Eva María Rodríguez

El consumo de inhalables en las prácticas de socialidad de dos grupos de estudiantes de secundarias públicas

Introduction. Inhalant use among various populations in Mexico occurs within the context of its legality, inadequate health regulation and supervision of its production and sales, high availability and low cost, combined with the pleasurable effects of inhaling, which vary according to the context and users. Objective. This paper describes the social practices involved in the co-construction of inhalant use contexts of two groups of Mexican middle school students and their reported effects. Method. Photo elicitation methodology was used, with two videotapes produced by students on school sociality practices where inhalants we are used and then analyzed in discussion groups. Results. The theoretical categorization of the data was performed using Atlas.ti software. It was found that although the students inhaled toluene, only one of the students experienced dizziness and headaches, while another classmate felt sleepy. The other video was different; students got high, experiencing euphoria, emotional disinhibition and hallucinations. Dizziness, pain and drowsiness seem largely determined by toluene and alcohol use, whereas the different effects appear to be caused by the sociality of the contexts of inhalant use, students’ subjectivity and their length of consumption. Discussion and conclusion. It is argued that students enjoy inhalant use because getting high reinforces their sociality. The article concludes that inhalant use should be discouraged by incorporating the agency and subjectivity of youth, without neglecting the macro-social factors involved in the production, marketing and regulation of inhalants.

Evaluación de la efectividad de una intervención interactiva para el manejo del estrés en profesionales de la salud

Background. The effects of stress depend on the perception of stressors and a person’s skills for coping with stressful situations. Objective. Evaluate an interactive intervention to develop resources and skills for proper stress management among healthcare professionals. Method. This intervention was tested using a chart designed to evaluate the knowledge, skills and attitudes components of stress management, consisting of 17 statements about Knowledge, 11 about Stress management; 20 about Attitudes for reacting to stress. A total of 165 professionals and interns from related careers participated. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare the scores of the three components before and after the intervention using the Student’s t test. McNemar’s test was used to compare the results. Results. In regard to the effectiveness of the intervention, an analysis of the comparison of scores found statistically significant differences in favor of intervention in the three components: Knowledge (t=-9.77, df=164, p=.000), Skills (t=-10.19, df=164, p=.000) and Attitudes (t=-4.80, df=164, p=.000). The item analysis showed statistically significant increases in the number of correct answers after the intervention in the three components. Discussion and conclusion. The results of this interactive intervention were statistically significant in Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes for stress management. In addition to being a brief, innovative intervention, based on knowledge translation (4 weeks) and available on the Internet, the evidence of its effectiveness suggests it is a valid tool for proper stress management.

Correlatos psicosociales de depresión y riesgo de suicidio en trabajadoras sexuales del Estado de Hidalgo, México

Los datos disponibles sobre la salud mental en trabajadoras sexuales en Mexico son escasos. Sin embargo la poca evidencia disponible muestra que las prevalencias de depresion y problematica suicida son mucho mas elevadas que en la poblacion general. El objetivo de este articulo es explorar los factores psicosociales que se relacionan con la depresion y el riesgo de suicidio en una muestra de 103 trabajadoras sexuales del Estado de Hidalgo, Mexico. Los resultados muestran que las frecuencias de depresion y riesgo de suicidio fueron mas elevadas que en las mujeres de la poblacion general (39.8 y 3.0%, respectivamente). Las variables que predijeron estos malestares fueron la mala relacion con la madre, los efectos perjudiciales del consumo de alcohol sobre la salud fisica y las actividades domesticas, la violencia de la pareja y la violencia sexual. Es necesario considerar estos resultados para propiciar acciones que reduzcan o eliminen la violencia de pareja, fomenten la adquisicion de habilidades para el manejo de las consecuencias negativas de la violencia, asi como implementar estrategias para reducir el dano ocasionado por el consumo de alcohol en este grupo poblacional en situacion de vulnerabilidad.