The COVID-19 pandemic has produced profound changes in higher education, with the replacement of face-to-face instruction with distance or remote education, which involves the management of digital skills by teachers and students. The purpose of this research is to analyze the perception of professors with regard to digital skills and the use of gamified strategies in the teaching-learning process in a virtual context. A questionnaire was sent to 81 professors in different areas of knowledge at a Peruvian public university during the first academic semester of 2020. A strong correlation (r≥.700, p=.01) was found between the use of ICT and gamification as a resource for teaching-learning, and a moderate correlation between the knowledge of digital competences and the possibilities of application as part of the instructional strategies. From the results obtained, it is clear that the participants have a positive perception of digital skills and gamified strategies, regardless of academic degree or area of knowledge. This could provide support for the update of those proposals targeting professors in order to improve their digital skills.

La autoeficacia se basa en la Teoría Social Cognitiva de Bandura y desde esa perspectiva el objetivo de este estudio es examinar la relación entre la escritura académica y las creencias de autoeficacia para la escritura en estudiantes universitarios de pregrado. La muestra estuvo conformada por 176 participantes, 114 mujeres y 62 hombres, de una universidad pública peruana. La metodología desarrollada es cuantitativa de tipo correlacional. Los participantes cumplimentaron un Cuestionario de Percepción sobre Alfabetización Académica y una Escala de Autoeficacia para la Escritura. Los resultados revelan que la relación entre percepción de escritura académica y creencias de autoeficacia es moderada; no existen diferencias significativas por sexo y por programa académico. Se concluye que a mayor nivel de percepción de escritura académica mayor creencia de autoeficacia.

The general purpose of this study was to determine the potential of using a gamified platform in the development of scientific writing skills among engineering students at a Peruvian university. To this end, a gamified web platform named Call for Papers for Engineers was designed. This platform contains mini-games focused on developing reading and writing skills for articles related to the engineering area. A quantitative methodological approach was employed, with a quasi-experimental design involving two groups: an experimental group and a control group, with pre-and post-test measurements. Additionally, the gamified platform was validated through expert judgment, and user satisfaction levels were assessed. The main results indicate that the content developed in the course and the use of the gamified web platform were effective teaching methods, as the students in the experimental group demonstrated higher performance after using the gamified platform compared to the control group. Furthermore, participants in the study expressed satisfaction with the use of this technological resource, finding it motivating and user-friendly.

The use of video games has increased exponentially worldwide, mainly among the youth population. The main objective of this article is to evaluate the consumption habits and motivations of engineering students to play video games. To this end, an instrument to measure the use of video games and a scale of motivations were administered to 633 students enrolled in different academic engineering programs at a Peruvian public university. It was found that 91.3% of students play video games, compared to 8.7% who have never played them; it was also found that their use is greater among male students (95%) than among female students (73.4%). Likewise, it was found that these students prefer strategy video games, and that they mostly play them for escape and entertainment, and for socioemotional activation. It is concluded that consumption habits and motivations are related, since the greater the consumption of video games, the greater the motivation is for young people to play them.

In order to facilitate the understanding of tools that monitor general health, we developed a systematic review of the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) to determine the risk factors that explain the psychological problems that were identified in the general population. Previously, a bibliometric approach was carried out to identify research trends on the scientific literature of the GHQ-28. We use Web of Science and Scopus as information sources to retrieve scientific production on GHQ-28, from 2016 and 2021 in English and Spanish. We retrieved 45 studies obtained by search equations, including only 33 systematic review studies after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A massive increase in post-covid-19 pandemic mental health problems was identified, being reported using the GHQ-28 instrument. Common risk factors are identified that inform mental health deterioration. The instrument is useful for the early identification of symptoms and the formulation of prevention and intervention programs in favor of the mental health of the human population.

Large-scale epidemics are known to significantly disrupt the mental health and perceived well-being of most populations. In spite of the wide range of screening tools, there are not many reliable and widespread tools for the identification of psychological symptoms in non-clinical populations during a health crisis. Objective The aim of this study was to conduct a psychometric analysis of the Goldberg’s GHQ-28 (1) through a sample of Peruvian adults using confirmatory factor analysis. Materials and methods 434 individuals have been examined, studying the goodness and structure of the Goldberg GHQ-28 questionnaire. Result We found high reliability indicating optimal values (α by Cronbach = .829), also there are four correlated factors that show strict invariance among the 28 items. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used to examine the structure of the subscales. There are high levels of anxiety (X=1.01) and social dysfunction (X=1.21) in the assessed sampling. Conclusion The factorial structure obtained in this study is similar to that originally described by the researchers involved in the original questionnaire. It is concluded that GHQ-28 is suitable to explore prevalence of psychopathologies in emergency contexts and social isolation for general non-psychiatric population.