Georgina Cárdenas-López

Culture as an Influence on the Perceived Risk of HIV Infection: A Differential Analysis Comparing Young People from Mexico and Spain

This study analyzes risk behaviors and attitudes related to HIV-AIDS transmission between young people from two Hispanic/Latino culture and origin (Mexico and Spain). For this purpose, 840 participants filled out the AIDS Prevention Questionnaire (Ballester et al., El “Cuestionario de Prevención del Sida (CPS)”: Análisis de la fiabilidad y validez. Sociedad Española Interdisciplinaria del Sida, San Sebastián, 2007). From the Theory of reasoned action, our results revealed differences between the risk behaviour profiles of young people depending on their origin or gender, in terms of attitudes and behaviours. For example, Mexican participants have exhibited more levels of perceived risk or severity of HIV while for Spaniards, the fear of HIV was higher. Regarding the perception of condom use, loss of pleasure seems to be an important barrier for both groups of Mexican and Spanish young although others, such as lack of information would be reported only for Mexican women. Regarding self-efficacy, there are no significant differences in general but, in specific cases, we found them: Spanish participants seem to be more comfortable with putting on a condom while Mexican participants are more confident when it comes to buying it. However, these Spanish young people have reported more behavioural intention and present condom use in all sexual practices. In general, predictors of condom use are different depending on gender and origin. Thus, in order to develop effective strategies in AIDS prevention, cultural differences for HIV transmission should be considered even inside the group of Hispanic/Latino young people.

Virtual reality in the treatment of body image disturbances after bariatric surgery: a clinical case

Bariatric surgery is an operation on the stomach and/or intestines that helps patients with extreme obesity to lose weight. Even if bariatric surgery, compared with traditional obesity treatment, is more effective in reducing BMI, this approach does not achieve equal results in every patient. More, following bariatric surgery common problems are body image dissatisfaction and body disparagement: there is a significant difference between the weight loss clinicians consider successful (50% of excess weight) and the weight loss potential patients expect to achieve (at least 67% of the excess weight). The paper discusses the possible role of virtual reality (VR) in addressing this problem within an integrated treatment approach. More, the clinical case of a female bariatric patient who experienced body dissatisfaction even after a 30% body weight loss and a 62% excess body weight loss, is presented and discussed.

Gender, Sexuality, and Relationships in Young Hispanic People

This study explores the relation between gender differences and sexuality among young Hispanic people. Eight hundred and forty young people from Spain and Mexico filled out a self-administered questionnaire about sexuality (sexual experience, sexual orientation, and sexual relationships) and gender (self-identification). Men in both Spain and Mexico more commonly report the practice of masturbation and vaginal sex, and are more likely to be unfaithful than women. Women in both countries report more steady partners and longer length of relationships. There were greater gender differences for Mexican men and women than for Spanish men and women in terms of sexual frequency, sexual orientation, and infidelity. Therefore, gender may play an important role in young peoples sexuality, more so in Mexico than in Spain.

Sexuality in the Internet Era: Expressions of Hispanic Adolescent and Young People

ABSTRACT Cybersex is an important manifestation of sexuality among adolescents and young people. However, there is not enough information about this sexual expression, in particular, in cultures such as Latino culture, which has a traditional perception of human sexuality. This study evaluates online sexual activity among Hispanic adolescent and young people. For this purpose, 2,227 participants from Mexico and Spain (between 15 and 25 years old) completed the Internet Sex Screening Test. Our findings reveal that the most common use of cybersex is recreational, although men and women show risk for cybersex abuse. This is associated with pornography consumption, anal sex, sexual orientation, and gender for adolescent and young people. The more conservative and gendered tradition seems to modulate some aspects of cybersex in both groups, who have revealed some differences in their behaviors. Therefore, cybersex is also an expression of sexuality among Hispanic adolescent and young people and should be considered in sexual health promotion programs and policies.

Virtual reality environments as auxiliaries in the treatment of obesity

The worldwide increase in overweight and obesity and the alarming statistics at national level, combined with the increasing negative effects to health and linked to chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, fat liver among others has driven to implement strategies, agreements, laws among others strategies in different disciplines to combat this epidemic, seeking treatments with long-term impact on the patients. In this paper we discuss the possible role of virtual reality (VR) in addressing this problem within an integrated cognitive behavioral approach. Virtual reality has proved to be useful for the assessment and treatment of several mental disorders, mainly anxiety disorders for its ability to produce emotional and behavioral responses similar to those that occur in the real world As a result, VR technology has been used in the treatment of almost all anxiety disorders and its application has been extended to the treatment of a wide range of psychopathologies. Specifically, as recently noticed by Ferrer-Garcia and Gutierrez-Maldonado, VR is emerging as a technology that is especially suitable for the assessment and treatment of body image disturbances. To test this approach, we conducted a controlled trial with twenty-four participants who experienced body dissatisfaction even after a >30/40% excess body weight loss, the results are presented and discussed.

Virtual reality for improving body image disorders and weight loss after gastric band surgery: A case series

Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding (LAGB) is a common surgery method used to help obese patients to lose weight. However, even if LAGB is able to produce a durable and relevant weight loss, it is less effective in improving body image: as demonstrated by a recent study, obese patients with a body image disorder in the pre-operative stage continue to show this even 13 months after the operation. In this presentation we will discuss the possible role of virtual reality (VR) in addressing this problem within an integrated cognitive behavioral approach. To test this approach, a case series of three LAGB patient who experienced body dissatisfaction even after a >30/40% excess body weight loss, is presented and discussed. At the end of the 6-week protocol the patients experienced a 15%-20% further reduction of their weight. This reduction was also matched by a general improvement of the psychological state. Both the weight loss and the level of well-being were further improved after a three-month follow-up.

Evaluación de la depresión en pacientes con cáncer terminal y su aplicación en el contexto mexicano: Una revisión

SUMMARY Depression is one of the most common emotional problems in palliative patients. Due to the advanced nature of the disease, several physical symptoms presented by patients overlap with symptoms of depression, making it difficult to evaluate and diagnose the problem. The aim of this paper was to conduct a narrative review of the main instruments used to assess depression when it is present in palliative patients, with a special consideration of the Mexican context. Based on the available data and the scholarly literature, it is more appropriate to conduct an assessment of depression focused on emotional aspects than somatics aspects in palliative patients. Internationally, a number of depression assessments place greater emphasis on anhedonia and emotions, such as hopelessness, than on somatic aspects of depression. In Mexico, a considerable gap remains in the development of instruments to identify depression in the palliative setting. Finally, we describe alternative assessments of depression, which could be evaluated and considered in the future in the palliative care setting.

Virtual Stealth Assessment: A New Methodological Approach for Assessing Psychological Needs

In the past decade, the use of technology is extensively increased. Technological systems as virtual reality represent nowadays novel and efficacy tools in several areas, such as in psychology and education. Realism, sense of presence, engagement, experimental control, and ecological validity represent some of the advantages than traditional methods based on paper and pencil tests. Furthermore, psychological research gathering information about a person relative to specific attributes, such as abilities, personality, and cognitive competences is usually conducted using pre-test-post-test designs. Such traditional assessments are not able to catch and examine the dynamic and composite performances and behaviours in run. Virtual stealth assessment could provide a valid and reliable method for evaluating real behaviours in real-time during the virtual experience. In this article, we proposed stealth assessment as a new methodological approach to study the Grawe’s model on the basic psychological needs by using virtual immersive environments, providing the theoretical development of the model on one psychological need with the relative virtual game.

Bridging the gap from research to clinical practice: an educational strategy

This paper describes a project that is being carried out by the Virtual Teaching Laboratory of the Faculty of Psychology in collaboration with the IXTLI Virtual Reality Visualization Observatory of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, with the objective of providing and evaluating educational sessions, aimed to university students in the mental health area in order to teach: patient symptoms, use of virtual reality technologies for agoraphobia exposure treatment, advantages and disadvantages of this innovative therapeutic modality. Initial outcomes from evaluation include pre and post-assessment of learning, estimation of presence and reality judgment, and the student satisfaction related to the use of virtual reality technologies for educational goals.