The confinement that COVID-19 has brought about has had a negative influence on people’s psychological health. However, this impact is not widespread throughout the population, and men and women may be affected differently and it is not known what protective factors may exist. In this sense, physical activity has classically been shown to be a habit associated with psychological health. The study aimed to analyze the impact of confinement on psychological health (psychological well-being, coping, emotions, and perception of daily difficulties), taking into account gender, and perceived changes in physical activity. After the project was approved by the University’s Ethics Commission, the participants, after signing the informed consent, completed the online questionnaires during the days from 6 to 20 April, the time when, in Spain, confinement was in place and the highest peak of deaths and infections from COVID-19 occurred. A total of 457 Spanish participants (247 men and 210 women) were evaluated in psychological well-being, in its adaptation to Spanish, in coping, with the Spanish adaptation of the COPE Inventory, in daily habits and difficulties (ad hoc questionnaire) and the level of physical activity they had (sedentary, active, and federated players) was recorded. Besides, the perceived change in physical activity due to confinement was recorded. The results showed that perceived emotions, difficulties for certain routines, psychological well-being, and coping differed according to sex. On the other hand, depending on the change in physical activity habits, it was observed that participants who increased their physical activity responded differently in the perception of emotions, and difficulties for routines and in psychological well-being. Finally, differences were also observed in most variables between sedentary, active, and federated participants. Results are discussed highlighting the importance of physical activity as a moderating factor of the impact of confinement.

The aim of this study was to investigate how physical limitations after ACS influence patients’ quality of life and health perception. This was a longitudinal clinical study. We recruited 146 patients diagnosed with ACS. The patients performed a stress test (Bruce’s protocol) for the evaluation of physical limitations and were classified according to the test result: without physical limitations (more than 10 METS), with some physical limitations (7 to 9 METS), and with high physical limitations (less than 6 METS). Significant differences were found between the three groups immediately after the diagnosis of ACS and after a period of three months, regarding health perception, anxiety, depression, sexual relationships, distress, and adjustment to disease. These differences resulted larger between the group with less limitations and the group with higher limitations. After 3 months, however, there was an overall improvement in all variables. In conclusion, physical limitations after ACS seem to influence perceived quality of life determined by measuring general health, vitality, total adaptation, emotional role, social adaptation, depression, and anxiety. Therefore, the highest the physical limitations, the poorer the psychological conditions and vice versa, even 3 months after ACS diagnosis.

This study investigates how temperature, inside and outside the classroom, influence teachers’ mood and mental fatigue as well as the perceived students’ behavior. Two daily random measurements of the temperature inside various classrooms were taken for 7 months. Mood, mental fatigue, and perception of students’ behavior were evaluated for the teachers. Daily external temperature data were obtained from the State Agency of Meteorology. Results showed that indoor temperature, indoor humidity, and the difference between outdoor/indoor temperature significantly explain a worse perception of mood of the teachers and a worse perception of students’ behavior that influences perception of students’ behavior.

ENSAYOS. Revista de la Facultad de Educación de Albacete, ENSAYOS. Journal of Faculty of Education at Albacete

El objetivo principal del presente estudio piloto es analizar los niveles de conciliación trabajo-familia (clima familiar, conflicto trabajo-familia, interacción positiva e interacción negativa trabajo-familia) y variables psicosociales de salud (estrés, burnout, tensión laboral, satisfacción laboral y mentalidad hacia el estrés) con el fin de comparar dos grupos: profesores no universitarios y no profesores. Además, se analizarán las relaciones entre las variables de conciliación y las psicosociales. 95 sujetos (50 profesores y 45 trabajadores de otros colectivos) participaron en este estudio transversal. Los resultados muestran que los profesores puntúan significativamente más en clima familiar y en uso de habilidades en sus trabajos, y menos en burnout y mentalidad hacia el estrés. Además, en ambos grupos las variables de conciliación correlacionan con el uso de habilidades, burnout y estrés. Estos resultados se discuten enfatizando la puesta en práctica de medidas efectivas que ayuden a mejorar el bienestar laboral, familiar y personal.