Development of a Retrospective Measure of Child Abuse for Heterosexual and LGBTQ Mexican Adults

Child abuse is a phenomenon that affects a large proportion of the world’s population and has important effects on their mental health. Although several instruments exist to measure it, they present some difficulties that require improvement. The present study started from an instrument previously developed for Mexican population (Esparza-Del Villar et al., Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2020) to construct a new retrospective measure of abuse: the Child Abuse Scale for Adults (EAIA, Spanish initials). We worked with a total sample of 810 individuals, consisting mainly of women (> 70%) and young adults (mean age around 23 years). We conducted both traditional (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) and advanced (exploratory graph analysis, item response theory) procedures to obtain a short self-report measure of child abuse experiences. The EAIA evidenced a clear factor structure (CFI = .96, RSMEA = .06), as well as adequate reliability for its three subscales: sexual (ω = .91), physical (ω = .88) and emotional abuse (ω = .93). In addition, it showed partial scalar invariance between sexes. At the item level, it was observed that the items of the sexual and physical abuse subscales had greater informative capacity at high levels of maltreatment, while the items of the emotional abuse subscale showed better psychometric quality at average levels of the construct. Finally, associations were found in the expected direction between the three subscales of the EAIA and a set of psychopathological variables (depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation). In conclusion, the EAIA constitutes a promising alternative to retrospectively measure child abuse in the Mexican adult population

Validation of the Online Sexual Experience Questionnaire (OSEQ) in Mexican University Students

Antecedentes: el Cuestionario de Experiencia Sexual en Línea (OSEQ) es un instrumento diseñado para medir las actividades sexuales en línea en población canadiense. Por la novedad del tema y el impacto en las prácticas y conductas sexuales de los jóvenes adultos, es relevante su estudio en población mexicana, en donde la investiga-ción es incipiente, a pesar de que la contingencia sani-taria, generada por la COVID-19, haya provocado un aumento en el consumo de esta clase de conductas. Objetivo: adaptar, confiabilizar y validar en población universitaria de México el Online Sexual Experience Questionnaire. Método: participaron 483 estudiantes (145 hombres y 338 mujeres) del sistema de universidad a distancia, de entre 18 y 69 años (M= 32.58, D. E.=9.21), quienes fueron seleccionados a partir de un muestreo no proba-bilístico por conveniencia y se les aplicaron los cuestio-narios vía internet. Resultados: del análisis factorial exploratorio se respe-taron los factores originales del instrumento, reduciendo de 48 a 13 ítems, con una alfa de .85; del análisis factorial confirmatorio, los valores obtenidos (Chi= 134.72, gl= 58, Cmin/Df=2.323.135, p= .000, NFI= .961, RFI= .948, CFI= .977 y RMSEA= .052) fueron adecuados. Conclusión: el instrumento muestra niveles aceptables, similares a los obtenidos en el cuestionario original.Introduction: The Online Sexual Experience Question-naire (OSEQ) is an instrument designed to measure online sexual activities in the Canadian population. Due to the novelty of the subject and the impact on the sexual practices and behaviors of young adults, its study in the Mexican population is relevant, where research is incipient, despite the fact that the health contingency generated by COVID-19 has caused an increase in the consumption of this kind of behaviors. Objective: To adapt, make reliable and validate the Online Sexual Experience Questionnaire in the univer-sity population of Mexico. Method: 483 students (145 men and 338 women) of the distance university system participated, between 18 and 69 years old (M= 32.58, D. E.=9.21), who were selected from a non-probabilistic sampling, for convenience, to whom the questionnaires were applied via the Internet. Results: from the exploratory factorial analysis the original factors of the instrument were respected, reducing from 48 to 13 items, with an alpha of .85, from the confirma-tory factorial analysis the values obtained (Chi= 134.72, gl= 58, Cmin/Df=2.323. 135, p= .000, NFI= .961, RFI= .948, CFI= .977 and RMSEA= .052) were adequate. Conclusion: the instrument shows an acceptable level, similar to those obtained in the original questionnaire

Evaluación de usabilidad de una aplicación móvil para el entrenamiento de competencias clínicas

Ponència presentada en XXII Congreso Internacional de Tecnología e Innovación para la Diversidad y Calidad de los Aprendizajes (EDUTEC 2019)Los estudiantes de psicología en línea necesitan capacitación profesional que les brinde las habilidades y la eficiencia para enfrentar los problemas de salud emocional. Una de las habilidades más desafi antes es establecer una relación terapéutica funcional con los usuarios. El uso del internet y la tecnología móvil en el campo de la educación dio pauta al surgimiento de la m-learning o aprendizaje móvil que posibilita la transportabilidad, conectividad, interactividad y ubicuidad para facilitar el aprendizaje individual o colaborativo al propio ritmo del usuario. Es así que el presente trabajo tuvo la fi nalidad de diseñar, desarrollar y medir la usabilidad de una aplicación móvil para el entrenamiento de competencias clínicas (empatía emocional y cognitiva, bienestar psicológico y sentido de presencia) a través de técnicas basadas en mindfulness. Se presentan los resultados de la evaluación de usabilidad de 10 participantes. La aplicación móvil mostró satisfacción, los estudiantes consideraron que se trata de un entrenamiento innovador para el desarrollo de sus habilidades clínicas. Por lo tanto, es pertinente proponer una alternativa prometedora a la falta de escenarios de práctica profesional y, de esta manera, involucrar a los estudiantes en escenarios reales vinculados a sus intereses o a la estructura curricular en sí. En este sentido, se abren nuevas perspectivas de investigación y desarrollo tecnológico para la enseñanza práctica

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

To which world regions does the valence–dominance model of social perception apply?

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov’s valence–dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions. We addressed this question by replicating Oosterhof and Todorov’s methodology across 11 world regions, 41 countries and 11,570 participants. When we used Oosterhof and Todorov’s original analysis strategy, the valence–dominance model generalized across regions. When we used an alternative methodology to allow for correlated dimensions, we observed much less generalization. Collectively, these results suggest that, while the valence–dominance model generalizes very well across regions when dimensions are forced to be orthogonal, regional differences are revealed when we use different extraction methods and correlate and rotate the dimension reduction solution.C.L. was supported by the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF VRG13-007); L.M.D. was supported by ERC 647910 (KINSHIP); D.I.B. and N.I. received funding from CONICET, Argentina; L.K., F.K. and Á. Putz were supported by the European Social Fund (EFOP-3.6.1.-16-2016-00004; ‘Comprehensive Development for Implementing Smart Specialization Strategies at the University of Pécs’). K.U. and E. Vergauwe were supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PZ00P1_154911 to E. Vergauwe). T.G. is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). M.A.V. was supported by grants 2016-T1/SOC-1395 (Comunidad de Madrid) and PSI2017-85159-P (AEI/FEDER UE). K.B. was supported by a grant from the National Science Centre, Poland (number 2015/19/D/HS6/00641). J. Bonick and J.W.L. were supported by the Joep Lange Institute. G.B. was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-17-0418). H.I.J. and E.S. were supported by a French National Research Agency ‘Investissements d’Avenir’ programme grant (ANR-15-IDEX-02). T.D.G. was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. The Raipur Group is thankful to: (1) the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India for the research grants received through its SAP-DRS (Phase-III) scheme sanctioned to the School of Studies in Life Science; and (2) the Center for Translational Chronobiology at the School of Studies in Life Science, PRSU, Raipur, India for providing logistical support. K. Ask was supported by a small grant from the Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg. Y.Q. was supported by grants from the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (5184035) and CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology. N.A.C. was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (R010138018). We acknowledge the following research assistants: J. Muriithi and J. Ngugi (United States International University Africa); E. Adamo, D. Cafaro, V. Ciambrone, F. Dolce and E. Tolomeo (Magna Græcia University of Catanzaro); E. De Stefano (University of Padova); S. A. Escobar Abadia (University of Lincoln); L. E. Grimstad (Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)); L. C. Zamora (Franklin and Marshall College); R. E. Liang and R. C. Lo (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman); A. Short and L. Allen (Massey University, New Zealand), A. Ateş, E. Güneş and S. Can Özdemir (Boğaziçi University); I. Pedersen and T. Roos (Åbo Akademi University); N. Paetz (Escuela de Comunicación Mónica Herrera); J. Green (University of Gothenburg); M. Krainz (University of Vienna, Austria); and B. Todorova (University of Vienna, Austria). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/am2023BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Estrategias de intervención psicológica de tercera generación

Las terapias cognitivo conductuales de tercera generación surgen a principios de los años 90 y se caracterizan por tener un enfoque terapéutico centrado en la atención plena (mindfulness), la aceptación, las emociones, la defusión, los valores y objetivos, las relaciones interpersonales y la relación entre la persona y la o el terapeuta. El objetivo de este capítulo es describir sus fundamentos teóricos, estrategias de intervención y aplicaciones. Se describen la terapia de aceptación y compromiso (ACT), el sistema de análisis cognitivo conductual de la psicoterapia (CBASP), la psicoterapia analítica funcional (FAP), la terapia dialéctica comportamental (DBT), la terapia de pareja conductual integradora (IBCT) y, además la terapia cognitiva basada en mindfulness (MBCT). Asimismo, se describen sus principales aplicaciones y evidencia acumulada acerca de su eficacia

The Efficacy and Usability of an Unguided Web-Based Grief Intervention for Adults Who Lost a Loved One During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: The death of a loved one was a challenge many people faced during the COVID-19 pandemic within the context of extraordinary circumstances and great uncertainty. Grief is an unavoidable part of life, and for most people, feelings of grief decrease naturally over time. However, for some people, grieving can become a particularly painful process with clinical symptoms that may require professional help to resolve. To provide psychological support to people who had lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic, an unguided web-based psychological intervention was developed. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the web-based treatment, Grief COVID (Duelo COVID in Spanish; ITLAB), in reducing clinical symptoms of complicated grief, depression, posttraumatic stress, hopelessness, anxiety, and suicidal risk in adults. The secondary aim was to validate the usability of the self-applied intervention system. METHODS: We used a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group (IG) and a waitlist control group (CG). The groups were assessed 3 times (before beginning the intervention, upon completing the intervention, and 3 months after the intervention). The intervention was delivered on the web in an asynchronous format through the Duelo COVID web page. Participants created an account that could be used on their computers, smartphones, or tablets. The evaluation process was automated as part of the intervention. RESULTS: A total of 114 participants were randomly assigned to the IG or CG and met criteria for inclusion in the study (n=45, 39.5% completed the intervention and n=69, 60.5% completed the waitlist period). Most participants (103/114, 90.4%) were women. The results indicated that the treatment significantly reduced baseline clinical symptoms in the IG for all variables (P<.001 to P=.006), with larger effect sizes for depression, hopelessness, grief, anxiety, and risk of suicide (all effect sizes ≥0.5). The follow-up evaluation showed that symptom reduction was maintained at 3 months after the intervention. The results from the CG showed that participants experienced significantly decreased levels of hopelessness after completing the time on the waitlist (P<.001), but their suicidal risk scores increased. Regarding the usability of the self-applied intervention system, the results indicated a high level of satisfaction with the Grief COVID. CONCLUSIONS: The self-applied web-based intervention Grief COVID was effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, risk of suicide risk, posttraumatic stress disorder, and complicated grief disorder. Grief COVID was evaluated by the participants, who reported that the system was easy to use. These results affirm the importance of developing additional web-based psychological tools to help reduce clinical symptoms in people experiencing grief because of the loss of a loved one during a pandemic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04638842; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04638842

To which world regions does the valence-dominance model of social perception apply?

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov’s valence–dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions. We addressed this question by replicating Oosterhof and Todorov’s methodology across 11 world regions, 41 countries and 11,570 participants. When we used Oosterhof and Todorov’s original analysis strategy, the valence–dominance model generalized across regions. When we used an alternative methodology to allow for correlated dimensions, we observed much less generalization. Collectively, these results suggest that, while the valence–dominance model generalizes very well across regions when dimensions are forced to be orthogonal, regional differences are revealed when we use different extraction methods and correlate and rotate the dimension reduction solution

To which world regions does the valence-dominance model of social perception apply?

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov’s valence–dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions. We addressed this question by replicating Oosterhof and Todorov’s methodology across 11 world regions, 41 countries and 11,570 participants. When we used Oosterhof and Todorov’s original analysis strategy, the valence–dominance model generalized across regions. When we used an alternative methodology to allow for correlated dimensions, we observed much less generalization. Collectively, these results suggest that, while the valence–dominance model generalizes very well across regions when dimensions are forced to be orthogonal, regional differences are revealed when we use different extraction methods and correlate and rotate the dimension reduction solution

To Which World Regions Does the Valence-Dominance Model of Social Perception Apply?

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov’s valence–dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions. We addressed this question by replicating Oosterhof and Todorov’s methodology across 11 world regions, 41 countries and 11,570 participants. When we used Oosterhof and Todorov’s original analysis strategy, the valence–dominance model generalized across regions. When we used an alternative methodology to allow for correlated dimensions, we observed much less generalization. Collectively, these results suggest that, while the valence–dominance model generalizes very well across regions when dimensions are forced to be orthogonal, regional differences are revealed when we use different extraction methods and correlate and rotate the dimension reduction solution