The outbreak of COVID-19 in Spain started at the end of February. By 9th April 2020 Spain was the second country in confirmed cases and in deaths. On March 14, 2020, the Spanish Government declared the state of alarm to limit viral transmission. During such state, citizens must stay confined at home with few justified exceptions. This whole situation drastically changed the life of the population, which can cause a wide range of psychosocial impacts. This study explored the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the general adult population (N = 3055) during the first stages of the outbreak in Spain, as well as their anxiety, stress and depression levels. We also examined the extent to which the following variables were associated to participants’ mental health: (1) demographics; (2) degree of concern about the pandemic; (3) environmental conditions during the home confinement, (4) changes in daily life as a consequence of the pandemic; (5) contact with the COVID-19 disease; (6) actual and perceived severity of the crisis; (7) information about the COVID-19, (8) perceived health status and (9) leisure activities conducted within the last 24 h. Our results show that Spanish consider the current COVID-19 health crisis as fairly severe, and the majority felt that the COVID-19 crisis had greatly impacted on their daily life, including changes in their daily routines and cancelation of important activities. About 36% of the participants reported moderate to severe psychological impact, 25% showed mild to severe levels of anxiety, 41% reported depressive symptoms, and 41% felt stressed. Women, young, and those who that lost their job during the health crisis showed the strongest negative psychological symptoms. What worried Spaniards the most was the likelihood of suffering an economic crisis derived from the pandemic. We found factors associated with better mental health, such as being satisfied with the information received about the health crisis, conducting leisure activities, and the perception of being in good health. These findings can be used to design psychological interventions to help coping with COVID-19 pandemic, both in Spain and other countries.

Resilience is defined as the ability to recover from stress. However, all resilience measures with exception of the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) assess resources that make resilience possible instead of recovery. The purpose of this study was to translate the BRS to Spanish and to analyze the reliability and validity of its scores. The psychometric properties of its scores were examined in a heterogeneous sample of 620 Spanish adults. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out to study its scores' evidence of structural validity. Besides, to study its scores' evidence of convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity in relation to other resilience questionnaires (Connor Davidson Resilience Scale 10-item version, Situated Subjective Resilience Questionnaire for Adults and Resiliency Questionnaire for Adults) and to variables such as emotions (Modified Differential Emotions Scale), coping (Person-situation Coping Questionnaire for Adults), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), posttraumatic growth (Posttraumatic Growth Inventory), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale) and posttraumatic stress (Davidson Trauma Scale), correlation and regression analyses were conducted. To study its sensitivity, we assessed the effect of sociodemographics and the ability of the scale to identify high-risk populations by conducting analyses of variance and Pearson correlations. The BRS scores showed adequate reliability (α = .83; intraclass coefficient = .69). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the Spanish version of the BRS is mono-factorial (χ2/df = 2.36; standardized root mean square residual = .036; goodness-of-fit index = .980; comparative fit index = .984; incremental fit index = .984; root mean square error of approximation = .067). They also showed adequate evidence of the scores' convergent, concurrent and predictive validity. The Spanish version of the BRS is a reliable and valid means to assess resilience as the ability to bounce back. (PsycINFO Database Record

By the end of March 2020, Spain was one of the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This commentary provides an initial picture of the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak during its initial stage in Spain. Data of 3055 participants aged 18-88 years old were collected over a week (March 17th-24th 2020) using an online forms platform. Participants provided information regarding sociodemographic data and completed the Spanish version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, which assesses psychological distress caused by a traumatic life event in terms of three symptomatic responses (avoidance, intrusion, and hyperarousal). Results revealed that 36.6% of participants showed psychological distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Avoidance was the most prevalent symptom in the total sample and for all genders studied. The psychological impact was consistently higher for young people, and for women compared to men. Our data confirm the great psychological toll that the COVID-19 crisis took on the Spanish general population during the first week of confinement. Women and young people seem particularly vulnerable to the negative psychological impact of the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

This study evaluates the psychological impact (PI) of the COVID-19 pandemic in frontline workers in Spain. Participants were 546 workers (296 healthcare workers, 105 media professionals, 89 grocery workers, and 83 protective service workers). They all completed online questionnaires assessing PI, sadness, concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and demographic and work-related variables. All groups but protective services workers showed higher PI levels than the general population. Healthcare and grocery workers were the most affected, with 73.6% and 65.2% of the participants, respectively, showing a severe PI. Women showed a higher PI level. Healthcare workers in the regions with higher COVID-19 incidences reported greater PI levels. The main concerns were being infected by COVID-19 or infecting others. Levels of concern correlated with higher PI levels. The protection equipment was generally reported as insufficient, which correlated with higher PI levels. Professionals reporting to overwork during the crisis (60% mass-media, 38% of healthcare and grocery and 21.7% of protective service) showed higher PI levels. In the healthcare group, taking care of patients with COVID-19 (77%) or of dying patients with COVID-19 (43.9%) was associated with higher PI levels. The perceived social recognition of their work was inversely related to PI. Most of the sample had not received psychological support. We suggest some organizational measures for frontline institutions, such as the periodical monitoring or inclusion of psychologists specialized in crisis-management to prevent negative symptoms and provide timely support.

Multiple variables have been studied in relation to health-related quality of life (HRQoL), but research has not integrated the contributions of different variables in a single model that allows to compare them. This study, carried out with people living with HIV/AIDS in India, sought to develop a prediction model considering various predictors previously found to be related to HRQoL, namely sociodemographic factors, HIV symptoms, social support, stigmas and avoidant coping. A sample of 961 HIV-positive persons from Bengaluru and Mumbai participated in this cross-sectional study, completing a sociodemographic questionnaire along with HRQoL, HIV symptoms, disclosure expectations, disclosure avoidance, social support and internalized, felt, vicarious and enacted stigma scales. Bivariate associations were obtained (correlations, ANOVAs and t tests) and a multiple regression analysis was performed. Results show that, when all variables are considered together, being married, widowed or deserted, symptom intensity, internalized stigma, disclosure avoidance and enacted stigma contribute negatively to predict HRQoL. On the other hand, being employed, good disclosure expectations and good social support contribute positively to predict HRQoL. Almost half of the variance in HRQoL was explained by this model. Interventions seeking to increase HRQoL in people living with HIV/AIDS in India would benefit from addressing these aspects.