be addressed. Scientific articles will be used as support material to be critically discussed, highlighting the main positive and negative points. At the end, the students will be able to use the skills acquired in this course in the elaboration and execution of their research projects in animals and humans, preserving the integrity and respecting the principles of Bioethics.
Bibliography:
1.PESSINI, L. BARCHIFONTAINE, C. P. Fundamentos da Bioética. Ed. Nova práxis Cristã, 1996, 241p.
2.PESSINI, L. Bioética global em tempo de incertezas, perplexidades e esperanças. Ed. Roma: [Casa Generalizia], 2019, 235p.
3.URBAN, C. A. Bioética clínica. Ed. Revinter, 2002, 574p.
4.Brasil. Conselho Nacional de Saúde. Resolução 466/12. Trata de pesquisas em seres humanos e atualiza a resolução 196.
5.[Internet]. Diário Oficial da União. 12 dez. 2012 (acesso 13 jun. 2013). Disponível: http://conselho.saude.gov.br/resolucoes/2012/Reso466.pdfBENTO, Luiz Antonio.
6.Bioética e pesquisa em seres humanos. 1. ed. São Paulo: Paulinas, 2011. 101 p. (Coleção ética) ISBN 978-85-356-2795-4 (broch.).
7.Coleção ética em pesquisa da PUCPRESS volumes 1 a 6 – vários autores, 2019.
Environmental Bioethics
This course aims at the philosophical, historical, social, and ethical contextualization of environmental bioethics and animal ethics. During the semester, students identify vulnerabilities arising from the breach of ethical principles guiding the human/environment relationship. In the end, they can apply environmental bioethics as an instrument for reflection and intervention in mitigating vulnerabilities through the identification of moral agents and the guiding values of their decisions.
Clinical Bioethics
Assessment of the relationship between health professionals with patients and their family members considering the paternalistic, biotechnological, and deliberative models. Moreover, there is the highlighting of the different perspectives in the professional practice, emphasizing the relational asymmetry inherent to the first two models and the necessary evolution to the level of shared decision-making that respects autonomy. Students will be introduced to the knowledge of bioethical references and the humanized practice of the professional practice, thus considering the transition from the imperative of healing to that of caring and health professionals’ social role.
Palliative
It addresses the concepts of palliative care, its principles, the multidisciplinary team role, the communication, the intersubjectivities of the different actors involved in the care process, and the interface between thanatology and Bioethics. It studies the ethical conflicts that emerge both from techno-scientific development and the interrelationships established between professionals with patients and their families in the context of palliative care in the context of the dying process.
Global Health Fundamentals
The background, origins, and history of global health. Global health institutions, policies, and actors. Global health and global development policies. Determination and social determinants in global health. Global health and human rights. Global health ethics. Global bioethics as a foundation for a critical approach to global health.
Fundamentals and Conceptual bases of Bioethics
The study of the sociocultural conditionings that allowed the bioethics themes to flourish in the United States in the early 1970s. Since There will be the identification of the different currents that have emerged in the West, from the ethics of principles proposed by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress to the deliberative model of Habermasian inspiration.
Research Methods I
The concept of scientific knowledge approaches. Science as a form of knowledge. The proper use of bibliographic research and its technical form of registration. The scientific search and the production of scientific knowledge in bioethics.
Research Methods II
Theoretical-methodological approaches in scientific research. Research planning concerning the logical relationship between investigative procedures, theoretical references, and epistemological concepts. Also included are the following: epistemological reading of bioethics research in the modalities related to research projects; the investigative procedures of characteristics, operational modes, and theoretical link. There will be discussions and presentations of thesis projects.
Spirituality and Health Themes
The course addresses the interdisciplinary themes of spirituality and health, emphasizing clinical bioethics, practical theology, and psychology. It presents discussions regarding conceptual aspects as well as the theoretical-practical, ethical, and research implications related to spirituality and health, such as the role of spirituality in health care. The course also includes concept(s) of spiritual care and interdisciplinary spiritual care; moreover, spiritual care as a bridge amid bioethics, theology, and psychology. The following are also included: interdisciplinary models of spiritual care; theory of religious/spiritual coping and spiritual conflicts; instruments for spirituality assessment in the different clinical contexts of health care (medical, nursing, psychotherapeutic, chaplaincy); bioethics and spiritual care: the role of the chaplain and the psychologist in the multidisciplinary team and the Ethics Committees; the analysis of cases involving spiritual/religious issues; and research on spirituality and health involving future trends.
Teaching and Educational Methodologies
The process of teaching and learning in the formal education; the relation between theoretical knowledge and the experience in the education process; the class as a portion of the pedagogical doing; different educational methodologies; didactics, education technologies and the teaching process; the evaluation of the teaching and learning process, the ethical subject and education.
Bibliography:
1-BONAMIGO, Elcio, L; SILVA, Josimário (org). Estratégias de Ensino da Bioética. São Paulo: All Print Editara, 2015
2-GIL, Antônio Carlos. Didática do Ensino Superior. São Paulo: Atlas, 2010.
3-KALINKE, Marco Aurélio. Internet na educação. Curitiba: Chain, 2003.
4-LIBÂNEO, José Carlos. Didática. São Paulo; Cortez, 2013.
5-LINHARES, Célia Frazão Soares. Ensinar e aprender : sujeitos, saberes e pesquisa. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: DP & A, 2001. 189
6-MACHADO, Nílson José. Epistemologia e didática: as concepções de conhecimento e inteligencia e a prática docente. 6. ed. São Paulo: Cortez, 2005. 320 p.
7-OLIVEIRA, Maria Rita Neto Sales. A reconstrução da didática: elementos teórico-metodológicos. 2. ed. Campinas: Papirus, 1993
8-PORTILHO, E. Como se aprende? Estratégias, estilos e metacognição. Rio de Janeiro: Wak Editora, 2009.
9-PUCPR. O repensar do Processo. Coletânea de Técnicas de ensino. Curitiba: Champagnat, 1993
10-VEIGA, Ilma Passos Alencastro et all. Técnicas de Ensino: por que não? Campinas: Papirus, 2009.
11-RODRIGUES, M. de O.; VOSGERAU, D.S. R. A integração do recurso-jornal na prática pedagógica do professor: estudo de uma proposta de formação continuada. Dissertação (Mestrado). PUCPR. Curitiba, 2006, 156 f. Disponível em : HTTP://www.biblioteca.pucpr.br/tede/tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=685
12-OLIVEIRA, J.C.C. Uma Metodologia de Ensino para Aulas Práticas Universitárias: Leitura, Trabalho de Grupo e Debate. In Revista Portuguesa de Pedagogia. Série extra, 2011. Universidade de Coimbra.
13-MINISTÉRIO DA SAÚDE. Metodologia do ensino entre pares. Brasília: MS/MEC, 2010
More Information
The Master’s in Bioethics course takes 24 months. A participating student must fulfill a minimum of 40 credits, which are distributed accordingly: classes and seminars totaling (27 credits); thesis development, elaboration, and approval (10 credits); and complementary activities (3 credits).
The bioethics principle is the practical ethics exercise, whether it’s in the development of theoretical or applied research. The PPGB stands out nationally and internationally for developing research concerning the environmental, social, educational, and health fields. The direct impacts on society include institutional bioethics with research, training, and participating in research committees with human beings, animals, and hospital ethics committees. Bioethics in the media with the broadcasting of the bioethics perspective in issues of social interest in language adapted to different audiences; the development of research for insertion of the bioethics perspective in primary education; and work in the human rights segment promoting citizen empowerment, advocacy, and autonomy.
Because of the performance of bioethics in current and urgent issues, in addition to the multidisciplinary and integrative nature, PPGB is often configured in television, broadcast, and digital media. At the same time, the program faculty are invited to lectures, debates, and exam boards as well as for partnerships and consultancy on issues related to institutional bioethics and educational activities, the composition of academic societies, and organization of scientific events. PPGB has signed numerous partnerships with UNESCO, Ibero-American Bioethics Network, and Duke University at the international level.
Social Actions of Bioethics – The dialogue path 2016 – The dialogue path 2018
Since 2011, PUCPR has engaged in a project called Excellence in Stricto Sensu that is aimed at internationalizing the institution’s programs to achieve maximum scores of 6 and 7 and to promote transdisciplinarity and innovation in different areas of knowledge, especially in its strategic areas. The PIBIC master program is one its greatest differentials (it allows talented students to attend both undergraduate and graduate stricto sensu programs and develop part of their research in a highly qualified foreign institution) as well as being in harmony with society and focusing on innovation.
The institution must also be constantly attentive to the changing needs of the society, with alignment/realignment to the CAPES criteria and oriented to develop internationally, having internationalization as its main guide in the search for quality in teaching and research.
Every graduate program must meet the criteria set by their corresponding committee; therefore, each program strategic planning and operating criteria needs to be done accordingly.
Criteria for each area need to be discussed within the program annually so that all necessary and appropriate corrective actions can be taken during the four-year period. Each program is committed to structuring and readjusting its strategic planning annually in search of excellence. In addition, the programs are encouraged to rethink their lines of research in order to adapt to the rapid changes that may occur in international and national scenarios.
This graduate program’s dynamism and flexibility must always meet quality criterion both in master’s and doctoral training and in the development of research and innovation, essentially aiming at the improvement of society. Thus, an annual review of each program strategic planning is requested that contains the topics below at a minimum:
- i. Mission and vision of the program;
- ii. Summarized annual opinion produced by an external evaluator; the annual evaluation by an external member is an institutional practice conducted since 2006, which allows for the annual performance of each program to be assessed according to the area criteria;
- iii. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks (preparation of a SWOT matrix showing external and internal factors) considering the goals for the current and next four years;
- iv. Goals (measurable objectives) established for the consolidation and development of strengths and improvement of weaknesses;
- v. Actions (processes) necessary to achieve the objectives, people in charge, and monitoring instruments; in this topic, the coordinator and the institution should get involved to consider resizing the faculty and the student body, criteria for accreditation/re-accreditation, infrastructure, selection process, strategies to increase fundraising, and citations and innovation, among other items;
- vi. Preliminary text of the program’s self-assessment describing the last four years containing at least the following information: stages of the self-assessment process; analysis of results and achievement of objectives; necessary actions for its consolidation and internationalization;
The IDP (Institutional Development Plan) document presents the strategic plans of all the programs aligned with the institutional planning, containing the Mission, Vision, SWOT Matrix, Canvas, and road map, and providing information on the needs and intentions of the programs for the 2017–2020 and 2021–2024 quadrennium of the CAPES evaluation.