Introduction: Social distancing and quarantine have proven to have negative effects on the mental health of populations, namely fear, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Resilience emerges as a buffering variable for such impact. The objective of this study was to compare the psychological impact of COVID-19 in several Latin American countries. Method: A sample of 1184 participants from Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Colombia and Guatemala was obtained; whose age ranged from 18 to 83 years old (M = 38.78, SD = 13.81). A survey on medical symptoms associated with COVID-19 and three instruments to evaluate: (1) depression, anxiety and stress, (2) impact of the event and (3) resilience were administered. Results: Younger people, with more symptoms associated with COVID-19 and those who reported higher scores of impact of event tended to present greater depressive, anxious and stress symptomatology. The impact of the event was the most determinant predictor. Resilience was protective against the impact of event, depression, anxiety and stress. Conclusions: The results show the differences in the psychological response to COVID-19 in each country and suggesting the need to develop public policies focused on prevention and promotion of integral health when facing sanitary emergencies.

Resilience has been reported to be a protective psychological variable of mental health; however, little is known about its role in COVID-19 survivors. Thus, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the levels of depression, anxiety, stress, traumatic impact, and resilience associated with COVID-19, as well as to investigate the role of resilience as a moderating variable. A sample of 253 participants responded to an online survey; all were previously diagnosed with COVID-19 by a nasopharyngeal swab RT-PCR test, were older than 18 years, and signed an informed consent form. Significant negative correlations were found between resilience and the mental health variables. Higher resilience was significantly related to a lower impact of the event, stress, anxiety, and depression when the number of symptoms was low. Only when the duration of COVID-19 was short and resilience levels were medium or high was psychological distress reduced. Moreover, resilience moderated the effects of COVID-19 on mental health, even if a relapse occurred. The results emphasize the need for interdisciplinary interventions aimed at providing COVID-19 patients with psychological and social resources to cope with the disease, as well as with probable relapses.

Objective: To measure personal, medical and psychological positive and negative variables and to determine their relation with somatization in a sample of health sciences students. Subjects and methods: A total of 594 (34.43%) of the 1725 health science students of a public university answered an online survey with personal and medical information as well as the following psychological variables: phsychological well-being, five facets mindfulness questionnaire (FFMQ), life satisfaction, depression, and academic stress. Additionally, the presence of 11 somatic symptoms and 11 diseases during the last year was measured. Results: Most students were women (74.06%) who were 19.96 ± 4.28 years old. The global frequency of somatization in the previous year was 66.59%, and the presence of any measured disease 14.75%. With the multivariate analysis, self-acceptance was the most related variable (negatively) with somatization, followed by the sum of diseases, female gender, academic stress, smoking, and depression, in a model with an R-value of 0.634, self-acceptance was also the most related variable (negatively) with depression, being this last the most related variable with academic stress. Conclusions: After analyzing all variables considered in this study, self-acceptance was the most related variable with somatization and depression; this highlights the importance of strengthening the acceptance of the self in the student population in order to prevent these conditions and their consequences.

This work constitutes an exploratory study during the second and third phases of COVID-19 in Mexico, characterized by local transmission and untraceable cases, respectively, with an incidental sample of 666 participants. The 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale was used to assess depression, anxiety and stress associated to COVID-19. Additionally, the Impact of the Event Scale-Revised was applied to assess the impact of the event, and the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale was employed to assess resilience. Participants' levels of traumatic impact (21.7%), severe depression (7%), severe anxiety (9.4%) and severe stress (5.4%) were revealed to be lower than other populations. Comparison of means and effect size eta(2) (p) of the data shows that women and young people (18-39 years) suffer the greatest negative effects. Individuals with higher levels of resilience experience fewer psychological consequences confirming its importance in the face of the adversities. These findings provide valuable information on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the Mexican population, allowing a comparative analysis at an international level which can be helpful in the development of appropriate sanitary policies.

OBJETIVO: conocer la estructura factorial del GHQ-12 en México y explorar su utilidad para identificar a personas que perciben tener problemas de salud. METODO: participaron 1093 adultos sin diagnóstico de enfermedades crónicas; 462 fueron varones, con una edad media de 32.2 años (DT=13.2) y 631 mujeres, con una edad media de 29.1 años (DT=12.0). Se realizaron comparaciones de correlaciones, medias y varianzas para explorar los efectos de la redacción de ítems en forma negativa versus positiva. Posterior al AFE, se compararon los índices de ajuste de los modelos multidimensionales, del unidimensional original y del unidimensional con ‘efectos del método’. Se comparó la percepción general de salud y los puntajes del GHQ-12 para mujeres y hombres. RESULTADOS: el modelo unidimensional con ‘efectos de método’ (errores correlacionados) mostró el mejor ajuste a los datos. Los puntajes de ítems positivos, negativos y el total fueron más altos para participantes con problemas de salud, pero solo las varianzas e intervalos de confianza de los ítems positivos fueron consistentes y homogéneos. CONCLUSION: se apoya que el GHQ-12 es una medida unidimensional. Aplicado en población mexicana muestra una estructura factorial semejante a la de países orientales y occidentales. Se sugiere utilizar el puntaje de los ítems positivos del instrumento como un método general de tamizaje del bienestar/malestar psicológico. OBJECTIVES: 1. To know the factor structure of the GHQ-12 in Mexican adult population. 2. To explore its usefulness to identify individuals who report health problems. METHOD: The study was carried out with a sample composed of 1093 adults without diagnosis of chronic diseases, divided into 462 males with an average age of 32.2 (DT = 13.2) and 631 females with an average age of 29.1 (DT = 12.0). In order to explore worded items effects positively and negatively, correlations, means, and variances were compared. Following the EFA, the adjustment of index of multidimensional models (the ‘original’ unidimensional model and the unidimensional with method effects) was compared. Also comparisons between self-reported health and GHQ-12 scores for both sexes were performed. RESULTS: The unidimensional model with ‘method effects’ obtained the best adjustment. Scores from positive, negative, and total items were higher for participants with self-reported health problems; however, only variances and confidence intervals with positive items were found homogeneous and consistent. CONCLUSION: GHQ-12 is confirmed as a unidimensional measure. Structural factor is similar to that of western and eastern countries when applied to Mexican population. Using the scores of GHQ-12 positive items as a screening method of psychological welfare/psychological is advised.

Comparación de la Salud Subjetiva entre Prototipos de Personalidad Recuperados en Población General de México-Comparison of Subjective Health Between Personality Prototypes Extracted from General Population of Mexico. Comparação da saúde subjetiva...