María del Carmen Pérez-Fuentes

Inventory of Overburden in Alzheimer's Patient Family Caregivers with no Specialized Training

Background/Objective: Alzheimer-type dementia is one of the most frequent causes of dependence in an aging population, which combines with a considerable demand for care. Furthermore, when the caregiver is a family member or person without specialized training, such care impacts on that persons health. The Inventory of Overburden in Alzheimers Patient Family Caregivers with no Specialized Training (IPSO-CA24) was designed to find out the needs of these caregivers and evaluate the caregivers burden or distress. Method: The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were analyzed (in a reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory analysis) based on the responses of 255 caregivers. Results: The factor analyses showed a six-factor structure (Reaction to diagnosis, Physical health, Psychological symptomatology (caretaker), Behavioral symptomatology (patient), Knowledge of the illness, and Level of dependence) explaining 66.52% of the total variance with a reliability of .75 to .93. Support was also found for its convergent validity. Conclusions: The IPSO-CA24 responds to the need for an instrument enabling multidimensional evaluation of the burden on the family caregiver without specialized training.

Drug use in adolescents in relation to social support and reactive and proactive aggressive behavior

BACKGROUND Aggressive behavior in adolescents, along with drug use, has become one of the great issues in education in recent years, among other things, due to its relationship with school failure and delinquency. The purpose of this paper was to find out whether social support fulfils a basic role in decision-making on drug use and the behavior of adolescents. METHOD 822 high school students participated in the study (M = 14.84, SD = 0.87). Data were collected with the Peer Conflict Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and an ad hoc questionnaire on drug use. RESULTS The results show that drug use is significantly related to reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. It was also observed that higher use is significantly related to perceived social support by the peer group, and less support by family. DISCUSSION It was shown that substance use is related to perceived social support by the adolescent’s peer group and to aggressive behavior. It is therefore necessary to intervene in both respects to avoid the presence of substance use in schools.

Interpersonal value profiles and analysis of adolescent academic performance and social thinking

The purposes of this study were to identify interpersonal value profiles and find out whether there were any differences in academic performance and social thinking. The study sample was 885 high school students of whom 49.8% (N = 441) were boys and 50.2% (N = 444) were girls. The results show that students with low Benevolence and Conformity levels showed higher prevalence of failures and repeated the year more often. Furthermore, students with a high level of Recognition and Leadership and low Conformity and Benevolence are socially incompetent students. Intervention programs should to achieve high levels of kindness and consideration, respect for rules and generosity, and diminish the perception of recognition by others and exertion of authority. Thus, this study shows the values that must be worked on to improve students’ Academic Performance and social competence.

Motivación para la práctica físico-deportiva y síndrome de burnout en estudiantes de Ciencias de la Salud

Objetivo:Analizar los motivos de la practica fisico-deportiva y el burnouten estudiantes de ciencias de la salud, atendiendo al genero. Asi como, determinar la relacion entre el estado de salud, la edad y el sindrome de burnout. Metodo: Lamuestra esta compuesta por un total de 188 estudiantes universitarios pertenecientes a diferentes titulaciones de Ciencias de la Salud con edades comprendidas entre los 18 y 54 anos Para llevar a cabo el estudio se implemento el Cuestionario de contenido de los objetivos en el ejercicio y el Maslach BurnoutInventory. Y para el analisis de datos se utilizo el programa estadistico SPSS 23. Resultados:En cuanto al sindrome de burnoutsegun el genero, encontramos que en el factor agotamiento, el grupo de las mujeres obtienen puntuaciones mayores, aunque estas diferencias no son estadisticamente significativas, respecto al grupo de los hombres. Respecto a lo motivos de la practica fisico-deportiva en funcion del genero, aunque no existen diferencias significativas, el grupo de las mujeres obtiene puntuaciones mas altas en el factor imagen, desarrollo de habilidad, afiliacion social, y en el reconocimiento social, que el grupo de los hombres. Sin embargo, el grupo de los hombres solamente obtiene puntuaciones mas altas en el factor direccion de la salud. Conclusiones:En esta investigacion hallamos que no existen diferencias estadisticamente significativas en las puntuaciones de los cinco factores de la escala GCEQ, y tampoco en los tres factores, agotamiento, cinismo y eficacia profesional segun el genero en los estudiantes universitarios de Cienciasde la Salud

Burnout Risk and Protection Factors in Certified Nursing Aides

Studies have found a higher risk of burnout among employees in the healthcare sector. As such, this study focused on Certified Nursing Aides (CNAs) who have shown a high prevalence of burnout and are therefore considered an especially vulnerable group. The objective of this study was to identify the relationships between some organizational, personal, and sociodemographic factors and burnout. The final study sample included 278 working CNAs with a mean age of 40.88 (SD = 9.41). To compile the data, an ad hoc questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic information. To collect professional and employment information, we used the Brief Emotional Intelligence Inventory for Adults, the Brief Questionnaire on Perceived Social Support, and the General Self-Efficacy Scale. The results showed that Burnout Syndrome is significantly and negatively related to all the emotional intelligence factors, self-efficacy, and perceived social support. The risk of burnout is higher in younger persons and in permanently employed professionals. General self-efficacy and stress management act as protective factors against the likelihood of burnout. This study suggests that organizations should urge coaching and transformational leadership training programs to promote the wellbeing and organizational commitment of workers.

The role of Emotional Intelligence in Engagement in Nurses

Aware that engagement in the healthcare field needs high levels of emotional intelligence, we began this study to determine relationship between engagement and emotional intelligence in nurses. The objective of this study was to determine the explanatory value of the components of emotional intelligence for engagement in a sample of nurses. The final study sample was made up of 2126 working nursing professionals. Data was obtained by distributing, an ad hoc questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic information, and to collect professional and employment information, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Reduced Emotional Intelligence Inventory for Adults were used. The results showed that nurses with higher levels of emotional intelligence also scored more highly in engagement, with the interpersonal factor being the greatest predictor of engagement. This study has significant practical implications for the creation of intervention programs and activities to improve the performance of nurses in the workplace.

Burnout in Health Professionals According to Their Self-Esteem, Social Support and Empathy Profile

Introduction: Professionals in the healthcare field are in situations that could be a source of stress and sometimes develop burnout syndrome. Self-esteem, social support, and empathy are variables which intervene and influence the appearance of this syndrome. Objective: Identify healthcare professional profiles based on self-esteem, empathy and perceived social support, and analyze the extent to which these profiles show differences in developing burnout. Method: The sample was made up of 719 healthcare professionals with a mean of 38.52 years of age. The Short Questionnaire of Burnout, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire and the Basic Empathy Scale were used. Results: The results of a cluster analysis with self-esteem, empathy, and perceived social support showed four groups/profiles. Two of them, which included professionals with low self-esteem, differed in the rest of the characteristics. Furthermore, significant differences in burnout scores were found among the groups identified. Conclusion: The results show the need to study burnout with attention to individual and or social characteristics, where self-esteem is shown to be one of the explanatory variables making the main differences among the groups.

Effects of Mindfulness Training on Sleep Problems in Patients With Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a complex psychosomatic pain condition. In addition to generalized pain and various cognitive difficulties, new FMS diagnostic criteria acknowledge fatigue and sleep problems as core aspects of this condition. Indeed, poor sleep quality has been found to be a significant predictor of pain, fatigue, and maladaptive social functioning in this patient group. While there is promising evidence supporting the role of mindfulness as a treatment for FMS, to date, mindfulness intervention studies have principally focused on dimensions of pain as the primary outcome with sleep problems either not being assessed or included as a secondary consideration. Given the role of sleep problems in the pathogenesis of FMS, and given that mindfulness has been shown to improve sleep problems in other clinical conditions, the present study explored the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention known as Flow Meditation (Meditación-Fluir) on a range of sleep-related outcomes (subjective insomnia, sleep quality, sleepiness, and sleep impairment) in individuals with FMS. Adult women with FMS (n = 39) were randomly assigned to the 7 weeks mindfulness treatment or a waiting list control group. Results showed that compared to the control group, individuals in the mindfulness group demonstrated significant improvements across all outcome measures and that the intervention effects were maintained at a 3 month follow-up assessment. The Meditación-Fluir program shows promise for alleviating sleep problems relating to FMS and may thus have a role in the treatment of FMS as well as other pain disorders in which sleep impairment is a central feature of the condition.

Specific competencies in social work higher education in the framework of the European higher education area: the perception of future professionals in the Spanish context

ABSTRACT We present the results of a study that aims to determine whether young future social work professionals value the specific competencies that they are taught as students and will put into practice as professionals. The study analyses how these students value the professional competencies taught in university social work programmes in Spain, which are under the auspices of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). We consider that this study can contribute to the review and improvement of the design of these university curricula. The study is descriptive and employs the survey method. The sample comprises 220 subjects who are university undergraduate students in social work. The findings indicate that undergraduate students express a high valuation of the specific competencies of the degree. Students’ sociodemographic variables have little effect on their valuation of specific competencies, although we can nuance this conclusion with some partial results that show an influence of these sociodemographic variables on students’ valuations.

Búsqueda de sensaciones e impulsividad como predictores de la agresión en adolescentes

espanolLa adolescencia es una etapa, en la que la impulsividad y la busqueda de sensaciones se presentan como dos factores que confluyen con un amplio abanico de cambios, inherentes al desarrollo adolescente. La impulsividad y la busqueda de sensaciones han sido frecuentemente vinculadas a comportamientos de riesgo en adolescentes, y especialmente afines a la agresividad. Con el presente trabajo se pretende analizar el valor predictivo de variables relacionadas con la busqueda de sensaciones y la impulsividad, en relacion a la adopcion de diferentes formas de agresion (agresion fisica, agresion verbal, ira y hostilidad), en adolescentes. Para ello, se selecciono una muestra de 822 alumnos de secundaria, y se aplicaron la Escala de Busqueda de Sensaciones, la Escala de Impulsividad Estado (EIE) y el Cuestionario de Agresion (AQ). Los resultados obtenidos, evidencian la existencia de correlaciones positivas entre los factores de busqueda de sensaciones e impulsividad, con respecto a las modalidades de agresion analizadas. Por otro lado, los analisis de regresion multiple evidencian el valor predictivo de los factores de busqueda de sensaciones e impulsividad, para las diferentes manifestaciones de la conducta agresiva. Mas concretamente, destaca la presencia de los componentes de la impulsividad en los modelos explicativos de la agresion fisica y verbal, y el factor Atencional como el mejor predictor de la ira y la hostilidad. EnglishAdolescence is a stage in which impulsivity and sensation seeking are presented as two factors that come together with a wide range of changes inherent to adolescent development. Impulsivity and sensation seeking have often been linked to risky behavior in adolescents, especially related to aggressiveness. With this paper is to analyze the predictive value of variables related to sensation seeking and impulsiveness, in relation to the adoption of different forms of aggression (physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility) in adolescents. To do this, a sample of 822 high school students were selected, and the Sensation Seeking Scale, the State Impulsivity Scale (EIE) and Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), were applied. The results obtained show the existence of positive correlations between factors of sensation seeking and impulsivity, regarding the modalities of aggression analyzed. On the other hand, multiple regression analysis shows the predictive value of factors sensation seeking and impulsiveness, for the different manifestations of aggressive behavior. More specifically, the presence of components of impulsivity in the explanatory models of physical and verbal aggression, and attentional factor, as the best predictor of anger and hostility.