Measures to prevent and contain the COVID-19 health crisis include population confinement, with the consequent isolation and interruption of their usual activities. The aim of the study is to analyse psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, a cross-sectional observational study with a sample of 4180 people over the age of 18 during quarantine was developed. Variables considered were sociodemographic variables, physical symptoms, health conditions, COVID-19 contact history and psychological adjustment. The data were collected through a self-developed questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Bivariate analyses were performed, including Chi-Squared test and Student’s T-test. Predictive ability was calculated through logistic regression. Results obtained showed a high level of psychological distress (72.0%), with a higher percentage in women and people of lower middle age. Statistically significant differences were found in the variable working situation (χ² = 63.139, p ≤ 0.001, V = 0.123) and living with children under the age of 16 (χ² = 7.393, p = 0.007, V = 0.042). The predictive variables with the highest weight were sex (OR = 1.952, 95% IC = (1.667, 2.286)), presence of symptoms (OR = 1.130, 95% CI = (1.074, 1.190)), and having had close contact with an individual with confirmed COVID-19 (OR = 1.241, 95% CI = (1.026, 1.500)). These results could enrich prevention interventions in public health and, in particular, in mental health in similar pandemic situations.

Anxiety, depression, and stress are common and expected reactions to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The objective of this study is to analyze psychological distress in a sample of Spanish population, identifying the predictive nature of the information received, the preventive measures taken, level of concern, beliefs, and knowledge about the infection. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on a sample of 4615 participants. Data were collected through a self-prepared questionnaire and the general health questionnaire (GHQ-12). Bivariate analyses and logistic regressions were performed. Of the total participants, 71.98% presented psychological distress. The study population actively sought information about coronavirus, expressed a high level of concern and knowledge, and the most frequent preventive behavior was hand washing. As predictive factors, the degree of concern for COVID-19 was identified (odds ratio (OR) = 1.244, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [1.179, 1.312]), the number of hours spent consulting information on COVID-19 (OR = 1.038, 95% CI = [1.009, 1.068]), or the need for psychological support (OR = 1.135, 95% CI = [1.094, 1.177]), among others. These results could help design more effective strategies towards a psycho-emotional approach for the population when in similar health crisis situations. There is a need for interventions aimed at the psychological well-being of the population that meet the needs of their reality.

The aim of this study was to analyze the main leisure habits of students at the University of Huelva and the relationship with perceived health by grouping the various activities into components whilst also evaluating possible gender differences. The sample was selected through random cluster sampling and was composed of 903 students from various courses and degrees. Of the sample, 73.8% were female and 26.2% were male, with a mean age of 20.82 years. The participants responded to items measuring perceived health and the inventory of leisure activities extracted from the INJUVE (Spanish Youth Observatory) survey. The results obtained offered a solution of four components, grouping the activities into passive leisure, festive leisure, sports–competitive leisure and cultural leisure. Passive leisure was the most practiced and cultural leisure the least practiced. Statistically significant differences were observed between men and women in terms of the sports–competitive component and in the perception of health. In addition, a direct relationship was found between the sports–competitive dimension and health perception. These results support the existence of a “techno-active” profile in males and should be considered in the creation of university policies linked to health promotion or the prevention of risk behaviors.

This study aims to identify the relationships between eating habits and psychological adjustment and health perception, and to analyze potential mediating role of healthy and unhealthy foods in the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and the psychological constructs and health perception. The sample was selected through stratified random cluster sampling and was composed of 788 university students. The participants responded to a MedDiet adherence screener and food consumption inventory to assess the eating habits, instruments measuring self-esteem, life satisfaction, curiosity and sense of coherence to assess the psychological adjustment, and single item measuring perceived health. The results revealed 41.9% of the participants had a high consumption of vegetables and 85.1% a low consumption of energy drinks, while 29.9% showed a high adherence to the MedDiet which was positively associated to each psychological variable and healthy foods and negatively with unhealthy foods. In conclusion, a higher adherence to the MedDiet, and the consumption of fruits and vegetables is related to higher psychological adjustment and health perception. However, the relationships between MedDiet and the psychological variables and health perception were fully or partially explained because of the consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods.

Social self-efficacy has been shown to be a key resource for adolescents’ social experiences with peers and a predictor of prosocial behaviour among adolescents. However, differences by gender, age and socioeconomic level have previously been found in social self-efficacy. The objective of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the subscale of social self-efficacy from the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C) developed by Muris (2001) in a representative sample of Spanish adolescents while considering gender, age and socioeconomic level differences. In general, the results showed good psychometric properties and a one-dimensional structure with high internal consistency, adequate explained variance and evidence of external validity for the subscale. Furthermore, the invariance analysis demonstrated that the social self-efficacy subscale shows no bias when used with populations of adolescents who differ by gender, age and socioeconomic level. The results indicate that the Spanish version of the social self-efficacy subscale of the SEQ-C is an adequate measurement instrument for assessing adolescents’ perception of their own social skills.

Background: Long-term mental health (MH) policies in Finland aimed at investing in community care and promoting reforms have led to a reduction in the number of psychiatric hospital beds. However, most resources are still allocated to hospital and community residential services due to various social, economic and political factors. Despite previous research focussing on the number and cost of these services, no study has evaluated the emerging patterns of use, their technical performance and the relationship with the workforce structure. Objective: The purpose of this study was to observe the patterns of use and their technical performance (efficiency) of the main types of care of MH services in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region (Finland), and to analyse the potential relationship between technical performance and the corresponding workforce structure. Methods: The sample included acute hospital residential care, non-hospital residential care and outpatient care services. The analysis was conducted using regression analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, fuzzy inference and data envelopment analysis. Results: The analysis showed a statistically significant linear relationship between the number of service users and the length of stay, number of beds in non-hospital residential care and number of contacts in outpatient care services. The three service types displayed a similar pattern of technical performance, with high relative technical efficiency on average and a low probability of being efficient. The most efficient acute hospital and outpatient care services integrated multidisciplinary teams, while psychiatrists and nurses characterized non-hospital residential care. Conclusions: The results indicated that the number of resources and utilization variables were linearly related to the number of users and that the relative technical efficiency of the services was similar across all types. This suggests homogenous MH management with small variations based on workforce allocation. Therefore, the distribution of workforce capacity should be considered in the development of effective policies and interventions in the southern Finnish MH system.