Background: In a context where there is no treatment for the current COVID-19 virus, the combination of self-care behaviours together with confinement, are strategies to decrease the risk of contagion and remain healthy. However, there are no self-care measures to screen self-care activities in general population and which, could be briefly in a lockdown situation. This research aims to build and validate a psychometric tool to screen self-care activities in general population.Methods: Firstly, an exploratory factor analysis was performed in a sample of 226 participants to discover the underlying factorial structure and to reduce the number of items in the original tool into a significant pool of items related to self-care. Later a confirmatory factor analyses were performed in a new sample of 261 participants to test for the fit and goodness of factor solutions. Internal validity, reliability, and convergent validity between its score with perceived stress and psychological well-being measures were examined on this sample.Results: The exploratory analyses suggested a four-factor solution, corresponding to health consciousness, nutrition and physical activity, sleep, and intra-personal and inter-personal coping skills (14 items). Then, the four-factor structure was confirmed as the best model fit for self-care activities. The tool demonstrated good reliability, predictive validity of individuals’ perception of coping with COVID-19 lockdown, and convergent validity with well-being and perceived stress.Conclusions: This screening tool could be helpful to address future evaluations and interventions to promote healthy behaviours. Likewise, this tool can be targeted to specific population self-care’s needs during a scalable situation.

The relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and stress has been widely studied, as well as the beneficial role of self-care to maintain health and wellbeing. However, the joint contribution of EI and self-care in predicting stress has not been examined during COVID-19 lockdown. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of self-care in the relationship between EI and stress and the potential moderator role of gender. A sample of 1082 participants from four Hispanic countries completed measures related to socio-demographic, trait emotional intelligence (Trait Meta-Mood Scale), self-care activities (Self-care Activities Screening Scale) and stress (Perceived Stress Scale). Mediation analyses revealed that self-care increased the explained variance of the prediction of stress by EI dimensions after controlling gender and age. However, gender only moderated the relationship between self-care and stress in the mediation model corresponding to emotional attention. Data supported a general model for the interaction of EI and self-care as contributing factors of stress. Further research is needed to replicate it in more culturally distant samples and to fully explore the potential role of gender differences. Future intervention programs should include a balanced combination of EI and self-care to increase their benefits on people's health.

Objectives: To examine the mediation role of self-care between stress and psychological well-being in the general population of four countries and to assess the impact of sociodemographic variables on this relationship. Design: Cross-sectional, online survey. Participants: A stratified sample of confined general population (N=1082) from four Ibero-American countries—Chile (n=261), Colombia (n=268), Ecuador (n=282) and Spain (n=271)—balanced by age and gender. Primary outcomes measures: Sociodemographic information (age, gender, country, education and income level), information related to COVID-19 lockdown (number of days in quarantine, number of people with whom the individuals live, absence/presence of adults and minors in charge and attitude towards the search of information related to COVID-19), Perceived Stress Scale-10, Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale-29 and Self-Care Activities Screening Scale-14. Results: Self-care partially mediates the relationship between stress and well-being during COVID-19 confinement in the general population in the total sample ( F (3,1078)=370.01, p<0.001, R ² =0.507) and in each country. On the other hand, among the evaluated sociodemographic variables, only age affects this relationship. Conclusion: The results have broad implications for public health, highlighting the importance of promoting people’s active role in their own care and health behaviour to improve psychological well-being if stress management and social determinants of health are jointly addressed first. The present study provides the first transnational evidence from the earlier stages of the COVID-19 lockdown, showing that the higher perception of stress, the less self-care activities are adopted, and in turn the lower the beneficial effects on well-being.

The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to analyze the differential impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown (3 April 2020) on stress, health practices, and self-care activities across different Hispanic countries, age range, and gender groups. One thousand and eighty-two participants from Spain, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador took part in this study. Irrespective of the country, and controlling for income level, young people, especially females, suffered a greater level of stress, perceived the situation as more severe, showed less adherence to health guidelines, and reported lower levels of health consciousness, in comparison to their male peers and older groups. However, in the case of self-care, it seems that older and female groups are generally more involved in self-care activities and adopt more healthy daily routines. These results are mostly similar between Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain. However, Chile showed some different tendencies, as males reported higher levels of healthy daily routines and better adherence to health guidelines compared to females and people over the age of 60. Differences between countries, genders, and age ranges should be considered in order to improve health recommendations and adherence to guidelines. Moreover, developing community action and intersectoral strategies with a gender-based approach could help to reduce health inequalities and increase the success of people’s adherence to health guidelines and self-care-promoting interventions. Future studies should be addressed to explore the possible causations of such differences in more cultural-distant samples and at later stages of the current outbreak.

Becoming a first‐time father is an important transition period in men's lives that is frequently accompanied by joy and happiness. Engaging fathers has a broader impact on family and community and on fathers' own well‐being. This study explores the process of men becoming first‐time fathers and the experiences and challenges involved. Seventeen interviews with men in different stages of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period were conducted. Through a grounded theory design, a novel four‐stage theoretical model emerged that represents the journey to first‐time fatherhood. These stages are beginning the journey, fatherhood in limbo, facing reality, and settling down. Participants suggested that achieving a new normality was the final stage where they finally felt located with a sense of mastery in their journey to fatherhood. The novel theoretical approach of addressing the process of men's transition allowed more complete access to their perspectives. Men's needs are different at every phase of the transition to fatherhood, and the use of these findings can help care providers in caring for every man according to the stage he is facing.