Over the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of enduring mental health on healthcare workers has become increasingly evident. This review focuses on post-pandemic mental health challenges faced by healthcare personnel in Latin America. This highlights the persistent burden on healthcare workers, especially women, which is exacerbated by economic disparities, inadequacies in the healthcare system, and ongoing occupational stressors. Our literature review, utilizing databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, scrutinized the mental health status of healthcare professionals in the region after the pandemic’s peak. The analysis indicated sustained levels of psychological distress, with frontline workers and women continuing to be affected disproportionately. These findings emphasize the urgent need for personalized interventions to effectively address the complex mental health challenges in this context. This review advocates strategic interventions, including tailored psychological support, innovative diagnostics, and technological solutions, integrated into patient-centered care models. Such approaches aim to enhance the mental resilience and overall well-being of healthcare professionals across Latin America in the post-COVID era.

Background: Mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, and burnout, have become increasingly prevalent among health care workers, who face high-stress environments, limited resources, and long working hours. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified these issues, especially in regions like Latin America, where health care professionals experience heightened anxiety and depression. The urgent need for mental health support has prompted the development of mobile health (mHealth) solutions. These tools offer accessible, confidential interventions that help reduce stigma and encourage engagement. The “Psicovida” mobile app was designed to provide cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)–based activities tailored to health care workers, supporting them in managing stress, anxiety, and depression. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Psicovida, a mobile app that delivers CBT-based interventions, in reducing depressive symptoms and emotional distress among health care workers over a 3-month period. Methods: A quasi-experimental, nonrandomized controlled study was conducted with health care workers at a public hospital in Ecuador. Participants were recruited offline and assigned to either an intervention group that used the Psicovida app or a control group that received no intervention. The app provided weekly CBT-based tasks focused on stress management, cognitive restructuring, and emotional regulation. Data collection included demographic information, with mental health outcomes assessed pre- and postintervention using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to measure depression and the General Health Questionnaire-12 to assess overall psychological well-being. Results: A total of 211 health care workers participated, with 88 in the intervention group and 96 in the control group, and 29 participants dropped out. Among the intervention group, adherence varied: 34% (30/88) used the app consistently for 10‐12 weeks, 42% (37/88) for 7‐9 weeks, and 24% (21/88) for fewer than 6 weeks. Significant improvements in mental health outcomes were observed among app users. The intervention group exhibited a statistically significant reduction in depressive symptoms, with PHQ-9 scores decreasing significantly (P<.001; 95% CI 6.17-9.36). Within this group, 20% (18/88) achieved complete remission of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 scores <5), 32% (28/88) showed mild symptoms (PHQ-9 scores=5‐9), and 48% (42/88) remained in the range requiring treatment referral (PHQ-9 scores ≥10). General Health Questionnaire-12 scores similarly showed substantial improvement in psychological well-being (P<.001; 95% CI 3.99-5.58). Conclusions: The Psicovida mobile app demonstrates promise as an accessible, effective tool for reducing depression and anxiety among health care workers through CBT-based interventions. This study highlights the potential of mHealth technology to deliver targeted mental health support, especially in resource-limited settings. Future research should focus on evaluating long-term impacts and broader applications in varied health care environments.

Mental health is defined as the psychological well-being that allows individuals to cope with stress, develop skills, and contribute to the community. Mental disorders increase annually, with anxiety and depression being the most prevalent. One of the most vulnerable groups to the development of mental disorders is healthcare personnel, a situation that worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be an unaddressed issue. In Ecuador, no specific mental health tools or interventions have been implemented for healthcare workers, so mobile health, or mHealth, is proposed as a resource, using mobile applications. "Psicovida" has been developed, a free mobile application focused on cognitive-behavioral therapy for healthcare personnel in Ecuador, which aims to improve access to psychological intervention and mental health promotion and presents mobile health as a potential therapeutic tool. La salud mental es definida como el bienestar psicológico que permite a las personas enfrentar el estrés, desarrollar habilidades y contribuir a la comunidad. Los trastornos mentales aumentan anualmente, siendo la ansiedad y la depresión los más prevalentes. Uno de los grupos más vulnerables al desarrollo de trastornos mentales es el personal sanitario, situación que empeoró con la pandemia por COVID-19, y que continúa siendo una problemática no abordada. En Ecuador, no se ha implementado ninguna herramienta o intervención de salud mental específica para el personal sanitario, por lo que se plantea como recurso a la salud móvil o mHealth, con el uso de aplicativos móviles. Se desarrolló "Psicovida", una aplicación móvil gratuita enfocada en terapia cognitivo-conductual para el personal sanitario en Ecuador, la cual busca mejorar el acceso a la intervención psicológica y promoción de la salud mental, y plantea a la salud móvil como una potencial herramienta terapéutica.

This case report describes an unusual presentation of disseminated tuberculosis (TB) in a young immunocompetent patient, initially resembling a malignancy. TB cases with characteristics that mimic neoplasms present diagnostic challenges, especially in regions with a high prevalence of the disease. The patient, a 23-year-old woman, presented with a mediastinal mass, elevated CA-125 levels, and a progressively severe clinical picture that included septic shock and acute renal failure. The clinical presentation and imaging findings initially suggested a neoplasm; however, the diagnosis of disseminated TB was confirmed through videothoracoscopy, PCR, and bronchoscopy. The patient received antituberculous therapy, resulting in clinical improvement and stabilization before hospital discharge. This case highlights the importance of considering TB in the differential diagnosis of mediastinal masses and complex presentations in immunocompetent individuals. Furthermore, it raises the possibility that CA-125, a marker commonly associated with malignancies, may have diagnostic utility in disseminated TB, warranting further investigation to explore its potential value in these contexts.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with psychological difficulties across the life course, making their assessment important for developmental adversity research. This pilot compared a conventional 10-item questionnaire (ACE-10) with a modified 14-item version (ACE-14) in a school-based convenience sample of 93 parents and guardians in Ecuador. Participants completed both versions in Spanish about their own childhood; ACE-14 responses were mapped to 10 domains. Paired analyses examined agreement on individual adversity domains, total scores, and exposure categories using confidence intervals (CIs), McNemar tests, and Holm adjustment for multiple comparisons. Mean domain counts were similar (1.23 versus 1.25), but Bland–Altman limits for individual score differences were −2.00 to 2.04 domains. Any ACE was reported by 47 versus 56 participants (difference 9.7 percentage points; Holm-adjusted p = 0.099). Deprivation or impaired caregiving showed the clearest directional difference: 12 participants endorsed mapped ACE-14 only and one endorsed ACE-10 only (difference 11.8 percentage points, 95% CI [5.1, 20.3]; domain-adjusted p = 0.023; exact-test adjusted p = 0.034). Forty-five participants (48.4%) gave different answers for at least one domain. The study did not assess how often answers would change if the same questionnaire were completed twice. These findings show that similar average scores can conceal differences in individual exposure classification. Future studies should use cognitive interviews, randomized questionnaire order, and repeated administration of the same version to clarify how wording and question format contribute to these differences.