Psychometric Evidence of the Scale of Risk of Addiction to Social Networks and Internet for Adolescents in Peruvian Students

Open Access / Acceso abierto

Otros títulos: Evidencias psicométricas de la Escala de Riesgo de Adicción-Adolescente en Redes Sociales e Internet en estudiantes peruanos]

Using functional analytic psychotherapy strategies for supporting latinas victims of interpersonal partner violence

Open Access / Acceso abierto

Otros títulos: Uso de estrategias de la psicoterapia analítica funcional para apoyar a mujeres latinas víctimas de violencia de pareja

Editorial: Colegio Oficial de Psicologos

Journal: Papeles del Psicologo

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/659819

DOI: 10.23923/pap.psicol.2980

Enlaces adicionales: https://www.papelesdelpsicologo.es/pii?pii=2980

Interpersonal partner violence (IPV) is a worldwide public health problem. As a result of IPV, victims report high rates of physical and behavioral disabilities. Help-seeking behaviors are key to obtaining support on facing and managing IPV. Cultural practices such as machismo, marianismo, and familismo are related to keeping quiet and remaining in an abusive relationship in Latinas. Difficulties in sharing emotions, setting interpersonal boundaries, and communicating needs are also behavioral barriers to seeking help in this population. All these factors are associated with social disconnection which reduces victims’ chances of obtaining support in risky situations. Although several programs have been developed for helping victims of IPV, more evidence on adaptions to particular cultural and interpersonal struggles faced by Latinas’ victims is needed. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) proposes that therapeutic relationships based on intimacy can help victims of IPV to identify characteristics of those relationships that provide help when they need it. In this theoretical article, several FAP-based strategies aid therapists working with Latinas’ victims of IPV in strengthening clients’ interpersonal functioning and defeating cultural barriers when seeking help.

La violencia de pareja (IPV, por sus siglas en inglés) es un problema de salud pública mundial que genera altas tasas de discapacidades físicas y conductuales. Los comportamientos para buscar ayuda son claves para brindar soporte en el afrontamiento y el manejo de la violencia de género. El machismo, marianismo y familismo son prácticas culturales relacionadas con conductas de guardar silencio y permanecer en una relación abusiva en mujeres latinas. Asimismo, las dificultades para compartir emociones, establecer límites interpersonales y comunicar necesidades también son barreras para buscar ayuda. Estos factores están asociados a la desconexión social que reduce las posibilidades de que las víctimas sean apoyadas en situaciones de riesgo. Aunque se han desarrollado diversos programas psicológicos y sociales para ayudarlas, se necesita más evidencia sobre adaptaciones que respondan a los factores culturales e interpersonales propios de las mujeres Latinas víctimas de IPV. La Psicoterapia Analítica Funcional (FAP) propone que las relaciones terapéuticas basadas en la intimidad pueden ayudarlas a identificar características de relaciones que brindan ayuda cuando ellas la necesitan. En este artículo teórico se describen diferentes estrategias basadas en FAP con el fin de que los terapeutas que trabajan con Latinas víctimas de IPV puedan ayudarlas.

Cultural practices, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, Interpersonal effectiveness, Interpersonal partner violence, Latinas, Metadatos

Using machine learning to identify important predictors of COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors during the early phase of the pandemic

Open Access / Acceso abierto

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/659813

DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2022.100482

Enlaces adicionales: https://www.cell.com/patterns/fulltext/S2666-3899(22)00067-8

Before vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became available, a set of infection-prevention behaviors constituted the primary means to mitigate the virus spread. Our study aimed to identify important predictors of this set of behaviors. Whereas social and health psychological theories suggest a limited set of predictors, machine-learning analyses can identify correlates from a larger pool of candidate predictors. We used random forests to rank 115 candidate correlates of infection-prevention behavior in 56,072 participants across 28 countries, administered in March to May 2020. The machine-learning model predicted 52% of the variance in infection-prevention behavior in a separate test sample—exceeding the performance of psychological models of health behavior. Results indicated the two most important predictors related to individual-level injunctive norms. Illustrating how data-driven methods can complement theory, some of the most important predictors were not derived from theories of health behavior—and some theoretically derived predictors were relatively unimportant.

COVID-19, Health behaviors, Machine learning, Public goods dilemma, Random forest, Social norms

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in febrile patients from an endemic region of dengue and chikungunya in Peru

Open Access / Acceso abierto

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/659814

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265820

Enlaces adicionales: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0265820

Introduction The rapid expansion of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus has raised serious public health concerns due to the possibility of misdiagnosis in regions where arboviral diseases are endemic. We performed the first study in northern Peru to describe the detection of SARSCoV-2 IgM antibodies in febrile patients with a suspected diagnosis of dengue and chikungunya fever. Materials and methods A consecutive cross-sectional study was performed in febrile patients attending primary healthcare centers from April 2020 through March 2021. Patients enrolled underwent serum sample collection for the molecular and serological detection of DENV and CHIKV. Also, serological detection of IgM antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 was performed. Results 464 patients were included during the study period, of which (40.51%) were positive for one pathogen, meanwhile (6.90%) presented co-infections between 2 or more pathogens. The majority of patients with monoinfections were positive for SARS-CoV-2 IgM with (73.40%), followed by DENV 18.09% and CHIKV (8.51%). The most frequent co-infection was DENV + SARS-CoV-2 with (65.63%), followed by DENV + CHIKV and DENV + CHIKV + SARSCoV-2, both with (12.50%). The presence of polyarthralgias in hands (43.75%, p<0.01) and feet (31.25%, p = 0.05) were more frequently reported in patients with CHIKV monoinfection. Also, conjunctivitis was more common in patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 IgM (11.45%, p<0.01). The rest of the symptoms were similar among all the study groups. Conclusion SARS-CoV-2 IgM antibodies were frequently detected in acute sera from febrile patients with a clinical suspicion of arboviral disease. The presence of polyarthralgias in hands and feet may be suggestive of CHIKV infection. These results reaffirm the need to consider SARS-CoV-2 infection as a main differential diagnosis of acute febrile illness in arboviruses endemic areas, as well as to consider co-infections between these pathogens. 

Antibodies, Arthralgia, Chikungunya fever, Chikungunya virus, Coinfection, COVID-19, Cross-Sectional studies, Dengue, Fever, Humans, Immunoglobulin M, Peru, SARS-CoV-2, Zika virus infection

Depression symptoms and mortality in elderly peruvian navy veterans: a retrospective cohort study

Open Access / Acceso abierto

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/659811

DOI: 10.1134/S2079057022010039

Enlaces adicionales: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S2079057022010039

Our study was design to determine the association between depressive symptoms and mortality in adults over 60 years old Navy Peruvian Veterans. We performed a retrospective cohort study based on a previous cohort study. A total of 1681 patients over 60 years old were included between 2010–2015. Demographic information, self-reported information about falls, physical frailty assessment, tobacco consumption, hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and was collected. Depression was assessed by the short form of the Geriatric Depression Scale. We found that depressive symptoms were present in 24.9% of the participants and 40.5% of them died. Mortality risk in patients with depressive symptoms, physical frailty, and male sex was: RR of 23.1 (95% CI: 11.7–45.7), 3.84 (95% CI: 2.16–6.82), and 1.37 (95% CI: 1.07–1.75) respectively. We concluded that depressive symptoms in Peruvian retired military personnel and their immediate relatives are high and are significatively associated with mortality. Also, being male and frail was associated with an increased risk of death. This reinforces that early detection and assessment of depressive symptoms could be an opportunity to improve the health status of older adults.